A Visit to the Biggest Rolls-Royce and Bentley Junkyard in England

Over all these years of documenting interesting examples of automotive history in car graveyards, I've managed to find just two Rolls-Royces in American junkyards (a 1974 Silver Shadow and a 1979 Silver Wraith), plus a pair of Austin Champs with Rolls-Royce engines. Obviously, a trip to the homeland of Rolls-Royce was in order, so that's where I went a few months back.

This is Westminster Auto Spares, a breaker's yard specializing in Rolls-Royces and Bentleys (plus the occasional Mercedes-Benz S- and SL-Class) located in Sherburn-in-Elmet in North Yorkshire, England.

They have more than 120 cars in their inventory right now, most of which were among the costliest cars money could buy when new. A few weeks back, we took a detailed look at a 1963 Bentley S3 that they don't yet have the heart to part out.

There are Rollers and Bentleys from the 1950s through our current century here, with parts being shipped out to owners around the globe.

The land is on the former location of the factory that built Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers during World War II.

Any Englishman who knows automotive and aviation history should be proud to walk the rows of this place.

The founder and owner of Westminster Auto Spares is Carl Heath, who toiled for many years in the insurance business before parting out a Silver Shadow at the beginning of the Great Recession and realizing that he had found a more fulfilling job. I'm pleased that the Colorado license plate I brought him now hangs on his office wall.

Carl estimates that 80% of his inventory comes from people around Great Britain who call him up to help them get rid of a Rolls or Bentley that had been sitting in a garage or driveway for too long and would be too costly to get in driving condition. Ownership of these cars is for neither the faint of heart nor thin of wallet.

Ninety-five percent of these cars end up getting parted out, though some are sold complete.

Because parked Rolls-Royces and Bentleys often suffer stolen hood ornaments or vandalized grilles while parked, much of Westminster Auto Spares' business involves selling those components.

They have the largest inventory of Rolls-Royce and Bentley parts in England, and they'll ship parts just about anywhere. Plenty of them go to the United States, in fact.

Naturally, I brought along a century-old London-built box camera to document this place, as one does.

Depreciation comes for just about every car, eventually.

Westminster Auto Spares specializes in Rolls-Royces and Bentleys. It is located near Leeds, England.

Naturally, I brought an old British film camera with me. These black-and-white photos were shot with a 1920s Houghton Ensign box camera, made in London.

There are a few Jaguars and Mercedes-Benzes mixed in here and there, but Westminster Auto Spares has more than 120 Rolls-Royces and Bentleys in stock.

This place is a dismantler, so you can't just walk in off the street and and pull parts yourself.

It's located on the site where the Fairey Swordfish World War II torpedo bomber was built.