Meet the Outback Wreckers: The team hunting for treasure in the Australian wilderness
Most of us will never experience the Australian Outback. The sheer scale of it – endless red dirt roads, remote properties hours from the nearest town, landscapes that seem to go on forever – is almost impossible to comprehend from the comfort of a British sofa.
But for Mick, Tim, and Alyce, it's their hunting ground. Three of the stars of BLAZE's new series Outback Wreckers, they've dedicated themselves to scouring this vast, rugged wilderness for forgotten vehicles, rare parts and what Tim simply calls ‘rusty gold’.
BLAZE recently caught up with the trio to find out what keeps them coming back – and why they think British audiences are going to love the ride.
Three wreckers, three stories
The team – which also features Mike Elliott – came to the Outback by different routes, but they share the same restless passion for the hunt.
Mick, who hails from the small Victorian town of Mt Evelyn, practically grew up in a wrecking yard. His father owned both a tow truck business and a yard, and from an early age, the work felt less like a career choice and more like a calling. His philosophy, he says, has always been straightforward: ‘Save the old ones where you can and recycle the rest.’
Tim's path was similar in spirit, if not in origin. He runs a small workshop specialising in classic cars, and the Outback trips began as an extension of that passion – a way of sourcing vehicles and parts that simply can't be found anywhere else. ‘When I'm not restoring vehicles, I'm heading deep into the Australian Outback searching for forgotten classics, rare parts and what we like to call “rusty gold”,’ he explains.
Alyce's story is perhaps the most unexpected of the three. She grew up on a farm in rural Australia, comfortable with hard, hands-on work – but the world of car wrecking wasn't something she'd ever imagined for herself.
That changed when she met Tim. ‘We've been together for more than 12 years, and before long I found myself joining him on these incredible adventures,’ she says. ‘What started as helping out quickly became something I genuinely love.’ Today, she's the self-described all-rounder of the team: loading cars, stripping parts, working swap meets, and doing whatever the job demands.
The job where every trip is a treasure hunt
Ask any of the three what makes their work so compelling, and they'll all give you a version of the same answer: you simply never know what you're going to find. That sense of anticipation – the phone call about a car spotted on a remote property, the long drive into the unknown, the moment you finally open a bonnet or a boot – is what drives them.
‘Every trip starts with a phone call, a rumour or a lead about an old car hidden somewhere, but nobody really knows what we'll find until we get there,’ says Alyce. ‘The Outback itself is the star of the show. People imagine endless red dirt, but Australia is incredibly diverse. One day we're driving through rolling green countryside and the next we're crossing remote landscapes that seem to go on forever.’
For Mick, the scale of the operation is something British audiences may find particularly hard to grasp. ‘It's not unusual for us to spend an entire day on the road for one job,’ he says. ‘In many places, you can drive for hours without seeing another person, just wildlife and endless landscapes. It's a side of Australia that many people never get to experience.’
Strange discoveries and hidden secrets
Of course, part of the appeal of any treasure hunt is the unexpected – and Outback Wreckers delivers plenty of that. The team's most memorable finds range from the charming to the bizarre.
Alyce puts it best: ‘Old cars are like time capsules.’ She recalls opening the boot of a burnt-out wreck that appeared to have nothing left to offer, only to discover a collection of vintage cameras, beautiful old Kodak models, sitting untouched inside. ‘Sometimes the stories hidden inside the car are just as interesting as the car itself,’ she reflects.
Tim has his own catalogue of curious finds. One vehicle he purchased turned out to be packed floor-to-ceiling with old loaves of bread. Others have contained bottles, cans, and decades' worth of collected magazines and newspapers. And then there are the less welcome surprises. ‘Some vehicles become home to some of Australia's deadliest creatures,’ he warns, ‘so you always need to be careful when opening a door or lifting a bonnet.’
Perhaps the most extraordinary discovery belongs to Mick, who once recovered a car from a police impound yard, only to find something the authorities had entirely missed. ‘While dismantling it for parts, I discovered a very large bag of marijuana hidden inside,’ he recalls. ‘Somehow it had gone completely unnoticed the entire time it was in police custody.’
Why Outback Wreckers deserves a place on your watchlist
With Junk & Disorderly already a firm favourite among BLAZE viewers, Outback Wreckers arrives with a ready-made audience of treasure-hunting enthusiasts – and the cast are confident the show will more than live up to expectations.
‘We're not just chasing cars,’ says Alyce. ‘We're chasing stories, history and pieces of Australia's past before they're lost forever.’ It's a sentiment Tim echoes: ‘Outback Wreckers is about much more than old cars. It's an adventure across one of the most incredible landscapes on Earth.’
And for anyone still on the fence? Mick keeps it simple: ‘If people enjoy adventure, discovery and a bit of Aussie humour, I think they'll have a great time.’
With characters this compelling and an Outback this vast, it's hard to argue with him.