After starting his business with his late father 15 years ago, this inspiring outback automotive recycler is now passing his skills onto his young son.
If you’ve been watching the last few seasons of Outback Truckers, Mike Elliott might look familiar. He appeared in season 8 and 9 of the show; and has returned for new episodes in season 10, although he’s had quite the physical transformation.
Mike (left) started the business together with his late father Richard. Image: Mike ElliottBig Rigs spoke with Mike, 40, about how he turned his passion for engines into a profitable business, how losing his father made him focus on improving his health, and about the joys of having his son Vinnie by his side as he travels to some of the country’s most remote locations.
Mike runs Outback Cash For Cars, an automotive recycling business that purchases unwanted cars and then on-sells them to commercial wreckers throughout Western Australia.
He’s based in Perth and also has two yards in Kununurra and another in Geraldton.
Mike travels all over the country, to places many wouldn’t venture, picking up trailer-loads full of cars and other vehicles. The blistering heat of the desert and unforgivable corrugated roads are all in a day’s work for this family man – who shares seven kids with his wife of 10 years and business partner Molly Elliott.
Mike admits he hadn’t initially thought of turning his passion for cars into a career. But from his late teens, you’d often find him under a bonnet, tinkering with engines.
While that continued as a hobby, he initially followed in his father’s footsteps and became a plasterer. “We were a family of plasterers and were in that in a big way,” said Mike. “When I started getting into the cars, people thought I was a bit crazy and was just wasting my money.
Mike says he loves having Vinnie by his side while he’s out on the road. Image: Mike Elliott“By the time I was 18 I had purchased 75 cars, and by 21, had bought more than 300 cars. I never owned more than four or five at a time. I’d fix them up and then sell them.
“I started buying and selling cars, and then I got bigger and better.
“I found the more work you can do yourself, the more of the pie you get.”
It was with that in mind that he spoke to his father Richard Elliott about going into
business with him.
“Dad and I started this business together. We had been working in construction for a long time. Then I showed him how easy it was to flip cars. What we could make in a day as plasterers, we realised we could make in a morning,” explained Mike.
After Richard (right) passed away at just 56, Mike placed a strong focus on improving his health. Image: Mike Elliott“He was quite hesitant to begin with, because I’d already spent so much on cars. But I showed him what sort of money could be made and we went for it.”
They spent almost four years on the road together, going wherever the work took them, before tragedy struck.
“This was such an adventure and we got to share some crazy experiences. Dad and I would travel everywhere, even out to the middle of the desert, to buy a heap of cars and then we’d bring them all back. We were really close,” Mike recalled.
Sadly, Richard passed away eight years ago, aged just 56, and Mike says that loss affected him in a really big way.
“Dad was a big fella and I was a big boy too. That’s what got him at the end, it was heart disease. I knew I had to change myself. I didn’t want history repeating itself. I want to be there for my kids.”
Their work takes this close father-and-son duo to some of the most remote locations in the country. Image: Mike ElliottMike says he went on to lose about half of his body weight. “Nowadays I just keep moving. This is very physical work and you need a lot of endurance because it’s just so hot. There’s a lot of groundwork involved in getting those cars too.
“I also exercise every day now. I’ll run 2-8 kilometres a day, and I do a full workout too. My whole life is very different to what it used to be.”
Vinnie, who just turned 17 on October 3 has been working with his father for close to a year. “He’s such a great kid,” said Mike. “School just wasn’t for him though. It was hard to take him out of school. We spoke about it for around nine months before we finally pulled the pin. I got him to rebuild a gearbox with me, and a year later he’s building performance engines as a hobby.
“He took to it like a duck to water.”
“Vinnie is a really switched on kid. Try to get a maths teacher to teach him and he has no interest, but give him an engine and I’m mind blown at what he can do. Watching him over this past year has reinforced that taking him out of school was the right decision. It’s been the best thing for him.
Vinnie, 17, is a chip off the old block. Image: Mike Elliott“Vinnie is very mechanically minded; he can drive anything. He’s one who I try not to give too much direction to. I like to let him figure it out on his own – and he usually comes up with something better!”
Already, despite his young age, it’s clear Vinnie is destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. “I always knew I’d be in business. I loved the idea of buying and selling and that crossed over with cars, because I loved cars. When I started doing that, it was so easy, so I’ve continued on that path,” Mike said.
“I’ve never been done for unlicenced dealing because I’ve never done the wrong thing. All of the cars we collect, I’ve purchased, and I keep all of the receipts. I’m super selective of the cars I buy. The logistics of getting the cars though is insane.
“I’ve blown engines, tail shafts and clutches in the middle of nowhere. I had an engine explode on me when heading out to a job one day. The whole harmonic balancer came off and wasted the motor in one hit. That was about 10 years ago, it was a yellow Hino I named Emily – it was just before I met Molly. I had to run a shit truck for about six months before I could afford to buy another truck.”
This 2015 Freightliner Coronado is Mike’s main ride. Image: Mike ElliottMike says he’s grateful he’s been able to turn his hobby into his work. “And I always tell my kids to make sure you’re doing what you love. Don’t just chase the money.
“I tell them just follow your heart, it doesn’t matter where you work, so long as you’re happy inside, that’s what matters.”
Mike currently operates a fleet of four trucks, and a crusher which comes along on almost every journey.
His main truck is a 2015 Freightliner Coronado. “I just upgraded to this one. It has a Detroit DD15. It’s insane to drive – it feels like you’re driving a 700hp engine, which is crazy,” explained Mike.
“Before this I had a 1994 Mack CLR with a Detroit in it as well. I rebuilt that one from front to back and then sold it as a deposit for this one. I always loved the Macks and Scanias. I never thought I’d love driving a Freightliner but it’s such a good truck.”
The hard-working Coronado is definitely put through its paces. Image: Mike ElliottUsually, Mike will pull two trailers but does go up to three when required.
“If it’s local to Kununurra, I’ll crush up the cars and can stack nine on a trailer. But if I go further out to the Tanami, I can chop them up, so I can fit up to 70 cars on 3 trailers.
“Location is everything. When you’re going further, you lose time, so I try and bring back as many cars as I can.”
For Mike, his work takes him absolutely everywhere. “I try to do 14 days on the road and 10 days off, but I haven’t had a rotation like that for ages. We’ve just been too busy. Sometimes we’ll be away for six weeks at a time. For every five or six cars you do, you might get one car that’s worth the same as five or six cars put together.”
Mike’s oldest truck is a 1987 Nissan Condor, which is only used locally for deliveries in Perth, a late model Hino tilt tray and a 1992 Scania crane truck.
Mike says his 1992 Scania crane truck is “a real war horse that just won’t die”. Image: Mike Elliott“I’ve had that Scania for 10 years, it’s a real war horse that just won’t die. But I’m ashamed to drive it on the road sometimes,” he laughed.
Like Mike, Vinnie was taught to drive the truck very early on. “I used to seat him up on phone books and a pillow when he was little so he could see,” said Mike. “He was already learning to drive trucks around the yard and in the paddocks, from when he was six years old.”
While Vinnie is very keen to get his truck licence, he’ll have to wait a little while longer. In the meantime, Mike says they’ve just “beefed up” an old Landcruiser, which Vinnie will be able to drive alongside him, towing a 3.5 tonne car trailer.
Looking ahead, Mike has some more work planned through Kununurra before the wet season hits, and then he plans on tackling Esperance.
“We try and work Kununurra up until December, which is when it gets intensely hot, with a lot of rain. That’s when we start to go further south,” he said.
“Often, we’ll roll into a town and buy all the scrap cars we can. I’m planning on doing a few trips to Esperance soon. We picked up about 163 cars from Esperance in 2019, so it’s been a few years since we’ve been down that way.
“What I used to enjoy the most was the chase of the cars but now I really enjoy the time I get to spend with my son.”
Season 10 of Outback Truckers is currently being aired on 7Mate on Tuesdays at 8.30pm. Past episodes are available to stream via the 7Plus app. This season, Mike Elliott will appear on episodes 2, 11, 12 and 13.
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