Some of the older junkyards can really make you wonder, “Why would someone scrap these old cars?!” What is important to remember with some of these old yards is that when many of the vehicles were scrapped, they were far from being considered a classic. Decades would pass before anyone would show interest in restoring one, often to the point where these cars and trucks become too far gone to travel down a road again.
In 1958, George opened Friendship Auto Salvage in New Jersey’s Pinelands. Today, his son, Jim, continues operating the family business.
“My father started this in 1958,” Jim says. “The funny part about it is, the field way in the back, with oldest cars, is the newest field. That field was made in 1966.”
The deeper back into the woods, the older the vehicles get, and the more faded and rusted and rotted they get. Over a half-century of weather and wildlife claiming discarded cars and trucks once brand new off the assembly line to a showroom floor before racking up the miles. Somewhere along that road, they reached a resting place, left within a collection of shells, parts long removed, paint long faded, reminders of a time gone by.
These cars and trucks, left alone, left outdoors, left to let time and nature take their toll, can make one wonder just how many of these machines did not make it long enough to be photographed today, in any condition. Some cars get preserved, some get restored, some get left alone and forgotten, but so many others met their fate at the crusher, stripped of parts and sold as scrap. As sad a reminder these old faded automobiles can be, there is a beauty in the life they still live in their environments, as environments, as homes to animals and insects, as a part of the surroundings they had been left within, claimed by the land.
Amazing photos! Got me inspired to go shoot some junk yards around town. What Camera and lens did you use here?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Ryan! Junkyards are a great time! I shoot with a 1963 Rolleiflex 2.8E3 Planar. I mostly use Fujifilm PRO 400H but occasionally use Kodak Portra 160 and 400.
LikeLike
I look at all these cars and think about the day they came down the assembly line. They were once beautiful cars with no dents or rust. Someone somewhere drove them home from the dealership lot and was probably showing them off to everyone. Then somewhere down the line they were sold or traded in and after years of neglect the end up here to die. In your pictures some cars make me stop and admire what I figured they looked like as new. I put myself in the first buyers shoes for a minute and wheeled that car down the highway. The smells of a new car, the sound of the engine purring, and the feel of that steering wheel in my hands. The odds are the first owners are dead now but their car lives on even though it too won’t be around much longer. Thanks for the cool pictures sir. Good job!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your comments Steve. They are so true.
LikeLiked by 1 person