Thursday, 30 July 2015

How this for an idea? A junkyard of classic cars!

Nestled in a north Georgia forest, over 4000 classic cars decorate 32 acres (13 hectares) that have been turned into a junkyard museum.
 
Image: Trees grow through the windshield of a 1937 Chrysler Imperial as it sits at Old Car City, the world's largest known classic car junkyard Thursday, July 16, 2015, in White, Ga. Many of the cars have never moved in over 30 years and in some cases, trees now grow through them, even lifting some off the ground.



Owner Walter Dean Lewis' parents started the business in 1931 as a general store that also sold auto parts.
 
Lewis grew the collection, which had just 40 cars in the '70s, over time.

'The only thing I ever knew was cars and trucks,' Lewis says. 'I like to say I work for tomorrow, always thinking about the future. Someday they would be valuable.'

Image: Owner Walter Dean Lewis next to a 1950s school bus as it sits at Old Car City, the world's largest known classic car junkyard. 'It's history. I saved them when other people were crushing them,' said Lewis. 'I don't know what I would do if I couldn't get up every morning and look at old cars.'


Lewis stopped selling parts about six years ago, soon after realising he could sustain the business more as a museum, charging $15 (around Rs 950) for visitors just looking, and $25 (around Rs 1500) for photographers. He estimates that 95 percent of the people who come through the six miles (10 kilometers) of trails are photographers.
Visitors are greeted by various artworks and hand-painted messages.



On occasion, Eddie McDaniel, who goes by 'Fast Eddie,' a childhood friend of Lewis, plays blues piano next to a shotgun and a bear mounted on a wall (seen here).        
In the 30 or 40 years that many of the cars have never moved, trees now grow through them and, in some cases, even lift them off the ground. (seen here).         
One of Lewis' more popular vehicles is a 1946 Ford truck used in 'Murder in Coweta County,' a 1983 film starring Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith.
 
'It's history. I saved them when other people were crushing them,' Lewis says. 'I don't know what I would do if I couldn't get up every morning and look at old cars.'

Image: Maintenance man Rockey Bryson looks at a 1946 Ford truck used in the movie 'Murder in Coweta County' starring Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith as it sits at Old Car City.


Classic cars that are partly hidden by trees that have grown around and through these vintage transport vehicles.         
Trees seen growing over a car at Old Car City.

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