Georgia Is Home To The World's Largest Classic Car Junkyard

Head northbound from Atlanta and, eventually, you will stumble upon a rusty signboard reference "The world's oldest junkyard." Step wrong this North Georgia forest, and you will find a 34-acre compound pinch rows upon rows of mostly rusted American cars, trucks, vans, and moreover schoolhouse buses. You person reached Old Car City, nan world's largest classical car junkyard. There's a batch much to Old Car City than its postulation of complete 4,000 cars, immoderate of them making love backmost to nan 1930s. Old Car City aside, location are immoderate cool junkyards crossed America, for illustration a Porsche junkyard successful North Carolina. Or a 10,000-car pick-and-pull successful Phoenix, Arizona. 

Old Car City is now an open-air depository situated connected 34 acres of forested onshore — a haunting portion of American car history — and a spot wherever quality and cars person go intertwined. The spot truthful immense that it takes respective hours to locomotion done it all. The unsocial quality way wrong Old Car City costs $30 per person. Some grade of fittingness is required for attempting to cheque retired each nan cars here. Before we talk more, let's statesman pinch wherever it each started.

The communicative began in 1931, erstwhile nan Lewis family opened a general store selling everything from clothing to gasoline and car parts. The move to nan salvage business came courtesy of World War II. The warfare brought scarcity and a shortage of rubber and metal, arsenic astir disposable resources were devoted to subject expenditures. Identifying a request successful nan market, nan Lewis family turned their wide shop into a salvage yard, wherever they would bring successful scrap cars to waste their parts.

There wasn't ever a immense magnitude of cars connected nan lot. In fact, successful nan '70s, nan number of cars stood astatine conscionable 40, increasing exponentially since then. It was nan world's largest classical car junkyard until existent proprietor Dean "Mayor" Lewis decided to extremity trading salvage parts and person nan full batch into a museum. It is simply a one-of-a-kind depository wherever you locomotion astir quality and rusted cars consciousness for illustration creation installations. In a batch of places, location are trees increasing done nan cars. When you parkland cars successful 1 spot for complete 30 years, Mother Nature does return over.

When you ain a spot for illustration Old Car City, it's only earthy that you beryllium called Mayor. Mayor Walter Dean Lewis grew up astir his parents' salvage gait business, spending his life astir classical cars and trucks. So, erstwhile he inherited Old Car City from his parents, Dean had a scheme to prevention and sphere cars alternatively than waste disconnected their parts. Over nan years, Dean spent a batch of clip and money buying collapsed and junk vehicles to adhd to his collection. He'd bargain from everyplace and everyone — individuals, salvage auctions, moreover recycling yards.

Every year, he added much cars to his collection, to nan constituent that he had to bargain much onshore to shop them. Despite being successful nan salvage business, it was difficult to bargain car parts from Dean. He has a heavy attachment to his cars, and you had to person heavy pockets to person Dean portion pinch his lovelies. You'd beryllium amended disconnected checking retired nan thousands of flood-damaged enthusiast cars showing up astatine Florida auctions.  Thankfully, Dean realized location was much money successful converting his junkyard into a depository and charging visitors for it.

Walk done nan 6 miles of quality trails, weaving done 34 acres of wood and cars, and you are blessed pinch a instruction successful American automotive history. You'll find cars making love from nan 1930s each nan measurement to nan 1980s, but it is mostly filled pinch cars from nan '50s and '60s, an era known arsenic nan aureate property of American automobiles. It moreover has iconic cars, for illustration a Lincoln Mark V, as good arsenic a 1946 Ford motortruck utilized successful nan 1983 movie "Murder successful Coweta County," starring Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith. Thankfully, these cars are safely stored wrong nan main building, not surrendered to quality for illustration others.

Besides classical cars, Old Car City has different attractions, too, for illustration "Fast Eddie" McDaniel. Fast Eddie grew up pinch Dean, and nan 2 forged a puerility relationship astir rusting alloy and wood. Nowadays, if you are lucky, you tin find him down a soft playing nan blues.

The net is divided astir Old Car City and rightfully so. Some enthusiasts deliberation nan cars merit a amended chance, to beryllium successful nan hands of owners who would reconstruct them and thrust them nan measurement they are meant to driven. The different half thinks that Old Car City is simply a cool idea, arsenic it's absorbing being capable to spot thousands of different cars successful 1 place. The contention grows deeper erstwhile you facet successful nan nobility rotting successful this place.

While Old Car City has its stock of AMCs, Chryslers, and Mercurys, it besides has uncommon specimens. There are cars you'd ne'er expect to spot successful a junkyard that costs a beautiful penny today. That includes a 1968 Dodge Coronet Super Bee, which could fetch upward of $100,000, and an Oldsmobile 442,which boasts likewise high prices today. There's besides a 1970 Dodge Challenger that could waste for large bucks if restored but is now thing much than a rusted heap.