Discoveries

1. Kaisers haven’t been sold in the United States for more than 65 years, so finding a pair of them in this sorry state is really unusual – most having disappeared by the early Seventies. They both appear to be 1951 Specials, and were found in A1 Salvage in Roswell, New Mexico. This was Kaiser’s most successful year ever, selling 139,452 cars, which made it the 12th best-selling car marque in the country.

2. Apparently this 1960 Ford Thunderbird was driven into the Las Vegas junkyard it currently resides in, but I fear it won’t ever be driven out. It says ‘no batt’ on the windscreen, but the lack of a battery appears to be the least of its worries. Notching up nearly 93,000 sales, 1960 was a record year for the Elwood Engel-designed Square Bird.

3. The Dodge Lancer was a badge-engineered Chrysler Valiant, and had a lifespan of just two years (1961-1962). It became a Dodge Dart the following year. In 1962 all hardtops, including this collisiondamaged Oregon car, were known as GTs.

4. I’m reliably informed that this yellow auto sculpture is in fact a trio of Chevrolet Camaros, dating from 1974, 1975 and 1976. All three cars have been residents of Washington’s All American Classics salvage yard since the mid-Nineties.

5. In more than 30 years of visiting American salvage yards, I have only ever discovered six Corvettes, including this badly abused Californian 1984 C4.

6. On my first ever Discoveries trip I rented a brand-new Dodge Aries, and now I’m photographing them! This pair of late Eighties K cars (I think they’re probably Plymouth Reliants) were found in Gold Point, Nevada. At the start of the last century, this gold mining town’s population peaked at about 1000. Today just seven people live here, and they have roughly one abandoned car for every two residents.

7. Manufactured between 1977 and 1979, the Mk V was the longest two-door coupe ever sold by Ford. It was also the bestselling in the Mark series, with 228,262 examples finding buyers. This Texan example rolled off the Wixom, Michigan assembly line in 1978.

8. L&L Classic Auto in Idaho is my perfect yard, with tens of thousands of cars scattered over hundreds of acres. But because there was no order to the place, I inevitably missed so much amazing stuff while wandering around. For instance, it’s only now, while I’m writing about this rustfree 1973 Chrysler Newport sedan, that I notice the home-made pale blue pick-up in the background. I wonder what it is. A Studebaker maybe?

9. A 1968 Ford Thunderbird balances precariously. The sandy floor, and rustfree panels, are clues that the car is located in an Arizona yard.

10. A lot has changed in the five years since I photographed this 1964 Ford Fairlane 500 at CTC Auto Ranch – and not for the better. I’d love to tell you that the car has been restored, but the opposite is true. Pictures on the Texan scrapyard’s website reveal that it has been well and truly scavenged for parts, and little more than the skeleton remains. In fact even the roof has been liberated.

11. I travelled three hours out of my way to visit this yard in Possum Grape, Arkansas, only to find that it was closed for the day following a family bereavement. Fortunately, I had a telephoto lens with me, allowing me to still photograph a handful of cars from the entrance, including this 1955 DeSoto Fireflite.