Georgia is home to the world’s largest junkyard for classic cars: Jalopnik

Head north from Atlanta and you’ll eventually come across a rusty sign that reads “The Oldest Junkyard in the World.” Step into this North Georgia forest and you’ll find an 80-acre site filled with rows upon rows of largely rusted American cars, trucks, vans and even school buses. You’ve reached Old Car City, the world’s largest junkyard for classic cars. Old Car City has much more to offer than its collection of more than 4,000 cars, some of which date back to the 1930s. Aside from Old Car City, there are some cool junkyards across America, like a Porsche junkyard in North Carolina. Or a pick-and-pull with 10,000 cars in Phoenix, Arizona.

Old Car City is now an open-air museum located on 34 acres of wooded land – a haunting piece of American automotive history – and a place where nature and cars have become intertwined. The place is so big that it takes several hours to walk through it. The unique nature trail in Old Car City costs $30 per person. A certain level of fitness is required to view all the cars here. Before we talk any further, let’s start with where it all started.

There were not always many cars on the site. In the 1970s the number of cars was only 40, and since then the number has grown exponentially. It was the world’s largest junkyard for classic cars until current owner Dean “Mayor” Lewis decided to stop selling salvage parts and convert the entire lot into a museum. It is a unique museum where you walk through nature and rusted cars feel like art installations. In many places trees grow through the cars. If you park cars in one place for more than 30 years, Mother Nature takes over.

Every year he added more cars to his collection, to the point that he had to buy more land to store them. Despite being in the salvage business, it was difficult to purchase car parts from Dean. He has a deep attachment to his cars, and it took deep pockets to convince Dean to join his sweethearts. Better yet, check out the thousands of flood-damaged enthusiast cars showing up at auctions in Florida. Fortunately, Dean realized there was more money to be made by converting his junkyard into a museum and charging visitors for it.

In addition to classic cars, Old Car City also has other attractions, such as “Fast Eddie” McDaniel. Fast Eddie grew up with Dean, and the two forged a childhood friendship around rusting steel and wood. Nowadays, if you’re lucky, you can find him behind a piano playing the blues.

While Old Car City has its share of AMCs, Chryslers and Mercurys, it also has rare examples. There are cars you would never expect to find in a junkyard that cost a pretty penny these days. That includes a 1968 Dodge Coronet Super Bee, which could fetch more than $100,000, and an Oldsmobile 442, which can command similarly high prices today. There’s also a 1970 Dodge Challenger that could sell for big bucks if restored, but is now nothing more than a rusted heap.