Art in the Junkyard

Art photography by Chris Garza, in various Oregon junkyards. The hearse was not junked, but was driven there by the owner of the Graveyard Carz TV show.

Junkyard Find: 1950s? Renault Dauphine

I spotted this severely stripped Frenchie in a wrecking yard in the process of being cleared out in early 2012. Not much is left of it, its color and stripes tell me that it was once a Gordini, but the few parts remaining looked to be usable.

The car was probably crushed shortly after this.

Lost Junkyard: The Monroe Street Hoard, Eugene, Oregon

Buried boattail Riviera. This picture is known to readers of video-game webzine Ctrl+Alt+Defeat, it was published in issue seven.

R107 Mercedes-Benz SL and crunched early Datsun 240Z

R107 SL in a dire state of neglect, amid lots of parts.

I first spotted this property as a kid riding the school bus through the bowels of Eugene, Oregon in the early 1990s, while not as exciting as the decaying marvel full of 50s, 60s and Malaise Era American & Japanese metal that was J&W Towing's lot on West 2nd Avenue (cleaned up in approximately 2007, no pictures are currently known to exist on the internets, and my film pics & their negatives are long-gone), this was a greatly exciting thing to see for a young car person and brightened up my noisy, boring bus ride and made my school day brighter. The lot continued to fill up with rotting car parts and eventually had a final car (tarped black BMW E30 four-door) added, but was cleaned up in early 2012, most likely between being adjacent to school-district property and being an eyesore.

Sad E21

Buick Riviera rally wheel hiding amongst an E21 Bimmer and random parts

E21 3-series, random parts and a Boattail Riviera

After almost everything was removed.

A random assortment of BMW parts

BMW parts, early Mustang parts and more...

As the property sits today.

Rust In Peace: 1939 Buick Limited in Springfield, Oregon

 (excuse the arty edits, photos were taken with intent of selling on my deviantART account)

This Fisher-bodied (back when "Body By Fisher" really meant something) 1939 Buick Limited, once a Pikes Peak taxi in Colorado according to the junkyard owner, has sat so long in gross decay that it has its own ecosystem and I could hear it rotting away.

It is a huge shame for such a majestic old car to end up this way, but we can't save them all.