Photos submitted by Charlie Kelley.
To be a silent witness of the changing of the seasons is the curious fate of cars junked by the countryside. I was reminded of that when thinking of these two old Chevys found in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada back in the early summer. With autumn turning into winter these days, the old Chevys will remain there, silently in wait as their surrounding changes. Leaves will fall, shrubs will wither, and snow will make its appearance.
Maybe these two are lucky to be in their current location. A junked car in nature will most likely outlast those deserted on a city street. How did they arrive there? And who would bother to retrieve them? I can’t think of many who would bother with such a thing.
And yes, I’m aware that technically they’re litter. But in the case of old junked cars, they make for lovely-looking litter.
Now, don’t think of me as if I’m encouraging the practice. But it’s not as if I can do much about these two sitting out there, so I may as well enjoy them for what they are.
In any case, we may consider them litter, but nature doesn’t know otherwise. These objects sit in complete stillness, and seeds, fungi, and whatnot will call them home and recycle them. At their own glacial pace.
It’s also odd for me to think that these two idle lumps of metal took great effort and ingenuity to build. The best talents of humankind. But regardless of the effort and pride placed in them, they’re now nothing more than sophisticated pottery.
So, never mind our contentious relationship with nature. In the end, everything goes back to its fold. And these two old Chevys make for nice scenery while doing so.
This brings back memories. I was born in the city, and lived there until grade one, when my parents retired to the boondocks. Something I wasn’t prepared for, was all the abandoned old cars their were. Everywhere. In the backs of local farm fields, buried in forests. Enter any larger patch of vegetation growth along many highways, and you’d find either car parts, or entire abandoned cars. As a little kid, I was shocked at the limited regulation for disposing of goods, when comparing rural areas to the city.
The local dump still burned everything, with large black smoke plumes, circa 1976. Nor, did they require trash be separated, for recycling. It was this move to the country, that introduced me to many pre-1965 cars. Discovered my first GM X-frame cars this way. As too, my first early Corvair, junked in a forest. First time, I saw cars from the 1930s and ’40s, up close. I had a respect for how heavy and robust components were.
I vividly remember just before Christmas (1977?), my Dad having us kids pull on our toboggan, an exceptionally heavy engine block from the back of his farm to the local dump.
I had a Model A friend that said, anything made of metal can be fixed. But realistically, how long can an old car sit on the ground before it’s rusted out. I’m guessing 2 years, but that’s still a lot of metal work.
How long was yer friend a Model A? lol Don’t forget that the very old cars had much thicker metal shells so would last longer in the elements before rusting through.
If these are on public land they are not litter. Items over 50 years old are considered archaeological artifacts and should not be removed. I was informed of this by a National Park Service naturalist as I was collecting litter by the roadside in the Mojave Preserve. He actually asked to go through my trash bucket, and agreed that Red Bull cans, plastic hubcaps and water bottles were not historical. But he did separate the recyclables to take into town to supplement his beer fund. All jokes aside, I was explicitly informed by a BLM ranger at another place I was volunteering, that the first poptop beer cans are now old enough to be artifacts and should be left in place.
Is that items in-situ for 50 years or just any old thing over 50 sitting on public land? If someone were to junk a 1970 Chrysler today on public land I assume that wouldn’t fit the bill?
Good question that I couldn’t find an easy answer for. But I did find an article suggesting that modern trash left by migrants in the Sonoran Desert should be left in context so future historians can study routes that may not have been documented in other ways. And if you think we nerd out about old cars here at CC, others analyze the minor details of old cans and bottles:
https://www.ntc.blm.gov/krc/system/files?file=legacy/uploads/22015/HistoricArtifactIDGuide.pdf
I see good parts there……
What’s the oldie in the back of the last picture ? .
-Nate
I’m always happy to run into old cars and trucks and equipment like this in the boonies. It reminds me that what may now be a protected place was once a scene of a different type of human activity. They really are relevant historical artifacts.
We were in the Rubys in September, at the peak of the fall colors. Sublime…
High in the mountains above Telluride . . .
Anywhere there were mines, you can find a wealth of old mining vehicles that just weren’t worth removing as the mines shut down. I always found these old vehicles fascinating. Along with old calendars and other print material, they date when the mines last saw activity.