Eerie photos of abandoned cars around the world

Abandoned cars hide everywhere.

Some are truly concealed while others are hiding in plain sight. The lucky ones get discovered and sent straight to big-name auctions where they vie for the attention of collectors looking for an ambitious project. However, the overwhelming majority of cars that fall into the ran when parked category simply sit in their final resting spot until they are crushed or until they return to nature one speck of rust at a time.

We've compiled a gallery of original photos showing abandoned cars all around the world, so please hop aboard:

Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV

This Alfetta GTV serves as a reminder, should you need one, that Alfa Romeo truly used poor-quality steel during the 1970s. It also illustrates the heavy toll that Australia’s humid climate takes on cars. Parked in a field and accompanied by other decrepit classics, the GT was so rusty that it looked like it was melting. We’d be afraid to sit in it, let alone try to pull it onto a trailer.

They’re not all that bad, luckily. Rust-free, running Alfetta GTs can be had for around £10,000 in the UK. US enthusiasts need to set aside about $8000 for one.

Austin Marina

The Marina earned the dubious honor of being the very last car Austin attempted to sell in the US before throwing in the towel. While sales figures are lost to history, it’s safe to assume they were low at best. In 2018, most automotive historians agree the number of Marinas left in the US hovers around 25.

One survivor is hiding behind an abandoned repair shop in a rural part of central Michigan. Automotive archaeology tells us this is one of the last examples sent to the US. Cars built in 1973 and 1974 wore an Austin emblem above the driver-side headlight. 1975 models like this one got a Marina emblem instead.

The Marina rarely comes up for sale in the US. In the UK, where the Marina joined the Morris line-up, plan on spending £4000 for a running and driving example – if you can find one.

Bentley Mulsanne

No amount of prestige or cachet can save a car from the junkyard. This Bentley Mulsanne made around 1990 was discarded in a Scottish scrap metal yard in the same manner that a rusty, seven-owner Daewoo Matiz would have been. Your guess is as good as ours when it comes to answering the question of precisely how it ended up there.

Unless you're shopping new, putting a Bentley Mulsanne in your driveway is more affordable than you might think. In the UK, there are several examples for sale for under the £10,000 threshold. In the US, there are many examples for sale in the $15,000 range. Keeping one running – and keeping the tank full – is another story.

Chevrolet Advance Design

Chevrolet introduced the Advance Design series of trucks in 1947. It was the firm’s first ground-up truck redesign after World War II. Over 70 years later, a disproportionately large number of Advance Design trucks are sitting in fields or in barns across America, adding authenticity to the décor as they wait for an enthusiast to give them a new lease on life. We photographed this example in southern California.

You can find an Advance Design in need of a complete restoration for under $10,000. Running examples cost about $20,000 while perfectly restored trucks sometimes command $40,000. In the UK, where the truck was never officially sold, prices for imported examples start in the vicinity of £20,000.

Chevrolet Impala

The arid desert on either side of the border between California and Nevada is a good place to source classic cars because they’re normally rust-free. This mid-1960s Impala is sun-baked and likely too far gone to restore but it’s more solid than some 10-year old cars we’ve seen roaming the road-salted parts of the Rockies.

In the US, $15,000 gets you into a restored Impala – finding one that hasn’t been modified may be tricky business, though. They’re understandably much more expensive in the UK, where you may have to save up around £25,000 to add one to your collection.

Citroën 2CV

The Citroën 2CV abruptly sky-rocketed in value during the 2010s but that doesn’t mean every example sleeps in a heated garage after getting treated to a full, body-off-frame restoration. There are still thousands of 2CVs rotting away in fields, junkyards, ravines and barns. Nature is slowly re-claiming this example on an equally abandoned farm in the south of France. It’s one of about a dozen cars strewn across the property like confetti. The roster includes another 2CV, a Dyane, several Renault 4s, and a Peugeot 203.

In the UK, plan on spending about £10,000 for a car with suicide doors in good condition. In the US, where the 2CV is much harder to find, you may need to set aside close to $20,000.

Citroën 2CV AZU

The hand-painted registration number indicates this Citroën 2CV AZU was made in 1955. The metal plaque riveted to the sheet metal above the windshield suggests it spent the first few years of its life in the hands of a chemical company located in France. The firm likely sold it to a local farmer who hid it out of sight when he no longer needed it. The missing body panels are stashed in the back of it but the flat-twin engine and the four-speed manual transmission are long gone. All of the glass is missing, too.

Plan on spending about £15,000/$20,000 for a fully restored 2CV AZU with suicide doors.

Fiat 238

In Europe, commercial vehicles tend to dominate their home market. You’re much more likely to see Fiat vans in Italy than in France. Ford vans reign supreme in the UK and Volkswagen vans rule the roost in Germany. This Fiat 238 started its life in the 1960s by delivering natural gas bottles in the Italian Alps but it later defected to the French side of the border. After spending decades getting chewed alive by road salt, it ended up being used as a somewhat mobile storage shed in a field next to a river.

The 238 is uncommon at best outside of Italy, where panel vans in average shape cost about €5,000 (£4400/$5700). You’ll need to spend more for one that’s exceptionally clean, set up as a camper or both.

Ford Capri RS 2600

Ending its days in the sunny south of France, this Ford Capri RS 2600 looks like a race car project someone started but never finished. We hope the owner is aware of the RS 2600’s rarity. Ford of Germany made only 3532 examples of the car between 1970 and 1975. Power came from a 2637cc Cologne V6, which rustled up 150 hp.

Many were mercilessly flogged on the track so sitting half-finished next to a fuel station may be more of a blessing than a curse for this example. Finding a restored RS 2600 is easier said than done; you’ll need to extend your search to all of Europe. Plan on spending at least £30,000 ($40,000) for a decent example.

Honda Z

Finding a beaten-up Honda Z in Tokyo, where space is a costly luxury, was completely unexpected. It was near the entrance of a small scrap metal business whose owner evidently felt a little bit of pity for the kei car and decided not to crush it it. It might have sentimental value, a common cause for the abandoned car symptom, or he may have planned to one day restore it. Looking at the rust, we'd argue it’s a little bit late for that.

Extremely rare in the UK, the Z can fetch around £10,000 in good shape. In the US, the few examples that come up for sale normally trade hands for a sum in the vicinity of $10,000.

Lancia Flaminia

The Flaminia represents a bygone era in which Lancia’s cars were as luxurious as those made by Mercedes-Benz and more engaging to drive. It’s a rare sight in the US, where sales remained low due in part to its high price and its obscure image. This example on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah, was parked in the same makeshift barn as another, earlier Flaminia and three Appias. They may have been salvageable had the structure they were in not collapsed during a snow storm in the 1990s. This author received permission from the owner to drag the five cars out of the debris only to find they were too far gone to reasonably restore.

You may have to go to Italy to find a four-door Flaminia in 2018. Restorable but non-running examples can be had for under €10,000 (roughly £9000/$11,000). Plan on spending considerably more for a coupe.

Mercedes-Benz W115

When we found it, this 1970s Mercedes-Benz W115 had been abandoned for at least as long as the house attached to the garage it was in. Anti-corrosion paint crudely applied to the common rust spots suggests the last person who drove it went to great lengths to keep it on the road for as long as possible. After retiring, it served as a parts car to keep other W115s alive. We photographed it in central France in 2014. Four years later, the car is gone but the house behind it has been fully restored.

In 2018, four-door W115s remain some of the most affordable classics on the market. Reasonably clean examples start at £5000 in the UK and about $5000 in the US. The straight-six-powered W114 models cost a little bit more.

Mercedes-Benz W126

Getting permission to take photos of this late-1980s Mercedes-Benz W126 required using sign language to convince the owner of a scrap metal business located on the outskirts of Tokyo that we didn’t work for the local police. We successfully silently negotiated our way into the place but the language barrier prevented us from asking how the big-bodied Mercedes ended up reigning over a garage-sized pile of car parts.

In the UK, £3000 gets you a clean W126 with galactic mileage; that’s nothing to be afraid of if it's been maintained properly. In the US, running examples are available for as little as $2000.

Jeep CJ-6

The Jeep CJ-6 was a longer version of the CJ-5 launched in 1955 to satisfy the perceived demand for a more spacious off-roader. It failed to gain traction in the US, where it spent its 20-year career in the shadow of its smaller sibling, but it became one of the more popular Jeep models in South America. The dusty example pictured here spends its days basking in the sun in Chile’s Atacama desert.

In the UK, plan on spending at least £10,000 for a CJ-6. You may luck out and find a right-hand drive example, too. In the US, running and driving CJ-6s are available for under $10,000.

Morris Mini Minor 850

In 1980, the owner of this 1972 Morris Mini Minor 850 drove it to a garage in Marseilles, France, to get a few basic repairs done. He never came back to pick it up for reasons that remain murky and it consequently sat in a corner of the shop for the next 38 years. This author purchased the 850 in 2018 and is in the process of getting it back on the road.

In the UK, plan on spending £8000 for a turn-key car. In the US, good examples start in the $12,000 range. US-spec models are almost gone so the cars that come up for sale are usually examples imported from overseas.

Peugeot 403

This 1960s Peugeot 403 has been stripped of many usable parts including the complete interior, mechanical components like the cylinder head and every hinged body panel. It has spent decades parked on an abandoned campground located far off the beaten path in the south of France. The person who left it there evidently didn’t want anyone else to find it.

Clean, running and rust-free 403s start in the £10,000 range. Peugeot sold the 403 in the US but most American-spec examples disappeared long ago. The rare ones that come up for sale in the US were usually imported as classics from Europe.

Renault 4CV

From how it lost its door pillars to how it ended up in the middle of a French forest, this Renault 4CV would have a lot of stories to tell if it could talk. There are enough parts left on it to tell it was made between 1953 and 1955. The owner’s work truck – a 1940s Renault – and his house are located a little further down the trail in similarly decrepit shape. The car, the truck and the house haven’t been touched in decades.

Had it remained in like-new condition, this 4CV would be worth about £10,000 in the UK. In the US, where Renault officially sold the 4CV, good examples trade hands for about $10,000.

Renault Juvaquatre

While some of its peers are attending car shows, this 1950s Renault Juvaquatre watches days go by half-buried in a field in a rural part of France near the border with Switzerland. We don’t know why. It might be intentional – it almost looks like a shrine – or it may have found itself parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s too bad; it’s complete and, dents aside, the part we can see looks in decent shape.

If you browse the French classifieds, you can find a clean Juvaquatre that hasn’t spent a significant amount of time underground for less than £10,000 ($13,000).

Renault 6

For decades, the Renault 6 was merely a dirt-cheap, practical car that could be purchased for peanuts, driven until the engine burned too much oil and discarded like a pair of old socks. That’s the fate this example seemingly suffered. It’s in the woods not far from the Mediterranean sea, parked on bricks and hiding under an increasingly thick layer of pine needles.

Mass produced and mass destroyed, the Renault 6 is no longer a persona non grata at classic car events. Early examples like this one can cost about £4000 ($5200) in good condition. Renault never sold the 6 in the US but collectors have imported a small handful of examples.

Renault 16

Like the smaller 6, the Renault 16 had a rough time making the transition from a cheap used car to a sought-after collector’s item. It’s a model that was worth very little for a long time, which likely explains how this example ended up left for dead on a back street in Morocco. It was rusty, dented and rough but its interior was in relatively good shape. Still, it’s not an example we’d consider a candidate for restoration.

The Renault 16 remains a little bit off-beat in the collector car world. An example in excellent condition likely won’t cost much than £10,000. In the US, where Renault sold the 16 between 1968 and 1972 with several market-specific tweaks, $10,000 gets you an example in good condition.

Saab 900

Saab waited until the middle of the 1980s to turn the 900 into a convertible. It looks like the owner of this early 1980s 900 hatchback got tired of waiting and decided to take the matter into his own hands. He then put the roof back on and let his creation sit on the side of a back road in rural Sweden. The other Saabs nearby were in much better shape.

In the UK, 900s start from £5000 in running condition. In the US, prices start at $2000.

Subaru Brat

The Subaru Brat likely isn’t the model that comes to mind when you picture an old, worse-for-the-wear pickup sitting in the American desert. Once owned by a construction company, this first-generation Brat boldly defies every stereotype about abandoned pickups in rural Nevada.

In 2018, the first-generation Subaru Brat is an endangered species. $5000 gets you a solid example in need of minor work. In the UK, you’ll likely have to settle for a second-generation model. They’re a little difficult to find but normally priced under £5000.

Volkswagen 1303/Super Beetle

This Volkswagen 1303/Super Beetle from the 1970s is, somewhat fittingly, parked in a colorful field of flowers in rural Sweden. The spots of primer and the missing front lights suggest it’s a restoration project that an enthusiast never finished. Beetle parts are readily available (and usually fairly affordable) all over the world so wrapping it up would be a straight-forward process if it’s solid underneath.

With its curved windshield and its bigger dashboard, the Super Beetle/1303 is the black sheep of the air-cooled Volkswagen family. In the UK, nice ones start in the £3000 range. In the US, perfect examples are available in the $10,000 range.

Volvo Amazon

Parked on the outskirts of Lyon, France, this Volvo Amazon is home to an entire ecosystem that propagates moss and houses many different types of bugs. The registration sticker on the windshield indicates it was last on the road in 1979, meaning it hadn’t moved in nearly four decades when we took this photo.

Volvo made about 670,000 examples of the Amazon. In the UK, running and driving examples cost about £10,000. In the US, plan on spending around $10,000 for the same car.

ZAZ 968

We imagine that, for this 1970s ZAZ 968, permanently occupying a parking spot behind an apartment building is a more relaxing way to spend time than braving Moscow’s daunting traffic. This well-used example of what has become known as the Soviet Corvair hadn’t moved in quite some time when we photographed it in 2016. The owner placed a plastic bag over the broken driver-side window to keep snow away from the countless boxes stored inside the car.

You can find a super-clean 968 for about €1000 (roughly £900/$1100). The catch is you’ll most likely need to retrieve it from one of the countries it was originally sold in, nearly all of them former client states of the Soviet Union.