The great Impala burial grounds

[LostInTheWoods]

I would guess the owner thinks they are worth $10K each because he saw a restored convertible version sell for $30,000 at auction. Offer the $1-2K they are worth, and he says he will restore them one day. This situation is repeated all over the country. Eventually either the cars are consumed by the earth or the owner dies and the relatives then scrap the cars.

Or they just don't need money and think they're nice to look at. Not everybody is poor. Just because a car doesn't run doesn't mean some people don't want to keep it around for numerous different reasons.

 

[atikovi]

I understand that and have a few myself. It's their cars and they can do whatever they want with them. Eventually, being parked on grass, they will have rotted beyond rescue if that hasn't happened already. Hard to tell from the picks.

 

[Jarlaxle]

To bad.
There sits the greatest cars of their era.

HAHAHAHAHA! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Wait, you were serious?

 

[Lapham3]

Pretty much. I've seen similar all over and the reasons vary. When we lived in the UP of Michigan in the early 70's, it was very common. It seemed as vehicles were driven to the end and then parked in the yard. We called them 'status symbols'.

 

[ecotourist]

My first car was a battered and rusty '63 Biscayne wagon, about as basic as you could get - 3-speed manual column shift without synchro, inline-6, crank windows, and no AC, PS, or PB. It did have an AM radio though. Yep, big steering wheel - many turns lock-to-lock.

I'd be willing to bet your '63 Biscayne had synchro in 2nd and 3rd gear. My '63 Chevy II did. It wasn't synchro in first gear however.

 

[ecotourist]

When we built our first house (1978) our neighbour parked his unlicensed, heavily rusted, paint peeling, non running 1967 6 cylinder Mustang beside his new house in our upscale development. He said he planned to restore it. He moved it across the street once for unknown reasons during the few days our house was for sale in 1989, then moved it back beside his house. A year or so ago we drove past our old house. It was still there, still rusty, still unlicensed and looking worse than ever.

So that eyesore (and I don't mean that in a good way) has been moved only once that I know of in 40 years. It's not a good look.

 

[atikovi]

No zoning in Canada? That would be gone in a week around here.

 

[mccandish]

And as lowriders. Lowrider Magazine seemed always to have one of these in every issue. I saw more than a few dolled-up Impalas when I visited Albuquerque, and on Federal Avenue (Saturday night was "cruising night") in Denver when I lived there in '97-'01.

My best buddy in high school had a 4-door '63 or '64 -- I don't recall if it was an Impala or one of the lower-level models. The car was 7-8 years old even then. And that was a long life for a 1960s car.

If it's good enough for Cheech...

 

[Number_35]

I'd be willing to bet your '63 Biscayne had synchro in 2nd and 3rd gear. My '63 Chevy II did. It wasn't synchro in first gear however.

I'm sure you're right - when we as young guys talked about cars having "no synchro", we meant we couldn't downshift into first while moving - 2nd and 3rd shifts up or down were no problem.

I guess there was a time before synchronizers at all, but that was before my time.

 

[ecotourist]

No zoning in Canada? That would be gone in a week around here.

If we had reported him it might have gotten moved. But I'd hate to do that to a neighbour.

 

[AutoMechanic]

No zoning in Canada? That would be gone in a week around here.

You should come to Virginia where I live stuff sits around everywhere especially in the rural towns their are tons of lots full of cars and buses and tractor trailers etc nobody really cares around here and here they leave cars sitting next to the road for sometimes up to a week. I personally don’t see an issue with it.

 

[BLND1]

That isn’t some static display - those people are called hoarders.

Or they just don't need money and think they're nice to look at. Not everybody is poor. Just because a car doesn't run doesn't mean some people don't want to keep it around for numerous different reasons.