logo
I stumbled across a luxury car graveyard where Cadillacs & Chevys rot after owner abandoned hundreds of vintage vehicles

I stumbled across a luxury car graveyard where Cadillacs & Chevys rot after owner abandoned hundreds of vintage vehicles

The Sun11-05-2025
TAKING a spin through his home state, photographer Dax Ward's eyes widened as he spotted a sprawling estate of abandoned cars.
But on closer inspection, he was stunned to realise the 20-acre site was packed with rotting classic cars as well as custom boats, vans and trucks.
14
14
14
14
Delving into its history of how so many vintage vehicles ended up in a graveyard on a hillside in Arkansas, Dax discovered the owner had vanished years ago.
The site is now a magnet for opportunistic thieves with their sights set on selling parts.
Dax said: "The junkyard owner once took great pride in his collection, even having shot a thief in the past and pistol-whipping another to protect his automotive treasure trove.
"However, the owner has not lived on the property for some 20 years and rarely visits, having abandoned the location after a messy divorce.
"There are many cars still remaining, but a number have been stolen over the years and the ones that remain have been stripped for parts by thieves."
Jaw-dropping pictures show once indulgent vehicles weathered by the elements and sat rotting on the sprawling 20-acre ground.
Antique cars including Cadillacs, Chevys, Buicks, and VWs have been taken over by rust.
Dax said: "The property owner once owned a tow truck company and many of the vehicles were sold to him at very low prices from the customers who he served.
"He amassed an enormous collection of valuable antique vehicles over the years, which would now be worth millions of dollars.
"The collection is still valuable, but thieves regularly visit and the cars are slowly disappearing, piece by piece or body by body.
Inside world-famous abandoned 'UFO village' packed with crumbling spaceship holiday homes
"Local law enforcement sometimes catches intruders, but prosecution is often halted as nobody has seen or heard from the owner in years and he cannot be located, even by authorities."
Dax visited the location twice, and was shown around by a neighbour who had not heard from the site's owner, a childhood friend, in years.
The explorer added: "He gave me a roundup of the history of the property, the owner and automobiles, as well as describing regular incidents of thieves raiding the property.
"Watching the beautiful cars, as well as valuable antiques and other rare and expensive items be stolen or picked clean over the years has left him in frustration.
"Unfortunately, there is little he can do but watch. He tries to keep watch and notifies police regularly if he sees trespassers, but they often arrive too late to catch the intruders."
14
14
14
14
14
The neighbour told Dax how the owner abandoned the site more than 20 years ago after going through a divorce.
Dax said: "His ex-wife's custom Cadillac - sent to Italy and then re-imported after customisation - sits parked in the driveway of the uninhabited house, in the same spot that it was parked and left behind two decades ago.
"He left derelict the posh house and many vehicles, became addicted to gambling in casinos over the border in Oklahoma and worked up a severe debt.
"While exploring and documenting this fascinating location I was simultaneously awestruck by the amount of classic cars, many of them expensive and rare, and saddened by the loss of such a collection, the remnants of which sit and rot."
Dax previously visited Taiwan's .
With its UFO -like buildings the star of the show, the resort's space -age retro splendor continues to slowly fade away.
Perched on Taiwan 's northern coast in Wanli, the unusual collection of buildings was supposed to act as a holiday park.
But what remains is a series of bizarre, decaying structures nestled beside a beach that Dax captured on camera.
14
14
14
14
How to report an abandoned car
Reporting an abandoned vehicle is important for keeping city streets safe and clean
Not only is an abandoned car an eyesore, it's also a hazard to the surrounding community as pests and rodents can take refuge in the interior, engine bay, or trunk.
Leaking fluids can be dangerous for the environment, as many vehicle fluids are toxic and can wreak havoc on ecosystems if they enter waterways.
They can also encourage crime with several cities like Oakland, California reporting that drug dealers may use them to hide and side drugs or weapons.
Abandoned vehicles can also lower property values.
Therefore, they're worth Specific contact information for your city's abandoned car hotline may vary, but the necessary information on the vehicle is the same.
When reporting an abandoned vehicle, police will need:
The exact address of the vehicle
Information on the steering column (broken, missing, intact, etc)
Condition of the vehicle (severely damaged, windows broken, leaking fluids, missing body panels or doors, etc)
Make and model
Color
Body style (pickup truck, SUV, sedan, etc)
License plate number and state, if applicable
VIN
Many cities will allow residents to report abandoned vehicles online through an online form, or it can be called in.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump posts AI video of Obama being arrested after Gabbard's coup claims: ‘No one is above the law'
Trump posts AI video of Obama being arrested after Gabbard's coup claims: ‘No one is above the law'

The Independent

time25 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Trump posts AI video of Obama being arrested after Gabbard's coup claims: ‘No one is above the law'

Donald Trump has posted a bizarre AI video of former president Barack Obama being arrested and thrown in jail. Trump, still mired in controversy over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, posted the TikTok clip on his Truth Social platform on Sunday in which the Democrat is seen declaring in a rally speech that 'no one is above the law.' He is then seen being handcuffed by law enforcement during an Oval Office sitdown with a grinning Trump, created using real footage of the two men meeting at the White House in November 2016 when the Republican was president-elect and Obama about to leave office. The Democrat is then led away and subsequently seen wearing an orange jumpsuit in a federal prison, all of which is soundtracked by The Village People's 1970s disco anthem 'YMCA,' which has become the Republican's personal theme tune. Trump appears to have been responding to comments made by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who appeared on Maria Bartiromo 's Fox News show Sunday Morning Futures over the weekend and accused Obama of orchestrating a 'years-long coup' to keep Trump from the White House. Gabbard had announced on Friday that she was referring Obama administration officials, including ex-FBI director James Comey and her predecessor James Clapper, to the Justice Department for prosecution over allegations they had 'manufactured' intelligence to substantiate the idea that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton. The president posted about Gabbard's claim 17 times over the weekend, drawing accusations that he was attempting to shift the national conversation away from his past relationship with Epstein, the billionaire pedophile and sex trafficker who died in jail in August 2019. Trump's administration caused uproar two weeks ago by announcing that no Epstein 'client list' existed and that the financier had died by his own hand in a New York penitentiary, a verdict that incensed the president's own supporters demanding justice for Epstein's victims and punishment for his enablers. Speaking to Bartiromo about the Obama administration on Sunday, Gabbard alleged: 'Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the president from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.' Her claims have been attacked as baseless by Democrats, among them Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who called her announcement 'one more example of the director of national intelligence trying to cook the books.' 'It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president's election conspiracy theories,' Warner wrote on X. 'It is appalling to hear DNI Gabbard accuse her own IC workforce of committing a 'treasonous conspiracy' when she was unwilling to label Edward Snowden a traitor.' Obama has yet to respond to Trump's taunts but the president, himself a convicted felon, has kept at it on Truth Social, also posting mocked-up prison mugshots of Obama cabinet members and a call for California Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff to be arrested.

The dark reason I cut off my mum & refused to speak to her for 11 years – I had zero regrets, even on her death bed
The dark reason I cut off my mum & refused to speak to her for 11 years – I had zero regrets, even on her death bed

The Sun

time26 minutes ago

  • The Sun

The dark reason I cut off my mum & refused to speak to her for 11 years – I had zero regrets, even on her death bed

WHEN a police officer knocked on Stephanie Peirolo's door on a rainy evening in 2003, she instantly knew why they were there. Her 16-year-old son, RJ, had left home just half an hour earlier to visit a friend - when he was involved in a horror car crash at a junction. 4 4 He was sober. He was wearing his seatbelt. He was doing everything right. 'I just said, 'Is he dead?' And he said, 'Not yet,'' she recalls. Stephanie followed the police car to her nearest trauma hospital in Seattle, where she lives, Harborview Medical Centre. The journey was a blur of rain and panic, and to her shock, she arrived just moments after her son's ambulance. The officer led her through the emergency entrance, and that was when she saw something she'll never forget. 'Some paramedics were hosing blood out of the back of an ambulance,' she remembers. 'There was so much of it. And I knew. I just knew that was for my son.' She stood in shock, knowing that what she was about to face was far more heartbreaking than she had previously imagined. RJ survived the crash but suffered a catastrophic brain injury. The accident took place on a rainy winter night, at a junction known locally for poor visibility. Lisa Riley opens up on the grief of losing her mum RJ had passed his test almost a year earlier, when another car accidentally drove into his vehicle. The other driver thankfully escaped uninjured, and neither of them were found to be at fault. For months, RJ lay in a coma - his eyes open, but unresponsive. It took nearly a year before he could begin to communicate, signalling 'yes' with a lifted thumb and 'no' by lowering it. RJ spent several weeks in intensive care, and several months in hospital, before Stephanie was given the difficult choice to bring him home, despite still being in a coma, due to health insurance issues. A single mother, she was raising two teenagers at the time - her sunny and outgoing daughter Emma, then 15, and her bright and sensitive son RJ - while trying to hang on to her job as the vice president of an ad agency to keep their much-needed health insurance. She had previously split from their dad, who had moved to France when their kids were in nursery. Alongside the trauma of RJ's condition, Stephanie was also navigating her crumbling relationship with her mother, Diane Peirolo. The two had always had a strained dynamic. When Stephanie's father died unexpectedly, she was 19 and says she was left to plan the funeral alone. Her mother, then 47 and recently retired, remained sedated on the sofa, after taking 'one too many Valium'. 'After my dad's death, Mum always talked about 'her husband'... never 'your father,' even to me,' Stephanie recalls. 'It was always her grief, her story. We all just knew the rules.' Where to seek grief support Need professional help with grief? Child Bereavement UK Cruse Bereavement Relate The Good Grief Trust You can also always speak to your GP if you're struggling. You're Not Alone Check out these books, podcasts and apps that all expertly navigate grief… Griefcast: Cariad Lloyd interviews comedians on this award-winning podcast. The Madness Of Grief by Rev Richard Coles (£9.99, W&N): The Strictly fave writes movingly on losing his husband David to alcoholism. Terrible, Thanks For Asking: Podcast host Nora McInerny encourages non-celebs to share how they're really feeling. Good Mourning by Sally Douglas and Imogen Carn (£14.99, Murdoch Books): A guide for people who've suffered sudden loss, like the authors who both lost their mums. Grief Works: Download this for daily meditations and expert tips. How To Grieve Like A Champ by Lianna Champ (£3.99, Red Door Press): A book for improving your relationship with death. Years later, when RJ's life hung in the balance, the same pattern re-emerged. 'She was one of those women who grew up being taught to compete with other women for everything. That extended to her daughters,' Stephanie, who has a sister, says. 'In her world, attention is a pie. If one person gets a bigger slice, there's less for her.' That competitive edge morphed into something even more painful as RJ's condition worsened. Just months after his accident, as Stephanie sat with Diane next to RJ's hospital bed at home, her mother told her a bizarre story about how she'd been in a car crash as a teenager. 'She was never in one. Her sister was. But she looked me in the eye and claimed it as her own. ''My son, who had actually survived one, was lying next to us.' Stephanie stopped inviting her over after that. For 10 months, she cared for RJ at home, in a makeshift hospital room, before he was moved back to a specialist nursing facility. She was supported by her aunt, who had worked as a rehabilitation nurse. 'The staff did their best,' she says. 'But they were underfunded and overwhelmed.' In 2006, RJ died aged just 19, after he caught flu and then developed sepsis due to complications with his feeding tube. It was two-and-a-half years after his accident. But Diane's worsening behaviour only added to Stephanie's trauma. The grandmother, who should have been grieving with her, began acting as if RJ had never existed. 'I was having lunch with her near my university, where I was studying for a post-graduate degree in transformational leadership,' says Stephanie. 'She was talking about her husband's death, and I had this very vivid sense that people at the next table would assume her husband had just died. ''And that I was just some stranger she was talking to, telling the story for the first time. 'Not her daughter. Not the mother of a child who'd died just a year earlier. 'To anyone nearby, it would've looked like she was a grieving widow having lunch with a kind stranger. ''But I was her daughter. And I was the one grieving, for my son.' Drowning in grief, Stephanie never managed to finish her degree. She says: 'I just couldn't concentrate. ''Grief made everything foggy. Eventually, I left the programme.' 'I couldn't do this anymore' Later, her mother even began borrowing RJ's medical details, inserting them into her own life story. Sitting beside her at a doctor's appointment, Stephanie was stunned when her mother claimed she'd once been in a wheelchair and undergone extensive rehab. 'That never happened to her. But it happened to my son,' she says. She claims her mother looked at her as if to say, 'What are you going to do about it?' 'That's when I realised I couldn't do this anymore,' Stephanie says. 'My mother was of sound mind. She wasn't confused. That was her choice.' Cutting family ties - and shock diagnosis At this point, Stephanie made the decision to cut her mother out. 'I never regretted it. Not once,' she says. 'My life got lighter without her in it. There was more air in the room. 'She didn't make things better. She made them harder. And I had already survived enough.' But family pressure mounted when Diane was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019. 'My aunt would ask, 'Would you see her on her deathbed?'' she recalls. After 11 years of zero contact, Stephanie saw her mother one final time. 'I did see my mother on her deathbed, a decision I made at the last minute, largely because it was important to other people in my family who matter to me,' she explains. Her mother died in January 2022 at the age of 85, and Stephanie went to and planned the funeral, finding a surprising source of comfort during the Catholic priest's eulogy. 'He acknowledged that Diane was a difficult person to get close to. And that helped me,' she says. Stephanie said the huge grief that followed caught her off-guard. 'It was jagged and harsh. Maybe because it came with a huge sense of relief that she was no longer in the world,' she says. In the years since, she's channelled her story into her writing. Her book, The Saint and The Drunk: A Guide to Making the Big Decisions in Your Life, explores how we make choices in emotionally complex moments, especially when they go against family or societal expectations. Stephanie is now 62. She works as an executive coach and consultant and writes. Her daughter Emma, now 37, is a nurse, who worked in the ICU during the pandemic, inspired by her brother. 'The book is about learning to trust your own reality. Even if people around you don't approve or even acknowledge it.' She says toxic family dynamics can drown out your instincts. 'It's like trying to hear a far-off sound in a windstorm. You have to fight to access your inner compass.' 4 Navigating grief Her advice? Surround yourself with people who reflect your truth back to you, friends, support groups, even strangers. 'Grief looks different for everyone,' she says. 'Someone might be shattered by the loss of a pet. Someone else might feel relief after leaving a marriage. There are no rules.' She stays connected with other bereaved parents, those who've lost children through stillbirth, suicide, accidents, or gun violence. 'We're in a horrible club. But we support each other. We understand that grief is not a competition.' One of her family friends lost a baby on the day he was born. Stephanie lost RJ at 19. 'She feels sad for me, that I had to let him go. I feel sad for her, that she never got to watch him grow. ''There's no comparison. There's just love.' It offers a powerful framework for tuning into your instincts, especially in the face of grief, family pressure, and emotional overwhelm.

Stellantis expects $2.7 billion first half loss as restructuring costs, US tariffs hit
Stellantis expects $2.7 billion first half loss as restructuring costs, US tariffs hit

Reuters

time26 minutes ago

  • Reuters

Stellantis expects $2.7 billion first half loss as restructuring costs, US tariffs hit

MILAN, July 21 (Reuters) - Stellantis ( opens new tab said on Monday it expected the hit from restructuring costs and the initial impact of U.S. tariffs to have pushed the carmaker to a 2.3 billion euro ($2.7 billion) loss in the first half of the year. The owner of brands including Fiat, Peugeot, Chrysler and Jeep said its initial estimate was that tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on U.S. imports would have cost it 300 million euros, due to lower shipments and production cuts as the company adjusted manufacturing levels to the trade duties. North America shipments, or deliveries of cars to dealers, distributors or retail and fleet customers, declined by 25% year-on-year in the second quarter, it said. Stellantis' preliminary first half results, which compared with a 5.6 billion euro net profit a year earlier, underscore the carmaker's ongoing struggle and the challenge for new CEO Antonio Filosa, who was appointed in May after poor results in 2024 led to the ousting of former boss Carlos Tavares. The carmaker's shares fell 2% in early trade, underperforming a 0.6% drop in Milan's broader market (.FTMIB), opens new tab. They are now down 37% since the start of the year. Last year, Stellantis imported over 40% of the 1.2 million vehicles it sold in the United States, mostly from Mexico and Canada. In April this year, the company said it had reduced vehicle imports in response to tariffs and would calibrate "production and employment to reduce impacts on profitability". Stellantis said on Monday it booked 3.3 billion euros in pre-tax net charges for the first half due to programme cancellation costs, including one for hydrogen propulsion development which it recently decided to discontinue, as well as changes to its manufacturing platforms as it makes changes to target demand for hybrid vehicles. It also mentioned the net impact of alignment on the emissions regulations in the United States where authorities in June published the final ruling on the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which regulate how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel. The carmaker, which earlier this year suspended its forecasts for 2025 results, said it had taken the unprecedented decision to publish unaudited preliminary financial data to bring analyst consensus forecasts more in line with the group's actual performance, in the absence of an official guidance. Its first-half revenue totalled 74.3 billion euros, versus 85 billion euros in the first half of 2024, but marking an improvement from the second half of last year when revenue totalled 71.8 billion euros. "Results reflect the early stages of actions being taken to improve performance and profitability, with new products expected to deliver larger benefits in the second half of 2025," JPMorgan analysts said in a note. Stellantis said it burnt through 2.3 billion euros of cash in the first half. Overall second-quarter shipments fell by 6% compared to a year earlier, to an estimated 1.4 million vehicles, it said. ($1 = 0.8595 euros)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store