We Talk To The Owner of a Massive Car Hoard About Why Things Aren’t For Sale

There’s a lot of resentment against people who have our dream cars. It’s intensified if the cars appear to just be sitting around, subject to the harsh realities of time. As we rant and rage about the waste, we all love those photos of vehicles sinking back into the earth, sun faded and wrapped in vines. What’s the deal? Why do people hold on to things they don’t use, and why does it make us so mad, yet unable to look away?

I didn’t set out to answer that question when Brandan and I stopped at a hilly property somewhere along State Route 41 in Mississippi during our Power Tour prerun this week. We stopped because we spotted a buttery yellow 1950s Mercury parked behind a white 1930s Dodge and when we got closer, we saw numerous rusting machines of various vintages in a field loosely ringed with barbed wire. As we poked around, trying to gauge at exactly which point our curiosity would become justified-shooting trespassing, a sleepy-looking man came out of the main house with a cup of coffee in his hand and a puzzled expression on his face. I explained who we were (HOT ROD Magazine), and why we had stopped (big car show coming through), and suddenly we were not suspicious characters up to no good on his property, we were fellow car nerds, and welcome to roam through the field, pet the horse, and ask about all the vehicles sitting in the weeds.

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