Auburn, Georgia hides a massive collection of rusted metal and forgotten history. Collins Auto Salvage holds nearly a thousand vehicles.
They don’t stack cars on racks here. They let them rot on the ground.
It is chaotic. It is messy. It is exactly where you want to be if you are looking for parts that time has tried to erase. We spent a rainy November morning there years ago, digging through weeds for unloved classics. Here is what we found.
The Picked-Clean Ford Mustang
Some Mustangs stay put for years. This one was picked clean.
Rust ate through the wings. The boot-lid was useless. The windscreen might have been the only valuable piece left. We guess it didn’t last long. Now it is likely just dust in the crusher.
Why the 1978 Ford Ltd Landau Still Had Air
The lot is mostly 1990s inventory. But we found older cars too. Like this 1978 Ford Ltd LandAU.
The plate tag said it hadn’t moved since 1993.
How does a car sit for twenty-five years and keep air in all four tires? It doesn’t make sense. The car was massive. It weighed 1,764 kg. It was 5.18 meters long.
Size mattered then. The 1979 model was shorter and lighter. But this beast took up space. And it kept its tires inflated.
The Rare Cadillac Seville From 1985
The 1980 Seville had a slant-back style that looked like a 1930s sedan.
General Motors wanted younger buyers to switch from German imports. They made the Daimler-like rear end distinct. They made it bold.
Two hundred thousand were built between 1980 and 1986. But they are rare in junkyards now. This circa 1985 example was an outlier.
Is This the Breaking Bad RV?
This 1984 Pace Arrow had yellow and orange stripes. It looked like the mobile drug lab from the first series of Breaking Bad.
Did Walter White cook meth in this exact RV?
No. He used a Fleetwood Bounder. Jesse Pinkman was involved too. But not with this Pace Arrow. This one just sits in the Georgia heat.
Why Chevrolet Corvairs Won’t Die
We always find Corvairs.
More than 1.8 million were built between 1960and 1969. That number is staggering.
It was America’s first mass-produced car with a rear engine. It was air-cooled. Chevy wanted to beat the Volkswagen Bug.
They missed on size. The Bug was tiny. The Corvair was large. But they didn’t miss on longevity. They keep showing up.
The 1977 Chevy El Camino Body
The 1977 El Camino was missing its engine. Most of the glass was gone too.
But the bodywork held up.
Trucks from the previous year looked similar. The headlights were still stacked. The grille was the key change. Vertical bars instead of horizontal ones.
The big shifts happened in 1978. Fifth-generation models changed everything. This 1977 version stayed true to the old look. Even without a door handle. Even without glass. It just sits there.
Waiting for the next buyer who wants a part that doesn’t exist anymore. Or just the thrill of seeing something that hasn’t moved in decades.
