Spotting old cars is one simple joy of auto obsession. But if the sight of these old cars sitting under an overpass in Montreal, Canada covered in dirt and road salt doesn't bother you, we're not sure what would.
Well-guarded and poorly cared for, these old cars look like they were in good condition before they were put under a major highway and literally left to rot.
Whether behind a building or on the side of the road, the simple joy of finding an old car that has survived, in whatever state, is a great one. Our weekly Found off the Street article is dedicated to spotlighting old cars I come across on the cape that rust remembered. The series is an attempt to share the simple enjoyment of coming across something neat and old with other car lovers.
Flickr user Flat-Black 66 decided to do the same when they came across an assortment of neat old cars in Montreal. While the pictures are excellent and very interesting, they tell a sad story of several old cars left to rot. According to the photographer
"I found this group of cars under the Trans Canada Highway in the north end of Montreal. They all look like they have been there for a while, some with flat tires. They appear to be a collection of cars that were in good shape before being put here. They have very little body rust but all of them are showing signs of rust on their crome and trim. They are covered in salt from the passing cars."
While no one is exactly sure how the cars ended up there, it is revealed the under highway storage lot might be owned by a Montreal car dealership chain. The dealer owns a new Volvo dealership and a very high end classic car dealership, which might explain how an odd assortment of old cars ended up covered in salt sitting next to a row of new Volvos. A call to the dealership trying to confirm ownership of the salty cars was met with an expected polite brush off.
On most new car lots, somewhere on the property (usually out of eyesight), you can find a row of unwanted trade-ins. Many of you have likely seen it before, full of traded in cars that most of us wouldn't cast a glance at. At some point it was determined it wasn't worthwhile dealing with these cars, so they were left to sit. Looking at these old cars we are left to wonder if this could possibly be the high end collector car dealership equivalent. We hope not.
While none of these cars would be considered high end collector cars, they certainly don't deserve to sit out getting covered in road salt. Ultimately these cars are the property of the owner of this storage yard and angry looking guard dog to do as they please. We just hope these cars aren't left to rot, neglected and covered in road salt, until they need a complete restoration instead of a wash and some elbow grease.
UPDATE: The cars are now gone. Here's details from the Flickr user:
"I went back a few weeks ago (these pics were taken in 2008 or 2009) and all the cars are now gone. I found another lot in the area with a bunch of classics on it and the neighbour told me that the cars sit till there was space to go into the shop that belonged to the dealer ship. He went on to say that restoration shop held hundreds of cars at a time, so maybe these cars all did get restored in the end? Hope so."
We hope so too.
Special thanks to Flickr user Flat-Black 66 for taking and electing to share these photos. Be sure to check out their Flickr for more underpass pictures.
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