Are you looking for something you don’t see everyday? Are you getting tired of shooting beautiful vistas and pretty flowers? Well, I have found a place to add another genre to your portfolio. Old Car City USA in White, Georgia has 32 acres of antique and classic cars that were accumulated over the years when the site served as a salvage yard, and are currently rusting away and being reclaimed by nature. The business now caters to photographers, classic car fans, and folks who want to see something different.
I was heading home from ATL after a visit with my parents, and decided to make a stop on the way to the airport. The announcement earned eye rolls from both parents… what do they know? I wanted to check it out. The location is an hour northwest of the airport, and was only slightly out of my way, so off I went, with my new favorite lens in tow… an ultra-wide angle (read my review HERE).
It was a Saturday morning in June, and I arrived at 9 am, when it opened, and got checked in and received the orientation schpiel. I was directed to the last car Elvis purchased, and his leather jacket, and more importantly, at the time, a bathroom. I paid my admission and was told that I was free to stay until 4 pm. That was not going to happen, but the option was available to me.
I left the main building and started wandering around, photographing old cars and other rusty car parts. It was overwhelming, but also interesting. The weather started out cool and most of the area is in shade. It was about an hour before it was too hot to continue. I gave up at about 10:30. At that point, there were a couple of other groups wandering around, but there was no problem with social distancing. I was just hot, and I had enough photos to capture the moment.
There were cars with bullet holes and cars with trees growing through them, lots of those actually. The cars have been sitting in the yard since they were abandoned, some in the 50’s and 60’s. The site had been enhanced with lots of hand painted signs with quotes and miscellaneous facts.
It would have been nice if they had a map. During the orientation, I was shown a satellite map, and there are signs, and fences, so you won’t get lost, but finding a specific kind of car would be pure happenstance unless you were there before.
Just in case you haven’t seen enough… here is a link to the gallery of everything from the visit! The photos on this page are at a reduced resolution for ease of loading, the originals are much larger files, and are available for download.
