Latest news with #abandonedplaces
The Drive
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Is This Some Weird Guy's Car Collection or an Insurance Fraud Dumping Ground?
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Sometimes, you watch a YouTube video that leaves you scratching your head. I found myself in just that scenario after being served this clip from Exploring With Josh—a creator with an affinity for abandoned places. In this video, he's checking out a neglected American property that is currently home to an incredibly diverse 'collection' of automobiles of varying ages. Is this an eccentric's abandoned collection or simply a dumping ground for local fraudsters? I've watched the video through twice and I still can't decide. Josh dedicates quite a bit of the video to telling the story of the home's last reported occupant, but the details are vague and given his penchant for exaggeration (virtually none of the cars in his video thumbnail even exist on this property, for example), I'd suggest taking the narrative with a grain of salt. The actual exploratory bits are where we find all the good stuff. And by good stuff, I mean weird stuff. Even if the locals have been using the property as an impromptu junkyard, I'd find it hard to believe that a random assortment of locals are looking to offload such high concentrations of quirky European cars. There are at least two vintage Alfas on the property (and potentially a third lurking beneath a car cover), along with an old Nissan Stanza and the garage-kept Lotus Esprit. Also in storage is a rather clean-looking Honda CB750. Exploring With Josh via YouTube If it stopped there, I could reasonably write this off as the former collection of a fellow car geek, but it doesn't, and I won't. Why? Well, while both the Volvo V50 and a Buick Regal TourX technically count as European wagons (the latter was an Opel, don't forget), they don't exactly fit in with the rest of the 'collection.' And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Next to that TourX, there's a 981 Boxster on bald tires under a car cover, and out behind the still-covered mystery vehicle lurks an ND Mazda Miata that looks conspicuously spotless. Exploring With Josh via YouTube The host notes the Miata's presence as somewhat anachronistic, but elsewhere in the video he suggests that the property has sat in this state for about eight years. If he's correct, that would technically put the ND in play; its first year on the market was 2015 (as a 2016 model). The Regal and 981 would likewise just fall within that window. Plausible? Sure. Likely? Hmm. Josh claims the previous owner of the property was born independently wealthy, which makes it plausible that all of the cars we see here belonged to him. Either way, I see a beautiful Pennsylvania Tudor Revival in desperate need of some TLC. If the cars come with it, so much the better. Got tips? Send 'em to tips@
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Climate change is real': devastating wildfire photography
'I hope we learn from these images that climate change is real, and it will affect everyone. Rich, poor, Black or white, people just like you. It's not a hoax or a can to be kicked down the road' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'I traveled to New York City on the bus from Jersey with money from my paper route stuffed in my shoe. When I was a senior in high school I rowed out to then-abandoned Ellis Island to make a 16mm movie and take photographs. That's when my fascination with abandoned places, and their hidden stories, really began' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'All around you just see brick chimneys, and this clock was hung on one and I was amazed that it somehow survived, although its face melted sort of like a Dali painting. It also reminded me of the clock in Hiroshima that stopped at the exact moment of the Atom bomb blast' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'I've been photographing abandoned places for 50 years' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'As an artist I could only imagine how I'd feel if my life's work was lost in a fire.' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'I hope that these immersive installations can transport people to Altadena neighborhood.' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'I saw signs around the parts of town that didn't burn that said 'Keep Altadena together' and I thought about how a community was shattered and if developers buy up the property, that community that was built over decades will disappear' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'Cars and ceramic sculptures were pretty much all that's left that speaks to the humanity of the tragedy' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'This is the Eliot Arts Magnet school in Altadena. I could picture an auditorium just at my high school, filled with kids whose lives were just interrupted by the fire. Some of these art students can use their experiences to make some amazing work one day' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'I've been documenting places of cultural or political importance, hoping to transport people to those places and times so they might look with fresh eyes' Photograph: Phil Buehler 'We don't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children' Photograph: Phil Buehler
