Life has taught me that everything comes to an end, whether it's good or bad. When drivers get tired of their cars, they sell or abandon the vehicles in favor of a new joy ride. That is the cycle of life; one moves from the old to the new.
Lots of us fantasized about owning cars while growing up. Any car would've sufficed at the time since walking everywhere became a chore. When we started making an income, we could afford a ride. We appreciated the ride in the beginning but got bored of it when we saw a car that was flashier, faster and newer.
Some drivers who couldn't afford their dream car became bitter and took their car for granted. The sad part about human nature is that most of us end up taking for granted what we once desired. When some drivers got tired of their cars, they went to the extremes to get rid of the cars. Some drivers tried to sell their cars, and others didn't bother with selling the car, so they buried the vehicles.
We wanted to see the condition of buried cars, so we gleaned photos of the vehicles when it emerged from the ground. Our exploration also led us to cars that were underground.
20 Ferrari 264 Dino
One never knows what they can find in their backyard. Those who seek find, but they might be surprised at what they discover. Ferrari has proven that it makes fast cars, but the manufacturer has a skill for making durable vehicles. LA Times reported that excavators dug up a stolen 1974 Ferrari 264 Dino. What was surprising is that the car was in great condition. LA Times took the picture in 1978 and determined that the Dino was worth around $18,000 at the time.
Children were playing in the backyard and digging the ground when they discovered something odd below the surface.
19 Mercedes G-Wagon
The truth can be stranger than fiction. An art project became an attraction scene when men buried a G-Wagon underground. The men involved in the project buried the SUV in a wooden-covered hole and left only the sunroof uncovered.
According to Auto Evolution, the hole accommodating the ride had air, and artists inserted the side exhaust of the machine into a tube. Brave souls who wanted to enter the car could start the engine and turn on the audio system. The artist, Valeri Lizunova, got the idea to bury the car when he was riding in a Gelandewagen.
18 A Treasure Cave
All good things must come to an end. For cars, that means that they end up in a junkyard or at the bottom of a cave when it can no longer function. The attractions in the United Kingdom aren't limited to only the Big Ben or the Buckingham Palace. Tourists who are car lovers can explore a cave in Wales that boasts an impressive collection of cars.
A group of explorers discovered the Welsh caves that served as a car junkyard. Owners had pushed their cars off the cliff into the 200 feet deep cave. The explorers discovered that the cave boasted hundreds of cars from the 1970s.
17 Russian Pride
AvtoVAZ was a car manufacturer that introduced the Lada brand in 1973. Although Lada wasn't the most visually appealing vehicle, many drivers bought it due to its competitive price, reliability and DIY-friendly mechanics. The police in Russia has a fleet of Ladas. The name Lada derived from a type of Viking longship.
The scarcity of repair shops during the Soviet Union era prompted the automaker to design the Lada for easy maintenance by its owners. The automaker produced more than two million VAZ-2105s from 1980 until 2010. A Lada owner decided to bury his car after he got fed up with it.
16 Bedrock
One of the things that amazes me about cars is the places that one can find them. The other fascinating aspect is that the cars found underground had become classics after being dormant for decades. If the owners of the classic vehicles had preserved their rides, they could've earned high profits at auction from car collectors.
Trying to get the pictured classic car from the underground will be an arduous task for anybody who attempts to do it. The car's tires are flat, and it doesn't have any windows. That's fixable, and the restoration might be worth the effort.
15 Golden Quarry
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Those who don't chase adventure will never know the rush of experiencing the unknown. One person who is familiar with adventure is Vincent Michel. Many people were surprised when Michel, a Belgian PE teacher, discovered a French quarry filled with vintage cars.
The cars are rusted and harbor an interesting history. Historians believed that the French had hidden the cars from the second WW. The collection has been underground for seven decades - the visual is quite surreal especially given the state of the rides.
14 Introspection
The world is an amazing place that boasts numerous gems that are waiting to be discovered. One explorer was fortunate to find classic cars underground. The cars that the explorer discovered were derelicts but classics. What gives the cars a higher status is functioning after being abandoned underground for years.
Some of the cars are beyond repair due to the rust and excessive damage that the cars endured underground. The car with the lights beneath it has no mechanical parts. The owner stripped the parts before leaving the car behind to rot underground.
13 Liverpool Tunnel
The United Kingdom is home to a few sites that foster a collection of abandoned cars underground. Tourists who visit the United Kingdom shouldn't miss the opportunity to explore the tunnels in Liverpool. Some of the underground tunnels are home to abandoned cars. Instead of abandoning the car underground, the owner of the pictured car could've sold it or donated it to a museum.
Anybody who attempted to get that car out of the tunnel would face a tremendous challenge. Car owners shouldn't disrespect their vehicles by abandoning it underground.
12 Bugatti Vintage
Jean Bugatti, son of the company's founder, Ettore, designed the Type 57, which Bugatti manufactured from 1934 until 1940. The company built only 710 examples during the seven-year production. Under the bonnet was a twin-cam 3.257 cc engine. Bugatti fans who thought that a Veyron was expensive would be shocked to find out that Type 57 sold for $4.4 million at an auction.
The pictured Bugatti is a T57C Atalante. The car's engine was capable of producing 160 horsepower. The name Atalante derived from a heroine in Greek mythology, Atalanta.
11 36 Corvettes
Treasure hides in the most obvious places. The obvious place that one would find cars is in a garage. Although that's logical, a rare collection of 36 Corvettes remained abandoned in a garage for 25 years. According to Motorland, the cars were won in a contest that VH1 organized and later sold to graphic artist Peter Max.
The collection consists of Corvette models from 1953 until 1989. Max bought the collection from a Long Island carpenter for $250,000. The rarest car in the collection was a 1953 model of which Corvette produced only 300 units.
10 Naples
Italy is a magnificent place and home to some of the best supercar manufacturers in the world. The streets of Milan are filled with supercars such as the Lamborghini Huracan and the Maserati Gran Turismo. Although Italy's streets are fascinating, the more interesting car collection lays underground.
Naples, a southern Italian city with a population of one million, boasts an underground tunnel that is filled with vintage cars. One of Naples' residents discovered the underground tunnel. He must've been thrilled to find that the tunnel boasted an impressive collection of cars.
9 Inheritance In Portugal
Some people have so much luck that every investment they make yields a great return. A gentleman from Portugal wasn't aware of what he got when he purchased land. He was wise to use his retirement savings to purchase land that would yield him an income.
The thing that the gentleman didn't know is that under the land he purchased was a secret barnyard filled with cars. Some of the cars were rare classics that collectors have paid a tremendous amount of money to own. That's what I call a wise investment.
8 France's Underground
Exploring the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre Museum would be the most popular choice amongst tourists, but it's France's underground that boasts gems most people wouldn't have expected. While exploring France underground, a group of adventure seekers discovered cars.
The discovery was thrilling but finding the cars in dilapidated condition was heartbreaking. Some people thought that a rusted car underground would make great pictures, so they fitted a light inside the car before snapping photos. The path that the driver took to get the car underground amazes me.
7 Belgium Castle
Traveling around Europe can be a fun adventure but discovering cars in a Belgium castle would make the trip more worthwhile. Curious souls were the fortunate ones to discover a stash of cars during their exploration of Belgium castles. The explorers stumbled upon a rare collection of Alfa Romeos and other classic vehicles. Although Alfa Romeo's haven't garnered a reputation for being reliable vehicles, owning a classic Alfa Romeo would prove to be lucrative by selling the car at an auction.
A wash and mechanical touchups would restore these classics to its original condition.
6 Toyota Dealership
Abandoning one vehicle is sad but an entire inventory would make most people wonder how that could've happened. A car dealership that stocked new Toyota models in Cyprus has an array of vehicles that have been underground for more than four decades. The dealership is in the UN buffer zone of Nicosia. Although all of the cars are covered with dust, most of the cars in working condition.
Most people who don't have cars would be sad to see that someone had abandoned an entire fleet. It seems that a certain conflict was the reason for the abandoned dealership.
5 On Display
Interesting inventions are difficult to find. A car enthusiast wanted to assemble a car underground and put it on display. Although the deed might be original, not many people would see his work. The other problem is that the artist is leaving behind a vehicle after performing a stellar job. Assembling a car on the ground is difficult, but he managed to do it underground.
Perhaps, the artist wasn't looking to get exposure for his work. Some artists love to create work without getting attention, as they love what they do. He deserves credit for the original idea.
4 Pride Of France
Some owners don't mind parting ways with their vehicle when they get tired of them. The best option is to sell the car, but some owners want to get away from the car as soon as possible, so they abandon it underground and let it rust. The pictured car is a 1987 Peugeot 205. Car Magazine declared the Peugeot 205 as the Car of the Decade in 1990. The French automaker produced the car from 1983 until 1998.
During the 16 year production, Peugeot produced 5.3 million units. The car's 1.9-liter was capable of producing only 126 horsepower.
3 Derelict
It seems that the United Kingdom has several tunnels that have abandoned cars. One of the tunnels that I discovered where owners had abandoned their vehicles was in Liverpool while the other was in London. Some of the cars underground were restorable, but the pictured one has seen better days.
The sad part about discovering cars underground is that some of them are derelicts and no amount of restoration effort will revive the car to its original condition. That is the case for the pictured car, which ended up in a London tunnel.
2 Skeletal Remains
Oklahoma officials stumbled upon two rusty cars at the bottom of a lake. ABC News reported that the officials stated the two cars sank to the bottom of the lake a year and a half apart, more than forty years ago. Although the incident happened almost half a century ago, the cars could be restored to its original condition.
The police wanted to excavate the cars to determine if foul play was involved. One of the cars was a blue 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. Chevrolet introduced the Camaro to be Ford Mustang's competition. The automaker has sold more than five million Camaros.
1 Corvette
Bad weather conditions are unfortunate, and humans aren't always the only ones who suffer the consequences. Eight vehicles from Kentucky's National Corvette Museum were wrecked when the earth swallowed the vehicles.
"The last three or four cars that came out of the sinkhole ... we didn't expect them to come out looking quite that bad," said Dana Forrester, lead Corvette restoration member of the museum's Board Of Directors. One of the worst vehicles damaged was a Corvette that could reach a top speed of 175 mph, according to CNN.
Sources - Motor Lands, CNN, Auto Evolution & ABC News