Hitting The Classic Car Jackpot At The Junkyard
Although Jerry “Metal Man” Battaglia finds hundreds of classic cars and trucks in Medford Long Island, they might be too far gone for most.
Thanks to YouTube channel Jerry “Metal Man” Battaglia we can get a sneak peek behind the scenes of a recycling operation. That may not sound exciting, but it’s the place where classic cars and muscle cars go to die – the inevitable destination for many cars that have outlived their purpose.
For cars that can’t go on to become restored, restomods, or modded builds, some will come here to Long Island where a private company that has been here for 40 years will take the machines and process their metal so that they can get used for something else; or just store them indefinitely.
The Metal Man himself gets granted access to walk among the fields of rusting cars and report what he sees.
This Is Where Cars Go When We Have Finished With Them
Our host starts the adventure with a small intro then dives into the collection, walking around various cranes, containers, and piles of debris to reach the field that is slowly getting overgrown around the abandoned classic cars.
It’s not clear if the cars will get used for parts or if they will just rust into the ground, but the scale of the collection is impressive by its number and by its sheer variety. There are Ford Mustangs, Ford Thunderbirds, Chevrolet Corvettes, Pontiac GTOs, Cadillacs, and the list goes on. There are many other less-notable cars in the mix and a few vans or trucks too.
In general, the cars look complete for the most part although there is an abundance of rust by now, and the ones with the hoods open or removed leave the engine bays brown and the engines likely seized forever.
One Of The Biggest Collections Of Barn Find Classics In One Place
With YouTube becoming increasingly populated with automotive channels and ordinary people setting off with cameras to film abandoned cars or impressive collections, this isn’t the first field of cars we’ve been lucky enough to see.
But it is a fascinating one for sure, because of the variety of models, including some real icons of the automotive world; Most of them look like they could get a restoration with little bit of determination and, of course, money.
It’s hypnotic to watch the Metal Man show us around the field, climbing around, pushing through the brush and getting up close and personal with the classic cars that no one else ever sees.