Growing up in Upstate New York, reader Tim S remembers riding his bike along the railroad tracks near his home. One day while riding with some friends, he spotted several Corvettes parked in a field. At the time, they were still fairly new looking cars and he can only assume they must have been wrecked and not abandoned. A few years later he got a job at a shop just down the road from this Corvette graveyard and all the cars were still there like they had been when he was a boy. Time went by and he forgot about these Vettes, but he just recently had a run in with them once again.
Cars, especially sports cars, have a way of impacting our lives and for those of us that have had a love for them from childhood they tend to bring back fond memories of our younger years. Work and a family may have taken priority in Tim’s life and the thought of this field might have faded to the back of his memory, but he hadn’t completely forgotten about them. He recently had the chance to take his son on a bike ride down the old train tracks, of course they have since been converted into bicycle trails. As they were riding along, Tim shared his memories of riding along those tracks when he was a boy. As they approached the old field he began to tell his son about the first time he spotted the field of old cars.
He had assumed that by now the cars would be long gone, but as they were talking about his memories of looking at these American sports cars, they spotted what appeared to be the graveyard. Sure enough, all the cars were as he remembered, albeit aged from years of neglect and overgrowth. We can only imagine how it must have felt for Tim to not only relive this childhood memory, but also be able to share it with his son. It sounds as if he has always been curious to know the full story of this graveyard, so if any of you in the Upstate New York area recognize it and know more, please feel free to share! Our thanks to Tim for sharing this story with us and we hope his son will carry on the love for automobiles! Tales like this bring back some good memories of hunting for old steel with our own father!
What a waste.
a few of them vettes r crap, worthless
From the looks of them, they have been there a long time. So I’m sure the frames are gone.
Wrap yo ass in fiberglass!
Oh how I remember that catchy phrase from that era!
Thank you Tim S this is a great contribution. Wonder what the story is?
Nice article, great pictures…
agreed- it is a waste- they are golden to someone- I’ve wanted a corvette since the ’59’s came out, didn’t buy one then, cant afford one now.
Upstate is a pretty general description. How about the name of the town so someone could check these out?
Lived in Webster, NY many years ago and came across a very similiar corvette graveyard located off of Route 250, by the railroad tracks and an old warehouse. This may be the same site. Unfortunately none of the cars were for sale. To the best of my knowledge the family still owns the property and is not interested in selling any of the cars. Very heavily overgrown and almost missed seeing them.
Unfortunately it looks like they are well beyond economical repair now. It also looks like the hoarder had more than just C3 Corvettes as I also spy a 1976 or 77 El Camino and a 1958 Ford in the mix. Probably the most desirable of the C3’s is the yellow early car as they tended to have better engines than the much less powerful later cars.
I think it’s near Cambridge or Hebron on rt22 NY!
if there are good titles to these it might be worth doing the research to find the owner/owners. might also be some good parts. a lot of areas are forcing cleanup of locations like this which may be a way to get the cars put up for sale. very interesting.
Elmers Auto Body
The ’59 ford may be a skyliner..
ding ding ding Elmers Auto in teh Village of Webster NY.
I think the guys missing a few years time to hoard some more, the bushes love these, they like the smell of fiberglass….. Webster, my sister lives up that way, frikken cold if you ask me….. Thanks for the story Tim S & why do people do this, but hey this is BF & this is what we do.
I’m originally from the next town over and know exactly where you mean in Webster. My neighbor from nearby Pittsford might be interested in seeing just what is left and how bad they are. Between wet frames and airborne winter salt, very little will be usable. but they sure are worth a look. The Rochester area used to be a hotbed for Vettes as GM built the carbs and fuel injection systems about 15 miles from this stash. wonder if any of them are fuelies.
Enter the address 137 Donovan St Webster NY into Google Earth and you can see the cars.
“I’m gonna fix ’em up someday ’cause I saw one just like it sell on one of them TV auctions for $100,000.”
All kidding aside, thanks to Tim for sharing the pics.
If you’re a fan of these Vetts then it is both a shame and a delight, seeing them abandoned is awful but at least the bodywork won’t rust.
Fiberglass over a steel, all the panels are wrapped in glass over metal plus a steel chassis in those years.
Thanks, Polarisky. If you use Bing maps you will see an older view with many more cars and less brush. Unfortunately there is no streetside view in that area with Bing.
Could be Webster Ny. Elmer’s Auto. Now owned by the Guck’s. Paul is a bidder assistant with Mecum. I hear by order of village, and DEC property is being cleaned out.
http://www.elmersauto.com
http://stores.ebay.com/Harleyjim
Webster NY. Current owners bought place in 1981. Also have ties to Mecum
Most of you guys are to thoughtful to write this, but, those Corvettes? they were not good cars. I should know. I spent years trying to make them better, not possible. And mine were bone stock rust free examples (70 and 71 years) in wonderful condition.
A total of five over the years and a waste of time. So for these weed infested piles……..let em’ rot
Rancho, your a Lotus guy,like me we like our cars, light, small bore, high rev, I never owned one but, down the road of course it would not have one of those choked up motors & wouldn’t be from the climate these are wasting away in. Hey front v 8 engine rear drive shorter wheel base & wide track, a Cobra for under 20 grand.
Tim S. must be a relatively young guy…..
Interesting that although the train track right of way has been converted to a riding/walking trail, the rails were still there as late as 2011.
I’m wondering where in the time continuum some of these cars went from being repairable to parts only, and why they were not cashed in before the values dropped to nearly nothing.
Fun to see stories like this. When I have the time, I get off of the interstates and take two-lane highways. In some smaller towns and rural areas, I have seen interesting “collections” of automotive history. I wish I had a camera along on one trip earlier this year. There were a few places I’d have stopped to photograph and catalog for BF!
Further east from Webster off US 104 there used to be a foriegn car junkyard with some interesting finds. In 1969 while looking for salvage Borgward and MB parts there was a DB Panhard coupe with horrible electrics and a Lancia Appia coupe not running but appearance ok for a total of $900. He wouldn’t sell me either for $400.
Before the Corvettes it was owned by Elmer Bass age. He specialized in old Fords and such. I bought a 1929 Ford from him in the 1979s. Elmer was old then, and passed away many years ago. The Elmer’s Auto Parts remained on the building for many years after Elmer’s passing but it has been gone for several years. The building looks boarded up now.
This is my place. The cars are parts cars now. They have been there a long time but still get parted out.
I am on Social Security Disability and as you can imagine the budget is tight. I had a 1984 Corvette before I was married and loved it. But when kids started to come the vette went. I haven’t been able to get my hands on one because the price. My goal is to restore one of these beauties piece by piece but I haven’t had the opportunity.
My dreams would come true if I could get one.
Sincerely,
William Wilgus