Strangely Compelling Photos Of Lost Causes: 1960 Plymouth Savoy vs 1962 Land Rover

Good morning! Today is Monday, which is already suspect, but even worse, it’s April 15, which means if you’re in the US and you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you’d better get a move on. It is also the 112th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Just all around not a great day. So today I’m not even going to ask you to pick which terrible car you want; I’m going to ask you which car’s photos you find more interesting.

Friday’s matchup between an Australian monster and an American widowmaker came out more evenly matched than I expected. The six-wheeled ute won, but it was kind of a close-ish vote. There are more daredevils in this crowd than I thought, apparently.

The correct answer is, of course, both, even though I didn’t give you that option. Put the Littlest Deuce Coupe in the back of Mad Max’s farm truck, and take it to a race track or dragstrip where you can unleash its potential safely, or at least in a place where there is medical help on standby already.

Now then: I don’t know how many of you share this fascination, but I love looking at photos of abandoned places, derelict machinery, and above all, junkyards. If done right, such photos have an eerie, dreamy quality to them and a texture that is just irresistible. I could look at them for hours. Usually, in the course of writing this column, I don’t get to see very many artsy photos; most people aren’t very good at photographing cars for sale, as it turns out. But once in a while, someone captures something special, usually when they’re trying to sell a complete wreck that no one in their right mind would pay good money for. These two cars certainly fit that description, but each ad contains at least one or two really compelling photos. Let’s check them out.

1960 Plymouth Savoy – $2,600

Engine/drivetrain: No engine, three-speed manual, RWD

Location: Tucson, AZ

Odometer reading: unknown

Operational status: Umm… how fast can you push?

The late 1950s and early 60s were a wild time for car design. Chrome and tailfins were in; restraint and subtlety were out. Automakers restyled their cars every year in an attempt to outdo one another. At Chrysler, the style boss was Virgil Exner, and even the entry-level Plymouth brand received his attention. Check out the tailfins on this bad boy.

This 1960 Savoy is believed to have been a police car originally, due to its spec and some holes drilled for lights. It’s a stripped-down model, originally equipped with a big V8 and a three-speed manual transmission. The engine is gone, and the rest of the car is in pretty sorry shape, but it is in the desert, so we should be looking at mainly surface rust. And the advantage to a base model car from this era is that there isn’t as much chrome to source.

The interior is utterly trashed, but there are some interesting details in there, like that pod on top of the dash that houses the cop-spec certified speedometer. The steering wheel is missing its horn button, which was a wide brushed stainless steel bar straight across the two spokes. The Furys of this year had a wild four-spoke steering wheel that was flattened on the top and the bottom and looked like something out of Syd Mead‘s dreams. No need for such flamboyance in a police cruiser, I guess; foot-tall tailfins were enough.

The doors appear to be held on by ratchet straps as well. The seller says it’s just the hinges that are rusty and that they’re replaceable; they don’t seem too worried about it. I guess with all the other issues this car has, door hinges are a minor consideration.

1962 Land Rover Series IIA – $2,000

Engine/drivetrain: 2.25 liter overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, part-time 4WD

Location: Atlanta, GA

Odometer reading: unknown

Operational status: Slowly returning to the earth

One of the problems I run into when writing this column is that I’m writing about cars for sale – which means that once in a while, one gets sold after I’ve downloaded the photos, but before I sit down to write. Usually, this occurrence is followed by some swear words and a mad dash to go find a new car to replace it. In this case, however, I’m just going to go ahead with it, and marvel at the fact that someone actually paid money for this.

This is the Series IIA Land Rover, made for ten years and used for transportation in some of the harshest environments around. The sight of this one slowly settling into a Georgia forest makes me wonder how many Land Rovers there are in similar condition rotting away in remote locations around the world. This one looks fairly intact, and with the reputation these things have, it may not be a completely lost cause. The one thing I remember from the ad is that the frame is “pretty rusty,” but with a welder and some patience, anything is possible, I guess.

With all the cobwebs, I also can’t help wondering how many generations of spiders have lived and died inside this truck while it’s been sitting here on three wheels. Kudos to whoever did buy it and dragged it out of the woods. You’d have to pay me to get inside this thing. I can’t stand spiders.

Old Land Rovers, of course, have bodies made of aluminum alloy, so there’s no worry about rust there. Leave them out in the elements, and you just get this cool sandblasted patina over most of the body. It looks like this truck has been at least a couple of different colors over the years. Personally, I think that if you could do the frame repair and get it going again, it should be left just how it is on the outside.

Yes, yes, I know – they’re both terrible, and you want nothing to do with either of them. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow and do a couple of good-running cars. But tell me there isn’t something fascinating about the photos of these two old relics. Which one do you find yourself more drawn to?

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)