The charming junkyard gems of Roswell, New Mexico

But sadly we’ll never be going back. Within a few years of our visit the place closed down, after the owner decided he wanted to do something else with the land. However, rather than simply cube everything (which is so often the case in these instances) he held a no-reserve auction, with anything not finding a buyer being fed to the crusher. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing whether the vehicles featured here survived. Let's take a look:

This is the tantalising sight that greeted us when we arrived at Roswell’s A-1 Auto Salvage. They’re both Diamond Ts, and the yard employee who accompanied us throughout the visit, reckoned the late 1940s one on the left belonged to Peter Hurd, a famous local artist.

Hurd whose work concentrated on the people and landscapes of New Mexico, was born in Roswell in 1904, and died in the town 80 years later. Chicago-based Diamond operated between 1905 and 1967.

The view inside the 20-acre yard was just as enticing. The stock dated from the 1930s to the 1990s, but the vast majority hailed from the 1950s and 1960s. See anything you like in this line-up? Check out the rare Crosley, perched on the top of the pile. The company sold 84,000 of its subcompact cars between 1939 and 1952.

A-1 Salvage of Roswell, New Mexico was founded in 1941, which coincidentally is the same year that this Chevrolet rolled off the production line. That’s six years before an unidentified flying object allegedly crash-landed on a nearby ranch, sparking 75 years of conspiracy theories, and catapulting Roswell onto the tourist map and its name globally famous.

Our guide reckoned this 1947 Ford glows in the dark. He was referring to the car’s former owner – The Atomic Energy Commission. You can just make out the words painted on the door. It was a government agency formed after World War II to control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. Note the chrome overrider embedded into the tree trunk.

A-1 Auto Salvage once specialised in DeSoto and Studebaker, and both marques were still well represented when we visited. From left to right these DeSotos, all in reasonably good condition for their age, are dated 1950, 1953, 1955 and 1953 respectively. We hope some of them survived the auction.

This mid-1970s Ford Mustang II hadn’t turned a wheel since 1986, which was the year it arrived in A-1 Auto Salvage. Although most of the yard’s stock ranged in age from the 1930s to the late 1970s, as you can see from the newer Mustang in the background, there were a few exceptions. And check out those Volkswagens behind it.

Presumably this 1963 Ford ended up in the yard after colliding with a tree. You've got to be travelling at quite some speed to do that much damage to a solid car like this; let's hope the occupants fared better than the metalwork. 

Although this wonderful ‘47 Chrysler was sitting dangerously close to the yard’s crusher, we were pleased to hear that it was to be saved. It had been purchased by an out-of-state car enthusiast, and was awaiting collection. Has it since been restored?  

This is enough to bring tears to one’s eyes, because this entire pile was about to be crushed. If you could save one of them, which would it be? Even yards that specialize in classics have to be ruthless sometimes. Less desirable cars might sit around for decades without yielding a single part, taking up valuable space. And with the price of scrap metal being so high, they’re often worth a lot more dead than alive.

We assume this 1948 Studebaker to be a genuine convertible, making it something of a rarity. Only 8000 were ever made, and few will have survived. Whilst the interior had long since rotted away, the bodywork was still relatively rust-free, thanks to the favorable New Mexico climate.

1964 Wildcats didn't have Buick's usual ventiports, but instead had chrome hash marks gracing their fenders. This one had apparently been stripped of all its useful parts, and was about to be fed to the jaws of the ever-hungry crusher.

You wouldn't want to stand under this tree during a storm, just in case you got hit on the head by the engine that's perched on the top branch! It’s a 1952 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe two-door sedan, and judging by the size of the tree growing through its engine bay, it must have sat in this same spot for at least 40 years.

It's unusual to find a Henry J inside a salvage yard, as they’re normally perched on a pole by the highway, where they act as an advertisement to passing motorists. The Henry J, the brainchild of Henry J Kaiser, was designed to be affordable to the average American, rather like the Model T was a few decades earlier. In order to reduce costs, body parts were kept to a minimum, and early examples didn't even have an opening trunk lid. They were in production between 1950 and 1954.

There were some real gems crammed into the 20-acre site, including this ultra-rare AMC Marlin. Just 2545 people bought one of these distinctively-styled two-door fastbacks in 1967, which convinced AMC that it was time to confine this automotive flop to the history books.

Apparently this 1951 Cadillac was used as a tour bus by a local band in the early 1980s. What a stylish way to arrive at gigs. There aren’t too many cars that are capable of carrying a band and all of their equipment, but then there aren’t too many cars that are 224.5in long! The hood was jammed in the open position, and the yard owner was reluctant to force it from fear of causing damage.

And here's another Cadillac, but with rather more serious hood issues. We wonder how it ended up in this state, as the car doesn’t appear to have any accident damage. Unfortunately it’s a big enough gap for the V8 to have escaped through! More than 41,000 of these Harley Earl-designed 1956 Cadillac Sedan de Villes rolled off the line.

Unfortunately the driver's door was the only straight panel on this 1956 Chevy two-door wagon. Chevrolet was riding high in the 1950s, and for eight out of 10 years took the top sales spot, with Ford only getting a look in during 1954 and 1957.

Now here's something you don’t see every day – a 1942 Ford. Production of the 1942 models was halted in February of that year to make way for war production. Just 160,000 cars were built up to that point, making 1942 the lowest production year for the company since 1910. This was one of several project cars lined up along the yard’s perimeter fence. Surely it found a new owner before the big cull occurred.

In the 1950s European car designers did their best to replicate American designs, albeit with compact dimensions. And once they’d mastered that, naturally they tried to export them to the USA. However, as many found out, this was almost as challenging as selling ice to the Inuits…

On the top we have a British-built and designed Ford Consul MkII (1956-1962), which resembled a 1955/1956 American Ford. These did reasonably well, with their four-cylinder engines appealing to economy-minded motorists. However the French-built Simca Vadette Beaulieu beneath it sank without trace.

When we visited A-1 Auto Salvage, it had recently been sold to a new owner. Although at the time he intended to keep the yard as a classic car specialist, he wasted little time in crushing the least desirable cars. Our tour guide explained that early 1950s Plymouths and Dodges, like these, fall into that category. He said they have a small following, so often sit around for decades without yielding a single part. In other words they are worth more cubed.

In pristine condition, a 1962 Ford Galaxie Sunliner will cost you a small fortune, but when we saw this sorry-looking example it had a $2000 price tag. Back in the day, this car would have managed 60mph in just under 14 seconds, continuing to a top speed of 101mph. A total of 55,829 were built.

Someone has scribbled “75” and “sold” on this Plymouth Duster’s windows, so presumably it’s a 1975 model, and has hopefully survived. Built between 1970 and 1976, the Duster was a semi-fastback version of the Plymouth Valiant. The car’s main domestic rivals were the Chevy Nova, Ford Maverick and the AMC Hornet.

In addition to forming Oldsmobile, automotive pioneer Ransom Eli Olds also gave his name to the Reo truck brand. Based in Lansing, Michigan, it would produce cars and trucks from 1905 to 1975.

This late 1940s Reo Speedwagon was carrying a Worthington compressor on its back. Worthington Compressor Services, which was already 100 years old when this truck was built, supplied the steam pump engines used to power the hydraulic elevator used during the erection of the Paris’s Eiffel Tower. The famous rockband from Illinois took its name from a 1915 example of this model.

Considering that the Nash Rambler Airflyte station wagon must have looked like something from another planet when it was first launched, Roswell was the perfect location for this one… These two-door wagons first appeared in 1951, and this example was built in the second year of production.

The Packard Cavalier was a replacement for the 300 model. These four-door sedans, which had a $3234 asking price, were only in production for two years (1952-1953). This example, which was on sale as a project car when we visited the yard, was built in 1953 and was one of only 10,779 manufactured.

Barn finds are all the rage amongst classic car enthusiasts, however we aren’t sure whether this 1953 Studebaker Commander coupe actually qualifies as one. You see it wasn’t so much in the barn, as under it, following its collapse on top of the car. Although it wasn’t in great shape prior to the accident, at least it had a windshield.

This pair of AMC Rambler Americans, were in reasonable condition, with the white one being particularly complete. Incredibly it has even retained its original wheel trims. But sadly these cars don’t have much of a following, meaning cost-effective restorations would have been out of the question.

With this in mind we’d be very surprised if either have survived. Check out the 1936 Plymouth on the right. We wonder whether the front accident damage was the reason why it entered the yard many decades ago.

Like their Pacer siblings, AMC Gremlins have developed something of a cult following in recent years, and are starting to command decent money. That said, this one is worth little more than its scrap value, and is unlikely to have survived. Gremlins have appeared in numerous films and TV shows over the years, but perhaps the car’s most significant starring role was at the start of the 1984 movie Gremlins.

Checker Motors Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan, manufactured the iconic American taxicab. The design barely changed over the decades, so it’s hard to date this one, but our best guess is the late 1970s. The Marathon was in production from 1961 to 1982, when car production ceased. The last New York City Checker cab was retired in 1999, with 750,000 miles on its clock.

We initially assumed this to be a Checker Marathon, but a closer inspection revealed that it was in fact a considerably rarer Checker Superba. Predating the Marathon, just 1,050 were built in 1959, its first year on sale. It would remain in production until 1963.

Seeing as less than 18,000 1960 Imperials were built, this was one of the yard’s more unusual residents.  "America's most carefully built car," as it was billed, would have been subjected to 32 different quality control stations before leaving the factory. One of these involved drenching it with water, to the equivalent of 252in per hour of rainfall - it certainly wouldn’t pass that test today…

Only 19,132 Willys-Overland Jeepsters were manufactured during the three-year production run (1948 - 1950), and they are few and far between today. We have only ever spotted six of them in junkyards, and four of those were at A-1 Auto Salvage. This was the manufacturer’s attempt to branch out into the passenger car market.

You’ll be looking for a long time to find another one of these in a salvage yard. It’s a Clipper, which for 1956 only, ceased being a Packard and became a marque in its own right. This was a conscious decision to prevent the entry-level car from damaging Packard’s image as a luxury car brand.

But the plug was pulled at the end of the year when Packard’s Detroit factory closed. In 1958 the manufacturer disappeared completely, ending 59 years of car production. This four-door Custom model, is one of only 8708 built.

Salvage yards are closing at a phenomenal rate, so to discover that A-1 Auto Salvage is no longer in business came as little surprise to us. While on this occasion the owner wanted to use the land for a different purpose, other common reasons for closures include the high price of scrap metal, encroaching urban sprawl (and new neighbours who don’t like the idea of living next to a junkyard), and increasing environmental pressure.

On the subject of the latter, during our visits to salvage yards, we have found the flora and fauna to flourish around junk cars. Just check out this tree, which has grown through a Chevy truck’s rotten floor, wrapped itself around the steering wheel, and pushed open the windshield. These trucks were built between 1941 and 1946.

Fourth generation Lincoln Continentals were equipped with “door ajar” warning lights, a necessary safety precaution to reduce the risk of rear passengers being sucked out of the reversed-doors. This one, complete with its convex electric shaver front grille, is one of 36,000 to find a buyer in 1964.

The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was formed in 1945, as a joint venture between the Henry J Kaiser Company and Graham-Paige Motors. While sales were initially strong, it didn’t have the resources to take on the Big Three. The last Frazer was built in 1951, while Kaiser-branded cars survived for a further four years.

Considering the relatively short production run, it’s definitely unusual to find one in a salvage yard. In fact A-1 Auto Salvage had no less than three of them. This one appears to be a 1951 Special, built in 1951, Kaiser’s most successful year ever.

Cadillac designed some incredibly flamboyant tailfins in the late 1950s, culminating in the rocket-inspired creations that adorned the 1959 cars. From 1960 onwards they began to shrink, becoming somewhat more subtle, and dare we say tasteful?

This 1961 Coupe de Ville, which is far too good to have ended up at A-1 Auto Salvage, sports a clean and crisply designed pair, neatly integrated into the design, and starting at the rear doors rather than looking like an add-on.

It says “No batt’ on the windshield of this 1960 Ford Thunderbird, but we reckon the lack of a battery is the least of its worries. More importantly, was it desirable enough to attract any bids at A-1 Auto Salvage’s closing-down sale auction, or was it crushed, melted down and turned into a new kitchen appliance?  With 93,000 sales, 1960 was a record year for the T-Bird.

Surely this 1956 Studebaker Transtar half-ton pickup was saved, as it’s far too desirable to have been crushed. The Transtar name was used by Studebaker from 1956 to 1958, and again from 1960 to 1963. Studebaker was founded in 1852, so was already 104 years old when this rolled off the line. It would continue manufacturing vehicles until 1966.

There’s no doubting that this 1951 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery is a desirable vehicle, however we can’t help but feel that the $6500 (or best offer) asking price was a tad optimistic. Based on the two-door station wagon, these light commercials sold reasonably well, with 20,817 finding buyers in 1951. However, unlike the passenger-carrying siblings, they were far more likely to be abused, so had a considerably worse survival rate. 

British automotive journalist Will Shiers has been photographing abandoned American cars for 35 years. He has visited all 50 states on his tin-hunting trips, exploring barns, fields, deserts, ghost towns and salvage yards, while searching for hidden treasures. Will has been contributing to car magazines for three decades, and is the author of the book Roadside Relics - America’s Abandoned Automobiles.