Not old, just antique

Youth is wasted on the young.

- George Bernard Shaw -

A couple weeks ago I went on a short road trip to the north of where I live by several hundred kilometres. Someone needed my help fencing on his small farm and I took the opportunity to go a little farther to drop in on some other people I know, one of which has just purchased a property.

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The family bought a property that used to be a vehicle wrecking yard, one of those ones that sits just on the edge of town where literally everything seems to get dumped.

It's a small rural town in the middle of nowhere with a small population where nothing much happens, however back in the day it was a thriving farming centre and that means the wrecking yard, all twelve acres of it, is full of old cars, motorbikes, trucks, tractors, farming machinery and the associated parts that have been stripped off vehicles in the past. The tractor you see in the image is one of them.

There's a house which was in terrible condition and has now been almost renovated and many sheds also full of parts of all kinds. The very old owner passed away and they bought the property and everything on it from the owner's two sons. Since then they've been busy sorting through it and determining what they have, what still has value and what will be sold off as scrap metal - It's a gargantuan job.

They have so far recovered about seventy five percent of their initial outlay for the property through selling off rusted, beat up old cars and parts which is pretty incredible and there's a lot more to go - it's likely to take a few years to make their way through it all. The word is out though through advertisement around the country and word of mouth, and they're getting more and more calls each week from people wanting something. It's amazing what people will buy and each weekend they put a big garage sale out on the road and sell somewhere between $500-$1,000 of things each weekend, sometimes much more.

Eventually they intend to turn a section of their twelve acres into a camping area for camper trailers and RV's which will be cool. This town is right on the fringe of the ancient Flinders Ranges which draws a lot of campers, some 700,000 of them annually, so I think it'll be popular.

Wandering around the property and looking at all the (pretty interesting) things made me think about all of those items that were, at one time, purchased brand new, and how they sit there now, seemingly rusting and decaying hunks of metal and rubber and yet they still have value as they had value from the day they were purchased. It was a little sad to see some fairly rare and desirable vehicles and their sad state of affairs though.

I love old things, I find them interesting; I feel that the lives of those who owned and used them have soaked into the very thing - they tell a story of those who used them, albeit it, silently, and if there's no story to be told I make one up for myself. I appreciate those who see value in these items, people that want to take them to restore to their former glory or simply display them as an interesting item of history; I'd rather that then they sit in a field slowly getting reclaimed by the planet.

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Do you like old things, antique items like farm machinery, vinyl records, cars, watches, furniture, cameras clothing or anything else? If so, what about those items appeals to you and why? Have you restored something old and brought it back to workable condition or to use as showpiece? Feel free to comment below.