Doing Time #14882

The Story

Here an old Metro Van languishes in a wooded junkyard, held tightly as a prisoner by the surrounding trees that have grown up around it over time. Mayapples are coming up all around the old Metro and the rest of its junkyard brethren, every one of them long term residents of this vehicular old folk’s home. All the green foliage goes white in this black and white infrared photograph, adding a little magic to the not-often-seen scene.

Metro Vans were once everywhere doing hauling and delivery work from the forties up to the seventies. They were sold internationally too, so literally they were indeed everywhere as milk trucks, bakery delivery, ambulances, and a hundred other uses. Even snow cone trucks.

It was International Harvester who built the Metro Van. Their rounded design and appearance was unique and unmistakable and didn’t change much over the years. It was another great industrial design by Raymond Loewy who also designed the appearance of Studebakers, the iconic Coke bottle, and even this PRR GG1 locomotive.

What’s a Legacy Junkyard?

Most of the stuff in this peculiar junkyard is fairly old because it’s a legacy junkyard. That means it’s been inherited, passed from father to son, and the son has left a lot of his father’s junk in place. It seems those guys have trouble getting rid of things their dad had something to do with. Bottom line: legacy yard means a lot of very old things laying around. That, of course, means a clearly increased cool factor and possibly some interesting pictures.

Overall, this place is more metal yard than a straight-up vehicle junkyard. Some people call it an airplane graveyard from all the airplane fuselages and parts mixed in with the four-wheeled and tracked things…see Some Assembly Required #14585 for an example. There’s an occasional motorcycle or two tucked into the crannies. I even saw a rusty tricycle with all three wheels, sitting on a jeep.

Location: near Atco, New Jersey.