When a car ends its useful life, it most commonly ends up in a scrap yard or junkyard. We’ve all seen these places where vehicles are stacked in mountains of rusted metal, waiting to be dismantled and recycled. From examples with decades of history to other cars with only a few kilometers on them that have ended up at the scrapyard after suffering a spectacular accident just after leaving the dealership.
What is no longer so common is finding a car cemetery located in the middle of a forest. Just the idea of ??looking at abandoned cars among the lush vegetation and nature trails seems like something out of a science fiction movie. However, this hardly tangible scenario exists in reality, specifically in the Swedish town of Ryd – about 450 kilometers west of Stockholm – where approximately 150 cars lie silently among the trees, forming an unprecedented landscape.
The history of this automobile cemetery begins in 1935 when Ake Danielsson bought a plot of land in the Ryd Forest to exploit it. After World War II, the business grew so much that it began to need some specialized machinery. In fact, Danielsson personally built a crusher using used car engines.
Over time, there were so many automobile remains that the place became a thriving spare parts business, surpassing even the original logging activity.
The forester acquired his last car in 1974. As he had done with the previous vehicles that arrived at the farm, he made sure that they did not contaminate the forest. He carefully removed all fluids, from oil to gasoline and even batteries. The business closed in the 1980s, and in 1991 Danielsson moved to a retirement home, leaving the cars exactly as they were.
Years later, the place, converted solely into a car cemetery, began to attract the attention of tourists passing by. Ryd Town Council began efforts to have the vehicles transferred to an authorized recycling site and threatened to impose a large fine on the owner of the forestry operation.
However, Danielsson did not remove the vehicles, claiming that he had already removed the liquids and batteries that could harm the environment. Lobbyists fought on behalf of the pensioner to keep the scrapyard intact. Finally, they won the battle against the council, which in November 1998 decided to grant a moratorium on removing the vehicles until 2047.
Today, there are an estimated 150 cars parked in this car graveyard, all in various stages of dismantling and decay. Some of them have sunk in the mud while others are covered in moss or hidden in vegetation.
Ake Danielsson died in 2000, leaving a legacy that lasts to this day and that annually attracts thousands of tourists to the place. The curious people who come are not only nationals, but also foreigners, since history has transcended borders, turning this unexpected car cemetery into a destination made known through social networks.