The Frohlich supercar graveyard

[Dick Longbridge]

This one has done the rounds on anti-social media for years, and I keep on meaning to link to it on here.

"Surrounded by a security fence in the wooded hillside next to Fröhlich’s house, fifty classic cars were parked here when the car enthusiast turned 50 in the year 2000.

Each and every car is from the year he was born, 1950, and was personally tracked down and purchased by Michael himself. “They’re like my brothers,” Fröhlich told Spiegel in 2009. Many were still roadworthy when they were parked on his property, never to be driven again.

A surreal showcase of dream cars nestled in the forest, unpolished, exposed to the elements, some even crashed into trees and others half buried in mud– this was his extravagant 50th birthday present to himself, a grand artistic display of rotting automobile history.

Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW; just a few of the iconic names whose logos you would never expect to find on vehicles in such a sorry state. But what might really shock you is that these unfortunate automobiles are not actually abandoned, and their owner is in fact a classic car lover and expert himself, who has deliberately left these cars here."

Mixed feelings on this fella. I applaud him for doing the opposite of what most people would want him to do (can't stand the whole 'I wud uv saved that car and he shuldnt be allowd to keep cars wanker' attitude) but feel disappointed when I think how long the cars have already survived, only to be left to rot into the forest floor. I guess it's the equivalent of the old hoarder over here with a load of his old motors rotting in a field. The key difference is obviously value and rarity though. 

More to the point, how financially flush must he have been at the age of only fifty to procure that lot? Apparently he used the XK150 to win a grand prix in Germany in 1984. 

The XK and 356 don't look as healthy now..

https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/04/30/the-vintage-supercars-rotting-away-in-a-forest-because-thats-how-the-owner-wants-it/

 

 

Edit- mods - not sure how I remove the white background on the text? 

[St.Jude]

It's an ambition of mine to win the lottery, when it gets to something silly like £150 million. I then intend to buy a load of expensive rare wine, and film myself drinking a glass, saying it's shite, and pouring it down the toilet. Just to wind those wine snobs up.

Imagine my surprise that someone already beat me to it with these cars!

To be fair, I don't think any car has ever been created with the intent of it lasting 100 years in a museum. I don't see the difference in him doing this and whoever the drummer from the Rolling Stones buying cars just to sit in them at his home. 

[New POD]

All I can say is "what a fucking dick".  

Much more pointless than spitting out expensive wine. 

I'd personally like to have kept every car I've ever owned in a large dry garage, with no particular long term plan other than to not scrap them. But space and money requires that would have been impossible. 

[Asimo]

2 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Edit- mods - not sure how I remove the white background on the text? 

 

Highlight the text and then click on the Tx  (remove formatting) button, top left of edit window.

[junkyarddog]

I dunno,I quite like it.

Would love to wander around there and admire them as they return to the earth.

The cars are the same age as him,so I'm guessing his plan was as he ages,he watches the cars age with him untill the inevitable occurs. 

Everything dies.

[rainagain]

50 minutes ago, New POD said:

All I can say is "what a fucking dick".  

I’m 100% with you on this. What a total waste. He’d have been better buying them and then finding some way to give them to people who always wanted one but couldn’t afford it. I’d imagine seeing 50 people’s grins would be a nicer sight than some amazing cars just being left to rot into the ground. 

[sierraman]

I couldn’t give a fuck. A rotting XK120 doesn’t give me the horn, if it was something odd like a Renault 21 then I’d be livid of course. 

[angle]

Here he is with his daily:

He used to sell rolls royces, this one was in the showroom when it caught on fire. 

[barrett]

Thing is, there is much more interesting stuff there than XK120s and 356s. There's a Tatraplan, AC Petite, Hansa etc plus weird things like a UK-registered Lloyd etc. Definitely a complete tool and a waste of nice cars,. I've never understood the 'ha ha, I'm throwing away something you like to make a point' mentality which seems to fit in with some of the inverse-snobbery which is rife on this forum, sadly. Why can't people have hobbies that don't actively piss off or upset other people because of some perception about the class or attitudes of those theoretical people? Seems totally mental to me, but then I've never understood people. 

[captain_70s]

Some sad stories behind some of the cars. I seem to recall one Yank motor had just been restored by a father and son who couldn't keep it for whatever reason and was shipped straight from the States to rot away for nothing.

It doesn't even have the interest of natural decay and a story behind the reason of each cars abandonment as it's all manufactured.

A rich man's folly.

[Dick Longbridge]

2 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

I dunno,I quite like it.

Would love to wander around there and admire them as they return to the earth.

The cars are the same age as him,so I'm guessing his plan was as he ages,he watches the cars age with him untill the inevitable occurs. 

Everything dies.

See, part of me agrees with this. You just don't ever have the opportunity to see these sort of cars return to the earth in normal circumstances. 

It is a crying waste though. 

[somewhatfoolish]

Like a lot of installation art it's a load of pretentious shite but it's not doing me any harm, although if he wants to dispose of his money in an ostentatious manner there are more worthwhile means. See Carnegie for details. If there are unique autos(as opposed to just arbitrarily valuable ones) being turned to mulch then he's just a dick.

[martc]

He should have used 50 x 50 year old VW Beetles. He would have still made his point, the pine-appleing brigade would be frotting themselves to death looking at the increasing decay and the really big bonus? There would be 50 less VW Beetles on the road.

 

 

(I used to have a Beetle it was dreadful)