Junkyard Gems of United Auto Sales, Arkadelphia, Arkansas

At the front, nearest the road, were all the younger vehicles. However, out the back were hundreds of classics strewn over acres of woodland. A maze of dirt tracks led us around them, but to get to some of the more unusual cars we needed to go off-piste, which meant dealing with brambles and mosquitos…

What didn’t help was the fact that we arrived 45 minutes before the yard closed, so had to run around the place. Despite getting ridiculously lost and having to use the GPS on our mobile phone to pick our way through the woodland and back to the entrance, we managed to get out with a few seconds to spare.

We only wish we’d had longer to explore this wonderful place properly, because we know we missed so many cars.

Although this Ford Mustang was photographed at the front of the yard, judging by the foliage on its windshield, it had probably been freshly dragged out of the woods. It’s an early third generation car, and was likely built in 1980, making it one of 271,322 sold that year.

The badly deformed roof was fairly typical of the poor condition of many of the cars we found.

The Datsun 200SX, which was known as the S10 Silvia in some other markets, arrived in the US in 1976. With a $4399 price tag, these aesthetically-challenged budget cars were powered by a 1.8-litre, four-cylinder engine. They didn’t sell particularly well, with 145,000 finding buyers during the four years they were available.

Of the 192,506 Buick Regals sold in 1977, more than 174,000 were two-door coupes like this example. With its 3.8-litre V6 engine working hard, the 1666kg Regal took more than 16 seconds to reach 100 km/h, and couldn’t even top 160 km/h with a tailwind. Those buyers wanting a bit more oomph needed to opt for the 170hp, 5.7-litre V8, which shaved five seconds off the 0-100 km/h time.

Parking classic cars in damp mud, under trees, for long periods of time definitely does them no good. Wet leaves tend to congregate in all the crevices, while the trees above rarely let through enough sunlight to dry them out properly. This V8-powered 1970 AMC Rebel was a case in point.

The Grand Prix name existed in Pontiac’s lineup from 1962 to 2009, spanning eight generations. This sorry example appears to be a fifth generation car, and was probably built in 1980. It’s an LJ, which would have come with a Buick 3.8-litre V6 engines and automatic transmission as standard. We’re impressed that someone managed to do that much damage to the roof without smashing the windows.

There wasn’t a single straight panel left on this 1966 Ford Falcon four-door. Plus, with the engine gone, and the interior ravished by the weather, there can’t have been too many reasons for not weighing it for scrap metal.

This early third generation car appears to be a top-trim Futura, which in this instance can be identified by its chrome side window surrounds.

Burned, abandoned, vandalized, and then hit by a fallen tree. This Chevrolet Caprice was really having a tough time of things, and the indignities weren’t over. It still had plenty of useful spare parts left on its rear end, so it would no doubt have been stripped before finally being fed to the crusher.

It was likely built in 1989, which was the penultimate year for these third generation (1977 to 1990) cars. Of the 2.9 million built, 197,044 rolled off the line that year.

According to the dealer sticker that was on the trunk of this 1971 Ford LTD Brougham, it was initially sold in Gurdon, Arkansas, which is just 25km away from the yard. It’s a two-door hardtop, and according to the license plate tag, hasn’t been on the road since 1993.

There’s no question that the LTD was a good seller during its 21-year production run (1965 to 1986), but there is some debate about the meaning of its name. The two leading contenders are Limited or Luxury Trim Decor.

In addition to revised front and rear ends, one of the key changes to the 1968 Impala was the introduction of a slightly longer hood, which was designed to hide the recessed windshield wipers. While this one’s hood had since found a new home, a pile of leaves ensured that the wipers were still invisible. The car looked a bit out of place, surrounded by 1990s vehicles.

The first generation Ford Granada (1975 to 1980) was essentially a clean-sheet design. While the exterior was indeed new, and had a hint of European styling about it, the rear-wheel-drive chassis was borrowed from the 1960 Falcon.

Slightly more than 390,000 were sold in 1977, a mix of four-door sedans and two-door coupes like this. We can’t tell you how many were ordered in this rather unappealing shade of brown though.

We peered inside this Chevrolet Corvair’s open trunk to discover that it had completely rusted out. You can bet that the rest of the floor was equally as rotten, ensuring that its highway-driving days were well and truly behind it.

With its rear-mounted engine, the ‘poor man’s Porsche’ was a lot of fun to drive, but did have a nasty habit of catching out some unsuspecting motorists.

This Willys Jeep truck appears to be of 1957 vintage, but we could be wrong. The Brooks Stevens-designed truck was introduced in 1947, and would remain in production for 18 years. Judging by the way this one was sinking into the ground, it had probably been a resident of United Auto Sales and Salvage for a number of years.

While some salvage yards take great care to ensure all hoods, trunks and doors are closed, this didn’t seem to be a priority at United Auto Sales. Anyway, it was too late to close this fourth generation (1973-1977) Pontiac Grand Prix’s driver’s door, unless of course you used a chainsaw…

Here’s another Pontiac Grand Prix, albeit in significantly better condition. It was built in 1977, and although this was the final year for the fourth generation car, they still sold a respectable 270,000 units.

Going by the dealer’s badge on the back, the car was just a few miles from where it was sold new.

Considering that you could find one on almost every street corner in the 1970s, the Chevrolet Vega has done a rather impressive vanishing act. Some two million rolled off the line, but seeing as they’ve never really captured the hearts of car enthusiasts, very few remain today.

This 1959 Lincoln Continental MkIV Town Car hardtop sedan was certainly the rarest vehicle we found at United Auto Sales. Although the four-door hardtop sedan was the most popular body style that year, it still only notched-up 6146 sales. What a shame the driver’s door had been left open, allowing the elements to take their toll on the once opulent interior.

In the mid-1970s General Motors noted the successful new breed of European hatchbacks, and decided it wanted a slice of the action. And so in 1978, its Aeroback range of cars was launched. Not only was the styling dubious, with the fastback look not really working on a car of this size, but the designers seemingly forgot to give it an opening hatchback.

Sales plummeted, and by 1981 the Aeroback had been confined to the history books. This four-door 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon, is one of 36,923 built.

Although the Rambler American was the first true domestic compact car, the Falcon (1960 to 1970) has the claim to fame of being the first compact built by any of the Big Three. It was an attempt to stem the tide of small European and Japanese imports, and would soon be followed by the likes of the Chevy Nova and Dodge Dart.

This two-door hardtop is a first generation car, dating back to 1963.

It looked like this 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle had already done a few rounds with the crusher – and lost. Just how those two windows survived is a mystery. Together with the taillights, and a couple of bits of trim, they were about the only bits worth saving.

Top of the Oldsmobile Cutlass range was the Supreme, which is seen here in its 1974 coupe guise. The Cutlass accounted for four out of every 10 Oldsmobiles built that year, and the Supreme coupe was easily the biggest seller.

Having been the US’s third most popular marque for two years running, Oldsmobile dropped a place to Plymouth in 1974.

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