How many times have you seen cool cars abandoned in fields, left for dead in the woods or literally kicked to the curb and left to languish on the street? What series of events leads to someone to abdicating the second largest purchase of one’s life to the elements just to rot away?  That’s exactly what Jason Paris decided to find out in his reality/documentary pilot called “Auto Archeology.”

The set up is clever as our host Mr. Paris slowly walks us to the end of a clipped and manicured suburban cul-de-sac finally revealing a Bermuda Blue 1970 Pontiac GTO, abandoned and left to die 30 years ago. Like a mastodon in a tar pit, this poor GTO, held hostage and sinking in the mud, surrendered and was slowly being reclaimed by mother nature.

This TV show was not only a classic car treasure hunt, but added a “green” spin suggesting these cars should be exhumed from their graves for ecological reasons as well as historical.  There are several cool bits of recycling trivia providing evidence to bolster their cause.  It takes 30-50 years for tires to decompose. 500-1000 years for aluminum to return to the earth and 1 million (!) years for glass to break down.

Amazingly, the old Goat is not as far gone as you would think and as it’s hauled away on the back of a flat bed truck, it’s nice to know it’s one of the lucky ones that has a date with the restoration shop, not the crusher.