What if I told you that Joshua Tree National Park has one of the finest car washes I’ve ever been to? You’d think I’d gone a bit funny in the head from all the heat and fresh desert air, wouldn’t you?
Yet it is true. Every word of it.
Below, I submit my evidence for your consideration.
While walking through the desert one cold, windy fall morning we stop, baffled. Are those stroller tracks? ( center of photo. ) Who takes their baby for a walk tens of miles from the nearest pavement?
As we continue our slog up the wash, more desert gold appears: a good-sized drum. No clue as to what it used to hold.
This rusted bucket will hold no more water.
The creosote thickens. Can the car wash be near?
Push through a thicket of desert vegetation and suddenly your world goes weird. Why are so many old cars lined up out here? The three in the foreground are obvious but look over the roof of the center one – there are more lurking back there.
Looking at the view from one of the old cars. This is the last view the last driver of this vehicle saw, too. Creeped out now? Don’t be. I have a feeling the drivers walked away just fine. Only the cars never left.
Hey, here’s the VIN if you want to file an insurance claim. Just don’t tell them you drove it up a wash for miles and got stuck.
This is a frequent feature of these cars – a little vent / flap between the windshield and the hood. If anyone knows what these were for, let me know.
The cab from this old truck is all jumbled together with its bed upside down behind it – and what must be the lid to the biggest can of baked beans ever next to it.
A little further along another car lies belly up in the desert.
Some bits are so jumbled together it’s hard to tell how many cars you’re looking at.
This one is buried deep.
More cars poke out from behind the crumbled bit of car in the foreground.
A dashing sight. Sorry, I’ll show myself out. No wait, I regret no pun. Submerged dash in the foreground, another vehicle in the background.
Past that dashing sight ( sorry ) the parade continues. These cars are all neatly in a row. I sure don’t know why some are upside down.
This one has its doors and the springs for the bench seat all piled inside.
The hinges suggest that the trunk came open at some point and then was carried downstream by the rains.
Upended. The next one down the line is on its side! I wonder what happened here.
Two cars jammed together, both facing left. The tank at the right is probably the fuel tank. Again the undercarriage is completely gone.
This one took a beating. Could the force of a churning wash be enough to cause this or was it crunched up before it came to rest here? Behind it is the one vehicle that ended up on its side.
All in a row, neatly following a curve in the wash. I don’t know what that bright yellow object visible through the trunk of the car in the foreground is.
On its side. That grille looks like a Cadillac. Chrome’s holding up well in the harsh desert.
A messy jumble of metal.
Another serial number.
More cars all in a row.
Upside down. In all cases the engine, drive train and other parts were stripped. Maybe this is the remnants of some tinkerer’s collection.
Door panel detail.
Looking in under one of the cars.
Another buried car.
Looking at part of the car wash from some distance away.
Left some good thread on that tire.
Okay, so where is this car wash? And how did it come to be?
As to the first question – it isn’t that hard to find. If you have some curiosity and you know JTNP a little bit you should have a good feel for where it is. Of course, “hard to find” and “hard to get to” isn’t quite the same thing. You’re going to need to swing your shanks a bit to get to it, that much is true.
How did it come to be? I have no idea! I’d like to know, myself. If anybody knows how ’50’s, 60’s, maybe even 70’s? vintage cars came to end up in a jumbled row in a wash in the middle of the desert, drop me a line! If you can identify any of the cars, let me know as well.
This site is interesting to visit, though much newer than the usual sites I frequent. That doesn’t make it any less important to treat it with respect. Don’t be dumb when you visit – leave everything as is. Others would also like to visit and see these cars. Don’t climb into or over the cars – you could easily damage something and all those novelty photos you may be thinking of taking are not nearly as cool and funny when actually taken as they seemed in your head. Just take a look and take some photos, and leave everything as you found it.