How do such cool cars end up like this?

I think a lot of it is based on "keeping it in the family". You have a car that you liked as a kid, so you keep it around, hoping that when your son or daughter grows up, they will love cars as much as you do...want to work on the project with Dear old Dad. I remember one sad casewhere a kid bought a car, his dream car, while he was still in Viet Nam...you soldiers know this one, it happend all to often. The parents just couldn't bear to part with the last hope of their son.

In this case it was properly stored and eventually an appreciative relative was able to get the car back on the road.

There are a lot of sad stories behind these abandoned cars, the real sad part is not always the car itself or the condition it is found in.