20 Photos Of 18-Wheelers That Were Sadly Left Behind
Let’s take a look at something extra fascinating, 20 forgotten about 18-wheelers.
20 RETRO GRAPHICS
I love this kind of retro circa ’70s pin striping on cars and trucks. Especially on black, I think it looks really cool. The look is clean, funky, and surprisingly expressive. This flat front design is similar to the last semi we featured, but with a much more engaging paint job.
The missing light is clearly an issue, but this would be a pretty cool truck to own. Obviously it wouldn’t be the most practical, but it would be pretty darn stylish. Fortunately, this kind of paint style was pretty popular, so you can find a number of car models with this same style.
19 BURIED BY FOLIAGE
This 18 wheeler has seen some better days, that’s for sure. With the forest regrowing all around this massive hauler, and old wheelbarrows and junk lying all around it, this worn down semi isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Though at one time it no doubt hauled cargo across the country and back maybe thousands of miles each trip.
It’s a mystery lost to time what it used to haul, and it’s pretty creepy to think what might still be inside. . .
18 MASS GRAVE
If we were to count up the number wheels in this picture, it would be a lot. Quite a lot. With at least five trucks in frame and 18 wheels a pop, that’s a grand total of 90 wheels. Crazy, and if these trucks, as they are pretty old, have seen at least a million miles each (not unheard of), that’s enough miles to go around the Earth almost 201 times.
That’s insane to think about, actually, and even if they haven’t gone quite that many each, it’s still likely more than enough to wrap around the planet at least a few times.
17 30 FEET OF SOLID STEEL
This is a pretty old semi-truck, very old actually. In recent years, 18-wheelers have seen some drastic advancements in efficient, becoming lighter, and above all else, significantly more aerodynamic. This leads to companies saving millions upon millions of dollars annually. And much more importantly, saving the planet.
These old behemoths, though, not so much. I can’t even begin to imagine how heavy that trailer must be, made entirely of steel. Pretty boggling, actually, considering it also had to haul heavy cargo. It’s no wonder people started designing more efficient trucks.
16 ABANDONED ROWS OF TRAILERS
Quickly becoming overgrown by the forest all around them, these semi-truck trailers have been heavily marked up by vandals, all kinds of symbols and writing covers every part of these massive trailers. It gives it such a unique, abandoned vibe. A lot of people find it very very ugly, but a lot people think that it looks beautiful. I find my taste falls somewhere in between.
While I wouldn’t necessarily call it beautiful, I would call it very fascinating and unique. I like it, too. How fun it would be to wander around all the empty shipping trailers in this forest?
15 OLD FADED BLUE
The front grille of this semi-truck says “1952” across it, which if that’s the year it was manufactured and put into use, it makes this 18-wheeler 66 years old, and counting. That’s a pretty old truck if you ask me. It doesn’t really look all that dated, either. Most trucks these days have the exact same shape, maybe some different lights, more chrome, but otherwise it’s all just about the same.
I guess maybe it is about time for some overhauling in the industry. No pun intended. This truck has definitely seen better days, too.
14 DILAPIDATED WITH THE DOOR STILL OPEN
This old abandoned beast looks like someone left it here in a rush, driving it into a field, putting it in park, and jumping out, not even bothering to shut the door on their way out. In the spirit of the season, maybe they were on the run from someone evil, or on the run from the law.
Who knows, it’s just fun to imagine stories around how these kinds of relics ended up where they are, to rot peacefully for all time. Or, not so peacefully, depending on the kind of story you want to dream up.
13 IN A MEADOW IN THE MOUNTAINS
This truck has found itself in a pretty awesome place to retire, in a beautiful emerald meadow on a farmstead in a valley in the mountains. Talk about a nice place to be stuck for all time. It reminds me of the mountains where I’m from, in Colorado, and seeing this truck here just triggers memories of being outside in the mountains in summer, exploring abandoned things.
There’s just something about old things that is endlessly enrapturing. Seeing abandoned 18-wheelers is a pretty special thing, too. This model is a bit newer than the last few we’ve featured, but still old.
12 A RUSTED OUT COLLECTIBLE
This is a pretty unique old 18-wheeler, left to rust and rot amongst a number of other relics from a similar time period. What makes this hauler special is that it’s pretty rare.
The pictured 18-wheeler is a Freightliner model 600 Bubblenose COE, and it will fetch a pretty penny, especially in good condition.
While definitely not mint, with some care and a lot of elbow grease, this thing could be fixed up into pretty tip top shape. A new windshield, headlight, paint job, and some serious rust scrubbing will do this treasure wonders.
11 STRIKING ORANGE UNFADED
I’m currently driving a bright red Mazda 2 and the paint job is most assuredly not nearly as good as this one. My car is from 2011 and the paint is already chipping and fading. It hasn’t even been through a decade yet.
But this 18-wheeler, significantly older, has weathered the test of time with hardly any signs of serious rust, no signs of peeling or chipping, and it’s been out in the elements, the sun, the rain, the wind, for probably longer than my car has existed. They just don’t make things like they used to.
10 METAL DECAYING FASTER THAN RUBBER
Rust is a pretty insidious disease. It’ll take over anything it can get its hands on. And, unless you’re extremely judicious in removing it, it’ll come back. A lot of vintage cars have surface rust on them, and it’s fine because the integrity of the car isn’t really lost.
In the case of this 18-wheeler, though, and the case with a lot of cars, this is the kind of rust that eats away at everything metal.
Clearly, this truck is going to be a collapsing, empty shell very soon. The state it’s in has happened so fast the tires are still inflated. Crazy.
9 LEFT BEHIND WITH THE REST
This 18-wheeler almost looks like a firetruck with the paint job on it. Obviously, it isn’t, but it is pretty abandoned. Cast to the side in an empty field along with several other junk cars, it has a pretty dismal future ahead of it, to sit and be left behind in the depths of time.
There’s not much that’s special about it, except for the flat front design. Not many semi-trucks are made this way anymore, especially with the introduction of much more aerodynamically efficient body designs. It’s really cool to see old trucks like this in different places.
8 DAINTY LITTLE PINSTRIPES
This big, bold, flat front Mack tractor trailer looks pretty imposing, especially from this view, directly head on. It’s softened, though, by the delicate pink and blue pinstripe patterns on the left and right side of the front, just beside the windshield wiper bases.
It is softened further by the beautiful resting place of this monolith: in a beautiful, canary highlighted meadow underneath a picturesque tree, perhaps as old as the truck, but ever growing and living unlike this echo of a soon forgotten age. The paint and state of the truck is in surprisingly good shape.
7 GRAVEYARD OF 18-WHEELERS
It’s amazing to see how long old tires last sometimes. It seems that, strangely, despite the disarray, rust, breakdown, and dissembling of the individual parts of a truck, somehow what everything rests upon, the tires, hold their air and stay in tact for an illogically long amount of time.
Even if they’re mostly rotted and cracked, unable to drive on, they still hold air and hold the weight of the truck.
Like this one, with missing headlight, rusted everything, shambles, the tires look almost new. Sometimes the tires go first, but these tires are proving their extreme longevity.
6 PASTEL RUSTY COLORFUL
The way these trucks decay is sometimes so vibrant, with old paint fading, revealing whites and blues of primer, while in other areas bright orange rust begins to develop, deepening in places to a rich patina and spectrum.
It’s not unlike how a forest looks when autumn comes around. There’s so much grace in it, even though all it amounts to is the leaves dying. It shows that it’s just a part of the whole cycle, and we should see the beauty in everything. Even that rusty 18-wheeler eyesore our neighbor won’t get rid of.
5 HOT PINK PYPER
There would be absolutely no mistaking this hot pink behemoth when you saw it drive by on the highway, or spotted it parked in a truck stop somewhere. It has the old company’s branding and logo on it, too, so if you knew about Pyper, whatever it is that they did, you’d easily be able to identify them anywhere.
If you didn’t, you might be tempted to figure it out, or ask, because of that eye-catching color. After all these years, too, it hasn’t faded. The matching wheel color is a nice touch.
4 RUST BUCKET TANKER
This old oil tanker turned to rust bucket, unlike the hot pink hauler at number 4 and the cherry red truck at number 13, has lost all traces of its paint entirely, and all that’s left is a fine layer of rust.
It’s so even and smooth it almost looks intentional, which is pretty crazy. If I saw this thing driving on the roads I think it would be pretty intimidating and a little bit scary. With Halloween this time coming up soon, it’s hard not to think like that sometimes. Especially with stories like Duel by Richard Matheson.
3 TRI-COLORED JUNKER
This isn’t by far the oldest truck on our list, but it definitely looks the most decrepit, with a mismatched engine compartment and front fenders, an ugly olive body color, and a copious amount of dingy rust as the third color in this trashy trifecta.
At least it’s not still being used, and is left to decay in peace and quite, hopefully away from the sight of most people.
This truck is a Peterbilt, quite a competent and popular 18-wheeler company that’s been around for quite a long time. Most aren’t as ugly as this one.
2 SLICE OF HISTORY
This is one of the oldest trucks on our list. The sources found didn’t list an actual year but based on the body shape, it’s fairly safe to say that this 18-wheeler is at least from the 40’s. That would make this truck somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 years old.
That’s pretty crazy to think about, a car being almost 100 years old and still basically looking the same. A bit faded, a little bit of rust, but otherwise in a pretty similar condition. There’s probably a number of these things that still work.
1 RETRO ART DECO
If there ever was a semi-tractor trailer that looked like it came from the 60s, it’s definitely this one, with ridged chrome underlay, weird looking lights, a ruggedly industrial bumper, and a bulky, chunky bright red top.
The flat front lends to that style, too, and the black tires make this car look a lot sharper than it would otherwise.
Obviously without a trailer, this 18-wheeler is missing a few wheels, but even without, it still has a pretty incredible amount of tires. I bet changing them is phenomenally expensive -crazy to even think about.
Sources: wallpaperup.com, flickr.com, hiveminer.com.
