I love cars. I don’t think there wasn’t a time that I wouldn’t sit with my dad and oogle some beautifully restored Tri-Five or 70s muscle machine that passed by. We never had anything classic growing up, but I can tell you that when I came in to the world, the old man traded in his 1966 Dodge Coronet (with a 440) for a 1972 Ford Pinto station wagon, because, well, sometimes a man gives up what he loves for his family. I can tell you that I carry some deep-seated guilt over that life choice.

My love of cars extends beyond make or model, and crosses over years. I would love nothing more that to have a 1957 Plymouth Fury in my garage, not because it tears up asphalt, but for the beauty of the design. To me, cars produced now are too similar, too generic. A ’57 Fury? Exner knew what he was doing with the creation – the slope of the top, the lines on the fins, the overhang above the headlights – this car screams class, and from a time when the US was full of hope and optimism about the future. My 1965 Ford Thunderbird has an instrument panel reminiscent of a rocketship, which calls to mind the expanding space program and race to the moon.  The late 60s and early 70s muscle cars? Reminders of a time when gas was cheap, and we were on top of the world – until the subsequent oil crises  in 1973 and 1979. Cars are always a reminder of our past – our collective and personal histories – however, many have been treated with a sense of disposability, with most crushed and recycled into other things. The ones that remain can light our sentimentality into a fire of who were once were, and what we can still aspire to be.

The Lost Road is a photoblog dedicated to classic cars and trucks everywhere, showcasing the ones that cross my path – some restored or modified and loved, others a work in progress, and the unlucky few that are abandoned and being reclaimed by time through decay.

Oh, and me? I’m the proud owner of the aforementioned 1965 Thunderbird, as well as a 1941 Cadillac Series 62 Fleetwood, a 1958 Oldsmobile Super 88 and a 1972 Dodge Charger.