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PHOTOS: Welcome to Old Car City, USA - the world's largest junkyard museum

Waste not, want not.

NESTLED IN A forest in the southern US state of Georgia, over 4,000 classic cars decorate 32 acres that have been turned into a junkyard museum.

Owner Walter Dean Lewis’ parents started the business in 1931 as an all-purpose local shop that also sold car parts.

Classic Car Junkyard David Goldman / PA David Goldman / PA / PA

Over time, Lewis grew the collection, which had just 40 cars in the ’70s.

“The only thing I ever knew was cars and trucks,” Lewis says. “I like to say I work for tomorrow, always thinking about the future. Someday they would be valuable.”

Classic Car Junkyard David Goldman / PA David Goldman / PA / PA

Lewis stopped selling parts about six years ago, soon after realizing he could sustain the business more as a museum, charging $15 for visitors to look, and $25 to take pictures.

Classic Car Junkyard David Goldman / PA David Goldman / PA / PA

He estimates that 95 percent of the people who come through the six miles of trails are photographers.

Classic Car Junkyard David Goldman / PA David Goldman / PA / PA

Visitors are greeted by various artworks and a set of hand-painted messages hung on the ‘Tree of Knowledge.’

Classic Car Junkyard Photo Gallery Associated Press Associated Press

On occasion, Eddie McDaniel, who goes by “Fast Eddie,” a childhood friend of Lewis, plays blues piano next to a shotgun and a bear mounted on a wall.

Classic Car Junkyard Associated Press Associated Press

In the 30 or 40 years that many of the cars have never moved, trees now grow through them and, in some cases, even lift them off the ground.

Classic Car Junkyard Photo Gallery Associated Press Associated Press

One of Lewis’ more popular vehicles is a 1946 Ford truck used in “Murder in Coweta County,” a 1983 film starring Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith.

Old Car City, the world’s largest known classic car junkyard, also contains the eerie remnants of an iconic yellow schoolbus that dates from the 1950s.

Classic Car Junkyard Photo Gallery Associated Press Associated Press

“It’s history,” Lewis says.

I saved them when other people were crushing them. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t get up every morning and look at old cars.

Contains reporting by the Associated Press.

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    Mute Dearbhla Russell
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    Jul 17th 2015, 8:52 PM

    Me there. My camera. Ipod. Cooler box of beer. And a few uninterrupted hours.
    Bliss.
    Love this.

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    Mute Kieran OKeeffe
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    Jul 17th 2015, 9:04 PM

    Be brilliant to see it..that or the massive plane boneyard..is it in Nevada somewhere?

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    Mute Phillip O'Brien
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    Jul 17th 2015, 10:25 PM

    Absolutely.
    I so want to visit this place.

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    Mute Dearbhla Russell
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    Jul 17th 2015, 11:00 PM

    I think its in Tuscon Arizona. Ah sure some day eh?

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Jul 17th 2015, 11:54 PM

    Jawjah.
    First sentence.

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    Mute Marc Power
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    Jul 18th 2015, 1:28 AM

    Looks like some parts of Dublin

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Jul 18th 2015, 9:07 AM

    You’d need a certificate of destruction here if you want to stop paying the motor tax.

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    Mute Denis Coleman
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    Jul 31st 2015, 10:01 AM

    Our local mechanic says Donedeal is the biggest scrap yard in Ireland.

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