Photo: Instagram / Grant Vincent
There is a lot of promise and there is a lot of promised beauty in a story of a barn or a field find. The very idea of a once-beautiful classic car being brought back from the dead and offered another chance and more miles on the road is nothing short of heartwarming.
But there is also beauty in destruction and hopelessness. Urban explorer Grant Vincent from the UK knows a lot about that, and he’s built himself a very solid reputation for the amazing photography art he creates on site, at the many places he comes across during his travels around the country.
His most recent find also touches on the automotive world: somewhere outside Edinburgh, in Scotland, he came across an abandoned mansion with a large yard and, on it, an entire collection of classic Jaguars and some Austins, left rotting to the elements. The cars, over a dozen of them, including an Mk8, an Mk2, a Series 3 XJ, a 1986 XJS V12, and an XJ-C, are all beyond saving. At best, as Hagerty points out, they could still provide some spare parts for another restoration project.
They’re old and badly damaged, both by the passing of time and human-caused accidents and are hopeless. But they are also incredibly beautiful. This is one of those rare times when beauty doesn’t come from the promise of a bright future for the barn find, but from its total destruction. Put it simply, all these destroyed classics, once worth tens of thousands of pounds, make for breathtaking photography art.
Art is all it boils down to, Vincent says in a statement to the same media outlet. As an urban explorer who publicizes his findings through his photography, he never reveals the locations he visits, lest it encourages other trespassers to do damage to them. He won’t say where this secret stash of Jags is located either, because “I go there with the sole intention of capturing images of these interesting places to share with people and that’s it.”
The wreck that seemed to have been in a devastating crash before it was brought to this yard and forgotten was his favorite subject on this explore. That, and the jaguar statue nearby.
His most recent find also touches on the automotive world: somewhere outside Edinburgh, in Scotland, he came across an abandoned mansion with a large yard and, on it, an entire collection of classic Jaguars and some Austins, left rotting to the elements. The cars, over a dozen of them, including an Mk8, an Mk2, a Series 3 XJ, a 1986 XJS V12, and an XJ-C, are all beyond saving. At best, as Hagerty points out, they could still provide some spare parts for another restoration project.
They’re old and badly damaged, both by the passing of time and human-caused accidents and are hopeless. But they are also incredibly beautiful. This is one of those rare times when beauty doesn’t come from the promise of a bright future for the barn find, but from its total destruction. Put it simply, all these destroyed classics, once worth tens of thousands of pounds, make for breathtaking photography art.
Art is all it boils down to, Vincent says in a statement to the same media outlet. As an urban explorer who publicizes his findings through his photography, he never reveals the locations he visits, lest it encourages other trespassers to do damage to them. He won’t say where this secret stash of Jags is located either, because “I go there with the sole intention of capturing images of these interesting places to share with people and that’s it.”
The wreck that seemed to have been in a devastating crash before it was brought to this yard and forgotten was his favorite subject on this explore. That, and the jaguar statue nearby.
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