Deep in the North Island's Central Plateau lies the enormous Horopito car graveyard, properly known as Horopito Motors.
It's the place where Kiwi cars go to die and practically every car that has ever been driven on New Zealand roads can be found there.
After lockdown, the yard at the foot of Mt Ruapehu where cars lay in eternal rest has become a surprisingly popular tourist attraction for Kiwis wanting to get out on the road again.
“We've got old Morris Minors over the back there, and Vauxhills and Hillman in there, and there's an old single spinner there, there's something everywhere,” owner Colin Fredrickson said.
The cars are still scavenged for their parts by classic car vultures.
“Quite often we get cars out in the middle and they say I want that car and they say how long to get that car out and I say how much money you got?” a laughing Mr Fredrickson said.
“It's always the one at the far end they want, every bloody time.”
Mr Fredrickson knows where every nut and bolt is after marrying into the Horopito Motors royal family years ago.
“The first time I came in here I was probably about 12 or 13 before I took any notice, it's something that grew on me then but I didn't think I'd be up here though that was the last thought on my mind, you never know what's around the corner,” he said.
While Seven Sharp was visiting, Mr Fredrickson had a call asking for a seatbelt buckle specifically from a 1992 Isuzu Bighorn. Naturally he knew just where one was.
This place is a rarity known an "active museum" with the artefacts on display bought and sold daily.
People can come here almost any time, it’s a very easy way to lose a day, especially after a lockdown.
“Yeah there were a lot of people with cabin fever and they just had enough of being at home,” Mr Fredrickson said.
“It's not everybody's cup of tea but there are a lot of people though, my granddad had one of those. It brings back the memories eh. If cars could tell tales, man alive, you'd write a book every day.”
There's a reason why people keep coming and why artists, photographers, TV producers and film directors are drawn like flies to a dead dog.
The yard has featured in Goodbye Pork Pie in 1971, 1981 film Smash Palace, and Hunt for the Wilderpeople in 2016.
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