Would You Buy A Car Abandoned At An Airport For Two Years?

Have you ever lost anything at an airport? It’s fairly common to lose a pair of sunglasses or a passport, but a car? It seems the owners of these cars completely forgot about their vehicles, and they’ve been sat gathering dust at Pittsburgh International Airport for over two years.

It’s surely quite difficult to forget a whole car, and leaving it at the airport would make it more difficult to get home. So we presume there are various complex reasons, although none are listed. Perhaps their owners went on holiday and decided to stay out there, or perhaps they couldn’t find the car when they returned and decided it wasn’t worth finding. Perhaps they got stuck somewhere, maybe they were arrested, or maybe the backstory is grim for other reasons. Some of these cars are damaged, so it’s likely that a couple were abandoned on purpose.

But most look in good condition, and the oldest is a 1999 Nissan Maxima. There’s another Nissan, this one a 5.6-litre V8 Titan pickup, plus two GMC SUVs (a 2009 Acadia and a 2013 Terrain), a 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan and a Chevrolet Trailblazer from the same year. Heck, someone’s even left a 2015 Mini Countryman Cooper S - and one that’s in the right colour scheme, too.

We’re also drawn to the 2003 E39 BMW 530i, which looks in reasonable nick besides faded badges and a missing mirror cover. It must have a story to tell, given its heavily tinted windows and no VIN.

Only the Mini and a Chevy Impala come with keys, mind. So whoever ends up buying these forgotten cars will need to get an auto electrician to get them running. And the Mini doesn’t run anyway, while the rear of the Impala has been completely stripped out. The Trailblazer needs a new tyre, the Maxima is looking a bit tatty and there’s a sunburnt 2007 Pontiac G6 that’s rotting into the tarmac. None of the cars have their mileage listed, and you’ll have to deal with someone’s else’s belongings that were left in the cars.

Pittsburgh is also selling an entire fleet of snowploughs. Can anyone dump a load of snow on the UK so we’ve got an excuse to have one please? Or the cute New Holland sweeper, we’re not fussy. A vast Oshkosh fire truck is also up for sale, if you’d rather.

Around 1000 pieces of jewellery, 500 electronics, a pair of high-end shoes and an alligator head are all being auctioned alongside the vehicles, as the airport looks to get rid of its lost property pile.

The cars are going up for auction on Saturday 23 October, but there are no prices for anything in the sale currently listed. Would you take the risk on any of these unclaimed cars?

Sources: CBS Pittsburgh, Jalopnik