The true story behind this French F1 car graveyard

This French car graveyard may look like the final resting spot for a bunch of F1 cars, but there’s more to its origin than that.

Photos of the site were shared to Facebook by Julien Def, after he discovered them near his home.

Given that Michael Schumacher’s Benetton and the legendary Lotus 79 were featured among the abandoned vehicles, Julien naturally thought he’d stumbled across a goldmine.

But that isn’t quite the case.

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How did this F1 graveyard end up in a French field?

In his post, Julien wrote: “Found this yesterday, not far from home. 

“Caught me behind the bush…by the way they are up for sale.”

He claimed that the cars were on sale for approximately $65,000.

However, these were not real F1 cars and they had never seen action on an official track.

Given that they were emblazoned with original decals and brand sponsors, it’s understandable why anybody would think they were the real deal.

So, who built them, and what for purpose?

They are the creation of Team Les Galapits, who made these replicas for teenagers.

Rather than using a V10 like a real F1 car, these impersonations had a 2CV motorbike engine.

According to one user online, they were used in Circuit Pierre Monnier in Grenoble, France.

A wider look at car graveyards

Unfortunately, if you were in the market for some F1 imitations, you’re out of luck.

They’ve now been sold.

Whether or not they’ll re-emerge down the road with a makeover remains to be seen.

At least something is being done with them, as cars in these graveyards are often left rotting away.

Take this Swedish graveyard which the Bearded Explorer paid a visit to.

Cars had been left here for decades, with some even having trees growing up through them.

One thing is for certain, though – fields full of cars are ominous and cause people to ask questions.

There was the case of the field of unsold Tesla Model 3 cars in Florida which had some people scratching their heads.

And this infamous Chinese EV graveyard led to a lot of people getting the wrong idea.

Abandoned cars are as intriguing as they are unfortunate.