Photographer Dieter Klein doesn't seem to be an automobile aficionado or a gearhead of any kind. So what draws Klein to travel Europe and the United States, exploring the forests and deserts with a camera in hand, searching for vintage cars that have been parked for good and left to rot?
"More than an interest in the cars themselves, I was struck by the impact of this extraordinary process of transformation," Klein told Business Insider.
Dieter's images of automobile graveyards, places where abandoned cars slowly decay, show both the staying power of these classic cruisers and the strength of the nature around it, engulfing the machines and returning them back to the earth.
His photos have recently been compiled into a book, titled "Forest Punk," for sale now. Klein shared a selection of images and the stories behind them with us.
Klein discovered his unusual subject of choice by coincidence, he told Business Insider. He was on a trip to France when he happened upon an aging pickup truck parked and left for years in some bushes.
"It was about 80 years old and had been standing there undisturbed for a good 40 years," he said. "By that time it had pretty well been reclaimed by nature."
Klein says he wasn't much of a car person to be begin with, but the ruin piqued an interest. "The contradiction of nature and this man-made machinery to be left alone for decades in such impressive scenery left a strange impression on me," he said.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider