By far the most popular calendar that we sell every year is the Abandoned Autos calendar. For some reason, you masochists love seeing old cars and trucks rotting into the ground almost as much as you love seeing them all shined up and restored back to as-new condition. That’s okay; we do too. Ever wanted to get your shots of slowly sinking steel into that calendar? Here’s how you do it.

First off, find an abandoned auto. Not as easy as it sounds with the price of scrap steel going through the roof again and again. Second, snap some beauty shots of said abandoned auto. While most people out there are shooting digital nowadays, we do still accept slides and prints for Abandoned Autos submissions (color only, 4×6 inches minimum for prints, same size at 300 DPI for digitals). If you can, identify the year, make and model of the vehicle, and note where the shot was taken. Next, pop your best shot over to Mary Brott, our customer liaison who also doubles as the curator of Abandoned Autos submissions. You can reach her at mbrott [at] hemmings [dot] com or at

Mary Brott
P.O. Box 256
Bennington, VT 05201

Make sure to include your contact information with your submissions. Mary notes that there is no maximum or minimum number of photos you can submit, and you can submit them year-round. In fact, we like to see abandoned automobiles photographed in a variety of seasons, settings and locations. If you would like to get your prints or slides back once we’re done with them, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope with proper postage.

Here’s the cool part: If we choose to include your photo in the Abandoned Autos calendar, we’ll pay you. Standard payment for all rights to an image is $50 to $100, depending on placement in the calendar.

Keep in mind that we may repurpose the photo later on, most likely for the Abandoned Autos column that I write in Hemmings Motor News each month. We do get quite a few requests for the location and status of the cars featured in that column, so we typically pass those requests on to the photographer, who would know best the answers to those questions.

So let’s see those shots you’ve taken of rotting Ramblers, crumbling Chevrolets and decaying DeSotos. They might just earn you a few bucks!