For good or ill, most of the components of a car will degrade to an almost unrecognizable level in a few centuries. Mostly exposed like that, I imagine carhenge will be in ruins in a matter of decades.

We’ve found very, very few materials as enduring as mere stone.

Hasufin - 10 03 07 - 00:42 - Reply to comment?

Cars aren’t very sturdy anymore.

Metals oxidize too rapidly. Rarely are they found un-compounded in nature. Oxygen is too reactive an element.

The Doctor (URL) - 12 03 07 - 14:21 - Reply to comment?

It depends on the metal. after all, we have more and better-preserved bronze age metal artifacts than iron age. Bronze, being copper, simply tranishes the outer layer and that’s it; iron rusts, flakes, rusts, flakes… until all you’ve got is a deposit of ferric oxide.

I’ve no idea about aluminum. AFAIK, it doens’t oxidize at all. And while Mos tthigns fall apart quickly, it takes much, much, much longer for those materials to entirely disappear. Destruction, like creation, puts 90% of the time in the last 10%.

Hasufin - 13 03 07 - 00:12 - Reply to comment?

Much of cars these days isn’t even metal anymore – many parts of the body are plastics and resins, as are many connectors and fasteners in the superstructure. Plastics, while sturdy, are still sensitive to UV radiation, and become brittle and break into splinters after a couple of years.

Aluminum will degrade over time, but it takes a very long time. It doesn’t rust per se, but it does become thinner and thinner until it flakes away. It becomes progressively brittle from exposure to the elements, or at least soda and food packing cans will.

The Doctor (URL) - 13 03 07 - 10:43 - Reply to comment?