This could be one of the best 'find' storys ever. My buddies dad calls me last Friday, he was on a business trip to Spokane, Wash, had some time to kill and went to a Goodguy's swap, he says, "You want a '32 Chevy 2door Sedan? $1,000?", I said, "Sure, BUY IT!" So he did, Now this is where it gets good. This guy that sold the '32 to us was up there on a mission to retrieve a Train Box car that fell off the tracks and into the lake in that area, back in 1932...FULL OF 1932 FORDS!!! I was told that his grandfather had this information and told him what was down there. Now, when I first heard this I thought, Its too good to be true. But, It turns out, he's going to dive down to check it out today and I would imagine, cut it open. The box car is in approximatly 60' of water, so, they aren't too far down. Hopefully, the impact and the lake water hasn't damaged what ever is in that box. Is this totally insane? or what. I'll give you the details as they come.
I wouldn't count on finding anything salvageable under there. Someone had posted pics a while back of a '35-36 truck that's been in a lake since almost new. It would probably fall apart if you tried to pull it out. Here you go: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121442&highlight=under+water+ford+truck
Sounds like an old wives tale to me. Plus, you'd better hope you have salvage rights on that stuff before you go pulling it out, because someone could come after you in the future if you just go pulling stuff out willy nilly. Although, that '50 Ford that they pulled out of the lake by us which had been underwater since '61 looked good enough to drive. I'll be waiting for an update.
The 'Salvage rights' thing was mentioned in our conversation, so I believe this guy has done his home work. We'll see if its bullshit or not, personally, I think its too good to be true, but, hey its worth gettin' wet.
If the railroad there is anything like the CN up here, what belongs to the railroad, stays with the railroad, abandoned or not. A few years back they had to remove a locomotive and a few cars that jumped a bridge and sank back in 1968. No local firms were allowed any salvage despite the fact the three cars were stripped and abandoned by 1970. Check out any legalities before any salvage takes place.
Maybe there are some wartime-harleys still in the crate down there too?!? or Jeeps? ;-) Hey man, let us know what happens. Everybody would love this to have a happy ending.
ot.................ive got a pair of 32 ca plates and the story behind them was a train in simi valley jumped track full of 32 plates.in 32.............i was told thats why there are still a couple of shacks with 32 ca plate roofs..............
That entire story is an urban legend. The story of a train car full of 32 Fords underwater due to a derailment has been around for the last 30 years!!!
Hey Gringo, Maybe you should go back & edit this threads title. Found means that they actually are fact and tangible.This right now is speculation at the moment. Most people will get the wrong idea here and think that this is just a BS post. In fact you yourself said that it sounds too good to be true, so Found may be the wrong wording for the title. I just don't want anybody to see tha FNG and form a negative opinion. Just lookin out for you. Kevin
Good to know this story is being updated to 1932 Fords. When I got in the hobby back in the early 1960's it was a railroad car filled with Harley-Davidson motorcycles that were on a siding in Chicago, they were destined for use in France during WWI but never made it.
Its from the tv show Deep Sea Detectives,they found a train car full of new 28-29 Nash Sedans!!!! That is a true Story.........
If the water is deep enough and cold enough they should be salvageable. Hopefully the salinity is also low. But how many 32's to a boxcar? How many can you cram into one? Is there only one boxcar? I've heard of a WWII fighter plane in a CA lake.... Anyhow the Simi train wreck that lost a load of plates is true, I know a guy with one of them shacks that has a roof made with them. They pop up at swap meets around here from time to time and you can always tell cuz half is rusted, half is not, due to the overlap when they made the roofs.
Eazy fellas, I'm just the messenger here, I don't care if JFK, Elvis, and Hoffa are down there smokin' the baloney pony trying to chop a top with bunnie slippers on, for Heraldo's camera. It makes no diff to me, But, how fuckin' cool would it be if the boys dream does come true, sure its a wet dream, sure you would need to be buds with the likes of Coostow and the guy who found the Titanic, but who cares, right? Personally, I wish him the best, I hope it works out. He's another hotrodder chasing the dream, Although, its equivelant to buried treasure. Really, I couldn't care less.
Did they actually find that? That's a good show but I haven't seen the Nash one, I'll have to watch for it. I did see the one where they had two complete steam driven train engines sitting upright at the bottom of a lake somewhere, that was really cool to see.
I used to date a girl whose Father worked at the Ford Factory in Charlotte NC ... he was 18 or 19 in 1932 ... They had a shipment of 32 Fords stolen near Asheville NC ... They were being hauled on a flat bed trailer ... and 3 or 4 32's were on the trailer. The driver stopped at a roadside Cafe to eat lunch and went he came out the truck and trailer hauling the 32's was gone. True Story As far as the GF's Father knew ... They never found them ... The uncool thing about the GF's Father working there was he was not a car guy ... and could not remember much about working there and could care less ... it was just a job . COOL thing was I bought his Ford employee badge ... for $20. ( 1971 or so )
That's lake Michigan. There is a website devoted to diving the Great Lakes with information about shipwrecks. A railcar ferry sank off Milwaukee in the late 1920s. There is at least one loco and and a number of railcars including one carrying some automobiles. That might be the Nash story angle. I've seen the photos of the loco and boxcars. The Great Lakes are full of shipwrecks. Thousands of them.
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