Interesting things you've found in cars

Just had this on the top of my mind, so I figured I see how many people here have found interesting stuff digging through cars you've bought. I just cut up a 56 Roadmaster 4dr, and the trunk was FULL of paperwork. The car had been sitting since the late 60's, so I rifled through it all just to see what I could find. I started finding ALOT of letters from a WWII G.I. to his mom (car's owner), the article about him joining army from the hometown paper & his original Western Union telegram telling his mom he joined the army and was leaving tomorrow. Digging some more is a paper folded into quarters, I unfold it and find the original signed telegram from MacArthur to his mom & you can guess what that was about. Found a bunch of other stuff I kept too, but that had to be by far the most interesting/shocking. I was frozen for a good minute atleast after I read that letter. I know there has to be other finds like that around here so lets hear about 'em.

 

uhhhh.....yeah.....that'll be hard to top.....

 

I always like finding Snap-On tools in junk yard cars.

 

I think it was a 50 year old squirrel inside my door when I changed my glass.

He was holding a sign "california or bust." I picked up the car in Arkansas... man, he almost made it.

 

In my 66 GTO convertable I found two bullet holes in the trunk floor (going down on an angle toward the diff) on one side and the petrified last joint of a thumb or big toe - complete with nail. It had been cut clean off.

The car did originally come from New Jersey...

 

Hmm. I save old soda bottles I find in cars, if they're interesting. I even have an old Monticello Raceway day pass I found in a '60 DeSoto one place.

One junkyard I found an HO train set and a ton of slot car track, all 1960's vintage, in the trunk of a 71 Buick. That was probably the best find for me, even though most of it was just about unusable.

Yard I am picking out of now, you never know what you will find in a trunk - so far: Hudson twin-H power air cleaners in a Dodge, 33-35 Chevy headlight in a '53 Olds (with a bunch of generators and starters), a pile of headlights in a '64 Galaxie (one set was 31 Packard), and there was an EMD locomotive operator's manual in a '58 Plymouth wagon, but that car had apparently been flooded - there was enough of the cover to tell what it was and the rest was damaged beyond it even being worth taking. I keep hoping to hit something like an old tripower setup or an early Chevy fuel injection takeoff. Not going to hold my breath, though. (I was told a story about a guy finding a complete GTO Ram Air setup in a trunk in a junkyard, though, I suppose anything is possible).

I got chased out of a bus full of generators in an old yard (now gone) by a raccoon once, too. I don't think he wanted to attack me, but they're supposed to be nocturnal so I didn't want to get too close to him in case he was rabid or something.

The most amusing one I know of is the S10 a buddy bought for $50 and found like $53.50 between change and money inside it. Sometimes it's worth poking around older cars for change, those old silver coins are worth hanging onto.

 

Didja make a rearview hanger out of it???

 

A few weeks ago a friend of mine was helping my with some bodywork. He knocked a big hunk of bondo out of the cab corner and a strange object fell out.

It was oblong, and covered in old rotten leaves, rust, black gunk, etc. I wasn't really paying attention, but he started yelling "WHAT IS THAT! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!" He was really distressed, turned completely white. It looked like a baby head. Wow! So I reached down, picked it up, looked closer, and said "It's the melted bottom of a plastic coke bottle. What the fuck is the matter with you?"
"I thought it was a baby head." He said.

He had to go have a smoke after that.

 

How much for the toe??

A guy I worked with bought a car from one of Frank Sinatra's chauffers, and there was an autographed picture of Frank on a movie set?, stuffed in the seat pocket on the rear of the front seat.

If he was pulling my leg, well, I fell for it. I thought the picture was cool though.

 

The air conditioner repairman, at a facility I worked at, had bought a '37 Pontiac sedan about a year earlier. He had never looked through it in all that time, and when he finally did, he found two pictures of Lindy laying loose in the glove box. The pics were from the 20's. I have copies of both on my desk that he allowed me to make. One picture is Lindy wearing his leather helmet and goggles and standing at his plane with couple of other fellows I can't place, and the other is of the Spirit of St. Louis and shows people gwaking at it as it sits in a field. I'm not an airplane guy in what all I collect, but these two pics are sort of unique to have, so I framed them and keep them. Never know what you will find in an old car. The fellow almost sold the car without ever looking in the glove box.
Huey

 

Dude you should see if you can track down the original owner of those letters. She'll probably be long gone by now, but her family might want them. I know I'd love my granpas old letter home from war.

 

In the last Mustang I bought and stripped there was half a joint and 5 or 6 loose 'used' fake fingernails.

 

'74 monaco cop car from a city auction found a bowl and a couple of skinnies stuffed into backseat cushion

 

The fingernails thing reminded me that I found a tongue ring once, obviously couldn't have been that old but still nasty. A couple of fake fingernails were next to it. Wtf is up with these fake fingernail wearing chicks, are they just dropping them everywhere marking territory?

 

i was taking a winshield out of a 30 model A and i am poking around cleaning out the area between the tank and the body... i find a bullit
like a 45 or something(not a gun guy) it was huge
dirty harry and shit
tom
also i bought a 46 merc 2 door and when i opened the trunk i found a complete leopard skin interior and an old thrush glass pack
nice

 

Several years ago, I bought a wrecked Lincoln with the intention of lowering it, etc., but under the trunk mat was an envelope with $3K in hundreds. I still have the Texas plate and the three money bands. P.S. I drove the lowered Lincoln for 3 years and sold it for $5K. Probably one of the few times I made money on a car.

 

I was tearing the interior out of a 73 Grand Am I was rigging up for Figure 8/Enduro racing. I found a Connecticut Deputy Sherrif badge. Kept in my wallet and was able to get on the floor and back stage for a Motley Crue show at the Civic Center.
I won't even tell you about the stuff I find in the repo cars.
Ray in CT

 

I need to acquire more old cars. The only thing I've ever found was an old awl in the quarter of my convertible.

-Dave

 

I'm in the same boat as you, Dave--all I ever find is more things to fix!

Tucker

 

When i bought my -53 buick it had been sittin in an old impound lot in Vegas for 30+ years, it had carlifornia plates, uninploymentpapers in the glovebox and some men and womenclothes in the trunk, guess that Vegas "last chance" trip didnt turnout that well!

 

I found a 1927 Nickel in my ('26-27) Model T when I cleaned the nests out of it.

 

quite a bit of stuff , some eery, some wierd,some KOOL
in order of my interest besides the norm of silver coins, toys ,tools etc
1. a 12" sawed off Knickerbocker side by side double BBL 12 gauge scattergun behind a home made door in the inside the rear door inner panel of a '36 olds BIG 4 dr sedan from Ill. tucked back alond the inside door edge-LOADED ,thing kicked like a mule -sold it
2.a LONG snake skin (12 foot at least) interwoven the rear seat springs of a 55 chevy from Ark.
3. in a 63 6cyl falcon 2 dr sedan's glove box 600 bucks cash, title and SS check for $385.00,I sent the SS check to the address listed on the check ,I figure the guy died and his family would be getting his mail
4. 1964 Winternationals participant window sticker in a 56 Chevy SD
5. 2 sets (both feet) of human toe bones in a burned out toyota PU
6. a large unopened safe + bags of coins in the back seat of a 60 chevy on a ledge 18 feet down in a flooded quarry ,years later I found out a guy I knew was a burglar as a kid and he dumped the car there after a car chase,sherriff pulled it out 3 years ago when the quarry was made into a now abandoned park.

 

The freakiest was an old Hemmings in a trunk at the local u pull it with my name and address on it. Never seen that car before, guess those things stay in circulation for a long time.

 

There's a mob story here somewhere. What part of Illinois? Chicago, perhaps?

-Dave

 

An old car guy in town told me of the time he bought a 20's odd-make sedan and gave it a quicky repaint. Sold it for what he thought was a nice profit. Then later found out from the new owner that under the floor mat on top of the wood were hundreds of old silver coins laid out in rows. Worth thousands.

 

I can't top the stories already posted here, but the last car I bought had a full set of house and garage keys for the previous owner's place under the passenger seat. Not smart. (Yes, I took them back to him)

There was also a funky old pair of panties crammed down under the back seat. Nasty... I wanted to boil the whole car after that!

Oh - and I found $1.50 in that car too. Maybe that was his change from "The Panty Incident."

 

The only thing of note I have gotten in ANY of the cars I bought was a nest of Black Widow Spiders in the 36 Chevy Suburban I traded for.

a large tarp an 6 cans of raid fogger induced them to vacate the premisis.

 

"SCORE!!!" *SNiiiiFFFFfffff!*

 

I think your right , the guy i sold it too -(buick /olds collector) found several poorly leaded up bullet holes on the pass side of the car and out the drivers side ,but notas many going OUT,LOL, I got it from a guy in a northern suburb of Chitown w no history so the buyer did a track and found that it sold new to a now defunct corperation,he figures SHADY,but the title was genuine and clear

 

Old tools, coke bottles, old registration and sometimes owners manual......hotwheels.........only real good story i have is on 66 mustang coupe i use to have.......i was told by previous owners that it use to be a big street racer down in Baton Rouge........and one night the cops got after them and tried to shoot there ft tire out to stop them.......i found some bondoed up holes in the ft fender....and yep....two bullet holes.......more digging in shock tower area i found to 38 special semi-wad cutters......what police use to use when they had police issue revolvers......i found no other holes or bullets in this car....so.....there may be some truth to it.......i have a few pictures of the car and the bullets in my hand next to the car and holes if anyone is interested.......I still have the bellhouseing, trans and heads out of that car........trans is 1963 borg-warner t-10 and the heads are ported 1969 302 heads with some type orange painted springs........The intake and other parts were scrap and motor was blown........