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What old or unusual things have you found after getting old car?


JamesR

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Non-automotive related or automotive related, it doesn't matter. It could be in an old unrestored car you just bought...or in a junked car in a barn or field that you were looking through (we've all done that.)

 

I mentioned on another thread that my '61 Mercury had some old beer cans under the front seat. They were old, and some of the breweries weren't in business anymore, I think (unfortunately I tossed them all, which I regret.) I thought it was funny, because the original owner family told me that the Grandpa only used the car to go to church or to go on vacations. I actually think Grandpa dropped Grandma off at church, then headed for the liquor store. 😄 And, who knows, maybe Vegas was a regular vacation spot.

 

Interested in hearing your stories.

Edited by JamesR (see edit history)
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I had a bunch of old (empty of course) beer cans in my 57 DeSoto. The rear speaker had fallen out and the beer cans would roll around the deck until they fell into the trunk. Empty it out once a month or so wheather it needed it or not. 

Dave S 

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Not found in a car, but when I was 5 years old I found one of those leather key cases that hold a key or two in a junkpile near our house.  Embossed with "Gardner Oldsmobile " - a local dealer.  Fast forward 45 years and my 35 Dodge (also my first antique auto) was ready for the road.  Was looking for an appropriate key chain for it and remembered I still had that one.  Put the key in it and enjoyed finally using it.  Lost it within a week!  grrrrrr

 

Jim

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A small cardboard tag printed " Atkinson Spring Company, Hamburg NY" plus it listed ( typed in ) the size of the seat cushion. This was in a Derham bodied 1931 Franklin Airman victoria brougham that Enos Derham later identified for me as the car he built for the 1930/1931 ( end of year) Chicago and New York custom body Salons. I found it when I was restoring the car 40 years ago tucked into one of the bottom front seat spring cushions.  That car is now owned by a good friend in Pa. and was at the 2018 AACA Elegance at Hershey event.

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I pulled original carpet and seats out of a 1950 Buick to repair the front floors. Stuck in the black tar/sealer that seals the seams on the drivers side rear wheel well. Was a flyer stuck in the sealer. It showed the three people running for president in the local/factory union? Not sure if it was just for the assembly plant? or factory? All three look like no one you would want to make mad. Not a smile on any face, just a very serious look.  

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1 hour ago, GregLaR said:

3 vials of cocaine in one of my Corvettes.

3 hand guns in a '65 Chevrolet wagon.

Whoa! I hate to say this, Greg, but there's a disturbing pattern developing there! 😄

 

Actually, I'd love to find an old Luger P 08 in a Mercedes or maybe a Webley revolver in a Jaguar sedan.

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I had to go digging for it. I bought a 1955 Desoto, and this was in the glove box. A Car Craft book/magazine  from January 1955. It has part 3, on a desoto hemi build in it. Guessing that is why the desoto owner bought it. Any one know  the staff members listed inside. It also has the best of the best from the 1954 International motor review. 

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I bought a 1970 Caddy convertible in 1996 and after several months looked under the carpeting in the trunk and found an old envelope full of coupons. While looking through the coupons I noticed some green paper which turned out to be a hundred dollar bill and two twenties. All of the bills were from the early '70s so they had obviously been in there for a while.... 

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1 hour ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

 A Car Craft book/magazine  from January 1955. Any one know  the staff members listed inside.  

 

Robert Petersen - Publisher and Founder of the Petersen Museum in California.

Wally Parks - Founder of the NHRA

The Others - ???

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5 hours ago, JamesR said:

Whoa! I hate to say this, Greg, but there's a disturbing pattern developing there! 😄

Yes, they all come in 3's. I suppose if I'd had both cars at the same time I could have done all the coke, then hit a liquor store with one of the guns and ended up doing 3 years for armed robbery.😉

 

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11 hours ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

I had to go digging for it. I bought a 1955 Desoto, and this was in the glove box. A Car Craft book/magazine  from January 1955. It has part 3, on a desoto hemi build in it. Guessing that is why the desoto owner bought it. Any one know  the staff members listed inside. It also has the best of the best from the 1954 International motor review. 

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Xander, love the old magazines. I bought several in an antique mall several years ago - mostly Motor Trends and some now defunct titles dealing with hot rodding and customs...all from the fifties to mid sixties. I especially like it when they have classified ads in the back, like: "Corvette, 1954, white, good condition. $1400." 😂

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1965 Imperial Convertible.:  Not that thrilling, but peeling back original carpets revealed a handful of trim screws, nuts, washers,  left during production. Plus center console mount height had to be trimmed with industrial strength sheet metal cutters leaving two 4" curlycue steel shards still laying there.  

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Years ago Dad bought a 1927 Stutz out of the north east just from pictures.  It was somewhat less than described.  As he was pulling the door panels off to address some of the problems, he found a parking stub for the University of Washington - it had been a “local” car at one time.  Not a fascinating piece on its own, but fun to trace where the car had been.

 

I bought a 1933 Chrysler a couple decades ago when I was young and thought I’d discovered a hidden bootlegging compartment under the rear carpet.  Years later I was to find out, that’s where the optional radio box went.

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Nothing too thrilling but I did find old gas receipts in my '64 El Camino where the previous owner paid a whole .62 cents a gallon for gas.  :)

 

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21 hours ago, Joe in Canada said:

Dragged a 72 Chevy pickup cab home a few years ago. Took out the seat and found a rattle snake skin under it.

Joe, where did the pickup come from originally? As a Minnesotan I find that I don't often get to brag about the weather, but I have boasted that the furthest north poisonous snakes have been found is White Water State Park in southern MN. I sleep better knowing that they won't come as far north as my home in Minneapolis.

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In the mid-1970s my father bought a 1968 Cadillac sedan. I offered to clean it up for him. While down on the front floorboard vacuuming, I noticed a magazine stuck on the firewall behind the glove compartment. I pulled it out and it turned out to be a program for a Houston Oilers pre-season football game in 1968. What made that interesting was the fact that I had attended that game, one of the last enjoyable outings I had before shipping out for Vietnam. That was the only game I had attended for years. Million-to-one shot running across that program.

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4 hours ago, Hudsy Wudsy said:

Joe, where did the pickup come from originally? As a Minnesotan I find that I don't often get to brag about the weather, but I have boasted that the furthest north poisonous snakes have been found is White Water State Park in southern MN. I sleep better knowing that they won't come as far north as my home in Minneapolis.

Came from Olney Texas about 14 years ago. 

Edited by Joe in Canada (see edit history)
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1 hour ago, jrbartlett said:

 one of the last enjoyable outings I had before shipping out for Vietnam. 

 

Thank you for your service. I was in the Army for two years in the early '70s and never went overseas but I always make an effort to thank all of the HEROES like you who went to Vietnam who weren't properly thanked when they got home. Thank you again.... 

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Two ice scrapers from late 50s/early 60s - one with ad from local insurance agency, one with some tyre ad (Dunlop?).

Some kind of  circular military air calculator - probably from 50s. Car came from Wyoming, so it's not so unusual.

Both in 1953 Benz.

 

Old soviet medal, " ударник XI пятилетни" - work leader of 11th five years plan. Obviously, in 1966 Volga. Also peroid first aid kit, owners manual with average fuel consumption calculations on inside of cover; service manual.

 

Soviet pornographic magazine with very strange content, probably from 70s or 80s in glovebox of my friend's 1970 Skoda 100.

 

In every US car - beverage can pull-tabs. A lot of them.

 

It's not classic, but my uncle once bought 2001 Skoda Fabia from old doctor with tons of documentation - bill of sale, bills for all spendings on the car - fuel, bulbs, filters, oil, repairs wiper blades etc. from ten years. In glovebox was a notebook, in which every ride was precisely noted - such as

"Church, 21 XI 2002, 2.1 km, 10121 km, back home - 2.1 km, 10123

cementary,22 XI 2002 - 5.6 km, 10129, back home, 5.6 km, 10136km

ambulatory, 23 XI 2002, 3 km..." etc.

- and that for 50 000 km, for ten years!

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