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Another "items found in old cars" thread. Post pics please.


JamesR

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About a week ago Laughing Coyote asked me to take some pics of my old original Mercury so he could see how the factory might've done things. I don't think I was of much help, BUT I did find something that I'd missed under the front seat for the 13 years that I've owned the car. I didn't know what it was at first, but then decided it was an old bottle opener. Nothing special...except that I found a bunch of vintage beer bottles and cans under the front seat right after I bought the car. I threw all the bottles away, and regretted it, so finding the bottle opener used to open them was a thrill. The empty beer bottles were funny to me because the guy I bought it from said his elderly father-in-law (who bought the car new) only drove the car to church on Sunday. :D

 

I'd like to see pics of stuff you've found, if you have them. If no pics tell us about it.

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James, Actually you helped me out so all good.  I too have found all kinds of stuff in my car. A bunch of stuff was in the heater box from rolling down the air vents by the windshield, a marble was in the trunk stuck in a corner way in the back, a 1961 penny in the door. A lot of beer can openers too.  I think 5 total. Car looks nice James.

 

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Edited by Laughing Coyote (see edit history)
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3 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said:

James, Actually you helped me out so all good.  I too have found all kinds of stuff in my car. A bunch of stuff was in the heater box from rolling down the air vents by the windshield, a marble was in the trunk stuck in a corner way in the back, a 1961 penny in the door. A lot of beer can openers too.  I think 5 total. Car looks nice James.

 

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Interesting...several of the beer cans I found under the seat were Coors, too. An old can design from before you could get Coors in Nebraska, I think. (No pull tab.)

 

Walt G said:

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Holy Water

😉  

:D

 

60 CH said:

 

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also known as a church key

 

I think I remember that.

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Zimm63 - so tell us did you save that find? it is part of your cars heritage and history, do you display it as an artifact of your Riviera at car shows? An after market accessory? You need some forensic police investigation , with special equipment - perhaps a black light they may find footprints ( on the dashboard or elsewhere).

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9 hours ago, mike6024 said:

When a kid, I'd ride with my brother-in-law in his pickup, and he would hold his beer (can) between his legs while he drove. When it was empty, while driving on the freeway, he'd toss it so it would land in the pickup bed.

I think I've followed your uncle many times, judging by the number of beer cans in road, he's not very good at tossing them into the pickup bed.

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Here is 4 of 5 bottles I found in a `41 Pontiac coupe, behind the rear interior 1/4 panels. Only way I think they could have got there is thru the trunk over the fender-wells. Delco hydraulic fluid, Coca-Cola bottle, bottling co. Sherman, Tx., Soda Water property of Coca-Cola has a pat. date Nov 27, 1923, and a baby bottle Evenflo 4oz. I`ll also post #5 a Dr. Pepper bottle.

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My good friend up here bought a Dodge Brothers touring out of West Virginia.  He told the story of the tank that was below the rear seat cushion, and I always thought that was a good "story".

 

On a tour in West Virginia, he decided to go visit the family who had the car, and take the old lady he bought it from for a ride.  I stayed behind, nobody home.  Wandering around the property, there was a barn built into the side of a hill, so that the second floor was accessible from the back at ground level.  Curious, I cracked the door, and inside the barn were thousands of Mason jars.  Thousands.  I closed the door quickly and went back to the porch, hoping no one had seen me peeking......

 

The story was much more believable then....

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On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 11:12 AM, trimacar said:

My good friend up here bought a Dodge Brothers touring out of West Virginia.  He told the story of the tank that was below the rear seat cushion, and I always thought that was a good "story".

 

On a tour in West Virginia, he decided to go visit the family who had the car, and take the old lady he bought it from for a ride.  I stayed behind, nobody home.  Wandering around the property, there was a barn built into the side of a hill, so that the second floor was accessible from the back at ground level.  Curious, I cracked the door, and inside the barn were thousands of Mason jars.  Thousands.  I closed the door quickly and went back to the porch, hoping no one had seen me peeking......

 

The story was much more believable then....

David one of the first cars I bought was a 1930 buick touring.  Towing it home it rattled.  When we took the seats out there were no springs only leather loops with several jars still in them.  This also explained the dual carb setup on the Buick six.   We counted over 60 loops.

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1 hour ago, jan arnett (2) said:

David one of the first cars I bought was a 1930 buick touring.  Towing it home it rattled.  When we took the seats out there were no springs only leather loops with several jars still in them.  This also explained the dual carb setup on the Buick six.   We counted over 60 loops.

That's cool, would be a neat piece of memorabilia to have the loops and jars displayed!  I wonder how many cars back then were used for running 'shine, it had to be a lucrative business......

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When I disassembled the middle floor of my 1940 Lasalle Woodie I found horseshoe nails and pieces of coal. After researching the history of the car it seems a previous owner in the 40's and 50's was a farrier (horseshoer) from St. Louis. Among his "customers" were the Budweiser Clydesdales. 

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Back in the '90s I had a '70 Cadillac convertible and, after owning it for several months, peeled back the carpet in the trunk and found an old envelope full of coupons. While looking through them I saw something green behind them and it turned out to be a hundred dollar bill and two twenties so that reduced the purchase price to $4860.... :)

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I guess this qualifies for the thread.  I had a 71 Cutlass that I bought new.  At some point, I took it to the dealer for a repair - don't remember what the problem was, but it involved removal of the driver's door upholstery panel.  When the car was done, I got in it to leave and heard a rattle when I closed the door.  Told the mechanic it sounded like he left a screwdriver in it.  He said, "Oh no, I'd never do that."  He took the car back into the shop and returned it a bit later.  When I asked what the noise was, he said rather sheepishly, "I left a screwdriver in it."  :D

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On 9/2/2019 at 7:05 AM, Zimm63 said:

Found a bra under the passenger seat of my 63 Riviera.  

 

 

Better you than your wife finding it 😎

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Between all the bottles and that bra, it seems all anyone does is leave the empties?

 

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

One of my best friends in his '31 model A Ford sport coupe he bought to restore, found an odd square hollowed out space in the seat back cushion. Had a marijuana  joint in it.

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I like how the pink highlighter covers very little if anything. In 1948 that would be considered pornography. Today it is not even something to yawn about. She was about 20 in the photo, which places her birthday at about 1928 putting her at about 91 years old. I do not want to see the 2019 photo comparison with the 1948 photo however. 

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9 minutes ago, BucketofBolts said:

I like how the pink highlighter covers very little if anything. In 1948 that would be considered pornography. Today it is not even something to yawn about. She was about 20 in the photo, which places her birthday at about 1928 putting her at about 91 years old. I do not want to see the 2019 photo comparison with the 1948 photo however. 

The calendar is from 1955, but yeah....

Edited by keiser31 (see edit history)
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Years back I bought a 1968 Road Runner from a place in Pine Valley, California. It was sitting behind a gas station at the top of the grade just as you start down into the desert. Got it home and started tearing it down to work on. Took out the rear lower seat cushion and came across a TON of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and half dollars along with three of those stocking masks one might use over their head whilst committing a liquor store robbery. If that car could only talk....here it is....

Picture 26041.jpg

Edited by keiser31 (see edit history)
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On 9/6/2019 at 3:08 AM, wayne sheldon said:

Between all the bottles and that bra, it seems all anyone does is leave the empties?

 

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

One of my best friends in his '31 model A Ford sport coupe he bought to restore, found an odd square hollowed out space in the seat back cushion. Had a marijuana  joint in it.

Some people have all the luck..

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On 9/2/2019 at 9:26 AM, Walt G said:

Zimm63 - so tell us did you save that find? it is part of your cars heritage and history, do you display it as an artifact of your Riviera at car shows? An after market accessory? You need some forensic police investigation , with special equipment - perhaps a black light they may find footprints ( on the dashboard or elsewhere).

 

Got that thing off the premises as quickly as possible.  I got a wife with a frying pan.  

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But HEY a frying pan isn't an original accessory nor part of the heritage of the car! But I can see your point , you don't want to experience an encounter with that frying pan ( assume it is the big cast iron variety)

against the side of you head , may put a dent there that would be hard to repair. 😤

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A few years ago, I helped a retired school teacher sell her fathers 1930 Lasalle coupe. It had been sitting in a barn on Long Island since WW II. We pulled it out and found the back seat had two duffle bags of unopened mail. Turns out he was the local mail delivery guy and died before he could deliver this batch. I put the bags in her car and she took it to the post office. After recording and photographing everything, the US Post Office did every thing they could to track down and deliver the mail 60 years later!

 

Wayne

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We took apart a carb on a non running Kissel Gold Bug to diagnose why it would not hold gas. In the float chamber we found no float but there was a note "Sorry, but I really needed this float". Took a head off a '33 Cadillac 12 and found shards of glass on top of one piston. Funny thing was the pieces of glass were way to large to have gotten thru the spark plug hole. In the defroster vent of a '59 Cadillac we were restoring and on which we had no history we found two ticket stubs from the Cactus Drive In Theatre in Arizona.  Also found a rat's nest, including a very live rat,  in the trunk of a Healey 3000.

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1 hour ago, JACK M said:

An acquaintance bought a Corvette from a police auction.

It ran way rich, the air filter housing was full of POT.

 

Was it "Smokin'"?

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2 minutes ago, Marty Roth said:

 

Was it "Smokin'"?

 

Smokin could be a symptom of running rich.

I am of the opinion the those that buy at police auctions are not very likely to run and tell the seller what they found.

I am pretty sure the new owner (and all of his buddies) was smokin after all was said and done.   :ph34r::rolleyes:

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