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What have you found interesting in your car?


Crazyfamily

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Just curious as to what interesting finds you folks have found inside your vintage ride?

 

When we found our 27/27 Buick a year and half ago I went on a search for anything I could find in the car!  
 

I found a stack of old registration cards dating back to the mid 40’s, a Mazda Bulb Tin that holds extra bulbs (kinda neat!), and this beat up Montgomery Ward envelope, with the same name on it as the reg cards had on them, that contained a headlight bulb.  Oh, and a bunch old dirt 🤦🏼‍♂️😂.

 

So, tell us or better yet SHOW US what you found in your vintage ride!!

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About 20 rubber bands and about as many paper clips in the passenger door pocket. The rubber bands were hard as rock, as was the eraser of a pencil that said civil service on it. This tells me the car was used as a rural carrier car, but I can't imagine delivering mail from a this car, you have to be a contortionist. But the toe tags on the passengers side are totally worn out, which means maybe the mailman or woman sat on the passenger's side while somebody else drove.

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Gary Martin also found this Finishing Report from Buick Motor Company inside the rear passenger door when he put the new door panels on.  I consider this to be the single most important document pertaining to this automobile that is in existence.  The frame number, the engine number, and other component numbers are listed as well as an October of 1915 date.  This verifies that this Buick is indeed a 'Brass Era' automobile.  For me, this document provides the written proof that our Buick was built BEFORE January 01, 1916 and therefore will allow us to participate in any Horseless Carriage Club of America National Sanctioned Tour that we would want to go on.  That right there will open the door to tons of fun with a capital F.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas 

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At the start of my digging into my 1914 Buick B 24, I found that the main center panel of the body tub had been replaced in a 1930's-40's restoration.

 

A "Velvet Ice Cream" sign was revealed under the tool box lids. Contacting the company, in Ohio, hoping to determine the year-range of the sign,  the company said that it was not their sign, but there were many companies with that name.

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Sandy Rose

Arlington, TX

 

 

 

 

 

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When I refurbished the window tracks in my 36 Buick I found this OHenry candy bar wrapper in the far corner of the front door. OHenry, Finest Milk Chocolate, 5 cents.  The location was such due to the wood frame construction it had to have been put in there when the car was being built. 

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5 hours ago, The 55er said:

Can't remember what car this came in but it was a bookmark in a shop manual. The garage wrote someone an 88 cent receipt in 1940 for buying 5 gallons of gas.

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That same location today in Nesquehoning

 

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Edited by Daves1940Buick56S (see edit history)
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5 hours ago, Ben P. said:

$3.234 gal. in today’s money.

 

(This is the single greatest thing ever put on the internet⬇️)

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

 

 

 

 Wrong. The single greatest thing ever put on the internet is this chart that shows hundreds of solvents and what is resistant to them. It shows how strong a solvent acetone is, and how almost nothing can get through Kalrez.

.

https://mykin.com/rubber-chemical-resistance-chart

 

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You are looking at a 5’ snake skin (long piece) and corresponding skeleton (shorter piece).  Found under the front seat.   Judging by the pungent mouse urine smell of the car when I bought it, this creature enjoyed a very gluttonous lifestyle.  I wonder what led to his demise?  I bet the mouse family members eventually ganged up on him.  Oddly enough, mice can actually kill snakes.  The circle of life inside a parked car in Connecticut from 1963-2005.

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This has nothing to do with cars but everything to do with snakes.  I was a little kid maybe 6 or 7 years old in about 1952/53 .  We were ranching in Morgan Hill Ca.  My uncle was living with us in a trailer in our yard,  A gigantic pile of fire wood was next to his trailer.  One summer morning he told my mother he had heard a rattle snake rattling in the wood pile the previous evening and for her to keep my little brother and me away from there.  Mom didn't really believe him because my uncle sometimes told "tall tales"but she did insist that we not go near the wood pile. Sometime later we moved the wood pile and found a perfectly preserved huge rattle snake skeleton and skin.  A chunk of wood had fallen on the snake about 6" behind its head pinning it in place where it died. Mom somewhat changed her views of my uncle after that. 

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On 12/16/2019 at 12:57 PM, Summershandy said:

Just the usual stuff...match book under the carpet, bobby pin in the trunk and an old pencil that rolled in the recessed under seat heater. 

This also wasn't glamorous but wasn't expected folded up in an envelope. 

 

 

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Interesting is the fact the owner lived in Big Sandy MT - which have have visited many times - its not that big at all! One of the best small towns left in America.  

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15 hours ago, 40-Torpedo said:

Interesting is the fact the owner lived in Big Sandy MT - which have have visited many times - its not that big at all! One of the best small towns left in America.  

 

I also had an insurance invoice from the early '80's from Minnesota with a name on it. I was able to message a woman who confirmed she owned the car and it was her grandfathers. Maybe this was him? Thanks for those little tid bits on this town. I love hearing the history on such things. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I purchased my 1949 Super 51 from the original owner in 1978, it came with an unused spare key wired to the title.  The key was also attached to the original "break-in tag." (See photo.) The key is interesting because it is aluminum. The other original key is also aluminum, but worn from use. (My copy keys are on Briggs & Stratton base metal blanks from the local lock shop.) Does anyone have info on the GM use of aluminum keys during the 1940s?

 

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Edited by BuickBob49 (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...

What a fun thread...

I enclose a couple of images of what I found in the clutch cover of my ex-Bob Cole's 1918 Buick E-6-45. (Terry Wiegand knows this car well)

Can anyone identify the rodents from their skulls, or the type of nuts they've collected? Answers on a postcard etc...

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Nick,

When Bob had me get the car going for him, it was so infested with mice that I was scared to bring it into my shop without a very thorough cleaning up.  There were Walnut shells in every place you could think of in that car.  Mouse whizz is not the most pleasant thing to have to deal with either.  I'm sure you have it sorted out real well now.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

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Had a 68 Electra Conv that I bought in another state.  Widowed owner had only an ignition key so I couldn't look in truck. A friend of mine drove it home and we both thought there might be a body in there since she was so adamant that she had no key and wouldn't look in the house.  I got the stereo for the car and when I was under the dash putting it in,  there on the transmission tunnel under the front seat were a set of original keys with the numbers not punched out. I quickly hauled myself out to the trunk and viola ,,,,,,a set of used snow tires and the usual rot behind the rear tires.  The tires still had salt on them.

 

In my 1929 Buick which was taken off the road in 1947,  I found a letter in the back seat cushion from the socialist party about an upcoming meeting.  I didn't attend. 

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This is a good thread.

When I cleaned up the stripped body of a 37 McBuick coupe to take away to have the rusted parts replaced  I used a high pressure high volume air hose to clean out 82 years of dirt from all the nooks, crannies and pockets of the car.  It was at the shop on a rotisserie having some of the floor pan replaced when a shop employee notices something peaking through a rusted out spot on the lower right hand side of the car body (what would be in front of the door and behind the front fender,  circled part of the car but on the right side).   A closer look revealed two  WRA 380 AUTO bullets.   Wouldn't those be for a hand gun? To us those are a little more than what we use for varmint control.

If only these old cars could talk!   I tried doing a little "car genealogy",  the guy I bought it from is still alive and he showed me the area, two miles of country road, where he pulled this car home from.  He didn't remember the exact farm or the guy's name he bought it from and he was in his teens when he got it.  That was alot of years ago.  I did a bunch of cold calling to people living along that road and had some interesting conversations but nothing that could help me trace ownership.

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Edited by 1937McBuick (see edit history)
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9 minutes ago, DonMicheletti said:

OK,  I dont know if I should post this, but in restoring my '38 Special opera coupe (46s) I removed the upholstery from the rear panel between the inside and trunk.

I found on the board, In chalk, a sketch of male genitals.

I didnt photograph it.

Even had you taken a picture,  it may not have been appropriate to post it.

But that might be censorship/suppression of the artists creative talent....lol.

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7 minutes ago, 1937McBuick said:

Even had you taken a picture,  it may not have been appropriate to post it.

But that might be censorship/suppression of the artists creative talent....lol.


 

I think we are all adults here and while some may not think it’s art or even graffiti, if the picture or “interesting find” is explained then I don’t think it could be deemed “inappropriate”.

 

We don’t have to be that uptight or giggle like school children.....ok I MIGHT giggle like school children but that’s beside the point 😉😂😂😂

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This is a really fun thread -- I love to read about these finds.  I don't have anything to contribute from my own car as far as "hidden" things I have found, but the car does have the original federal use tax sticker on the windshield.  I assume the decal "surround" for the sticker with the Gilmore Lion on it is a dealer promotion item from the dealer who originally sold the car.

 

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Edited by neil morse (see edit history)
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Another less interesting find as I'm sure other have, when I removed my front seat to do floor work and placed it on end, it sounded like one of those rain sticks. It's a hollow stick filled with granulates and when you tilt it from end to end,  they slowly trickle down making the sound of rain. Sounded weird coming from a seat. Of course when I placed the seat back down, the dried up kernels spilled out onto the floor. 

I still find a kernel or two the odd day.   

 

 

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