ANSWER to why Gardener found complete 1950's Ford car buried in his yard

[Mark Gregory]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8204327/Gardener-left-stunned-digging-1950s-Ford-Popular-car.html

 

Mystery of the 1950s Ford Popular unearthed in a back garden is solved after owner's son reveals his WWII veteran father buried it there 56 years ago... because it was too expensive to mend

• John Brayshaw was stunned by find at his Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire home 
• The 1950s Ford Popular was found while John was digging in his back garden
• Now, the son of the man who buried it in 1964, has explained why it was there
• Harold Lyles, a World War II veteran, buried it after mechanics wrote it off and he did not want to pay for it to be scrapped 

Now that's underground parking! Gardener is left stunned after digging up an ENTIRE 1950s Ford Popular car that had been buried underneath his lawn

• John Brayshaw discovered what appears to be a Ford Popular in his garden
• John was stunned by the find at his Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire home
• The vehicle dates back to the 1950s where it was a common sight on UK roads
• Appeals are now being made as to any knowledge of how vehicle became buried 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FORD POPULAR 103E

Engine: 1172 cc straight-4 side-valve

Power: 30 bhp

Transmission: Three-speed manual

Wheelbase: 90 inches (2,286 mm)

Length: 151.5 inches (3,848 mm)

Width: 56.5 inches (1,435 mm)

Height: 64.5 inches (1,638 mm)

Curb weight: 1,624 lb (737 kg)

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Mark Gregory (see edit history)

[zipdang]

Yard find? Turf find? Sounds like a new standard for finding cars.

[TerryB]

HPOF candidate!

[George Smolinski]

It's obvious from the third photo how it came to be there. It ran out of petrol.

[auburnseeker]

Surprising the effort they put in to preserving it while excavating the site.  Most guys in the states would have brought a machine in and yanked it out to get the site cleaned up faster. 

[John_S_in_Penna]

Wouldn't it have been interesting if the gardener had found a Gardner!

[1912Staver]

There are at least a couple of cases of old motorcycles being buried decades ago, that have been dug up and ultimately restored back to running condition.

Also the record breaker " Babs " ,one of the original Chitty's which was buried on a beach in England following a fatal crash and eventually dug up decades later

and restored to running condition.

Greg

Edited April 10, 2020 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[zepher]

Can't believe no one has responded with this - Ran when parked.

[Matt Harwood]

And if they scrap it, someone will loudly bemoan the loss of another irreparable and financially nonviable project car, as if they were scrapping a seventh (eighth? ninth?) Bugatti Royale.

[CHuDWah]

2 hours ago, zepher said:

Can't believe no one has responded with this - Ran when parked.

 

 

...and "It'll buff out."  🤣

[J.H.Boland]

Looks suspiciously to me like a case of an owner in need of lessons in anger management, after having endured some chronic mechanical malfunction.

[60FlatTop]

Wasn't that Chauncey Gardener's car?

[1912Staver]

Obviously there is a tremendous difference in monetary value and desirability however I am sure some would have written this MG off as scrap when it was first dug up.

30 or 40 years buried with cow urine constantly seeping down must have left it in a terrible mess. But it runs again. Not saying the Ford Popular in the original post

merits saving , but just as bad have been restored. 

https://carbuzz.com/news/1928-mg-14-40-mkiv-buried-underground-for-decades-resurrected

Greg

Edited April 10, 2020 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[plymouthcranbrook]

Time and money, just time and money. That’s all it will take. Lots of time and LOTS of money.  Then you too can have a first place winner.  Another proof of the old Theorem of how to make a small fortune in old cars. Start with a big fortune....

Edited April 10, 2020 by plymouthcranbrook
Big fingers, small keys (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

Nothing is obvious.

[Joe in Canada]

The farm behind me has a 57 Chevy convertible buried  in a gully used as a garbage dump years ago. Fred the past owner told me it was in rough shape when he discarded it there. 

[Billy Kingsley]

I read several archaeology publications on a regular basis. It's amazing the similarly between the looks of this find and the looks of something buried for several hundred or even thousands of years. 

 

Considering this is in England I wonder if the British Museum will claim it and put it in deep storage, never allowing knowledgeable experts to study it, like they do with everything else that comes out of the dirt there? 

[Restorer32]

When we were excavating for a sewer line to our new shop we uncovered a complete 1940's truck chassis and cab.

[Zimm63]

I've had a few cars that I would have like to do that with...………...

 

[prewar40]

Farmer finds Gardner Car buried in back yard. -- For Real
A twist on this thread.  In July 1950 farmer Clem Thompson found a 1920 Gardner touring car buried 9 feet deep.  Clem was using a bulldozer to remove a stump. The car had 1921 plates and only 3,561 miles. When found Clem said the car was in good shape, even the paint was good, but missing tires.  But when he got the car out of the hole with the bulldozer it was wrecked.  The police located the man who owned it in 1921 and he admitted it was used to haul moonshine, his story of how it got buried was a little vague. 

[Bhigdog]

On 4/10/2020 at 4:53 PM, J.H.Boland said:

Looks suspiciously to me like a case of an owner in need of lessons in anger management, after having endured some chronic mechanical malfunction.

 

I can understand that. I once shot a lawn mower with my deer rifle after it stalled on me one too many times. I didn't give it a dignified burial though. It's still on the scrap pile in the woods............Bob

[Mark Gregory]

Mystery of the 1950s Ford Popular unearthed in a back garden is solved after owner's son reveals his WWII veteran father buried it there 56 years ago... because it was too expensive to mend

• John Brayshaw was stunned by find at his Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire home 
• The 1950s Ford Popular was found while John was digging in his back garden
• Now, the son of the man who buried it in 1964, has explained why it was there
• Harold Lyles, a World War II veteran, buried it after mechanics wrote it off and he did not want to pay for it to be scrapped 

[60FlatTop]

Here is the Connersville buried Cord.

 

https://chromjuwelen.com/network/228-blog-hemmings/214714-the-once-buried-cord-810-that-continues-to-live-on

 

[Matt Harwood]

I can think of a lot of things to do with a car I don't want anymore--digging a hole and pushing it in is pretty low on that list.

 

I've successfully removed the plates on two stranded cars and hitchhiked home, and never saw or heard from those cars again. Poof! Gone. No digging required.

[joe_padavano]

27 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

I can think of a lot of things to do with a car I don't want anymore--digging a hole and pushing it in is pretty low on that list.

 

I've successfully removed the plates on two stranded cars and hitchhiked home, and never saw or heard from those cars again. Poof! Gone. No digging required.

 

Growing up in MA in the 1960s and 70s, it was not uncommon to hear about cars like that being "stolen" and torched for the insurance money. There were always a couple of burned-out hulks in the sand pit we, uh, frequented.

 

Beer? WHAT beer, officer???

[SC38dls]

They pulled the Glacier Girl a P38 lightning from under the Greenland I’ve sheet after 50 years and restored it!  
dave s 

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Buried cars are not that rare in certain areas where it may cost more to get an old heap off one's farm than bury it.  We found a 30s car, and hand dug some of it at a friend's farm in CT when I was a kid.  He had some collector cars also but never did take the time to do a complete extraction.  

 

Same farm I used to help cut firewood at, my pay for 2 days work one year, a genuine 32 Ford grille & shell fresh put of the barn.  Still have it today.

[KLTARGA72]

Fifty years ago the owner said "No I don't want to sell it I have big plans to restore it someday". 

 

How many times I have heard that said by owners of nice collector cars. Thirty years later I have seen many bull dozed back into the woods to further rot.

 

I wonder how many AACA members are in that same ball park? Not just cars but the same goes with part hoarders.

 

Lash

 

 

[60FlatTop]

That dirt works both ways. I once had a car that I decided to end my relationship with. I was up under the rear when I saw my friend Mike, looking at me from the other side. "Why are you throwing dirt on that fresh paint?" he asked. You don't always have to just go out and bury them.

Bernie

[Big Beat]

4 hours ago, plymouthcranbrook said:

Along the lines of cars left on the side of the road when I worked at the Gas for Less back in the early 70’s a coworker  came in one day with a 62-63 Corvair. I asked him where he got it. Funny story he said,  Saturday about three o’clock a guy came into the station after getting out of a car he had hitched a ride in. Who want’s a car he said?  Damn thing has let me down for the last time. Threw down the keys and title and made a call for someone to come get him.  My coworker said I’ll take it.  After he got off work he and another coworker went north on US 41 and say a car on the side of the road. Sure enough that was it. He got in and it started right up.  But pushing the gas did nothing.  He opened the hood and looked down. The linkage had come apart. He hooked back together and drove it down to the station. I worked there about a year longer and he was still driving it when I left.

 

I have done something very similar once. I called a junk yard and junked what appeared to be a nice car over a simple and obvious repair. That repair was the last straw after many previous failures. At least I got $50 from the junker. 

 

I wrote up that story here:

 

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1982-oldsmobile-delta-88-royale-brougham-channeling-christine/

 

As for the buried Ford, I can understand that too. In the US, worthless cars like that were often parked behind the barn and left there to rot, or there was at least a small token payment you could expect if you called a scrapper. But in the UK, fewer people have that kind of space, and apparently, the scrappers charged you for the hassle. So making an unwanted car disappear by burying it makes some sense. 

[Harold]

My friend's father cut up and buried a whole Corvair in their back yard.  The scrap guys were charging to haul away junkers at the time.

[Rusty_OToole]

When the Ford was buried it was hard to get rid of an old car in England, thousands were dumped beside the road, and I suspect, more than one was buried .

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Take a drive in upstate NY farm country and you will see house after house of equipment, cars, boats that are obviously junk.  These are often not wealthy folks and it costs money to haul the stuff away.  They have land though.  In days gone by burying something to get rid of it did occur from time to time.

[8E45E]

On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2020 at 11:50 AM, Matt Harwood said:

And if they scrap it, someone will loudly bemoan the loss of another irreparable and financially nonviable project car, as if they were scrapping a seventh (eighth? ninth?) Bugatti Royale.

The Gasser guys just might!  They'll bemoan the loss of what will be the lightest and most aerodynamic Popular/Anglia ever seen on the dragstrip!!

 

Craig

Edited April 22, 2020 by 8E45E (see edit history)

[kgreen]

Buried a straight 8 block in the front yard of my childhood home because the cost of gas was more than scrap.  Then in the 80's I had a 64 Tbird parts car that found its way to a bury pit at the end of my driveway during the construction of my neighborhood.  I sort of feel guilty about that one.  One of my dads fun adventures when we were both younger, was to stand at the back door of old cellar holes out in the woods and imagine where the trash would be tossed.  Those archaeological digs were good for 100 year old glass bottles.   

[60FlatTop]

9 minutes ago, kgreen said:

Those archaeological digs were good for 100 year old glass bottles. 

 100 year old stuff from an archeological dig. Why did that make me remember I haven't seen my High School yearbook in a while?

[JACK M]

Not to far off subject. There is a bunch of YouTube vids that take place around here.

Its a team of guys that go diving at boat ramps and yank out the cars and stuff that got run in there.

I am pretty sure that any boat ramp you go to will have at least a couple of stolen or insurance related abandonments.

I watched them pull out a Mach One Mustang, a Corvette and a late model Excursion among others.

At least it is an interesting way to kill some time these days.

Its called `Adventures with Purpose` on You Tube.

[Restorer32]

Takes me back. I spent the Summer of 1969 doing archaeology at the Philistine city of Ashdod in Israel. The layer we were interested in was 1500 BC or so. There was  tons of Roman pottery on the site, so much that it was sold as road fill. We did not find any cars.

[8E45E]

I have seen photos of rivers at flood stage, where old cars have been used to shore up the banks to prevent erosion.

 

I highly doubt that would be allowed today, with all the environmental concerns.

 

Craig

[JACK M]

20 hours ago, 8E45E said:

I have seen photos of rivers at flood stage, where old cars have been used to shore up the banks to prevent erosion.

 

I highly doubt that would be allowed today, with all the environmental concerns.

 

Craig

 

Same here, I have seen and been told of several places where they used old cars to shore up the creeks and rivers around here where I live.

One place just down the street is talked about all the time, but decades of berry vines and private land owners make it impossible to get to.

I doubt that a land owner would want them discovered at this point anyway. The environmentalists would want them removed and let the creek banks erode.

However, these cars they are pulling up from boat ramps don't fall into that category.