Found Somethin

i was walkin a creek bed with a buddy and we found a late 40's early 50's international pickup. looks to be all there. we're in discussion on dragging it out of the bank. problem is its sunk to the axel and hoods been open for a very long time. my question is, since that i6 is shot what do you put back in it on a limited budget.

 

It has been given has a gift, to the automotive Gods.

 

yes it is a gift to the automotive gods. thats why i must go pick up my gift.

 

Than go my son but beware, many a fool has left his wallet in an old rust bucket.

 

watch out for the rattle snakes,they like them kind of things to live in

 

I am sure the truck is on private property, so the truck actually belongs to "somebody". Taking it would be theft.

 

I agree find a plot book, get in contact with owner and do it the right way. Chances are the will probably darn near give it away.


Nice find though

Any pics?

 

not digital but will get soon

 

......

 

About 25 years ago, my parents bought 180 acres out in the middle of the woods here, had a creek running through it, and in a wide spot in the creekbed, was a 40 Ford coupe. It had been hammered against the trees pretty good....beyond saving, but I was suprised how not rusty it was, considering how long it looked like it had been there....I mean yeah, it was 100% surface rust, but there was little rot through at all, except in the floors, but the body panels were really solid, alot of the chrome was still shiney....pitted, but shiney.

A few years later, I got the story on the car.....turns out, that area of the woods was popular with the locals......part of the creek just next to our property was wide, and the creekbed was one big slab of solid rock for nearly 100 yards and ended in an 8 foot waterfall into a "punchbowl" swimming hole, and the local "hot-rodders" used to race each other down the creek while everyone was drinking and partying at the punchbowl (this was in the 30's 40's and 50's)

Well, somwhere around '46, '47, a couple of guys from town were racing down the creek, both were just back from WWII. One was driving an early 40's Buick, the other, the 40 Ford coupe.....the race was close, and though it was just for fun, neither wanted to lose, and as they got closer and closer to the swimming hole without slowing down, everybody bailed their beers and ran for the banks of the creek. The Buick blinked first, and slammed on his brakes, but the guy in the Ford really wanted to win, and took it a little too far to pull ahead of the Buick before hitting his brakes, but too late, and went right off the falls and nose-dived into the punchbowl.

The Ford was badly damaged, and drowned....it belonged to the driver's older brother, and he was afraid his brother would kill him for getting drunk and driving his car into a swimming hole, so they all swore secrecy, and left the car in the creek. The brother thought his car had been stolen, and they were just going to let someone find it in the punchbowl and assume thet's where the "joyriders" wrecked and left it.

Unfortunately, there was heavy rains and flooding a few weeks later, and when some of the friends went to check on the car, it was gone, washed downstream onto what was to become, some 30 years later, our property.

The driver of the Buick was the one who told me the story, along with a few friends who were there that day, you should have seen these gray-haired elderly folk's eyes gleam with youthful mischief and memory.....I was trying to picture the two old guys and the little old lady, young, drinking beers, smoking cigs and racing down Water Creek.

The driver of the Ford died in 1974.....he was a local businessman in town for years, and as far as anyone knows, his brother, who died in 1980, never caught on about what really happened to his car.

When my dad died in '02, my mom sold the property.....we hadn't been down there in years.....so, I decided to go try and get an "arty" pic of the old Ford before the land sold......but, when I got down there, it was gone, probably washed away by more flooding.

The old road leading down to the creek "racetrack" and swimming hole washed out years ago, but now and then, I get as close as I can, and walk down the the punchbowl, swim, and have a few beers, imagining old 30's, 40's and 50's jalopies running mad down the creek.....

Might have to hike down the creek again sometime, and see if I can find that old 40, or some other relics from other lives and times.


.

 

awesome story

 

Thanks for the story, told my wife she cried.

 

Cool stuff. Reminds me of the '63 Chevy Belair down in the woods behind the house I used to live in up near Oakwood, GA. Car is flipped over hanging off the edge of a cliff. It's about a 45 minute walk down in the woods, was me and the neighborhood kid's hangout back 12-15 years ago. I went back down there last year and got pic of the car.





I also managed to get the hood off the car, and found it has a 230 I6 in it with the head gone off of it. The intake was still laying there, with the Rochester BC carb still attached. I pulled it off, rebuilt it and have been running it on my Maverick for almost a year now. Yes, THE exact carb you see sitting on that manifold in the above pic is what is currently on the 200 I6 in my car, being driven 70+ miles daily. runs great.

According to the vin, the car originally had a 283 V8 in it, so someone had swapped the I6 in. How the car got out in the middle of the woods, I'll never know, but it's been there for probably more then 30 years, easily.

 

Jamie, that is WAY cool. a great addition to a great story. thanks guys

 

Thats Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE hearing stories like those!!!!! pics even make it better

Chaz.