The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

[Stewart A.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Jack I paid 10k for the car to find me in shipping costs. I found it !! Although I did find a news paper incased in body filler in a rear quarter of my mates Mustang. They used newspaper instead of metal for part of the rear quarter for my mates 65 Muzzy. I think the Mexicans did a quick body and paint blow over ! ( I hope that wasn't a racist comment ?) Stewy

[Jim W.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

It was one of the 'T' tops on my 1979 L-48. One of the tops, the passengers side was totally and completely misformed. no amout of adjustment could fix the flaw. I ultimately use a gringer fitted with a 3 inch cutting blade to cut four 16 inch horizontal slices across the leading edge of the t-top and the using small wooden weges, I managed to with pressure to lower the leading edge of the top so that it matched the other t-top and looked normal. It took a lot of fiberglassing work and then a formal refinishing but in the end, no judges when I had it flight judged could tell it had been modified. I'd never want to have to go through that frustration over again !

[Bill B.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

I found a pair of ladies lingerie panties stuffed in my 61's glove box. Thats my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Bill

1961 Black/Silver/Red Int. 283/315 FI
power windows. Frame off 65% completed.
1989 White/hard top/Grey Int. daily driver 167,000 miles

"The problem with Liberalism is that eventually you run out of other people's money" Margaret Thatcher

[Tom M.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Class ring from the original owner 1970 Granite Hills HS in El Cajon CA. Engraved MJW, Michael J. Welch,in the shifter area

[Bill C.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

While repairing the heater defroster in my 66, I found what was blocking the door so it did not blow the air where it should. A like new Zippo lighter! I guess it got tossed up on the dash and went right down the defroster vent. No, it didn't light, but it did after I filled it! I gave it to a buddy that smoked and I think he still uses it today!!!

I found the same thing! I still have it, also have found lots of pens, pencils, matchbooks, etc. Anything that got thrown up on dash and fell in, also found a girls name and tel# scratched into the back of the GB door on my 65, called and actually reached her, she was at first completely confused, then remembered a guy in town who owned a 65 vette who was always calling and asking her out, she never went. Poor guy, he lost the car to eventually!

Also found a 45 pistol under the seat of a 69, we were just picking up the car, the owner had not used it for some time but had driven it daily back in the early 70's while attending a Texas University, I carefully returned it to him as he was still in the house, he did not even come out. Then went back out and was looking into the interior more, then found a brown bag filled with 50 and 100 dollar bills, it had been there a while. Pretty strange. I brought that back into him also, he said OH!, I forgot about that! ( I did not want him remembering later and coming to ask me about it with the 45!)
REAL STRANGE, I did not ask any questions! I did NOT want to know, just wanted the car and to get outa there!
This guy lived in a very afluent area, the car had been sitting in a garage quite a while and he finally decided he would never use it again. Sold it real cheap.
Ya gotta wonder...................

[David D.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

After buying a 67 'sight unseen' while getting a haircut and making a long, long trip from the St. Louis area to Big Grassy Key, Forida I began a 'freshen up' project which ended up in a total rebuild partially due to finding an old wheel bearing that was welded to and used as a spacer at the right kickup of the frame. Later during a conversation with a previous owner, I mentioned what I found and he commented that the hard top, still in his possesion, 'never would fit flat against the decklid'! I was successful in tracing history back to the delivering dealer, from there it looked like it had been owned at different times by most of the wrecking yards in West VA and Maryland.

[Russ U.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

The gas gauge in my 59 started to read empty even when the tank was full. I figured the sender must have gone bad. Here is what I found when I pulled the sender out.

Yep, it's a bottle of Hawaiian hair conditioner. I finally figured out that the original owner had a mechanic who vacationed all the time in Hawaii. I guess he picked up spare parts while vacationing so that he could write off the trip for tax purposes.

Russ

[Stewart A.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Russ in all the time i have been alive and seen inside a zillion cars that has taken the cake. Better than a gun and cash in a paper bag. "Bloody brilliant". I can't fathom the idea what was going through this guys head when he thought that up. He has some serious issues. Love it !! Stewy

[Russ U.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Russ in all the time i have been alive and seen inside a zillion cars that has taken the cake. Better than a gun and cash in a paper bag. "Bloody brilliant". I can't fathom the idea what was going through this guys head when he thought that up. He has some serious issues. Love it !! Stewy

Yeah, I had a real "what the f***" moment as I pulled that out of my gas tank. The amazing thing - the empty bottle of conditioner served reliably as a gas tank float for more than 10 years. Yankee Ingenuity in action!

The ex-float has a permanent place of honor on my Corvette memorabilia shelf.

Russ

[Bill I.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Hey Marine! .45 clip & bullets huh! I should report you to the Corp. But then, I would have to explain how a M16 got shipped from Ft. Benning to my parents home in Pa. Semper Fi. Bill.

[Ray G.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Saw a similar thread on another website, so what are some strange/unique items you've discovered while restoring your cars??

Hello;
Outside of the many items of underwear and other strange things found in Corvettes while working on them, the recreational pharmaceuticals in an 1980 Corvette purchased in AZ in 1995 stands out in memory.
Almost cost $s and time in jail.
While driving from AZ to WI the day after purchasing the Corvette the OK police stopped about 10 cars at the same time. They stated "if we allowed a drug inspection and passed we would be allowed to proceed".
You guessed it. My newly purchased Corvette had a small MJ stash under the seat. Never forget the drug dog zeroing in on the seat, immediately.
I think the cops believed, when shown the paperwork, that I didn't know what was in the Corvette and allowed me to leave. My inability to provide a coherent sentence probably indicated to them I was no drug kingpin.
Ray

[James W.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

I pulled the gas tank on my 1971 LS5 4-speed convertible to clean it out and to retrieve the gas tank sticker. When I removed the gas tank I was just beaming when I took a picture of the sticker, about 97% complete, sitting on top of the tank! My joy turned to disappointment, however, when I discovered that the sticker was to a 1971 LS5 automatic coupe that was numbered one car after mine! That pretty much ruined my day, although I understand it's not that unusual.

Jim

[Chris E.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

How about this one?

When the engine shop disassembled the engine, they found a partial LIFTER bouncing around in the valley between the heads.......

[Stewart A.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Many years ago the local snake catcher Charlie Lash come into my fathers business. He asked for a set of new tyres but was thoughtful enough to tell us that he was pretty sure that there was a tiger snake in the car that got out of the *****an bag. It's been in there for about 6 months and cant be bothered looking for it !
So we got him to drive the car on the hoist and I made sure that the doors were always shut while being around it. While changing his tyres I said to Charlie there is no way you have a tiger snake in your car (in the top 3 venomous snakes in the world). He kept saying he was pretty sure there was one in there somewhere. I told him he was full of sh... and as if he would drive around with a loose venomous snake in the car.
I must of got to him because after I finished putting the tyres back on the car he started sliding the seats forward and backwards, then all of a sudden Charlie comes out the car with this massive tiger snake holding it by the head and tail. He flung the snake on the car park ground about 6 feet from me, he says ''what's this then'' my jaw dropped to the ground and I never ran so fast in my life. He walks over to it and starts to hit the snake on the back of the head to show us how they can fan out like a Cobra. I'm still not sure if Charlie is the toughest dude around or the stupidest !!! Stewy

[Stuart F.]

Re: The strangest thing you found while restoring your car

Stewy;

We are probably getting a little far estray with this thread, but I couldn't help but comment on your snake story. I, and my family, lived in Thailand for close to six years and it was not uncommon to see Cobras now and then. We had two servants (p.c. domestic helpers) get bit by some poisenous snakes while out washing up the dishes at night. I had to rush them into the hospital at night for immediate treatment. Thailand, probably as in Australia, is the best place in the world to get a snake bite as they know how to treat them and are as common as cuts and scrapes.

One day, out in our carport, everyone began yelling and screaming; "knoo! Knoo!" (snake). So I ran out to take a look and sure enough there was one of the biggest Cobras I'd ever seen. I had anticipated that day and had a 10 ft pole (literally) about 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" around in the back of the house. Well, the trick is to hit them at the base of the head, but get down low so you get a full "snapping" strike of the pole. Worked great, and I still have some photos somewhere of me dangling that sucker from the pole after I nailed him.

p.s. I miss partying with your mates as I did in Vungtao, South Vietnam
cica 1971 on several occasions. Went there once as a passenger on a 50 cc bike, then again by Heuey chopper with some of our greenbaggers. Used to dive off old beached ship wrecks. Your mates were "drunkin nuts", but I loved them. They weren't afraid of nothing.

Stu Fox