hidden treasures

[Matt L.]

just wondering if anyone wanted to share the coolest item they found while working on their car or disassembling it. when i pulled my seats to clean my car i found a 1941 quarter,more misc change, a '64 penny that i lightly glued to my glove box door for good luck, garage parking pass to a emergency workers convention in canada from the 80s, a zippo lighter, and a ton of confetti. i love finding this kind of stuff. it gives life and history to where your car has been. it makes me feel like i have more of a connection to the people that owned the car before me.
take care,
matt

[Mike M.]

Re: hidden treasures

every used vette/chevy/olds etc i've bought over the years was analogous to an archeologic dig when cleaning debris from its bowels.found lots of old coins and traces of mary jane as well as gas station receipts. mike

[Cecil L.]

Re: hidden treasures

I bought a 73 once from a crazy woman who must have tossed all the loose change she had over her shoulder inside the car. I found over $20 in loose change, but the real find was a $50 bill stuffed behind the carpet between the seat and console.

[Michael F.]

Re: hidden treasures

I am with Mike on what I have found. However, the wildest i found was on my first car...62 impala ss, found some new condoms behind a speaker cover along with a bud....funny thing was guy I bought it from called and asked if he could have them back...ROFL

[Terry M.]

Re: hidden treasures

Having bought both my Corvettes new, so I can't compete with you guys.

In the 1970 all I found was unused pop rivets (not rosette rivets, darn) some extra interior screws and a bit of carpet trim in the storage compartments. When I took out the driver's side carpet there were six captive washer hex-head bolts, about the size that would be used for door hinges, under the carpet. They are painted bright blue. I never did figure out where those came from, but since the doors aren't falling off I am OK with the extra parts.

The 2008 was clean as a whistle inside, but I haven't pulled the carpet up yet. I think the folks at the museum pulled out all the flotsam and jetsam from the cubbyholes. Or maybe the guys and gals building them now days are a lot neater than their predecessors.

Now the Caprice police cars were another matter. One had the business card of the officer assigned to the car. I sent him a note telling him what happened to the car, but never heard back. I found a drug test kit in the trunk of one, and a round in another. Any of you guys need to test your finds? One had a shotgun mounting rack on the trunk lid. Gave that to one of my work colleagues who is a hunter. Also had a couple of slim jims in the trunk lid supports of one.

The Camaro Highway Patrol pursuit car had nothing inside. They did a good job cleaning that one out before auction.

[Ray G.]

Re: hidden treasures

Hello;
Late '80s we bought a '57 Corvette project car at a swap meet in Illinois near US highway 45 and IL 120. Got a clear Indiana title with the car. Hauled it back home to WI and started sorting "boxes o crap" the next day.
In one of the boxes, with other papers, was a title from another '57 Corvette. Tried to reach the seller for several weeks. He never did call back.
Have always wondered why he didn't call.
Ray

[Edward M.]

Re: hidden treasures

I found a $20 bill under the driver's seat of a 1970 Challenger R/T.

I found a birth certificate under the back seat of a 1981 Camaro. I tracked down the parents of the child and called them. The mother told me that they had been frantically looking for that birth certificate and were just about to request an official replacement. I mailed it to them.

Lots of change from various cars, but I did find a Buffalo nickel in a 57 Chevy once. Common date and well worn, but 1938 was the last year for Buffalo nickels. Of course many old Jefferson nickels, including one silver war nickel, from various cars.

I found a gas mask (1980s Army vintage) in the trunk of a 1964 Plymouth Valiant. Still got the gas mask, Valiant is long gone.

One of my favorites is about the last time I went junking. My buddy Mike and I were searching a junk yard for a small jump seat from the rear of an S-10 type truck. We needed the seat for a go-kart that Mike was building for his 6 year old son, Mason. Mason was out there junking with us.

Mason was poking around in various cars as we we checking seat fit, and he started finding pennies. He was real excited about that.

We finally found a seat, removed it, and took it up to the office to pay for it. After we paid for the seat, Mason pulled 3 pennies from his pocket and asked the guy at the counter how much he wanted for the pennies. We all smiled about that, and I told Mike, your are raising him right. No charge for the pennies.

[Tom H.]

Re: hidden treasures

Oh yeah. Here's my story. During some heavy cleaning on my 71 coupe I discovered a bank deposit slip and a Gulf Oil gas receipt from 1973. Both contained a name. The bank depost slip even had an address. For sure, the original owner. Tracked the guy down in the Dayton, Ohio area. A little private investigating showed he was a big wig at the Wright Patterson Air Forve Base back in the day. Never found a phone number for him, but I did dig up his address. Sent him a letter.......................... Never got a reply. Kind of a bummer. Didn't really need to talk with him, I know what the car is, but just wanted him to know the car was still alive and resting safely in my garage.

[Joe R.]

Re: hidden treasures

Several years ago I bought a wrecked 91 ZR-1 with 684 miles on it. While repairing the 91 I noticed a gold ring in the floor. It was a gold pinkey ring and the finger was still in the ring.
Yep, there is a guy in Memphis, TN. missing one pinkey!
Still have the ring. Threw the finger away!

JR

[Tom H.]

Re: hidden treasures

Several years ago I bought a wrecked 91 ZR-1 with 684 miles on it. While repairing the 91 I noticed a gold ring in the floor. It was a gold pinkey ring and the finger was still in the ring.
Yep, there is a guy in Memphis, TN. missing one pinkey!
Still have the ring. Threw the finger away!

JR

Bet nobody can beat that !! Gives a whole new meaning to "getting the finger"

[Ronald L.]

Re: hidden treasures

Terry, you have to let us go looking for those 'treasures' in those cars

[Paul J.]

Re: hidden treasures

The only things in my 64 were a deteriorated pencil in the heater box and a dirty salt packet in the storage compartment.

In a 68 Camaro I found a check box under the driver's seat. In it was an old driver's license of the previous owner, a couple of two dollar bills, and several old coins including a late 1800's Morgan silver dollar in average condition. I showed my son (12 at the time) and took him with me as I returned the box to the prior owner. The guy looked shocked when he came to the door, and he did'nt even thank me. Anyway, it was a good lesson for the boy.

Almost all of the vehicles that I have bought have some amount of change under the seats.

[Matt L.]

Re: hidden treasures

those are some great stories. i think the pinky one tops them all!! wow. i'm speechless. keep the stories coming. this is cool to read.

[Daniel K.]

Re: hidden treasures

In my 62 found several "church keys" several pop off pull tabs from beer/pop cans, coins, pencils, matches, lighter, a small paper back full of B/W porn. I think the coins were mine anyway and maybe one of the keys.... Found nothing of interest in the 63 as well as the 65 except some old car show registration forms from the Pennsylvania area. While working on my 63 356 Porsche Cabriolet, found an unused book of matches that was somehow tucked into the seat webbing on the drivers side. Car is from the Idaho/Montana area and sat in a barn from 1985 until I purchased the car a couple years ago. Maybe some of the Idaho/Montana guys will recognize the book of matches and can validate the year. See the attached pic. Good stories.

[Mark H.]

Re: hidden treasures

Great stories guys. When I was researching the history of our '66 coupe back in the late 1970s, I found a ticket stub under the passenger seat from the Riverdale Drive-in in Ogden, Utah. That was an essential artifact that helped me track down the original dealer in Ogden, and eventually the original owner. That ticket stub is part of the car's archive. Keep the stories coming, very interesting.