All day yesterday David and I have been wrenching on that beat-to-hell 375,000-mile NYC taxi (more on that to come, I promise!) which involved a bit of running around the middle part of the state looking for parts. While we were driving back from Siler City (home to the Matterhorn and Pompidou Center, if my research is correct) where we had sourced a steering rack and alternator and window switch block, we passed by an extremely-smashed pile of twisted metal that once was a car. Of course, David was drawn to the scent of decay and the rust particles in the air, so we pulled over so he could get a lick, as his body needs rust.
The car was profoundly wrecked. So much so that I wondered why it had ended up here, next to what appeared to be a small residential street, likely on the corner of someone’s yard, as opposed to in a scrapyard.
But here it was, slowly making its way back into the earth from whence it came, likely having been there for decades. The chrome looked surprisingly good, though!
As with any good very-smashed car, my goal was to see if I could, somehow, identify it. Because that’s fun! And since I believe fun is an inexhaustible resource, able to to be shared and spread around like a miasma, I’m sharing it with you! Let’s see if you can identify this heap that was once a car!
I’ll tell you now with some degree of vainglory that I did figure out what this was while I was there, and I confirmed it. So see if you can figure it out, and I’ll give you a link to the answer below! Here’s another pic:
This is the angle that gave it away for me. So let’s zoom in closer:
I bet after seeing this, at least some of you will be able to ID this car. This was an important car, from a company you definitely know. It’s not some exotic Borgward or Wartburg or something like that, as exciting as that would be.
If it helps, here’s an interior shot:
I wonder how long this thing has been out here? Had we landed on the moon? Did watergate happen? Was it possible to play Galaga? Was grunge used to refer to music, or just the stuff that grows behind your toilet? Were we on AOL? Who knows?
Okay, want to see the answer? And keep in mind, the year may be off a bit, but it’s close enough. Click here to see!
Did you figure it out? Be honest! Or, barring that, at least make your lie interesting!
The taillights gave it away, plus too and also…..I’m older than that car!
That’s very kind of you to stop and make sure David got his blood rust levels up. Since he’s in LA now, he’s almost guaranteed to be deficient.
Hang some Cor-Ten tubes around the office for him to use as rust licks.
So is David planning to get that running and drive it to Moab within six weeks?
Without googling- I think it’s a 52 or so ford? OOOH I was close!
Jason, your mention of the Pompidou Center has me wondering if you are a Three Bean Salad podcast listener? If not, you should: the ridiculous nature of the podcast would be right up your alley.
“Borgward, to Wartburg!”
So, how much did DT end up paying for it? 😉
Keep an eye out on youtube for the “Will this ABANDONED Shoebox Ford RUN and DRIVE 1000 Miles Home?” (clickbait thumbnail with big red arrow and “Harbor Freight Motor Swap?” on it)
We should get our Aussie All-Stars flown out to get this thing running. It’s probably in better shape than David’s Ute was.
Charlie B. Barkin and Itchy Itchiford’s starter home.
Looks to be a a ‘49 or ‘50 Ford going by those taillights. My aunt drove one and it looks like her “shoebox.”
Bingo!
The rear quarter panel actually threw me a bit, but that’s what I initially thought it was when I saw the two passenger-side doors.
But the question we all want Jason to answer is how much David paid for this and how long it will be before it gets deposited in the Galpin Ford lot as a new project.
I come from KC, Missouri
And I got my kicks out on Route 66
Every truck stop from Butte to MO
Motown to old Alabama
From Texarkana and east of Savannah
From Tampa to old Kokomo
Worthless
Worthless
Worthless, worthless, worthless
Hemmings, when they had a blog, ran a feature called “Car Spotting”. They would show a vintage photo of a street scene and the commenters would point out the cars they could see. I miss that feature and Hemmings blog and their writer Daniel Strohl
I follow a Facebook page that features pictures of vintage street scenes in Maine. Frequently someone will post an image with a caption like “This is Portland in 1953!” but there’s a 1960s Ford dead center. The shrieking and car identifying that follow in the comments section are always entertaining.
Someones gotta say it: “Ran when parked” and “That’ll buff right out”
No lowballers, I know what I got
“I’m going to fix it up someday”.
Grail!
One owner!
Ah, yeah, the taillight and surf line in the rear fender are so distinctive but it was still gratifying to find my guess to be correct when I clicked on the link.
Speaking of surf (ha) and per JT’s pondering how long that car had been left to the elements, there were some pictures going around online more than a decade ago, around 2012, that were claimed to show a 1964 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon abandoned in 1973 on a northern California beach with its turquoise vinyl interior still astonishingly intact some 40 years later: https://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/original-surf-wagon-rear.jpg
Might be a bit of apples and oranges to compare Pacific Ocean sea air to North Carolina humidity but, still, it’s indeed up for speculation as to whether we’d already landed on the moon when that car was abandoned.
Iron oxide deficiency must cause attraction to electric BMWs.
The turn signals on the pictured wreck, are as just as useful on the ones as a BMW.
Yes yes enough pics of the $800 NYC taxi you’re working on, but where’s the car you want us to identify?
https://www.imcdb.org/v014271.html
One of my favorite movie cars…I can still hear that exhaust from that front shot.
I built enough AMT kits of the shoebox Fords to know those taillights anywhere!
’49-52 Ford shoebox?
1951 was the last of this body style. Otherwise you have it right. See my earlier post.
Yep, specifically ’49 or ’50
The font on the Magic Air system makes me think 1949.
https://www.thebrassworks.net/products/1948-1950-ford-magic-air-heater-core
I agree. The vertical chrome strips flanking the speedometer also indicate it’s a ’49.
Door latches also definitively ID it as a ’49
This is the most Autopian post. ‘based on the A/C font…’
🙂
It’s a heater, though, not air conditioning.
Back when a heater was optional!
Hey this is like the time when the Discord commentariat was able to identify the remains of a car deep inside Portola Redwoods State Park (California, Santa Cruz mountains) in about half an hour.
FWIW it was a 1941 Buick. The remains were too derelict to be sure about the body type.
Not too bad: I was guessing 52 Ford from the front shot.
Easy, it’s a Leverite.
Leverite there, it’s not worth restoring.
Agreed, but if it was a 1/4 window coupe, it might be worth consideration.
Shoebox Ford. 1949-1951.
What little I see of the grill says 1951. The rear fenders are 100% Shoebox Ford.
These things used to be really common in the hot rodder scene growing up, it’s shocking that it wasn’t seen instantly.
I was leaning towards 1951 also. My first word was “car” and I still have it bad.
My dad’s favorite car was a 49 Ford 1/4 window. It was long gone by the time I showed up, but he had pictures.
It has the earlier dash and no sign of the tail light spears, so I’d go with 1949 or 1950, what little is left of the grille could fit all years, though the bumper does sort of feel more ’51
Fords of that era weren’t as standardized as in other eras. My dad got a 49 in 1950. It was weird. It had an independent front suspension and an OHV engine instead of the normal flathead. Also had an electric overdrive, so it was basically a 5 speed (1,2,3, 2OD, and 3OD). He was told that the engine and suspension were way too early (5 years or so). All he can figure is that it was a test mule that Ford decided to sell.
This thing could be a left over 50 with a 51 grill. Or just as likely, the 49/50 grill with the “8 ball” was more popular with hot rods, so it might be that someone swapped the front trim with a 51 Ford to get the 8 ball on a Coupe.