If you drive your car on the beach, you expect some rust. When you leave it in the garage on the beach for 40 years, well, you better just expect it to have more than a few issues. When this Jeep had “fuel line problems” the owner simply quit driving it and parked it in this garage. And there it stayed until just recently. A sand dune had overtaken the garage, trapping the Jeep and creating an environmental concern. So with the help of the town, the owner’s family finally got the Wagoneer out of the garage. Special thanks to George A for sharing this interesting story with us from the Cape Cod Times.
If this were a Porsche 356, they would probably be trying to sell it for $30,000. And the ad would probably include something like, “The engine was there when I parked it!”
Look, they found the carburetor! Something must have rusted away, like the intake manifold perhaps? They weren’t particularly gentle pulling this Jeep out, but there wasn’t much left here anyways. The owner passed away a few years back, but their family was able to get a pieces out of it to remember them by.
Look, a good hubcap! So, do you think it’s just surface rust? You’d think they would at least clean the windows! That door gap looks suspect to me! I’m thinking for once no one will suggest installing an LS3. So, what year do you think it, uh, was?
There’s good glass, a hub-cap, some door handles and two head-lights. I’ve known people to start a restoration with less parts!
But it looks the glass is ‘sick’. Stained and oxidized from exposure to salts ? Minerals ? Being buried
Hey Leon, don’t look at the glass as stained and oxidized. Just think of it as “Mother Nature’s tinting”!
As this was local to me, it was all over the news. What you have to love is that the town wouldn’t let the family move it years ago when it likely would have still had some useful life in it; now, when it’s convenient for the town, they proceed with removing it when it has all but turned into fairy dust. Ah, living in the northeast – don’t think too hard, because the politicians will do it for you.
On another note, that grill was MINT before Bozo the Clown got behind the wheel of the backhoe. I guess giving it one gentle pull was too much effort for him before deciding to yank the thing out by its axles.
Jeff: I noticed the damages too . . .
Many times the guy operating the heavy equipment is of the “let’s see how far we can destroy it” mentality. Instead of digging around the garage first, they elected to use brute force to drag it out. That 4WD front axle & suspension was probably worth $500.
In not digging out around it first, they will likely never know how many 5 gallon gasoline containers might have been stored in the garage, along with pesticides, other oils & greases, lead based paint cans, solvents . . .
Typical “low-level employee of the local government” techniques; “Let’s have some fun gettin’ that sucker outta there!” And call the media in advance to get it on the local news too!
ls3
Ran when parked, all original, great patina.
it’ll rub out…
Put a new fuel line in and drive as is.
Reminds me of the 50’s movie “The Steel Lady” . Oil workers, plane crash in the desert among hostiles , Rod Cameron and survivors wake up after a windstorm to see the edge of a just uncovered WW2 Panzer tank……. :-) Terry J
Must have turned into tissue paper.
The scaryest thing is the dude holding the carb.
Thats a dudet
Not Dudet. The person holding up the carb was said to be the guy running the excavator that destroyed the Jeep, name of Greg Morris
Holy grail
Jeep-a-saurus Wrecks? Go ahead and thumbs down.
On Craigslist tomorrow:
Original Jeep, recently removed from barn.
Light body work and minor reassembly required. These go for HUGE money when restored.
Only $15k…
As seen on TV! Parts modelled by all natural local beauties.
exactly..
All NATURAL patina!
Tis but a scratch
Jeep: I’ve had worse
Everyone: YOU LIAR.
Wait until the family gets a bill for its removal, and a fine for littering the beach.
See nothing lasts forever.
Oh no, is this going to be a spin off of Graveyard Carz where the finest details of the Jeep’s history are unearthed with a born and died date and 90% of the sheet metal will be replaced by auto metal direct?
Any interior shots?
I’m sure this is what would have happened to my Cherokee had I kept driving it. FINALLY, I don’t think anyone will disagree with me,,,,it’s too far gone.
I’m surprised they didn’t make the body a refuge for piping plovers.
I suspect this has been exposed to several high tide submersion events.
Bring that dynamite and a crane,
Blow it up, start all over again.
Build a town, be proud to show.
Gives the name Tobacco Road.
That’s what came to mind for me.
This article and the original are fascinating. Thinking about the implications and how we car guys feel and such. Looks like the grille might have been the only usable piece and no one cared enough to rescue it? If it were my family’s legacy, I would want the grille for garage art.
Funny, being a FSJ guy I’ve been following this story. I was surprised to see it here but then wondered why it wasn’t on here sooner.
Thing is all of the comments here mimic the other sites this was published on, which were many.
That razor grill pisses me off, hens tooth
Yup, that’s the one I mentioned.
some people are just stupid. All it took was posting the car somewhere like this and it would have been removed, in one piece and by someone who loved it enough to either carefully part it or preserve it without any sign it had ever been there.
The city did a nice job removing it! Ha! If it was an environmental hazard before they moved it, what is it now that they’ve released whatever fluids may have been still contained?
There was one like that stuck in the surf at Cape Look out at the beach in N.C. a few years back when they tried to pull it out of the surf it too broke in half. Bruce.
Reminds me of the buried 1957 Plymouth Belvedere in a time capsule http://www.allpar.com/history/auto-shows/time-capsule.html
A little bondo and it’ll be on a used car lot next week.
Buff it out and send it on to Barret Jackson it will bring six figures
Buff, wax, and an LS3. Pull out all the stops and install an LS9.
Year? Model?….anyone?
Does anybody think modern cars would be this bio-degradable after forty years ?
Red@ Fatboys Rod n’ Custom
Not sure Red. Is a 40 year old rig considered modern? I think the operator did more damage than Mother Nature. Take care, Mike.
CBC, as in Cement Block Chevy.
It will buff out! No problem…..