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Swamp Find: Abandoned Classics Rescued from the Woods

One of my favorite things to do is stumble around a forgotten forest with jewels of old cars poking through. As Lance and Wyatt from the awesome YouTube channel “Restored” go to show us, there’s more than a few honey holes still out there with junkyard gold hiding beneath the trees. Contrary to a lot of YouTube channels, these guys actually do the work of literally extricating old cars and trucks, drag them home, and attempt to get them running again. It’s worth a watch, and in this latest segment, they traverse a hidden swamp to find a 1968 Ford F100, 1953 Chevy Bel Air, 1960 Chevy C10 Apache, 1962 Ford F100, and a wicked 1958 Royal Scott boat. Check out the whole clip here on YouTube and subscribe to their channel.

The Bel Air above is likely the top prize in their haul, but it was a boatload of work to get it out of the tangled mess of trees and vines that had hidden it for so long. The body looks reasonable and the interior is still complete on the Bel Air, which is a prized collector car that undoubtedly deserves to be restored – especially one that has survived in seemingly complete condition. It gave the boys a challenge in pulling it out of the undergrowth, but fortunately, they had the right equipment with them to force its hand. This Chevy Apache will likely be removed in an upcoming segment, and we can’t wait to see how it looks once pulled out of the swamp.

Finding two shortbox Ford F100 pickups is always a good day, and Lance and Wyatt spent hours trimming and cutting trees to get this one out. An old camper shell was in their way and took some effort to shove off the one path to getting the Ford out, made extra challenging by the fact that it had no front wheels or tires (they were sitting nearby, likely removed for a brake job that was never completed). The bodies on these trucks looks fairly straight with no major patches of rot-through, but every vehicle was sitting fairly deep in the soil when it was removed – the undersides may tell a different story. There’s still one more F100 to remove.

The boat may be the coolest find of all, and I’m glad the guys decided to take on the tall task of removing it. I can’t tell if the correct name is “Royal Scott” or “Flying Scott”, but either way, it hearkens back to that era of fiberglass boat construction that integrated fins into the design, which was a glorious period of boat construction. There’s other cars on the property, but they likely made the best choices in terms of vehicles worth restoring. Even better, they’ve now got months of content for keeping us up to date on seeing if those old motors will fire once again, and hopefully creating an awesome patina’d hot rod out of that sweet Bel Air. Nice work, fellas – keep it up.

Comments

  1. Avatar Farhvergnugen Member

    Chances are the boat is NOT a Flying Scot. That’s the name for a design of a fun sailboat, and this one looks like an aluminum motorboat with wings from the late ’50’s.
    And as for the ’53 Bel Air, perhaps the fugliest of the bunch…

    Like 4
    • Avatar Cam W

      There was indeed a Flying Scott boat built in late 50s/early 60s. They were fiberglass, so the found boat is not a Scott. The boats and motors were matching “Scott-Atwater” units. They had tail fins, and outboard engines were covered. Scott-Atwater also built an outboard engine model called the
      “Flying Scott “. The company was later bought out by McCulloch Motors , and continued making matching boats and motors for a under Scott-MCulloch. I remember them well. They were popular at our family cottage, and a friend owned the local marina / dealership.

      Like 2
      • Avatar Farhvergnugen Member

        Thank you Cam. I suppose there wasn’t much litigation over names as the 1958-designed sailboat was a Flying Scot; only one “t”.
        Learned an old seadog a new one, did I…

        Like 0
  2. Avatar PatrickM

    If I had to cut down the trees and pay for hauling, I’d get the current owner to sign the title, give me a Bill of Sale and be done with it. Plus, there is a LOT of work to be done with them. BTW, I love the ’53. Great early ’50’s lines.

    Like 3
  3. Avatar CCFisher

    I can’t imagine anyone taking on that Bel Air 2-door sedan as a restoration project. Restomod, yes. Patina’d survivor, yes. Concours restoration, unlikely. There are some much nicer stock and near-stock examples in the $20 – $30K range that would be a much smarter purchase.

    Like 3
  4. Avatar Spridget

    Wow- I really didn’t see the ending to that video coming. I hope these guys do something to that Bel Air as a tribute to their uncle/brother. And, despite some of the more negative comments, I really don’t think it was in that bad of shape. I’m sure the floor needs to be replaced, but I wouldn’t have guessed it’d been sitting in the mud for decades from looking at it.

    Like 6
  5. Avatar Jamie

    Cool that they’re saving these. The only thing that makes my eyes roll is the ridiculous offset and spacing of the wheels on the truck hauling them away. Why this is something that people find looks good is beyond me.
    Besides that, I’d grab the C10 or the Bel Air and return them back to the road is one way or another.

    Like 3
  6. Avatar Bob Roller

    If I live to be over 100 I will never understand the fascination with Chevrolets,
    They were mass produced and offered nothing to the quality buyer and were poorly built and noisy when on the road.I have never owned one and never will.

    Like 4
    • Avatar BDA

      Agreed

      Like 0
  7. Avatar SourPwr

    I like the YouTube channel “Turnin Rust” until it was stolen from them. Love the “Restored” channel. They are father-son good-old-boys that take patina to a new level. They take junk, air up the 50 year old tires and get it runnin. Great fun- nice guys

    Like 1
  8. Avatar mother jones

    if you look at the pictures again loot at the end and you will see it . truck with trailer road type tractor trailer modified for their use.

    Like 0
  9. Avatar Johnmloghry

    That was one long drawn out video, I couldn’t stay with it to the end. That 53 Bel Aire reminds me of a 53 210 2 door post my brother had back in the 50’s. His was a 235 with three speed manual. Unfortunately one late night on his way home from work he fell asleep and hit an Oak tree. Tree didn’t move but the car was totaled, brother was uninjured, engine ended up in dads 54 pickup.
    Hope they get those vehicles back on the road, but they’ve got a long way to go.
    God bless America

    Like 2
    • Avatar Paolo

      Oak trees are hard and heavy. And slow. If you encounter one out on the road just go around.

      Like 3
  10. Avatar PatrickM

    Okay, so I’m a week late in commenting on this video. I like the ’53 best of their choices. Like a few earlier comments, I did not see the ending coming. But, something else was apparent: these folks are no afraid of some hard work. So many people I know wouldn’t think of getting out there and doing this. They would give up on the project just by any discription. RIP, Franky. God bless the rest of the family.

    Like 0

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