About two and one-half years ago, when we first bought our place in Grass Valley, I went for a walk about and noticed that someone a long time ago had pushed a car off a dirt road on our property over a low cliff. I thought then that some day I would see what I could find down there.

On Saturday, April 2, 2005, I went on the Jack & Bill Show and our first stop was at Lynn’s garage. He was working on a “Rad Rod” from a 1930 Ford Pickup. I mentioned that I had a body of unknown description buried at my place and he said that I should dig it out and if I couldn’t use it for a “Rad Rod” I could use it for “Yard Art”. When I returned home, I grabbed a shovel and went down to dig out what I thought was a “T” bucket.

The front of the four door was out of the dirt, but the back was two feet in the dirt. Through the passenger front door opening was a metal part. I had no idea what this was, but I knew I had to dig it out before I could move the body. This part was buried under five feet of dirt and when I finally got it out I realized that it was the front cowl and fire wall of an early Chrysler. The original ID plate and symbol emblem were still attached. On closer inspection, I found that the four door body that I was about to move was resting on top of fenders. While digging out the cowl I found 1933 and 1934 license plates, old bottles, miscellaneous other car parts and the back end of another car with fenders and a front fender sticking out of the hill that I had to drag the body up!!

Monday, I went down to the diggings at about 1:00 pm and decided to pull the body up diagonally on the hill. I first hooked up my climbing rope to the back end of the body underneath and up to the convertible mount bolts on the top of the rear cab, which stuck out about 4" on each side. I then attached the rope to the support bar on my tractor bucket. I used a climbing rope rather than a chain because I didn’t want to dent the body (Ha Ha!!) Actually, the body was so far away from the tractor I couldn’t see it from the tractor seat. I backed up six feet because I had to allow for the stretch of the rope. When I got down to look the rear part of the body was actually vertical and the front had not moved an inch. When I untied the rope the rear part fell back where it came from. I then hooked the rope to the front through the firewall and around the front cowl. I climbed up and onto the tractor and pulled back three feet. When I went back down the body had moved some and was digging dirt in to the side of the hill. I had to move that edge out of the way. The rope stretched some so it probably moved forward two feet. After the first try, I would pull back three to four feet, go back down the hill to adjust the rope, dig the side bank and do it again. After about ten tries, I finally had it almost to the top where I had to clear small trees and rope the body underneath like a sling. As I began to lift the body over the five foot fence, the back end fell completely off from where it was joined to the front section.

After I got that body up to the top near my garage, I went back down and began to load parts of the second vehicle. There were parts everywhere and I had no idea what they were. I could tell from the rear wrap, cowl and fenders that they all belonged together. There was a roll that ran around the body parts and the four fenders had the same roll up and down them. The front fenders were both buried and still had the body two running board fairings attached because they headed in opposite directions as the fenders laid. I started to dig it all out and spent a considerable amount of time on each before I realized that both fairings were twisted and bent under the fenders. At that point, I decided to cut the fairings off below the bottom of the fenders with a portable sawzall.

I hauled all the loose parts up the hill, loaded them in the tractor bucket and transported them up to the end of my garage. Once I had them all assembled, I washed the mud off with a pressure washer. Of course, some of the rust piles disappeared also.

Right now it seems that I have two pieces of “Yard Art”. I have not found any heavy items such as the engines, transmissions, rears, frames, etc.. I have found a radiator shroud, license plates from 1933 and 1934, old bottles, and odds and ends of various car parts, etc.

I had it in my head all these years that the body I saw was from a Model “T” Ford 1919-1927, so I needed an expert on old cars to set me straight. At a breakfast, I showed pictures of my “T” to Dick and he told me right off that I was grievously mistaken. The body was, in fact, a 1923 Dodge. The other car it turns out was actually a 1925 Chrysler 4 door sedan, which had its top cut off.

As of right now, I only have Yard Art, but who knows. Someday, maybe I can convert one of them into a Rad Rod.

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