Ford Expedition Pulled from Lake Caked in Mud…and Mystery!
After extracting a big Ford SUV from a Portland river, a pair of YouTubers attempt to find out how it got there.
It never ceases to amaze us just how many vehicles wind up at the bottom of various bodies of water across the country. Other than providing a concealed stash spot, we often wonder how exactly this happens. If you’re as curious about these watery mysteries as we are, the host of the YouTube channel Adventures with Purpose are more than happy to share their adventures with you. To date, these deep divers have removed all sorts of vehicles from their aquatic graves. This time, their rescue efforts lead them to a Ford Expedition with a mysterious past.
Oftentimes, the vehicles AWP finds are stolen. This particular location, a river in the Portland area, has gifted the divers with a whopping 24 vehicles so far this year. So this time around, the police were on hand when the vehicle emerged, just in case. “Local PD normally doesn’t want us to call them unless there’s a body in the vehicle,” one of the divers says. Thankfully, their initial dive reveals that there’s no poor soul sitting in the big Ford. 
Watching the duo prepare the Ford for extraction is a fascinating process all by itself. It involves hooking up some chains, of course, so another vehicle can pull it out. But oftentimes, they also use inflatable “bags” to help get the vehicle upright if it has flipped over. This time, that wasn’t the case, so it’s more of a straightforward rescue.
Still, the recovery doesn’t go 100% smoothly. “It’s giving us a bit of a problem,” one diver notes. “We have a lip at the base of this boat ramp. The front tire on the passenger side is turned sideways just enough to catch it. We need to back off the pressure.” Once they manage to get the big Ford out of the river, it’s time to start the investigation.
“The keys are in the ignition but there’s no house key,” one diver says. “When that happens, it leads me to believe it’s an insurance job.” When the police run the VIN, it comes back clean, however. For what it’s worth, the Portland PD agrees with the assessment that it could be an insurance job. So for now, the reason why this Ford wound up in the bottom of the river remains a mystery!
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