The one thing that always got us young motorheads salivatin' were stories of WWII Army surplus Harley-Davidson motorcycles, brand new, still in wooden packing crates, rumored to be in some government warehouse somewhere. This was usually followed by stories of surplus Jeeps being available cheap, advertising from the back of comic books*

The truth is huge quantities of new trucks, jeeps, aircraft, generators and golly knows what else was dumped overboard in deep water at sea after the end of WWII. When we did aerial gunnery off the coast of Hawaii, we learned an interesting "feature" of military life. Expended brass had to be turned in, but unfired ammunition also had to be physically counted. So... better fire it all up... Don't bring any back. Some of it.. may have ah, fallen out.. or not. *cough*

*Stay away from the X-Ray Specs, they don't really work. The Sea Monkeys are just brine shrimp. My parents refused to buy the Polaris Submarine. ****ers.

 

The closest I've ever come to what could have been an urban legend was back in the early mid '80s. I drove delivery truck for a well known auto parts store and would deliver to a Buick dealer well known for his collection of classic and antique cars. He had an entire building on his dealership property dedicated to his cars that consisted of a full blown repair and body shop. One day I had to drop off parts to the restoration shop and there was a '58 Oldsmobile sitting in front of one of the doors. The car was filthy, thick layer of dirt and four flat tires, otherwise in mint condition. I asked the mechanic about the Olds and he told me it was the stereotypical car story, some lady bought the car new, rarely drove it and when she finally got too old to drive it she parked it in her garage. He told me they had to cut an 8" round tree that grew in front of the door to get it out of the garage. I never saw the car again but I'd bet all it would have taken to get it back in shape was a good wash and polish and tune up.

 

In 1955. Howard Hughes bought his wife (Jean Peters) a new Packard Caribbean ragtop.

In 1972, I was visiting Frost & French, a long time Studebaker-Packard dealer in L/A. Tow truck towed in a 1955 Packard Caribbean ragtop with 237 miles on the clock.

Address on the tow bill was 7000 Romaine Street in Hollywood. This was Hughes' business address.

Miss Peters didn't drive the car very much, in fact she probably returned it to Hughes soon after getting it.
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Crabby old SOB bought a new 1967 F100, parked in his driveway. A kid wasted no time, threw a rock thru the back window.

He was so disgusted that he parked in his garage and it didn't see the light of day until 1980 when a pal of mine bought it. It had 7 miles on the clock.

 

I don't know if this story belongs in the legends file but here goes. When I had my Cobra running and I would take it on small trips. Nearly every time and everyplace I went with it I would always have some one come running up to it saying is it real is it real? What really use to make me crazy was there was always some one whos uncle's cousin's wife friend's brother had one of these... only it was a real one. Yeah well, I would just say B.S.

 

Another childhood dream shattered.

 

This discussion reminded me of a old Nash that a few FTEers have actually seen. When Bob hosted his 'on the farm' Truckfest a few years ago, he took us to a local auto museum. One of the vehicles on display was a '50 Nash two door with very low miles - I want to say less than 100. Originally bought by a woman who didn't drive, never learned, but remained hopeful as the car sat patiently in the garage for decades. Finally rescued, it now resides comfortably on display.

The second chapter to this was a Fathers Day visit I arranged with my in-laws last year to that same museum. My FiL, not a man given to a lot of misty recollection, suddenly became a much younger man as he came upon the Nash. Come to learn that he and a pal had driven that same model, in that same color, on an epic Western states trip as a young adult. Triggered many stories and immediately became the stuff of family lore.

 

They can't put it on the interweb if is isn't true.

 

Maybe, just maybe, there'll be an urban legend in SE Kentucky about a crazy Yankee who drove a 60+ year old Ford truck 800 miles over Pine Mountain in the fall of '12. No one will believe that either

 

Around here, the legend went like this: A guy drives into a gas station with a relatively new corvette and he has the top down and the car stinks to high heaven. The gas station attendant asks why it smells so bad and the guy says his family member died in the car after running off the road. The car was hidden from the road and wasn't found for several weeks. He wants to sell the car.The price is about a quarter of what it was worth.

A lot of people fell for that one.

Later!
Mr. Ed

 

Over Pine mt .....and he survived!

 

I've heard that one, too, Bob. Weren't a lot of those miles accumulated while the Yankee was lost? And wasn't there a rescue team involved?

 

I know someone with a severe, obsessive-compulsive lying disorder. The odd thing is that the stories are so remarkably detailed you would think they were true. He loves my truck and knows I get tickled pink when I see others like it on the road. So, being a mechanic, he was 'working on a celebrity's car' in his employer's shop when 'said celebrity' walked in and they got talking. So this guy 'befriended' the 'celebrity' and got invited to 'said celebrity's' mansion up in Litchfield County for a big shindig complete with every big name in the business, hired security et al. So this guy goes to 'said party' and reminisces the entire thing at our backyard barbecue the weekend after. He's sharing all of these stories about drinking and partying with the big shots. And he pulls me aside and starts talking about this one-off '56 F100 and he's listing everything about it like he was reading a spec sheet...and then how the 'rock star' let him drive it. I'm thinking to myself 'I know this truck!' So I nail him. 'Hold the phone. You're describing 'SnakeBit' that Gene Simmons had made and sold off to charity through Barrett Jackson. He doesn't own the car. And he doesn't have a mansion in Litchfield County. And you didn't work on his car."

The look on his face was priceless.

Love that truck though. And I wish the story were true. Would have been fun to take for a spin if the whole thing wasn't a fairytale!

 

Remember the Red Green show? Remember that guy on there that told whoppers but his delivery was so matter of fact it sounded believable. Every week he'd have a different story. Like he was the 5th Beatle, or was in the NASA space program, etc. That's what your buddy sounds like.

 

As Tedster mentioned there is always the $50 WWII Jeep still in its crate disassembled and in cosmoline. Except that a friend of mine actually found an engine (sadly not the whole Jeep). It turns out that it was in a crate in the back of an abandoned building here in Detroit. The company made shipping crates for replacement engines for the U.S. Military. My friend used to work there before the business closed down 25 years ago. Another friend and I went over and took pictures of it at his shop and put it up for sale on eBay. A guy from Spain bought it for a nice price and we shipped it to him in the original crate. We were glad because our friend needed the money. I posted the pictures on a Military Jeep Forum and they use the pictures to show what an unmolested M38 Jeep engine looks like. You can still see the pictures here at Jeep M38 Engine.

As for the vehicles dumped in the sea a friend of mine, Mark Smith, actually got a ****** MA Jeep off the bottom of a landing beach in the South Pacific and had it restored. Here is the vehicle 1941 ****** MA | Jeep Collection. Although this article disputes the claim, Mark told me this story himself and anybody who knew him was aware of his wonderful character. Mark was a former Marine which is why it was painted in U.S. Navy grey with Navy markings.

 

Which engine was it?

The ******-Overland "Go Devil" 4 banger (dated back to the 1927 Whippet)? ****** Jeeps assembled in Toledo OH

Or the Ford 4 banger? Ford Jeeps assembled at The Rouge in Dearborn.