As with most car restoration projects discovering what needs to be worked on and to what extent is an experience to say the least. Sometimes that discovery is a bit disheartening like the rust to floor pans on the right side, sometimes is a major relief and sometimes it’s cool.
As I began removing carpet – which I’m now sure was 33 years old, it uncovered the normal dirt, pens, papers (no build sheet… bummer) and just about all the normal things that slide between the seat cushions and work their way under the carpet. That can show a lot about its previous owners and how the car was used.
Among these things are coins and #ProjectSportsRoof had an abundance of lost change. The first coin I found was a nickel. It was under the underlayment which I found to be a tough place for nickel to have worked its way. Interesting enough it was dated 1973.
1973 Jefferson Nickel. Placed by a a worker at the factory? hmmmm….
This reminded me of an often told tail of auto workers leaving tokens of some sort in an inconspicuous place. Wouldn’t that be interesting.
Over all nearly $30.00 in coins were found and of those 3 were from 1973 (a nickel, a quarter and a penny). With a huge cap between 1979 and the 2005 (perhaps indicating it’s break in service when the car was left in a field, junked and then saved.
Someone in the Ford factory back in the day leave this 1973 Jefferson nickel so that someone years later might find it? Interest thought!!!
Thanks for reading.
Tim
My dad bought a new 1966 Corvette and we’ve had it all these years. About 5-6 years ago when we finally changed out the carpet, I found a silver lighter under the drivers seat. I took a picture of it and sent it to my mom who says she gave that lighter to my dad as a gift, probably in the late sixties or early seventies. So now I got my dad’s car and his old lighter.
That’s a very cool story. I love to post up a pic of the 66.
Tim
From MillionSuns via Reddit /r/Mustang sent 7 hours ago
I found an unfired .22 in my ’67.
Talking to a couple of retired GM guys of the years and they mentioned that this kind of thing happens. While touring the Corvette assembly plant Bowling Green, I asked one of the assembly guys about this topic. He said “Nope….” then smiled and walked off.
You beat my brother record on change found under the back seats of cars. In 1988 he bought a used 1984 colt turbo (pocket rocket). He asked me to troubleshoot an intermittent rear speaker, and I pulled the rear seat out. Found the pinched speaker wire and $19 in change mostly quarters. Kept the money as my troubleshooting fee.
I had a friend that worked at an AMC factory in Kenosha. He used to hid political buttons in fender wells on matadors. Since no one in their right mind would restore a matador I assume they were never discovered.