Found a 56' Belair 210 on my parents farm

[Andrew McBride]

Last week while my father and brother in law were hunting on our farm they mentioned a 55-57 Belair was down in a canyon. We have had this place for 25+ years. I knew these cars were down there but when I was younger I never payed attention. Sure enough, yesterday I went down there and found this 56 post along with 2 early 50s bel air 4 doors, olds 4 door, and a Pontiac 4 door.

We took the back hoe out there today and drug it out. It is rough but all the window stainless, window mech, frame, column, front and rear seats, dash, and trunk lid are salvageable. It was work getting it out, but we got it back home!
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[Andrew McBride]

And yes, it will buff out......

[NJSPEEDER]

Planning to pull the others out as well to see if there is anything salvageable?

[sr73bu]

WOW! any stories or idea of how they got there??

-Sean

[analyte]

Sweet find!!

[shmoov69]

I've seen people start with alot worse!! Better drag the rest out so we can see the pics!! LOL

[NOT A TA]

great story Andrew!

[CruizinKev]

wow cool find

[LeighP]

Surprisingly good, considering where its been....

[astroracer]

That is KOOL! I had a '56 that I bought with part time work money when I was 19... I sold in '84 and wish I had it back. That is my favorite tr-5 year.
I even took a 16th scale AMT '55 and converted it to a '56.
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[tommycomfort]

I think you're the coolest guy in the world for pulling it out of there! Around here lots of farmers used old cars to control erosion, probably the same there.
Tom

[Zanie]

Cool,
Like Jimmy said, many have started with worse.
That front seat is worth $300, if its in terrible shape!
I would have liked to have been there years ago when somebody removed the lower control arm. What spring pressure?

[Takid455]

info on the olds? year?

[73z-6sp]

frgvtbh

[Harshcougar]

Hey Andrew, clear out your private message inbox so I can shoot you a reply...

FYI everybody I am going to be writing a story for streetlegalTV.com about Andrew's find once I get a few more details...

[Johnny Blaze]

A 56' belair 210? That's big!
;)
it appears to be a 210, and not a bel air.
Down the road from where I grew up some farmer used a bunch of 50's cars as erosion control along a creek. Such a sad sight!

[Andrew McBride]

That is right. They were using the cars to fill holes. I am going to try and retrieve the 4 door Belair that's down there. It is an early 50s, but it is probably the most complete with the least amount of damage. The hard part I'd getting them out without damaging them! I think this car has definite potential and I enjoy sheetmetal work. I have some more info but I will wait until Chris writes his story.

[TheJDMan]

Andrew,
That would be a great project for the AMD Installation Center if you didn't want to do it yourself. I bet with some media exposure you could line up some sponsors to help you build it.

[Steve68]

I say fix it!!!!!

[Andrew McBride]

Andrew,
That would be a great project for the AMD Installation Center if you didn't want to do it yourself. I bet with some media exposure you could line up some sponsors to help you build it.

Wow, that would be great.

Right now I am working with a small budget on my 68 Camaro project. I am not too far away from having it finished and then I would like to start on it. I have a friend who builds tri fives and has a great deal of knowledge of these cars. If I could possibly get some sponsors I believe my father and I could swing a resurrection on this 56'. Great idea!

[Steve68]

I forgot to say I would do it, and go with above^^^^^ sounds like a great idea!

[Andrew McBride]

Here is the article! The article went live before my story was submitted.

http://www.rodauthority.com/news/believe-it-barns-arent-the-only-odd-places-classics-are-found-2/#fbComments (http://www.rodauthority.com/news/believe-it-barns-arent-the-only-odd-places-classics-are-found-2/#fbComments)


Here is what I sent to the writer:
My father and mother purchased an 80 acre farm in 1990 in a rural area in northern Oklahoma. (45 minutes north of Oklahoma City) The farm has been used for raising cows, horses, camping and hunting. I was five years old when my parents purchased this farm. I remember running through the creeks as a kid and seeing the cars down there. As a kid, I never paid much attention to the cars. I didn’t get involved in restoring cars until 2002, when I purchased my 68’ Camaro in high school. I occasionally thought about going out to the farm and checking out the cars, but the cars are placed in an area on the farm where we typically did not go and it just was of out of sight out of mind.
On November 5th, my father and brother in law were hunting and my father wanted to show my brother in law the old cars down in the 30-40’ Depth ravine. That same weekend, my father and brother in law mentioned to me that they thought there was a 55-57 belair down there, but were unsure. The next weekend, my wife and I were visiting my parents. After discussing the car we decided to go out there and see what exactly was down there. Typically, we do not spend much time in the warmer months due to the heavy population of rattle snakes. On November 12, we went down there and found the 56’ 2 door 210 lying on its roof. There was an early 50’s 4 door Pontiac parked next to it. The other cars included two early 50’s Chevy 4 doors and one 4 door early 50’s ford. I have always wanted to buy and restore a 55-57 Chevy 2 door, one day…and now we have one!
I did a little research and called a dear family friend who sold the property to my parents. He owned the property for approximately 15 years, and claimed he was not aware of the cars being down there. He did mention that the owners before him were bootleggers. He was pretty sure the owners before him had past.
I also talked with some locals in the area and they mentioned to me that it was not uncommon for farmers to fill ravines or holes with the cars for erosion control, this would also allow for more grassland to graze for their cattle. I also found out that a salvage yard was located about 8-9 miles north of the farm, in of my hometown. (Population 70). This salvage yard was in business from the 50’s-80’s. A friend of mine that restores belair’s in the area felt as though this is where the car came from, but it very well could have been placed there by the bootleggers. What surprised me about the cars was that there was still quite a few parts on the cars, and actually the other 4 were pretty much complete cars. The 56’ front sheet metal is gone, but the frame, front and rear seats, column, wheel, dash, window trim, trunk lid, window and door mechanisms were still there and are in good shape.
After finding the car, I was anxious to pull it out. The next day, my father and I loaded up his backhoe and set-out to retrieve the car. We had to dig about 4 yards of dirt and remove a few trees before pulling the Oldsmobile out. We had to pull the Oldsmobile out before we could get to the 56’. We had to lift the car from the front vertically and twirl it to get it on its frame and set it back down. After that, we lifted it and drug it out. It took us approximately 4 hours to get the car out and loaded.
The cars roof was almost perfect except for a 2”x4” portion of rust in the driver side rear corner where it was in the dirt for at least 40 years. The floors are rusted, but the trunk lid, trunk pan, inner/outer wheelhouses, firewall and dash are still all in good shape. The quarters will need to be replaced, the rockers have some rust and the doors will need to be re-skinned or possibly replaced.

I really would love to restore the car. Sheetmetal and body work is what I enjoy, and this car would be a perfect project. I am still working on my 68 Camaro and I plan to have the Camaro finished by this summer. One of my car buddies sent me a text the other day gave me a name for the car “A Real Survivor.” I think that is a great name.

[protouring70]

How cool!! That would be something, "Yep I pulled it out of a ditch... what do you think now!!!"