Found a roof of an old truck in my backyard...

[nerwin]

So when I moved here in the 90s, I was just a little kid but I remember seeing this metal object sticking out in the woods. My dad always joked saying it was an old car someone buried there a long time ago. Over the years we tried to get it out but it didn't budge at all. Kinda just forgot about it until I got a tractor and suddenly it popped in my head...maybe I could fulfill a curiosity I been holding into for years..however the tractor wasn't gonna be appropriate tool for the area, too muddy, too risky with uneven ground so I didn't attempt it.

But I decided to cut some trees around it today to make some room and I kicked it and the whole thing moved. I'm like woah? So I grabbed my shovel and a sledge hammer and starting working at it and I managed to get it out of the ground. Luckily it was just a roof, not an entire car! Kinda anticlimactic but cool nonetheless...felt the inner child of mine excited to finally see what it was.

I been trying to identify what truck this was from. Clearly someone back then cut the roof off for some reason and what's really cool, I found some paint that was STILL there and it appears to be orange. It has a rather small rear window and not a very large windshield

The only identification markers I could find is the lines between the rear of the cab and where the roof meets, they are pretty distinctive. Also the distance of the rear window opening to the roof can give you an idea. Also the way the A pillars are is also another clue. I believe it might be from the late 40s to late 50s maybe.

It was pretty mangled, so I tried to bend it back the best I could. If anyone here might know what truck it was, I'd love to know. I have a feeling it might be a Chevy, but could be a Ford, could be a dodge even or heck a Willys. I'm not entirely sure.

Just a fun day, wanted to share! Its crazy the amount of things I found here over the years. Wagon wheels to old farm equipment. Makes sense.....way before there were any residential houses here it was nothing but farmland.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

... I found some paint that was STILL there and it appears to be orange. ...

Must be a Kubota so ...

 

[ayak]

She’s a beaut, Clark

 

[Bugzilla46310]

Top picture almost looks like the top from an early Blazer, if that is what the original ones were called. But I thought those were fiberglass.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

OP…don’t be so sure…i think this is a sign to get a backhoe and make sure that rest of the vehicle really isnt buried there. Who knows…There could be a decent pair of fuzzy dice on the rear view mirror down there for all we know…I would not risk those going to waste.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

We've dug a few out of our place!
There was a whole truck buried in the front yard.

This is out back on the hill, quite the dump:

We pulled a few out:

 

[RCW]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how that could be a roof, or any other part of an old truck.

Hard to tell scale from the photos.

First thought was maybe a hood, but there wouldn't be a bottom side to the front clip of an old truck (or car).

Wondering something from an old tractor.....but again, there wouldn't be any bottom structure.

Trying to think what that might of been on a farm?!?! What type of farm was it?

 

[nerwin]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how that could be a roof, or any other part of an old truck.

Hard to tell scale from the photos.

First thought was maybe a hood, but there wouldn't be a bottom side to the front clip of an old truck (or car).

Wondering something from an old tractor.....but again, there wouldn't be any bottom structure.

Trying to think what that might of been on a farm?!?! What type of farm was it?

It's bigger than you think...about the width of a vehicle. It's definitely a roof. It's hard to tell unless you look at it in person. There's even weather stripping present but it looked like it was cut off. Like someone took a torch to it years ago but so much of it has rotted away. It's difficult to tell. I'll try to get better pictures then.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The roof looks to be a 1958 GMC grain truck roof.
Or thereabouts.

 

[Russell King]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how that could be a roof, or any other part of an old truck.

Hard to tell scale from the photos.

First thought was maybe a hood, but there wouldn't be a bottom side to the front clip of an old truck (or car).

Wondering something from an old tractor.....but again, there wouldn't be any bottom structure.

Trying to think what that might of been on a farm?!?! What type of farm was it?

Look at this 65 Chevy pickup rear window and see if that helps you see the roof. I’m guessing something like this

 

[NCL4701]

First thought was that’s a rather old medium duty truck rear cab wall and roof. Don’t know why anyone would cut it off like that unless it was damaged. Whatever the story behind it, that’s a cool artifact from a prior owner. Hope you enjoy exploring the junk others have left behind as much as we have.

Place I grew up had been in the family for a few generations and had a bunch of derelict stuff on it but it wasn’t very interesting because it was our junk, except for the arrowheads and Indian marbles, so we pretty well knew the story behind all of it.

We’ve been at our “new” place about 29 years so the junk is more interesting here. We’ve cleaned up a couple of small dump sites. Grapple on the L has been indispensable for pulling stuff out of the dirt, vines, and little trees. Figured out what most of the stuff was. Of course most was trash but found some stuff we kept. We just thought it was kind of neat in a pseudo-archeological way what the various people that lived here before us left behind.

A stop sign we found buried in a pile of bottles while cutting a trail through woods in an area close to nothing. Based on the style and assuming it’s a NC sign, the style puts it n the late 30’s to mid-40’s.

About 20% of the bottles we saved. Everything on the shelf was in one of the dump sites on the property. We hauled off many, many pickup loads of bottles, mostly glass beer bottles. Thankfully, we had a recycling dumpster and trash dumpster at work. I’d take a load and put it in the appropriate dumpster before work.

Wife has asked for years when we’re getting rid of this old cast iron tub. So far, I’ve said it’s a part of the charm of the place so it stays. I think it’s pretty far down the list of stuff that bothers her and she can’t move it without help, so it seems to be safe.

The thing below, if anyone knows what it is please let me know. Looks kind of like some kind of HVAC or cooling something but could be totally wrong. Found it near the north border of our property while walking with the wife on a trail I cut last year. Prior to that trail, there was a logging road 75’ away that was abandoned 75 years ago. Nearest current road of any sort is about a mile away. It weighs somewhere around a lot; notably heavy for its size. I can pick it up and could walk it the 100’ or so to the current trail, but probably not much further and haven’t yet. Didn’t see any identifying numbers, names, etc. on it.

Almost forgot: the beer and liquor bottles. I was talking to one of our older neighbors after we’d finished cleaning up the biggest dump site. Mentioned I’d just finished hauling off 12 pickup loads of beer and liquor bottles the prior owner left. He said he wasn’t surprised. I thought he’d lived there most of his life, but he hadn’t. He bought his 20 acres about 5 years before my father bought the 70 acres across the road. Prior owner inherited about 200 acres. Spent most of his life drinking and sold off a chunk of land whenever he ran out of money. Ended up with his house on 1/2 acre.

 

[John T]

OP…don’t be so sure…i think this is a sign to get a backhoe and make sure that rest of the vehicle really isnt buried there.

You could be right.

As a kid I remember watching my grandfather and some guys bury a car.
It wasn't an uncommon practice... "back in the day"

They way they did it was, They dig a hole...
Bust out the front & rear windows..
CUT the front and rear pillars... and drop the roof....
Then push it into the hole and backfill it.

The reason for cutting the pillars is so you don't end up with a concave hole in the yard years later when the roof rusts and caves in.

 

[Speed25]

I live on an old farm site from many moons ago and find all kinds of interesting things, and yes, we also have a buried truck! I was working in the garden this past weekend and found a hand. About 1 1/4" long, I'm guessing a doll hand from a long time ago based on the wrist joint. Creepy as hell. Pulled an old pedal car out recently. Random car parts, tractor implements, tires, and like @NCL4701, SO MANY BOTTLES. Nothing seems to be newer than the 50's or so, but none of the old-timers are around here, so I don't know the history.

 

[nerwin]

I live on an old farm site from many moons ago and find all kinds of interesting things, and yes, we also have a buried truck! I was working in the garden this past weekend and found a hand. About 1 1/4" long, I'm guessing a doll hand from a long time ago based on the wrist joint. Creepy as hell. Pulled an old pedal car out recently. Random car parts, tractor implements, tires, and like @NCL4701, SO MANY BOTTLES. Nothing seems to be newer than the 50's or so, but none of the old-timers are around here, so I don't know the history.

I tell everyone I found an airplane in my backyard...but I show them this

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I tell everyone I found an airplane in my backyard...but I show them this

View attachment 150713

Oh don't make me break out the yard burp up treasures, I have A LOT of them.
We've found just about everything!
And FYI: Pantyhose do not degrade! I'll leave it at that.

 

[D2Cat]

All I can say is the local scrap dealer is at $170 a ton now.