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Junk cars were used to too line the riverbank to stop erosion?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by S.F., Feb 5, 2009.

  1. S.F.
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 2,895

    S.F.
    Member

    Well its 3 degrees outside and Im board so ill start a thread....Anyway, whenever I'm riding somewhere with my dad, he always points to certain rivers or places where "junk cars used to line the whole length of that river for miles to stop erosion" I was always fascinated with that. I've also been told by a few people that apparently in some places they used to even stack junk cars on the side of the Highway while they were doing some serious road work. Does anyone have pictures of this??? Is that true???? anyway this is a picture thread dedicated to those unfortunate cars that were used in a horribly different way than originally designed. Such as erosion protection, water breaks, or other wierd uses. here's a few I have collected:
     

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  2. CanUFelix
    Joined: Jan 29, 2009
    Posts: 503

    CanUFelix
    Member
    from venice CA

    When I was a kid I saw the same thing on a farm in northern England. a whole row of fifties and sixties British tin like Anglias, Pops, k1 Cortinas and the such sunk into the bed of a river so that you could only see the sides of the vehicles. Only pictures I've got are in my head.....
     
  3. 16 Dodge Bros
    Joined: Feb 24, 2007
    Posts: 127

    16 Dodge Bros
    Member
    from MO

    It's called rip rap, it holds the soil in place from washouts. Back when I was into 60's full size ponchos, i would hit up a 65 cat in a creek near here for hard parts. I've also found alot of old tractors and equipment dumped for that purpose, some very very rare, most of the time too far gone to save though, there was one I remeber reading about that was rip rap that was saved,a Big Four six cylinder, only one in the world now, the restoaration in volved replicating parts of the block, welding all the cylinder walls and building a new transmission from scratch. the finished tractor was a sight to behold, but I couldn't imagine bringing that back from the dead myself.
     
  4. throttle
    Joined: Jul 23, 2007
    Posts: 38

    throttle
    Member
    from sfsd

    They used what they had, but what a waste.:mad: If we had time machines we could replace them with Hondas:D
     

  5. bugsy_malonn
    Joined: Jan 2, 2009
    Posts: 17

    bugsy_malonn
    Member
    from Emmett ID

    There are several places here in the town I live in with cars like that you can go stand on them when you go fishing its crazy I will try to get you guys some pictures next time I'm out
     
  6. S.F.
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 2,895

    S.F.
    Member


    Rip Rap...wow just learned something new, never heard of that before. That blows my mind they actually used to do that. Thats pretty neet how they saved that tractor.
     
  7. breeder
    Joined: Jul 13, 2005
    Posts: 10,948

    breeder
    Member Emeritus

    yeah, theres a few like that here to...sad, but didnt mean shit 40 yrs ago!!! :(
     
  8. S.F.
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 2,895

    S.F.
    Member

    There is a road here called Rip Rap road and it runs along side the Miami river. Theres no cars that line it now but I wonder if there used to be and thats why they named it that.
     
  9. partsdawg
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 3,500

    partsdawg
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Minnesota

    Still did that in the '70's. My Dad(not a car guy)used a '53 Studebaker and 2 1941 Chevy's as filler under a concrete slab in our feedlot.He flattened them as best he could,slid them in the hole then dumped fill over them.
     
  10. utahdodge
    Joined: Sep 13, 2008
    Posts: 209

    utahdodge
    Member

  11. Pir8Darryl
    Joined: Jan 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,487

    Pir8Darryl
    Member

    Back then, they were just junk cars. Nothing more.

    Today we wouldn't give a second thought to crushing a Ford Tarus or Honda Civic, but who knows... 40 years from now, our grandchildren might be going nuts at the thought of us destroying perfectly good 1990's cars that could have been saved.

    In a strange sort of way, I'm glad they were used as "rip-rap". At least they survived to this day so we can look at them,,, and just maybe save a handfull of them that would have otherwise been lost forever had they been crushed.
     
  12. no55mad
    Joined: Dec 15, 2006
    Posts: 1,956

    no55mad
    Member

    Came to Calif from Mich in the early 70's with the Air Force. Stationed at Vandenberg, had no money but had a 57 210 2dr purchased when stationed in Miss. Vandenberg is near Lompoc Ca and the city was burying 50's cars in the Sante Ynez Riverbanks for erosion control. We'd check every day to see what they were using. They would place them on the banks and then cover them with dirt. The bulldozer drivers would let us unbolt what we could before they would entomb them. 50's cars in the early 70's were impossible to find in the Mich rustbelt so I was in heaven seeing these Ca cars and getting free parts. I still have a 57 Chev gage cluster and steering wheel from those days. Got a hood too to replace my cobbled teardrop installation for the 57 I had back then. Fun Memories but sad to think they were not saved - like the 50's cars that got raced on the circle track in Santa Maria in that same time period. The convertables were the sought after race cars because they had stronger frames.
     
  13. 1951bomber
    Joined: Jun 4, 2007
    Posts: 276

    1951bomber
    Member
    from atwater Ca

    please stop im going to start crying
     
  14. S.F.
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 2,895

    S.F.
    Member

  15. partsdawg
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 3,500

    partsdawg
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Minnesota

    "like the 50's cars that got raced on the circle track in Santa Maria in that same time period. The convertables were the sought after race cars because they had stronger frames."

    the year...1976...the place...somewhere in the U.S.
    My buddy and I drug home a $100.00 '55 Chevy convert and cut the body off the frame to use the frame in a stock car.The convert was used up.Rusted so bad the cutting part was not much more than a few chisel raps but the frame was solid.
    I can also recall during that same time frame there was a drought and a river near my hometown was very low.Exploring the river we found 10-15 30's coupes and sedans used as rip rap.As was mentioned by someone else they were just junk cars.
     
  16. When I lived in Manitoba in the mid to late sixties, we had a sink hole behind our car club. It was the size of a large swimming pool. I don't know how many cars were pushed in there but we never filled it up. They just disappeared. On the east side of Portage La Prairie they built an A&W in the early sixties. There was a sink hole on the property. They emptied and old wrecking yard of 50's and older cars and pushed 26 or so into the sink hole, one after another. Somewhere in the middle of the earth is a lot of old cars. LOL. It was also quite common to use old cars in Canada to shore up river banks to stop erosion. Pat.
     
  17. crackernutz
    Joined: Mar 21, 2007
    Posts: 407

    crackernutz
    Member
    from tx

    the last picture in your series wasn't put in a river for soil errosion. it is the car they burried in Tulsa court house lawn and dug it up 50 years later to celebrate tulsa's centennial.
     
  18. S.F.
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 2,895

    S.F.
    Member


    Thanks Mr. Obvious
     
  19. Vance
    Joined: Jan 3, 2005
    Posts: 2,135

    Vance
    Member
    from N/A

    Stevo, our friend in Iowa, Todd used several old cars as fill behind his big ass garage. I don't know what make/model, but I'll bet John does. I remember helping him pull one of them into the pit with his old Ford tractor and chains when one of the chains snapped and cracked him in the forehead. That may explain a lot now that I say it...
     
  20. Boyd Who
    Joined: Nov 9, 2001
    Posts: 2,196

    Boyd Who
    Member

    I'll have to take a trip to my old hometown this summer and see if the "rip rap" riverbank that I remember from the 70's is still there. IIRC there was a '40 Ford Deluxe sedan amongst the cars, although it was pretty well buried.
     
  21. 6t5frlane
    Joined: Dec 8, 2004
    Posts: 2,399

    6t5frlane
    Member
    from New York


    Then the obvious ? would be. Why is it in the thread ? I knew what it was and wondered what it had to do with your title..
     
  22. rainh8r
    Joined: Dec 30, 2005
    Posts: 792

    rainh8r
    Member

    Cars were used in a number of Washington rivers in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. There are still some places they can be seen but most are really gone. I did get parts off a 34 2-door and a DeSoto Airflow in the Methow River, plus there were lots in parts of the Snoqualmie River. I've seen them in other rivers too, but not recently.
     
  23. 40 & 61 Fords
    Joined: May 17, 2006
    Posts: 1,999

    40 & 61 Fords
    Member

    Makes me want to load up a canoe and start paddling along some of the rivers around here in the spring. A tool box, shovel and some cold beverages and I'm ready to go!
     
  24. Deuce76063
    Joined: Jan 12, 2009
    Posts: 43

    Deuce76063
    Member

    I hate it that they did that for the same reasons you all do, but for another reason also. One time when I was about 14-15, I was sitting in the Red River north of Dallas fishing. It was hot, so I had waded out in the river and sat down on a sandbar with the water about chest deep when sitting down. Kept the horse flies off your back too. The water out in front of me was about 6-8 feet deep and narrow with a good current. Was nearly dozing off when a freaking early 60's Caddilac body shell rolled over right in front of me. Guess the current washed the sand out of it and made it light enough to roll. My Dad laughed his ass off cause I crab walked out of that river faster than I could run on two feet. Didn't loose my fishing pole either.
    Bob
     
  25. SlamIam
    Joined: Oct 8, 2007
    Posts: 468

    SlamIam
    Member

    The pal I go to swapmeets with was a demolition driver once upon a time, now he's into old cars and is in great grief sometimes when he sees cars like the ones he destroyed back then.

    I grew up on the banks of the Kings River, friends and I camped on islands in the river like Huck Finn many summers, swam and explored lots of it, and I can tell you we found everything you can imagine and some you can't in that river, and the fascinating thing is some things become visible again some years, only to disappear again when the sand shifts, really eerie.
     
  26. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,820

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    could you imagine putting a car with gas and oil and grease all over into a river these days? even if they drain the fluids it would still be a toxic mess.
     
  27. denis4x4
    Joined: Apr 23, 2005
    Posts: 4,196

    denis4x4
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Colorado

    Most of the riprap cars along the banks of the Animas River have been removed under orders from the Army Corps of Engineers due to pollution and contamination issues. I got into a pissing match with the corps last year after losing almost an acre of land and six pines over 100 years old due to river bank erosion. Actually called a junk yard to buy old cars and then came up with a better solution after being threatened with jail. I still have parts a piece of an early 50's GMC dump truck that was washed off a bridge.
     
  28. KreaturesCCaustin
    Joined: Sep 3, 2008
    Posts: 1,258

    KreaturesCCaustin
    Member
    from Austin, TX

    It's sad to think of all the tin buried up to its neck in muck. Still might be some usable parts lining those rivers, though. I might have to take an excursion down the Rio soon.
     
  29. plywude
    Joined: Nov 3, 2008
    Posts: 699

    plywude
    Member Emeritus
    from manteca ca

    no55mad ..I lved in Sants Maria in the 60's and as you come into town on hwy 101 you have to cross the Santa Maria river they lined that river bed with 20's, 30's, and 40s' auto behind a wire fence, we would cut through and get what we needed I pulled out a 23 T bucket, 2 good 26 T fenders a lot of frends did the same but the corp of engineers came and dumped boulders and concrete on them in the early 70's.... on a plane ride from Santa Maria to Sacramento we flew over Holister Ca and they had the same deal on the south end of town, cars stacked behnd fenceing but no boulders or concrete....:D
     
  30. buickvalvenut
    Joined: Oct 29, 2008
    Posts: 660

    buickvalvenut
    Member
    from Rialto

    i bet there hitting there heads no the wall now.
     

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