I grew up in Williams Bay, on Lake Geneva WI... There are lots of cars and a bunch of other stuff in that lake......from way back when I was a kid, and they didn't make you get them out... I have fond memories of the old "Gutted out" rigs they used to pull them out, if they could hook them...old trucks with no doors, beds or anything, and only one wheel each side instead of the duals.... Just a big old gin pole and winch on them...they would stop about ~40 yards from the vehicle, and cut a hole in the ice about 18" diam. They had a huge hook on the front bumper that went into the hole to keep the tow rig from pulling backwards on the ice... Interesting post.... Cheers....
I'd like to see whats left of The Norseman: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392013
Many years ago there was an article in the Detroit News,about a bootleggers car being pulled out of the Detroit river. A young man witnessed the car being disposed of,on the ice by the rum runners in 1921 or 22. Many years later he told the story to a diver,that went looking for the car. He found it right where the old guy said it would be. The car was brought up in pretty good condition. The amazing part of this story,is they were able to get the engine started in about three days, and the car would move under its own power. There were a bunch of pictures on the back page of News. I think the car was a Nash,but not sure.
Wood has held up pretty good in the deep watery graves of the Great Lakes as there has been a large scale recovery of hardwoods that had sunk to the bottom of Lake Superior and are being cut for fine musical instruments and furniture... I'll get that link as well later this evening.
Back in 1976 HARAH's museum in Reno,Nv. had a copper cooled Chevy.With the shop that place had they could have built it from scratch,but I doubt that they did.
Bill Harrah also had an extra copper cooled engine on display setting beside the Chevy that 'junkjunky' mentioned.
Still trying to find the video... but here's the article... http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1016/is_n7-8_v100/ai_15630727/
Found a better photo of the '50 Ford Tudor found in Lake Waubesa; scroll to page 35: http://www.danesheriff.com/pdf_files/2006 annual report elect version.pdf It was upside down with its nose buried in the silt, which must be what preserved the gray paint. That was five years ago; wonder what happened to it since?
Here's photos of the whole recovery of the Waubesa Ford http://www.piers-lifts.com/Default.aspx?PageID=13
A lot of cars went into the drink in those days. The bootleggers favorite trick was to wait till the river patrol went past then dash across the river, avoiding the bridges and customs inspectors. Some days there would be dozens of cars crossing at once. In summer they used rowboats with outboards, in winter they used old jalopy cars. Once in a while one would break through the ice. They used to tear the doors off and wear life preservers so they wouldn't drown. Another trick when the ice was thin, was to put the liquor in a rowboat and tow it behind the car on skids. Less weight on the car and a chance to save the load if the car went under.
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