The thing from the deep

[Ian Grace]

Here's a wider shot of the thing from the deep - dredged up from the Wey and Arun canal yesterday by Chris Richardson and his team. Chris is a volunteer for the Wey & Arun Canal Trust and yesterday as part of attempts to clear a stretch of the canal in preparation for dredging they hauled out the remains of this Minor, which makes a change from the usual bicycles and bedsteads! Needless to say, efforts are being made to identify it and make some guess as to how long it has been in there, although, from the looks of it, it has been in the mode many decades. Watch this space for more on this fascinating find.

[ashford]

Wow - from the photo on the home page it looks remarkably well preserved. Perhaps all the mud has kept the oxygen out. Looking forward to seeing some more photos when its completely out.

[Sam Christie]

It would be fun to hose this down to see what emerges.It recalls pictures of a Bugatti emerging from a lake in Switzerland a while back and the headline "Rusty 1925 Bugatti sells for $408,000" and the picture -




And at the rate Minor prices have been inflating recently the Minor from the deep should be advertised for as least as much once its restored.

[Sam Christie]

I have been searching the internet and the latest news on the Bugatti from the lake is that it is too valuable to restore!In fact it is more valuable than an example which has never got wet! So the moral is- soaking on the bottom of a lake enhances a car's value (no need to sell off the body). A canal will have similar properties (something to do with natural enzymes in the mud perhaps).

If like me you do not have a convenient lake or a canal, your car can be taken to pieces and left to soak in rain barrels or tin old baths - buckets of wet mud and even jam jars are fine. Sit back and relax as your investment soars in value.

[Sam Christie]

The car soaking idea is alive and well. Here a modern Bugatti is being laid down in salt water for future generations to prize over mere "well looked after" examples.

[Ian Grace]

My God! That's about 820 thousand pounds of flotsam!

[Ian Grace]

Simon Hodgins took a look at the remains on Wednesday. Here is his report:

Not a lot left, may be there is more in the canal which will be revealed when its dredged - they have got a grant for that.
A rather bent and twisted rotten chassis with block, crank, front housing, front wing stays, shockabsorbers and headlamp shells. No head,sump, dynamo, starter, pistons, rods, flywheel,springs, axles or wheels.

Too rotten and corroded to read the chassis number or the engine number, the cast iron block was rotten and turning to powder when wire brushed but we think there was a 9 in there.

I have salvaged the wing stays, the headlamp bowls (brass but restorable), the remains of the brake cross shaft and its three bearings, the oil feed pipe to the head, 3/4 of the chrome windscreen surround made by Beatonson, one doorsill complete with Morris Motors plate and the nearside A post with its brass drip strip.

Conclusions:-
The block was a small dynamo one - therefore chassis No. before M15135.
The shockabsorbers were Armstrong type - therefore chassis No. after M14192.
The radiator mounting holes were for the type with threaded spigots under the rad - therefore chassis No.after M14456.
From the rotten metal left on the sill and A post it was a coachbuilt saloon.
From all the above I deduce that it was a 1930 model built in late 1929.Chassis No. 14456 to 15135 - Colour ?

Thanks, Simon. A fascinating find! With most of the engine missing, presumably it wasn't driven into the canal. So presumably a scrap car that was dumped. Was it anywhere near a road or houses?

[Tony Gamble]

Simon

Any more photo's ?

What about the radiator , surround and badge ? They looked reasonable on the first pictures.


Tony G

[Simon]

It was quite some distance from any public road but was on the boundary of the war time Dunsfold Aerodrome which I believe was constructed by the Canadians in 1941, so may have been disposed of during war time. There was no sign of any axles, springs or wheels.

The radiator and surround were recovered by one of the Wey & Arun canal volunteers. I was told that core had two large holes in the back.

[Ian Grace]

This is absolutely fascinating - could you provide a map or grid reference of exactly where it was found? It does seem highly likely that it was shoved in the canal either when the aerodrome was being built or some time during the war. Maybe it belonged to a pilot that never returned? All sorts of intriguing possibilities come to mind. We might have to get the scuba section of the VMR down there to recover the chassis plate! What a pity that the number plate wasn't still on the front - although I suspect that cast aluminium numbers would not have lasted as long as steel under water. Can we also presume that the canal was closed by the time the car was ditched (otherwise it would have made an interesting navigation hazard!) - do we know when that was? Probably long before WW2?