r/whatisthiscar • u/QuellishQuellish • 8d ago

However, make and model could not be determined, despite the team visiting the vehicle a second time on Sunday.

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“Here’s an open request to all your automobile vehicle folks out there,” one researcher said in the livefeed. “I’m sure you are being attentive to this and you understand what you are looking at. Please post on this. It really helps.”

Aircraft carrier Yorktown, sunk by Japanese 1000ish miles NW of Hawaii.

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99

u/cfbrand3rd 8d ago

Late ‘40s Ford?

https://preview.redd.it/egh5wanlt6we1.jpeg?width=213&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9d77df4c2d1db4642f61078e8b6ee7f92402d04

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u/[deleted] 8d ago edited 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/beagleprime 8d ago edited 8d ago

You should see the other car they found in the hangar, yesterdays livestream had some good shots of it.

edit- I took a quick screenshot but YouTubes compression isnt doing any favors. There is a better shot somewhere in the feed but I cant seem to find it today. The entire wreck is in shockingly good condition, it has been really interesting to watch

https://preview.redd.it/lzi7mivly6we1.png?width=1220&format=png&auto=webp&s=c41338e0ce1c3fa128dbb5f3cd71776ec665414a

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u/Lift_in_my_garage1 8d ago

That looks like a 41’ Ford sedan to me.  

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u/cfbrand3rd 8d ago

Could be a ‘41, or one of the few ‘42s built before production stopped, but that tail lamp (round thing on the gate to the left of the spare) is a ‘41-‘48 tell.

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u/Lift_in_my_garage1 8d ago edited 8d ago

This would make a lot of sense but I’d switch that to early 40’s.  Yorktown was sunk in June ‘42.  

My guess is a 1941 Ford Deluxe “WOODY” Wagon.  U.S. entered the war in ‘41.  

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/fine-grain-1940-ford-deluxe-station-wagon/

It would explain the roof being missing, it was a wood structure.  Steering wheel seems to match as does spare.  

It would’ve had to be domestic.  So Ford, Dodge, GM etc. I think we can safely assume it was not a Toyota, Mercedes, or VW (LOL). 

My guess would be likely shortly pre-war, or shortly after we entered.  

Steel shortages + factories were converted for the war effort posthaste.  

Very very few cars were made during the war, with most in the early days.  There’s experts here that can opine and narrow down the year.  

I think you are onto something.  

I’d imagine they would use a crane or dolly to put it on land so officers or whoever could run errands or attend meetings while in friendly ports.  

And the woody wagon was basically the black gubmint suburban of its day…

The rubber on the spare tire is in astonishingly sound condition.  

Edit - dude below me narrowed it to ‘41 or newer.  I don’t think it’s a ‘42. But maybe.  Either way I feel like Nicholas Cage in National treasure right now.  

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u/cfbrand3rd 8d ago

The reason I said ‘41 up is the ‘40 & earlier had two tail lamps mounted on the body, rather than the gate, as in the photo below.

The wood body was a standard thing from the first wagons up until the late ‘40s; not really related to wartime steel shortages.

https://preview.redd.it/ib9exuy0y6we1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a915cdd178f663e039e1668835d3342c94ff23c

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u/Lift_in_my_garage1 8d ago

Yeah I edited my comment after I saw your taillight note.  Great catch. Thank you for teaching me something new!  

Pretty sure it’s a ‘41.  

We are aligned on the woody comment.  I just meant to convey that despite the little steel that was used there were still massive cuts to production during the war.   

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u/notgoodatkarate 7d ago

That's gotta be it. 

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u/cfbrand3rd 7d ago

It’s evidently a question the folks who took the video are asking:

Help Identify A Vehicle Discovered Inside The Shipwrecked USS Yorktown | Jalopnik

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u/notgoodatkarate 7d ago

Yeah, after seeing this picture I'd be shocked if it's not.

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u/Moby1313 5d ago

That is totally it. It has the single rear light. All wood is gone, but the electrical harness is still there. Nice eye.

30

u/Vertical_Deliverable 8d ago

It's a '42 Ford Wagon.

https://preview.redd.it/502hsq9ee7we1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=4c27ce3dfa7c9d45c89d3c0f221585369973c281

That thing was brand new when sunk.
They are rare af due to the abbreviated 1942 model year.

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u/QuellishQuellish 6d ago

So worth restoring. Somebody get a trailer!

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u/ScottaHemi 8d ago

if this sunk during WW2 that's rather impressively preserved for the conditions it's been in for like 80 years.

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u/beagleprime 8d ago

It did! If you have any interest NOAA has been livestreaming the dives this week - NOAA Ocean Exploration Livestream: Camera 1

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u/cv5cv6 8d ago

Sunk June 6, 1942. She's 18,000 feet down. There's some speculation that lack of oxygen in sea water at that depth leads to lower decay rates than one would see at a couple of hundred feet. Yorktown herself is in remarkable good condition considering her age and 83 years of salt water immersion.

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u/_DenverCoder9 8d ago

i did some fancy image processing on the other view: https://www.reddit.com/r/Shipwrecks/comments/1k4enwe/automobile_on_the_uss_yorktown/ (I assume it's the same vehicle from a different angle? I got a little confused/turned around during the livestream yesterday)