That’s what you call an underground car park!
1950s Ford Popular found buried in family’s garden
IT was a classic budget family car in the 1950s – but that’s a bury long time ago now.
This Ford Popular was found buried just inches beneath the surface of a lawn by a home owner digging in his back garden.
John Brayshaw got the shock of his life when he decided to build some decking during the lockdown. He uncovered the Popular lying on its side – still in one piece complete with its engine and registration plate.
The contracts manager said: ‘Everything is intact – it’s just weird how it’s down here.’
Mr Brayshaw, 40, of Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, dug down to explore after a wooden post for the decking would not go into the ground. At first, he thought he had perhaps struck an air raid shelter or the remains of a former pond. But to his amaze- ment he unearthed the old car.
He is now trying to find out how it got there. The 65-year-old vehicle is in a place where his children usually play. Mr Brayshaw said that, judging by the dashboard and steering wheel, he believes it is a 1955/56 Ford Popular 103E car – a budget family vehicle of the era. The father-oftwo, who is on furlough because of the lockdown, explained: ‘I was digging post panels for my decking and I hit something hard.
‘I thought it was an old air raid shelter at first. Then I saw the roof and I thought “Who’d bury the roof of a car?” I kept digging and saw the door, the steering wheel and realised it was a full car complete with the registration plate. The only thing that was missing was the wheels. It’s really weird – it’s not every day you find a full car in your garden. I would say the hole is 7ft deep, 10ft long and 5ft wide.’ The previous house owners lived at the property for more than 50 years but have now died. A relative of theirs told Mr Brayshaw they never did anything with the garden so he believes the car has been there for more than half a century. He added: ‘I’d like to keep it where it is and build decking around it, but I don’t think I’ll be able to. It’s likely that I will have to dig it out with some heavy machinery and back-fill the hole.’ One theory is it was a military vehicle as it was painted a certain shade of grey. The Ford Popular – nicknamed Pop – could be seen on virtually every UK street in the 1950s. It cost around £390 but came with only a single vacuum-powered windscreen wiper and no heater. The 103E model had a top speed of 60mph but took 24 seconds to reach 50mph.