Detecting car wreck areas..?

[pinenut]

Has anyone had good luck detecting areas known to be wreck spots? Thought I'd try one that used to be known (famously) as a wreck area. It's part of what was once a well known road but is now mostly closed off to public access. You can still get to that spot where all the wrecks occured...since the dawn of the automobile. It's known as "dead man's curve".
Think I'll only find beer cans and bent hubcaps?

 

[Injunbro]

After many years of working for the Hwy. Dept. I can honestly say we found a lot of stuff @ wreck scenes! Never used a detector but found a lot of tools, coins, etc. when repairing guardrail, fences, etc. later. After hours dealing w/ traffic, ambulances, fire dept., coroner, tow trucks, etc. most DOT & Hwy. Patrol just wanted to go home & get some sleep & a lot got missed by the tow truck driver who is supposed to clean it up.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Like injunbro said, it could be good. I wouldn't try using a detector in the regular manner because there will likely be a LOT of metal. Use it to find hot-spots and then dig and sift everything. Ditches that see roll-overs will have all the contents spilling out, often at night. The first responders only care about patient packaging and getting the car/cars towed so they can clear the scene. I have heard of lost gold rings at wrecks, but never knew exactly where the wrecks were, so I couldnt look for them.

 

[Terry Soloman]

You guys are not going to find anything but metal junk. The Ambulance crews, police, wrecker guys, and looky-loo's clean up everything of value at crash sites.

 

[pinenut]

You guys are not going to find anything but metal junk. The Ambulance crews, police, wrecker guys, and looky-loo's clean up everything of value at crash sites.

Ha! I'll get there before you do, Terry... ^_^

There are "dead man's curves" all over the country, but the one I'm thinking about is one of the most famous in SoCal, though not the one Jan & Dean sang about.
This particular road was first paved in 1919. Pretty sure it was a stage route before then. I'd like to detect the cellar holes along that road as well (motels & gas stations) but I'll need to bike in, as the mountain road is now gated and unsafe in several areas.

Even if I only find old beer cans and bent hubcaps, I'll be having a good time.
I'll take a Tejon with 5.75 widescan...and the snakebite kit. Wish me luck. ^_^

 

[Deft Tones]

I detected a permission built in 1920 that had several wrecks in front of it each year, with some spilling into the yard. Anyway, I found a few clad coins and pounds of twisted steel shards, bulb bases, fuses, etc. Never went back yet.


Good luck!

 

[sjvalleyhunter]

Just last week my wife and I had a discussion about this topic. I thought about it as we were driving near the intersection of Highway 41 and 46, which is the area where back in 1955 James Dean wrecked his Porsche 550 Spyder and ultimately died. Frankly it would be darn near impossible to find the exact location of the collision and I don't think I'd want a piece of a death car, but it got me wondering if any pieces of the car are still out there.

 

[austin]

This is sort of a weird topic, but to each his own. As for James Dean's car. I seriously doubt there is anything there, once prices for souvenirs started going up...

 

[Jason in Enid]

Just last week my wife and I had a discussion about this topic. I thought about it as we were driving near the intersection of Highway 41 and 46, which is the area where back in 1955 James Dean wrecked his Porsche 550 Spyder and ultimately died. Frankly it would be darn near impossible to find the exact location of the collision and I don't think I'd want a piece of a death car, but it got me wondering if any pieces of the car are still out there.
View attachment 1339375

actually, you could use that photo and correlate the mountain peaks and angles to work backwards and find the exact spot.

 

[sjvalleyhunter]

actually, you could use that photo and correlate the mountain peaks and angles to work backwards and find the exact spot.

Perhaps, but it would be difficult to really get it narrowed down to a small area - at least I wouldn't be able to do it. I've never done any serious research on the Dean crash, but I have read a few articles on it. A couple have mentioned that the present location of 41 and 46 are not where they were sixty years ago and that they've been rerouted over the years. So that too would add in the difficulty of finding a 1000 or so square foot area where the debris may be.

 

[Peyton Manning]

this is an idea that never occurred to me. but I doubt there would be much of value

 

[Simon1]

I remember when Sam Kinison died in an auto accident because he was driving a 1989 Pontiac Trans Am and I still have my 1988 Trans Am. This was copied from The Death of Sam Kinison. So in one way it would be nice to have something to remember someone by, but on the other hand, with it being a fatal accident the pride of having that item seems diminished to me IMHO.
Findadeath.com friend Walt Fritsch sends us this: About 10 days after the accident, a friend and I went to visit my dad who lived in Lake Havasu City Az. On our way back through Needles, being that we were both big fans of Sam, we decided to find the accident site. I had read in the paper where the general location was, so I felt pretty confident I could find it. I felt this way because I had been a cop in So Cal. for a few years, and had investigated hundreds of accidents, many of them fatal. One of the things that you do when you investigate a serious crash, and always in a fatality, is to mark the pavement with spray paint at points of impact, points of rest, and start and end points of skids. This helps to show them better in contrast with the road when you photograph the accident scene. Sure enough, after about 3 to 4 miles, when we came to a part of the highway that makes a slight climbing turn to the left; I slowed down to look at the pavement and found exactly what I was looking for: The highway was marked with paint by the investigating officers. We stopped, got, out and looked around. In the bushes were a few flattened cans of Bud-Light which looked like they hadn't been there longer than a few weeks, and some small white parts from the front end of the trans am. These somehow found their way into my car, and looking at them now, I am sure that I have a piece of the driver's side front amber clearance light (you can see the intact one on the passenger side in the pic you have on your web site) and some pieces of the front bumper (one of them has a GM part number on it).

 

[Deft Tones]

Get a police scanner to get you and your coil on the scene first!

 

[jeff of pa]

I've considered it, But most places I know look like this





makes me a bit nervous to get out and hunt.

and fresh wreck spots would be as shaky.
some may call it theft

this is a dangerous intersection in my town.
there used to be a cross here



but a couple years ago it got knocked down by another accident.
the woman and son who always took care of it stopped coming.

so I have Swung My detector there, But all I ever found was bits of Cars so far.

Old accident Spots, If they can be pinpointed do seem like they could be good hunting
even old hood ornaments and wheel hubs could be valuable, in the right condition

 

[cudamark]

Ha! I'll get there before you do, Terry... ^_^

There are "dead man's curves" all over the country, but the one I'm thinking about is one of the most famous in SoCal, though not the one Jan & Dean sang about.
This particular road was first paved in 1919. Pretty sure it was a stage route before then. I'd like to detect the cellar holes along that road as well (motels & gas stations) but I'll need to bike in, as the mountain road is now gated and unsafe in several areas.

Even if I only find old beer cans and bent hubcaps, I'll be having a good time.
I'll take a Tejon with 5.75 widescan...and the snakebite kit. Wish me luck. ^_^

Sounds like the Ridge Route.

 

[pinenut]

Sounds like the Ridge Route.

^_^

 

[Normsel]

It's an interesting thought. I think of two wrecks I seen in the past week where it is very possible there are coins etc strewn about the area. I think the place where rollovers occur would be the best. Not sure i will start chasing accident scenes but I will keep the thought in the back of my mind.
I have detected many gravel parking lots at sports fields and commuter parking. I haven't found a lot but it was worth the effort to ck. One parking area at a high school football field I found $33 in clad one morning and went back the next day and found $12 more in clad. This area had been used for parking for about 20 yrs. I didn't find any silver but I was happy with the clad I found in about 4 hrs of detecting. Most often I find less than a $1

I had a guy let me detect his salvage yard once and came away with less than $3. He laughed at me and said go ahead but my monkeys go through them cars and the yard pretty good.

 

[jeff of pa]

read those old Newspapers.

Cars may have been Built Better back then, But when they Rolled down Embankments,
recovery May have been Haphazard at best .

The patriot. (Indiana, Pa.), 12 Aug. 1916.


The patriot. (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, August 12, 1916, The Patriot, Image 1 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

 

[jeff of pa]

It's an interesting thought. I think of two wrecks I seen in the past week where it is very possible there are coins etc strewn about the area. I think the place where rollovers occur would be the best. Not sure i will start chasing accident scenes but I will keep the thought in the back of my mind.
I have detected many gravel parking lots at sports fields and commuter parking. I haven't found a lot but it was worth the effort to ck. One parking area at a high school football field I found $33 in clad one morning and went back the next day and found $12 more in clad. This area had been used for parking for about 20 yrs. I didn't find any silver but I was happy with the clad I found in about 4 hrs of detecting. Most often I find less than a $1

I had a guy let me detect his salvage yard once and came away with less than $3. He laughed at me and said go ahead but my monkeys go through them cars and the yard pretty good.

Last Salvage Yard I went through, I stuck around one Area where My Friend was extracting a Part.
While he was doing That , I was filling My pickets with Clad Change from Floors.
It appeared when people crawled under Dashboards with change in their Pockets,
They were only interested in the Part they needed
I don't remember my take, But I do remember my pockets were Balging.
of course they only sold car parts, so I didn't need to ask how much for the coins.
they weren't on the price list anyway.
& considering how Out in the Open they were on the floors, and seats actually,
Not purchased with the Vehicles. or the Buyer of Seller would have scarfed them up.

 

[pinenut]

I have no doubt that until some safety advances made in the '60s, a car rolling over the side spewed its contents all over, for us to find a half century later.
It's out there... Problem right now is the heat, rattlers and rough terrain...not to mention that many abandoned roads run through private land. Was thinking about going there today, but with the current heat wave, it was already too warm out by 9. High down in that area will be around 104 today... Not much fun with long pants, hat and headphones.