Mythbusters tackle a good one

[nuch_ss396]

If this was discussed here previously, please disregard.

The Mythbuster crew ( Discovery Channel ) tackled one of the
more famous myths from my early muscle car association.
I'm sure that most of you have heard the story of the Corvette
that would not sell due to the fact that it's owner had passed
away in the car and remained there for a while. As the
story goes, the smell was too bad to get out and hence
made the car unsellable.

OK - fade to the present. The Mythbuster crew purchase a
perfectly good 1987 Corvette, then proceed to put two ( 2 )
dead pigs inside ( all internal organs intact as well ).
The car gets sealed up and placed in a shipping container.

Well, after two months, they open the container and extract
the car. The interior had to be gutted due to the seepage
of bodily fluids throughout the car - YUK!

Well, as to the myth - they were able to sell the car for $2,000.00.
However, only for parts as the smell drove most potential buyers away.

The buyer was after the engine and transmission and I would
suspect that these would be the most salvageable items, along
with the front end and suspension. That smell would have to
permeate the duct work, and probably the fiberglass body itself.

Wonder how many of us could pass on a COPO car found under
similar conditions?

Nuch

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I believe Gregg Donahue has a similar story regarding a '67 tri-power vette. He says they tried everything, but could not get the smell out of that car.

[x Baldwin Motion]

for a 67 tri power vette I would remove the mechanicals and fill my swimming pool with pine oil and let it soak over the winter. problem solved.

[Dog427435]

When I was a teenager an older friend Nick got (If I remember correctly) a Tempest from a man whose son had shot himself in it. The body was in the car, in the corner of the Westwood Train Station (Valley Stream) parking lot for a week during the summer before it was discovered.
The Father was heartbroken and just wanted to get rid of the couple year old car. No matter what was done to it the smell remained.
As I remember the car was eventually stripped and junked.

[PeteLeathersac]

Sorry for the hijack but the story reminds me of a RWD Regal I bought off a fat lady one time years ago for a few hundred bucks...great shape, good runner and I knew I could flip it for way more.. The fat lady waved at me as I drove away feeling great about how good a deal it was, then I began to smell a strangely familiar odour...it didn't take long before I realized what it was!. A couple days later a buddy asked me if I had anything he could buy for a cheap winter beater so I sold him the car way less than I was planning on and told him the truth that he'd need to sanitize and air-freshen it well because it smelled like female private parts.. Next time I ran into him he told me the car was great also he'd never cleaned it and kept the smell on purpose! .
True story, seriously and the complete opposite from that new car smell!.

~ Pete

[njsteve]

Back in 1980 after I graduated from High School in Connecticut, a local kid drove his 1971 454 Corvette out in to a farmer's field and shot himself. They didnt find the car or him for about a week (August). Someone local bought it at auction and then stripped the entire interior and then resold it out of state. I cant imagine they ever got the smell out of the fiberglass.

[nuch_ss396]

Well,

Evidently not that much of a myth - now is it.

Nuch

[ANDY M]

Everyone in Vegas has a story about the (fill in the type of car) found in the desert due to (your choice, gambler suicide, mafia hit, etc.), and the car has the permanate smell. I first heard that in '74, my first trip to Vegas.

[jimbo]

I am in the funeral business and I have had a few occasions where I could still smell/taste a ripe one a few days later

[nuch_ss396]

Brrrrrrr.....