OEM "Nut on a string?" Haha

[pdqubet]

Anyone ever found an item inside their car, any car, that didn't make sense or shouldn't be there? I know that's leaving myself wide-open for punishment. I've read stories of factory workers "pranking" vehicles with rattle objects buried behind hard-to-get spaces.

Back story, I bought a '65 Catalina, 2-door, 389, AT with 36,000 miles from the original owner's estate auction last Fall. It's the model my old man drove, when I was a kid. Externally, it's in rough shape, after sitting in a field the past 20 yrs. The interior, other than the dash, is in great shape. Took a couple days to get it cranked, sounded great, so I parked it until I had time to start working on her. Yada yada, started working on her last week.

I'm tracing a wire, which forced me to drop the ac ductwork (photo 1) cover. Directly under the glovebox and above the vent, there's a 1/2" nut. Upon closer inspection (photo 2), a nut tethered with string (both ends use crimped wire) going up and behind cardboard panel (photo 3), next to firewall. I started laughing, thinking someone (factory/dealer) constructed this beast of burden. I didn't want to spend all day pulling parts, so I grabbed a borescope and went to it. After a couple of minutes, I found where the string was tied off (photo 4 & 5). Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks to be the wiper assembly linkage. So if this is correct, whenever it rained, it rattled?!

Thanks for letting me share and please correct me if I've got it all wrong. Just curious.

Peter
North Carolina

 

[melsg5]

that is incredible. somebody must have been really pissed the day this car was put together.

 

[cammerjeff]

I haven't had that before, but back in the late 70's I bought a 67 Ford F-100 Pick Up from the original owner. When I test drove it had a horrible rattle coming from behind the drivers seat. The seller told me it was always there and the dealer eventually gave him $50 to ignore it after several attempts to locate the cause.
I drove it for one winter and a rust spot in the rear of the cab opened up, I could see something sticking out of the hole, it was an old 10oz Glass Coke bottle that had been welded into the rear bodywork of the cab. Pulled it out and the rattle was gone.

 

[pdqubet]

It's certainly one for the books, at least my books. It was a fun story to tell to my car buddies for sure. My guess is the person who put it there is long gone, but it'd be fun to know why. Good day, bad day, union issues, etc. Fun read: http://www.snopes.com/autos/grace/rattle.asp