Vintage Cars Found Sunk in the Detroit River, 2022

In the spring of 2022, within the Detroit River not far from the Renaissance Center, two automobiles were found submerged. They were discovered by sonar – one vehicle was upright, the other was upside-down.

The diver took the plunge and searched until he found the cars in the murky, gritty water, all covered in crustaceans. The diver believes the vehicles were a 1957-1958 Thunderbird and the other a 1940s sedan – the sedan was upright, the T-Bird upside-down.

The curious thing about this discovery is the proximity of the two…they are very close together. So if one was a 50s and the other a 40s, it’s fathomable to dismiss the theory that they fell off a boat that was transporting new vehicles.

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Were the operators of the cars attempting to drive across the ice during wintertime and fell through? Maybe rumrunners? Upon looking inside the cars, there were no signs of skeletons…so probably not a mob hit. There were lots of beer and liquor bottles found in the area; whether this has something to do with the accidents is unknown.

The humorous thing about the T-Bird: it’s covered in lures and hooks from people fishing in the river and getting snagged on the car. Scraping off the barnacles, the T-Bird looks as if it was yellow, but it could be just an underwater optical illusion.

The diver was down there looking around for clues for over ten minutes…when he came across an old sign that says: “Danger – do not swim in this area.”

Take a look at the photos below.
Don't expect too much clarity - it was dark & muddy with lots of clouds and silt.