The Buried And River Bank Collection

Rust In Peace is a collection of actual photos that were taken and the stories that go along with them, while growing up in south central Nebraska as a young man in the 70’s and then traveling the United States with a lust for rust. This page is dedicated to all those buried, creek and river bank cars that have spent their life slowly sifting one rust flake at a time back the earth they came from presented and told by the author Kevin Houtwed as he discovered them over a 40 year period.

1949 Chevrolet Panel Delivery

A while back I took a day and decided to visit my old stomping grounds near Ruskin Nebraska, where I grew up. 
This old Chevy panel was sitting right where you see it when I was in high school. I think the first time I discovered it would have been around 1978. 
I like to go back to one like this that I know will always be there and just stop by and say hi to my old friend and see how much the dirt or sod has crawled up the side of its once perfect creation straight out of Detroit. 
I am pretty sure it would have been a local delivery rig, but I have never been able to read the name that was painted on it back when those names were painted with real paint and not a decal like we use today, so I really am not sure whose it was. 
I have always thought that it was put out to pasture way to soon, I mean think about it, it was there in 1978 and it is a early 50’s model, so someone was done with it probably when it was less than 15 or 20 years old. 
I like to think of the uses for something like this, even if it is for 1 part you could take from it for a project you are building. 
Well, the truth is, this old Chevy is still good for something. With that open door policy out back, it has given refuge for many a varmint over the years, and today it gives me great joy to share this old friend with everyone that follows this page that I truly enjoy more than anything I could ever do. RIP

1947 Ford coupe

I have literally watched this old Ford coupe giving up to the elements since I was 14 years old. 
It is amazing when I first found this while out coyote hunting when I was a kid with my older brother it really did not look that much different than it does today. 
Let’s keep in mind I was 14 in 1976, so this 47 Ford must have been put in this wash at least 15 years before that which would have been around the early 60’s. 
Who would do that? It probably had a tranny problem or something simple to fix and by that time it was worth more to that farmer as erosion control than it ever was going to be as a form of transportation. 
I remember finding many like this back when I was a kid out hunting with my dad and older brother that I later went back to visit and take pictures of. You really kind of become friends with one like this.
We used to hunt over by Bostwick Nebraska where there was a 1937 Chevy coupe and a 37 Chevy 2 door sedan parked right out in the four corners of the section. 
They were parked both facing southwest into the sun at offset angles to each other, just like they would have been on a showroom floor. 
We drove right beside them many times while we were out hunting coyotes. These cars were in unbelievable condition that looked as though you could have drove them off with some fresh gas, a new battery and air for the tires. I clearly remember there was not one tear in the original seat in that coupe.  
Of course years later all those beautiful memories are nothing more than rusty paintings that will forever hang in the hallways of my mind that I enjoy like they were painted by Picasso himself. RIP

1937 Ford coupe

A while back I went back to the spot I found this 37-38 Ford coupe here in the Black Hills of South Dakota, knowing it would still be there, I mean where is going to go? 
I so badly want to get a fossil hunters brush and the tiny spoons and picks, those guys use and spend 2 month's with 4 volunteer students from some college you never heard of and clean all the dirt away from this Ford coupe, one scrape at a time, finding any and all pieces and parts that were buried with it back when it was used for landfill. 
I would bet the farm you could find coins under the seat and a few personal things left in it by the last guy that owned or drove it. 
Any of you that have ever cleaned up a barn find or any kind of old rig, know that it is possible to find just about anything during the cleanup. 
So many times, what you find, can tell you so much about why this vehicle was parked or what type of person may have owned it. 
I have found things from fishing equipment to army boots and right down to personal jewelry, such as class rings and ear rings. 
I cannot tell you how easy it is to find rifle or shotgun shells wedged somewhere in a door jam or the floor pan of the trunk. 
Think if this coupe had a radio in it and you could see the last radio station someone may have listened to the last time it was driven. It is that kind of stuff that can turn you into a private inrustigator during the clean up of your find. 
If you notice, even though this coupe will never see the road again, it has become a proud home to what I would say is either a raccoon or a badger. 
Think about that, when there is little hope for this once awesome ride, it still has a purpose that continues to assure a safe refuge for some 4 legged fur ball that calls this rusty ranch style coupe home. With a view that over looks the range year after year and the promise that it will never be mortgaged, there is one thing for certain, it will be owned by this bank forever. RIP

1935 Ford 3 window coupe

We have all heard the saying, up the creek without a paddle from time to time in our lifetimes and that is exactly what happened with this once beautiful 1935 Ford 3 window coupe that was used for erosion control sometime back in the day about 30 miles west of where I grew up in Nuckolls county Nebraska along a very small creek out in the middle of a pasture. Again, I saw this car when I was out hunting in that pasture with my dad when I was probably less than 10 years old one day and like all of those I have went back and found all these years later, I locked their locations in my mind long before there was such a thing as any type of GPS cordinence. By doing that I have found it very fruitful to go back and see what is left or what was really there to begin with. The thing that gets me is that I can go back to some of these cars and it seems they look just like they did when I was a very young man or should I say in the early 70’s. With that thought, if they have not changed that much in 40 years, how long have they been there and how did they get so buried so fast when they were first put there? Obviously a car like this old coupe has been on slow burn deterioration for many years and more than likely did not look this bad the first time I spotted it all those years ago, but it sure seems to me like it has not changed that much. Now, just because I absolutely love the 35 3 window coupes Ford stamped out back in the day does not mean that the farmer that used this one for land fill felt the same way. I just find it so hard to believe that no matter how much you disliked a certain make or model of a car that you could not step back on one like this and say, you know that really is a pretty neat looking car, can’t we use the 4 door 46 Dodge in this spot? Well, it is for sure that this one is nothing more than memories at this point as I do not think there is hardly one part that could be salvaged from this car that probably was driven by someone that lived less than a mile or two from this land owner back in the 50’s or 60’s that for sure sent this one, up the creek with out a paddle. RIP

1940 Ford Sedan Delivery

A while back, I decided to go for a ride to my old stomping grounds down on the Kansas Nebraska state line. 
I have these spots I go back to from time to time to see the evolution from rust to dust that have been like a slow motion quick sand over a 30 year period, swallowing these beautiful bodies without any conscience of what they once were. 
I always try to deliver the facts on when, why or who would have ever put cars like this in a spring fed creek bank, but the truth is, I found these when I was about 10 years old one day while coyote hunting with my dad. 
I remember back then (1972 ? ) those cars were actually sitting up on the side of that bank barely under any dirt. 
As time went by, I would ask about them and I always got the same answer, forget it, they are not worth messing with my Dad would say. 
Now the 46 Ford sedan may not be that special, but the 40 Ford convertible that was about a foot in the dirt right behind the 40 Ford delivery should have been saved at any cost. 
So you ask, why can’t we see the convertible, or why is there no photo’s of it? The truth is, sometime around the early nineties I drove out to check on my creek side friends to find someone had cut the top half of the 40 convertible of flush at the ground. I am sure they used the top irons and what was out of the ground top portion of the windshield to convert a coupe to a rag top. I have always been happy someone saved those parts from the rag top. 
It just makes me wonder how many of these are out there that have not had the opportunity to be found by someone like me that at least let’s them have 10 seconds of fame before the sands of time claim them completely. 
At this point, this location of this motor city grave site is pretty much nothing more than memories that I can share with you from my childhood, hoping once again to deliver the goods much like this 40 Ford delivery more than likely did in that area back when it would have been the pride of someone’s delivery service less than 20 miles from where I grew up. RIP

All makes and models

Early last spring I took a two hour drive southwest of Grand Island Nebraska to take a closer look at this fence that was made out of hundreds of early car and truck frames that surrounds a huge ranch that I have been told about for years. 
When I got to the location, I could not believe what I was looking at. There is literally frames from every make and model of cars from very early to later 30's that go for miles around this ranch. 
Where did they come from you ask? 
The family that owned this piece of real estate had one of the biggest salvage yards in this part of Nebraska back in the early years of salvage yards. 
This yard was way before my time and was cleaned up many years ago. 
From the stories I have been told, there was nothing like this place as there was about any kind of car or truck that was ever manufactured parked out there that could be purchased, all or parts. 
How often do you hear the high school jock say, I would give anything to go back to 1969 and show these boys how we played ball and so on. 
Well, let me tell you, while they are going back to play ball or become the genius we all did, I want to go back to this ranch and drive over the hill to see thousands of cars sitting there just waiting for me to come from the future with a check book as thick as a wire tied bale of fresh prairie hay, trucks with trailers lined up from my driveway to this location with every gear head that ever lived ready to load and save all the beautiful pieces of iron artwork that these frames that are now being used for fence posts carried down the road. 
I guess you could say the frames did get saved for something that went to a good cause.  
Could there be steel fence posts on land across the road from this ranch that were made from recycled parts of cars that may have a connection with some of these frames after being recycled multiple times since the 50's and 60's when this fence was put in?
That is a question that is impossible to answer, but one question you may have that can be answered is the fact that this is one time almost every automobile manufacture in America has ties to each other, proving when we all work together, stay straight with each other and not worry about shape, sizes, or holes from our past, we can keep even the meanest bulls on the right side of the fence. RIP

Multiple makes and models

Last winter I took a Saturday afternoon and went down to southwest Nebraska along the Republican river and found these cars along with hundreds of others that had been used for river bank erosion control somewhere back in the 60's and probably early 70's.
As I walked along that bank that cold winter day, I could almost hear those cars, some on their last breath as though they had just pulled themselves up from the bottom at the last minute and some that had just given up knowing this is where I will spend eternity, begging me or some other person to take one last part from them and let at least one small organ from their body make another shine that was lucky enough to be kept in the hands of someone that cared enough to keep it from an early grave like these cars and trucks met up with back when all they were worth was landfill.
It really does look like they are reaching out holding on to any limb or mound of dirt they can grab to keep from slipping away into a frozen for sure death. Maybe that is how I feel they are still alive in one form or another. 
It would be like walking through an orphanage back in the 30's or 40's and trying to pick out that one special little kid you want to take home, you know they all wanted to be picked just like these cars wanted to be taken to a good home before they got to old and just left to the elements. 
A few months back I had a man walk into my office, sit down and tell me about how he ended up in central Nebraska.
He was in an Orphanage 3 miles south the Canadian border in Montana in 1941. 
A family from Lawrence Nebraska had decided to drive their brand new 1941 Ford sedan to that Orphanage in Montana to pick out a child to adopt. 
He told me that the kids always new when someone was coming and were told to be on their best behavior and look their best.
Guess what? that was his day. That family adopted him and took him outside to head out to start his new life. He could not believe when he got outside and saw this brand new 1941 Ford car sitting there waiting to take him back to Nebraska. 
He was sure it was all a dream. But as they were leaving they explained to him they were on their way up into Canada to find a long lost Uncle that was getting very old and that they needed to see him before it was too late.
He told them that was fine, but when do I get to see my new home in Nebraska? Soon enough the father replied, but you need to meet this man we are going to see, as he has been a bear hunter and trapper all his life and basically lived off the land in the back woods of northern Alberta, Canada.
They traveled for hours and came to a small town in Alberta where they stopped to stay the night. The next morning would bring the hike to this old mans cabin a reality for this young man that had hardly ever even seen a bird fly over let alone a true mountain man living like Grizzly Adams out in the wilds.
As they left the motel they drove for about 30 minutes to a very remote area on a road that was barely passable. 
They came to a stopping point where they all got out and headed up a little trail that was a little more than 1 1/2 miles back in the woods. There they were welcomed by the man this little boy had been told about. 
6' tall, wooly and very rough with his language, that old man greeted them and was very glad to see the family and meet his newest member to the family.
He kind of scared me at first the old man sitting in my office told me, but by the end of the day they had became buddies and I realized he just was not used to being around a lot of people, let alone a 5 year old kid. 
There was hides and hunting equipment hanging all around this cabin and its surroundings. It was really something to see, when I think back about it, he said.
Later in the years, that family received a letter from the local authorities that the old man had been found dead at his cabin area and they needed to come up and collect his possessions.
When they got there, the old man had left a note that he wanted all his traps to go to the young man he met and was so impressed with that day back in 1941.
To this day he still lives in Lincoln, Nebraska and has 11 of those huge grizzly bear traps you see from time to time and other smaller traps and odds and ends, that the old mountain man left him years ago.
Like the steel in those traps that obviously trapped many bear along the streams of Alberta Canada, to be traded or sold for their hide, this dirt, ice and water has these beautiful old bodies trapped in the banks of that river in southwest Nebraska that will eventually hide their steel forever. RIP

1938 Ford coupe

Every once in a while when a man walks up to you and tells you he has some neat old cars on a farm that cannot be seen from the road 85 miles from where you live, you need to take him serious. 
Now this old Ford coupe does not have a lot of value, but I can tell you to me this photo sure does. 
I want to tell you about my instincts on where to find rust as I travel across any given area that really came home on this day. 
As I was heading out to meet my friend I decided to take side roads or I guess the roads most people would avoid. 
In doing so, as I was getting closer to our meeting spot I drove by a location that had a driveway that looked like it was laid out by one of those Sandhills reptiles that sheds its skin every year, slithering its way an 1/8 of a mile up to some old buildings that had fallen to only be held up by some of the 100 year old trees around them. 
I said to myself, that is where the good stuff is, and drove on thinking I would ask my friend if he knew anything about that farm when I met up with him. 
After we met, he said follow me and took off back in the direction I just had come from. 
We drove a few miles out in the countryside to come to the same place I had just thought about that for sure was a great place to go in search of rusty gold. 
As we turned in the old 2 track trail that took us up, down and around to that once proud ranchers homestead, I spotted this old Ford coupe sunning what is left of its skin right beside that driveway in plain site only to not be seen from the main road. 
Now you must ask yourself, how did this happen?
Did the clutch go out plowing down that muddy driveway one spring day and they just made the curve a little wider to go around it, or do they just push it off the driveway after it quit running and that was the day it became a parts car?
Is this the only picture anyone ever took of it? These are questions that will more than likely never be answered. 
I can tell you this, like the reptile this driveway was designed after, it was fate that my instincts would give me the sense that there was a reason to inrustigate this once pride of the prairie location that a man and his family called home. RIP

1954 Chevrolet 210 Sedan Delivery

Why does it seem every time I find one of these old sedan deliveries they are pushed into a certain grave or buried in a pasture like some I have shown you on this site? I can honestly say most of the time when you come across one its like the last person that was done with it makes sure it is never going to be on the road again. This old delivery was one I found down along the Republican river a few years ago in southwest Nebraska when I went to check out a lead a man sent me on for a 36 Ford 3 window coupe that ended up being anything but that. Never the less I had a great day scouting and finding a few relics like this one. When you think about a delivery vehicle like this, it had to come from the local area or at least you would think it would have. Now think about how many lives this old delivery touched trough the years if it was driven by some man that made house hold deliveries in the area once a week. That is what is hard for me to believe that someone in the area would not have pulled this out or maybe stopped it from becoming owned by the bank for eternity as you see it here, simply because they knew its history. I guess it does not matter how I feel about this old delivery or the fact that the 36 Ford 3 window turned out to be a late 30’s International cab someone welded the back half of a model a coupe onto sometime back in the 40’s or 50’s, but what does matter is with all the stops this delivery may have made and all the contact it had with all the people involved, It cannot hold a candle to the lives it will touch while it spends the rest of its life on the last drop off it made right here on this river bank that I am sharing with you and the rest of the world. RIP