Conservationists in northwestern Ontario recently called on the local car community to help them identify a car that they found sitting at the bottom of a lagoon, with knowledgeable GM enthusiasts quickly identifying the submerged station wagon as a 1957 Chevy 210.
The Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area posted photos of the sunken Chevy to its Facebook page earlier this month and asked followers to help identify the vehicle, which it found on the bottom of the nearby Nipigon lagoon in Nipigon, Ontario.
Commenters eventually identified the vehicle as a 1957 Chevy 210 Wagon, but this wasn’t news to Nipigon Mayor and marine archaeologist Richard Harvey. According to the CBC, Harvey first spotted the sunken old Chevy during one of his dives back in 2012, but didn’t think much of it at the time as he had found other objects in the water that day that he considered to be more interesting. He said the vehicle ended up in the water via a car sinking competition that was once held by the local fire department to raise money.
“The Nipigon volunteer fire department used to have a car sinking lottery,” Harvey told the CBC. “They would put an old car on the ice and you bought a ticket for when you thought it was going to go through the ice, and whoever was closest to the time and date that it went down would win the 50-50 draw.”
The fire department would typically attach a rope to the vehicle so they could winch it out of the lagoon once the spring arrived, but some vehicles were unable to be winched out as they flipped upside down when they sunk. Harvey believes the fire department was unable to retrieve this vehicle from the water for a different reason, however.
“Interestingly enough, the cable off the front is actually wrapped around a stump underwater,” Harvey added. “So it got wrapped and sunk down into the mud.”
A well kept 1957 Chevy 210 wagon (photo via Mecum Auctions)
Harvey believes it’s probably best to leave the vehicle at the bottom of the lake, as it has become part of the local habitat and is located not far from a turtle nesting area. Luckily clean, well taken care of 1957 Chevys aren’t very hard to come by, so the car community isn’t losing much by letting this rusty, waterlogged station wagon rest in the bottom of the Nipigon lagoon.
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Comments
Assess it! If it is in pretty good condition rescue and restore it. If not, let it stay and provide a sanctuary for the fishes and aquatic life!
Hopefully they pulled the motors and drained all of the fluids before doing this goofy contest. I guess it’s pretty boring up there in Canada
Don’t be silly Todd, we have plenty of excitement here in Canada. As for goofy contests, how about the new ‘57 Plymouth buried in the concrete vault for 50 yrs.
In OK that rotted to pieces.
I remember it as the Chevy Nomad. My neighbor had one.
Not a Nomad….too many doors…..
Canada is a cornucopia of fun winter and summer activities. To name a few in the winter – snowmobiling, ice fishing, hunting, sleading, skiing, winter camping, snowshoeing, photography, skating, hockey, etc.
Love Canada. I’d rather do a Canadian winter vacation then going to crowded and flatland Florida in the winter.
Motors!? How many motors do you think a 57 Chevy had?
One for each window? LOL
Cold fresh water usually preserves cars. Unfortunately, what Canada puts on the roads in the Winter does the opposite. A close inspection would tell what is best done with it.
The U.S. rust belt states ( Michigan , Ohio, NY, Illinois etc.) put the same destructive crap on the roads in Winter as parts of Canada. I know, I once lived in Ohio for years. All my cars dissolved the same way.
Canada can be even worse. I’ve seen one year old cars just penetrated by corrosion from there.
Depends on the vehicle owner. If you apply a good oil based rustproofing like Krown at least every two years, the vehicle will not rust. Whether you live in Canadian or U.S. rust belts, the damage occurs in the same time line ,
taking owner care, and vehicle construction into account.
Vehicles today are also more rust resistant than decades ago, and will not
have rust through in only a year, regardless of where you live. Back in the 60s in Ohio I had Swiss cheese cars within 3 years of new for example.
Check the back and see if Jimmy Hoffa is in there…
Yeh Hoffa could be in the back of that Chevy.
It looks to me like its a 57. Chevy yoman. Its just a 4 door nomad.
Why does everyone have a call any 57 wagon a nomad ? GM made 2dr and 4dr wagons in three body styles. Handyman which are 150’s, the two-ten and the Belair which were the top of the line cars.
The Nomad was the 2 door wagon with a unique designed roof, tailgate and other trim changes……they were built from 55 to 57…….Nomad became a model designation in 1958 for the standard type as described above and the unique model was discontinued.
Aked Dad 92, they never pit salt on the roads back then. Might not be half bad.
Seems the fire department could have done better with a 100% sale. No since in retrieving her now after 10 years, what’s left will just fall apart.
Stupid waste of a classic.