Alright true crime fans, I’ve got a mystery for you (full disclosure, I have no reason to believe a crime was committed)! I’ve mentioned many times on my blog that you see some weird stuff in the desert, and this is certainly not the first mystery of sorts I’ve stumbled upon – like the old cars out at the “junk yard”. In the case of the junk yard, however, there are at least some theories floating around, and given its proximity to mining activity, you could guess all that is somehow related. This truck, however, seems to be a complete mystery. It’s just there.
Here’s the back story – when I returned from my trip out west last spring, my buddy Mark and I started talking about shoot locations for my next trip. After seeing how excited I was by the old cars at the junk yard, he mentioned that he’d heard of another truck in a different part of the park, and sent me a blog post from someone else talking about it, complete with pictures from their hike. Using Mark’s knowledge of the area, and a few hours scouring Google Earth, we were able to locate it. Turns out Mark had been all over the area, but had never seen the truck, as it’s pretty well hidden, especially if you’re not looking for it. We added it to the list, and then found our way out there in September when I visited the park again.
The scene itself was every bit as cool as I’d hoped. The old truck was in much better shape than the ones out at the junk yard, which I think is why it captivated me further. When I got home, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to know about it, so I started digging – and yes, I ended up buying a CarFax report on it (yes, I may exhibit some mild OCD tendencies). The CarFax itself was a bit disappointing, but it did offer some more clues. I’m not sure the legality of reposting the report itself to my site, so I’ll just explain what I learned.
The truck itself is a 1986 Ford F-150. I haven’t been able to find where it was originally sold from or any ownership information, but it’s first vehicle inspection in California was in 1992, when the truck only had 12,151 miles on it. The three inspections listed in the report were all performed in Trona, CA, some 230 miles north of the truck’s final resting place. Interestingly the inspections have a mileage inconsistency – in 1996 the truck was noted as having 154,582 miles on it, while in 1998 it states that the truck had 84,811 miles on it. I didn’t see the mileage on odometer when we were checking out the truck, and I can’t actually remember if the gauges are even still in it. My assumption is that in ’96 it only had 54k miles on it, and someone mistakenly added a 1 to the front. Also interesting, the truck seems to have missed its 1994 inspection. 1998 is the last we hear of the truck, as it was never inspected again. It was also never listed as having been stolen or totaled – it seems to just vanish from record.
Reviewing satellite images, the truck is definitely not there in 1998, and is definitely there in 2005. The 2002 image quality is so poor its hard to tell anything about it, so maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not. Depending on the direction of the sun when the satellite images were taken, the truck can be hard to spot, even with better quality imagery. Given that it’s next inspection was to be in 2000, and it never showed up, seems to suggest that maybe it was there, but as I noted previously, it wouldn’t have been the first inspection the truck missed, so it’s hard to say. In any case, we can confidently say the truck was less than 20 years old when it found itself in its current sandy grave, which is just wild to me! Desert areas are prone to flash flooding, and the truck is sitting in a wash area, which explains why the front end is nearly totally submerged now.
Anyway, I hope this isn’t the last post about this truck – I’d love to know more! I’m specifically not linking articles or sharing GPS coordinates because this area of the park is very remote, and it wouldn’t be prudent to encourage others to visit. That said, all the sites I talk about on this blog are findable without the sharing of coordinates. I will, however, share the VIN number, in case someone else might be better at sleuthing than me. The truck’s VIN number is 1FTDF15Y1GPB89506.
Quickly about the image – ha! – this particular shot features Orion rising in the night sky above the old truck. I used some small LED panels to illuminate the inside and sides of the truck, before capturing the night sky.
More next week!
–Dan Thompson