Jeep claims to design its vehicles to endure the harshest conditions Earth has to offer. Perhaps none have had a rougher go of it, however, than an old Jeep Wagoneer on Cape Cod that’s about to see daylight for the first time in four decades.
After being buried in a ruined garage and battered by a sand dune in Truro, Mass., for 40 years, the Jeep is being unearthed Friday to accommodate the shifting dune, the Cape Cod Times reports. Located near a local beach, the Jeep has withstood years of stormy coastal conditions, and could be unrecognizable upon its return to the surface.
“It’s probably going to fall apart like something out of Indiana Jones,” Basil Musnuff, whose mother owns the Jeep, told the Times. “I’m not even sure it’s a Jeep.”
The dune, which helps protect coastal areas from heavy storms and rising seas, is shifting toward a nearby public parking lot. The town is reportedly ordering the relocation of the Jeep, which lies in the dune’s path.
Prior to its long sleep, the Jeep probably helped forge plenty of summer memories for its owners. But its life in the garage also has created plenty of memories.
“Part of my memory of the place is that the Jeep was there,” Musnuff, who began visiting the Cape in the late 1970’s, told the Times. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it driven. It really was the only reason they had it, so they could drive on the beach.”
While the Jeep will be removed, the walls of the garage may remain in place in order to support the dune, Musniff said, via the Times.
