Auto worker's lost wallet found under hood 11 years later

UPI ^ | 8/15/25 | Ben Hooper

[DallasBiff]

Aug. 15 (UPI) -- A mechanic working on a 2015 Ford Edge brought into his Minnesota shop made a startling discovery under the hood: a wallet that had been lost by a Michigan Ford plant worker 11 years earlier.

Richard Guilford, who is now retired, said he remembers the day he lost his wallet while working on vehicles that had been shipped to the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne after coming off the assembly line in Chicago with electrical issues

"I never wore sweatpants to work, but I did that day," he told KARE-TV. "And I had my wallet in my shirt pocket."

Guilford and his team searched for the missing wallet, but there were 2,000 vehicles on the floor and they eventually had to give up. He said the wallet contained his driver's license, his Ford Motor Co. ID, $15 in cash and $250 worth of Cabela's sporting goods gift cards he had intended to use to buy Christmas presents for his kids.

The wallet's final fate remained a mystery for 11 years, until Chad Volk, owner of LC Car Care in Crystal Lake, Minn., was working on a 2015 Ford Edge brought in to have its cooling fans replaced.

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: automotive; crystallake; ford; michigan; minnesota; richardguilford; wallet

[DallasBiff]

Sweat pants on an assembly line?

[doorgunner69]

There was another article about what some UAW drone left in a car recently.

I will not buy UAW, ever.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

[Billthedrill]

Guilford said Cabela's has agreed to issue him new gift cards, so he can keep his preserved wallet intact as a keepsake.

That's kinda cool.

[the_Watchman]

Given that FORD ia an acronym for Fix Or Repair Daily, there must have been a boatload of repairmen under the hood which missed this wallet over the years!! 😆

[South Dakota]

Sorry.
I suffer from dislexia
It’s “ driver returns on foot “

[EandH Dad]

Lysdexics Untie!

[Larry Lucido]

[alternatives?]

Yeah, he can buy half of what hew could 11 years ago.

[doorgunner69]

Can it be determined if this was a Monday or Friday car?

[Tunehead54]

Out west it was “Found On Road Dead”. ;-)

But I like Fix Or Repair Daily. Never owned one luckily.

[Hot Tabasco]

Sweat pants on an assembly line?

Why not? What would you prefer?

[Celtic Conservative]

We also had “(Effed) over rebuilt Dodge”.

CC

[Revel]

Great point.

[Falcon4.0]

My Wallet and Keys never leave my pockets unless I am using them, and I check them regularly.

[eastexsteve]

UAW workers are known to leave a variety of loose objects in cars they assemble. Loose nuts and bolts, various fasteners, various tools, aluminum cans in the fender wells, well-concealed pieces of trash, etc. I could post a list just from the cars I’ve owned over the years.

[mabarker1]

Back in My Wrench turning years I was working on a Customer's Jaguar and found a Snap-On 1" open/box extra long wrench. It had Initials on it and I recognized them as a guy who was working at the same shop I worked at from several years prior. I remember hearing about the wrench being borrowed from him and the guy who had borrowed it not being able to find it one day and the owner of the wrench was really pissed off because the guy that had borrowed the wrench was always losing other people's tools.

I called the guy who actually owned the wrench and when I told him that I had found his wrench he thought I was messing with his head. I told him to stop by My shop and pick it up. He still thought I was messing with him. A week or so later the wrench owner came by was astonished when I reached into My top drawer of the Office Desk and pulled it out and handed it to him.

The Wrench

That wrench was down inside the frame where the engine mount was located. I couldn't believe it was there just laying in the saddle where the engine mount bolts were. Amazing it was there for all of those years. Never rattled or fell out of where it was...

[Salamander]

Very cool.