We like to imagine that certain urban legends are 100% accurate, even when presented with fact to prove otherwise. However, these five bonkers automotive tales are completely true…
Five Completely True Automotive Urban Legends
Some urban legends and folklore tales can unravel into mundane reality upon so much as insertion into an internet search engine. However, these five myths have proven to be entirely truthful. From sunken cars through non-payment of tax, to burial in a Ferrari and death by shawl, this list has it all. Read on.
5. The Lady in The Lake
True Legend: A rare 1925 Bugatti was tethered to chains and sunk into Italy’s Lake Maggiore as a penalty for non-payment of duty taxes.
This particular Bugatti was gained through a card game in Paris, after a heavily-Champagne laden drinking session, with the new owner taking his Bugatti Type 22 Roadster home to Switzerland. Except, when attempting to bring the car across the border, he was unable to pay the taxes on his winnings. The car was reportedly left in a private garage, but Swiss law determined that property must be destroyed on issue to prevent unjust enrichment. For reasons made unclear, the car was placed in the lake – rather than merely impounding it – by tethering the Bugatti to 35-foot long chains and suspending it off the shore into the fresh water. Should the owner wish to pay his taxes, he would have the car returned to him. However, time passed and the steel chains corroded, until the car broke free and sank to the bottom of Lake Maggiore. Fear not, however, for the car was rescued on July 12, 2009 – before being auctioned and preserved in its strangely beautiful dilapidated state.
4. The Norseman Goes to Sea
True Legend: ‘The Norseman’, a famous concept car from Chrysler, rests on the sea floor aboard the cruise liner Andrea Doria.
The Norseman was assembled in Turin during the first half of 1956, crafted by Chrysler’s styling team before handing the design over to famous coachbuilder Ghia, and was set to tour the 1957 American car show circuit - demonstrating new advancements in car design. More than a mere car, The Norseman was specially crated before being packaged into the Andrea Doria’s cargo hold with great care, ensuring that it survived the 4000-mile sailing unharmed. Sadly, Chrysler’s brainchild never had the chance to strut its stuff because, in one of the worst civilian maritime accidents of the last century, the elegant Andria Doria collided with the SS Stockholm. Gravely wounded, the Doria began listing and taking on water before pointing skyward and disappearing under the waves – taking The Norseman with it. Various interested parties have made bids to try and bring the car to the surface, but scientists claim, after 60 years under salt water, it’ll be nothing more than rusty sludge. Perhaps a happier fate for the vehicle itself, as upon arrival in America it was to be crash tested before being ultimately scrapped.
3. Dancer Left Breathless
True Legend: Dance icon Isadora Duncan was killed after her shawl became entangled within the spokes of her lover’s Amilcar.
Isadora apparently insisted on wearing her red shawl, a staggering two yards long and sixty inches wide, shrugging off her lover’s offer of a leather jacket before declaring dramatically from the passenger seat of an Amilcar, ‘Goodbye, my friends, I go to glory!’. Seconds later she was dead. Although spectators screamed out as the shawl flailed along the ground, Isadora didn’t appear to notice until her shawl wrapped around the wheel spokes and axle. The film based on her life, with Vanessa Redgrave in the starring role, depicted a bloodless death – but it was anything but. Pulled half out of the cockpit in brutal fashion with her head wedged between the tyre and the bodywork, her larynx was crushed, her spine broken in two places, her jugular severed and her nose ground off by the rotating spokes. An enormous story in the news at the time, some reported a Bugatti as the killer – but it was in fact a humble Amilcar CC.
2. The 300bhp Coffin
True Legend: Wealthy oil heiress Sandra West requested upon her death that she be buried – dressed appropriately and at a comfortable angle – in her beloved Ferrari 330 America.
Passing away aged only 37, ridiculously rich oil heiress and socialite Miss West stated in her will that she be buried in her rare Ferrari. A rather unique interment request, her family members were understandably concerned about the car and West’s safety – grave robbers would no doubt try and take the expensive and desirable vehicle. The solution was to encase West and her Ferrari in a plywood structure and lower it into the ground with a crane. Cement was then poured around the container once in the ground to prevent thieves or curiosity-mongers from disturbing the location. Visitors to the site will have no idea what lies beneath – the only clue being a lack of graves in Sandra’s vicinity. As far as burials go, Miss West certainly had class.
1. Transsexual Conartist
True Legend: During 1974, a transvestite con man who had undergone sexual transformation and an identity change to avoid crimes already committed, conned the world out of $6 million with the car of the future.
Liz Carmichael appeared a powerful woman, setting up the Twentieth Century Motor Car Company in Nevada- based on an idea from Dale Clift. Christened ‘The Dale’, everything seemed too good to be true – extremely efficient fuel consumption, a sticker-price under $2000, 40bhp, a 15-month warranty and a maximum speed of 85mph. This was suspicious, as were the mechanicals upon inspection by journalists – but the truth finally came to light after the designer heard Carmichael claim she had crashed one at 30mph without being hurt. They didn’t even have a working prototype that could do 30 miles per hour at that point.
After an investigation and lawsuit for fraud, where Carmichael represented herself, she was finally sentenced with substantial jail time and her real identity as a man exposed – having robbed various investors of over $6 million. She fled and managed to evade the authorities for nine years. Her ultimate fate and reason for taking the form of a woman? Well, you’ll just need to wait until Wednesday when we reveal all. It even involves murder…