Cars once buried in front of the Water Mill Beach Club by owners back in the 1960’s as a measure to control beach erosion suddenly reappeared on Southhampton’s Flying Point Beach after a 3-day nor’easter and high tides worked to unbury the past.
The cars emerged directly west to a private bulkhead. There were full dashboards and other parts. In addition, “some still have good chrome on them,” noted Charlie Corwith, 64, owner of Cortwith’s Auto Body in Water Mill. “That’s when they used real nickel.”
“If somebody’s looking for parts for an old Ford, they’re down here,” commented Southhampton Town Trustee Fred Havemeyer.
“Going back over the years, if it was an emergency they’d drop whatever was handy or economical. It’s like a glacier melting. You find what’s underneath,” he continued.
Although town officials considered removing the cars, since their jagged edges posed a safety hazard, most of the vehicles were reclaimed by the sand a short time after the storm passed, leaving only a few deflated tires, the top of a steering wheel and a rusty axle still visible. As a result, Trustee president Eric Shultz said that they would wait to see if the sand fully engulfs them again, noting that it “would be too expensive to remove the almost fully buried shells now.”
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