It was Monday morning, and he arrived at his place of work – the school where he taught. He imagined he’d see students and teachers alike spinning their heads to see his new car.
But he would spin one head too many, and the principal would storm out to meet him. He could see a scowl on his face. Something was very wrong. All the principal said was, “That car, do you understand what you’ve done?”
Travis Allen always took pride in his work. He loved being a teacher. He shaped the minds of the future and was well-liked by his coworkers and the parents alike, not to mention he was also a hit with the students.
But one day, Travis heard some devastating news. It would take a while for him to recover from the blow that he was feeling.
Tragically, one of his closest friends and fellow teachers passed away. It was unexpected and out of the blue. Travis was affected the most out of the faculty, despite them all being friendly.
Travis decided that the right thing to do would be to go over to his widow’s house and show his condolences. He was a close friend, after all.
After his classes were over, Travis made his way toward the widow’s house to see her. The house was isolated on a backroad around 10 miles from the school.
He made it to her front door and asked if he could come in. He consoled her, but there was something strange. She told him that there was something he needed to take back with him when he left.
He opened the garage door and peered inside. There was clutter littering every corner of the room. But it was clear what she was talking about. There was a large object under a tarp.
Travis stepped closer. He could tell that it had been sitting in the garage for years, if not decades. He raised his hand to grab the linen and started to pull it off. But he couldn’t believe what he saw.
The object underneath the tarp was an old car. He inspected the old decals underneath the dust. It was clear that it was something special. Its red coat was still brilliant, even underneath years of dust.
But as he walked around the car, wondering why his friend had never mentioned the thing to him, he noticed the badge on the front. It was a Corvette.
Travis didn’t need more convincing from the widow. He merely asked why she wanted him to take it away. She told him that it brought up too many memories and that it was hard to keep around.
Travis understood. He knew that it must have been hard to have something around reminding her of her grief. But he had no idea that there were other reasons she wanted to wash her hands of the vehicle.
Travis organized to have a trailer tow the car back to his house. It was expensive, but he knew it was worth it to have something so beautiful in his garage. He knew that it would need work, but that was fine too.
After having the old Corvette for a month, Travis had already put a lot of money into it. It was practically ready to run. He just needed a few finishing touches. He had to clean the bodywork, replace the spark plugs, drain the old fuel out of the gas tank, and put in some clean fuel. But he would regret getting it in working order.
Travis was excited about his project. He hadn’t told a soul about his new car. He wanted it to be a surprise when he arrived at school. He knew both the faculty and the students would be impressed.
But what Travis hadn’t considered was that it would definitely turn a few heads. The problem was that it would get the attention of the principal, who would lay down the law and make sure Travis understood the problem he didn’t see.
Travis worked all night to get everything running perfectly. He fired up the engine, and it roared to life. He gave it a few playful revs and could hardly contain his excitement. But then he looked at the time.
It was 12:30 AM, and he had Monday morning classes to teach. He turned the engine off and made his way to his bedroom. He couldn’t wait to see the look on the faculty’s faces. Little did he know, it would be nothing like he imagined.
Travis worked all night to get everything running perfectly. He fired up the engine, and it roared to life. He gave it a few playful revs and could hardly contain his excitement. But then he looked at the time.
It was 12:30 AM, and he had Monday morning classes to teach. He turned the engine off and made his way to his bedroom. He couldn’t wait to see the look on the faculty’s faces. Although it would be nothing like he imagined.
Travis was confused. He stammered his words and asked the principal what the big deal was. They walked to his office to have a private conversation. The principal was fuming. He repeated his question, “What’s the big deal?”
He explained, “Do you have any idea where that car came from?” Travis was confused. Surely there was a misunderstanding? But then he was let in on a secret. It was something that would change everything.
The old Corvette that Travis now had in his possession had a troubled history. The problem with owning the Corvette was that it was never his old friend’s to begin with. The car had gone missing in the late 1970s after only clocking 24 miles!
It had gone missing from the race track that it was performing at and was never seen again until Travis had driven it to the school that morning.
After everything was said and done, Travis knew he had to try and make things right. He would have to return the car and make amends. But there was still one mystery left – how did his friend get the car in the first place?
He knew he wouldn’t get any answers out of his widow. She seemed as clueless about the car as he was. It was clear that the full story would be buried with his friend.
But Travis, unfortunately, had to transfer schools. There was a big problem with him bringing the car to the campus. He didn’t care too much. Even though he was essentially fired, he knew he’d get the last laugh. After contacting the original owner, he managed to strike out a deal. He was an understanding old man that believed him when he said it was all just a misunderstanding.
He managed to keep the car after paying a small amount of money to the owner as a recompense. But this wasn’t the first time someone has found something incredible rotting away in someone’s garage.
Bracing herself, she lifted the garage door open with a creak. She knew that her grandmother hadn’t had it cleaned for 20 years, so she expected spiders and maybe even rats. Shuddering at the thought, she peered in.
The light scattered through the floating dust motes, and when they settled, a shape began to emerge from the darkness, and she jumped with a start. But it wasn’t a spider’s outline she saw, it was something much bigger than that.
Eriegin is a Reddit user and is based in the US. She has a passion for street food, especially Asian cuisine, and has traveled extensively through Asia.
She frequently posts images of the unique fare she finds while traveling abroad and has an interest in collecting unusual experiences. However, not even she was prepared for what she found lurking in her grandmother’s garage
One day, the intrepid Redditer was asked to come and help clean out her grandmother’s garage. Her grandfather had passed recently, and it was time to get his estate in order.
Other Reddit users have dedicated entire threads to the oddities that they have found in their grandparents’ houses, but all of these trinkets were nothing compared to what this Reddit user found that day.
Eri was struggling financially. She was studying relentlessly and was finding it hard to make ends meet. Her stomach clenched every time a new bill arrived, and she was afraid she would be unable to pay it on time.
She had now also taken on the long and tedious process of tying up loose ends in her late grandfather’s estate. Little did she know, she was about to discover something about her grandfather that would change her life forever.
If only Eri had known that her life was about to be changed forever by what was behind grandma’s garage door, amid the dust and chaos.
When she was asked to come and help clear the garage out, she never could have imagined what her grandfather had kept hidden from the rest of the world.
Eri found the process of dealing with her grandfather’s estate time-consuming. Each day, she and her grandmother would sit together and go through each document painstakingly, and she would go to bed each night with the numbers and equations imprinted on her retinas.
Her anxiety grew when she thought about the preparations that had to be made for her grandmother, and sleep would not come. The numbers were not looking good.
As the entire picture of her grandmother’s finances came slowly into view, she realized that she may have to go into an assisted living facility.
She hadn’t told her grandma the news, yet. She dreaded each day and tried to be as useful as possible. But she knew that she couldn’t keep the news from her for much longer. Then the terrible day arrived.
Eri awoke that morning with a terrible feeling of heaviness. Today was the day she would have to break her grandmother’s heart. She dressed and walked down the stairs.
Her grandmother was suffering the loss of her husband, but she put on a cheery face for Eri when she greeted her. They sat at the lonely table in the big, empty house, and ate breakfast in silence. Then her grandmother broke it by asking Eri to start clearing the garage.
Eri’s grandfather had been a secretive man, and the garage had been his domain. When Eri opened the door, she never had ever expected what had been lurking inside all along.
Could it be? she thought as she saw the lettering on the back of the piece of metal, just peeping through. There, underneath a dusty tarpaulin, was a masterpiece that had been secreted away and forgotten. Until now.
What Eri found in her grandmother’s garage that day left the internet in a flurry. There, in the corner, was a 1982 LP500S Lamborghini Countach, one of the rarest supercars in the world. Only 321 of these cars were ever made! It had been there for decades, gathering dust.
But that wasn’t the only hidden gem that she found that day…
Tucked away at the front of the Lamborghini was a faded Ferrari 308, and although not as impressive as the Countach, it was an incredible find!
Eri was amazed when it dawned on her that it is the same iconic car that was used in Tom Selleck’s Magnum, P.I. and is highly sought-after by collectors. What an amazing windfall!
The Lamborghini Countach Eri had stumbled upon in her grandmother’s garage turned out to be a 500S model.
The supercar packs a 4.8-liter V12 engine and could have fetched between $400,000 to $500,000 in its peak. Even in their decayed condition, the Daily Mirror estimated that the Lamborghini and Ferrari could still be worth around that amount together.
Eri’s “late grandpa bought [the Lamborghini] for his exotic car rental business in 1989, but after insurance costs became too high for him to operate the company, he kept the cars in leaky garages for 20+ years instead of selling them.”
Eir revealed all on Reddit after speaking with her grandmother about the classic cars. And she is very glad that her grandfather had kept them for as long as he did!
Interest quickly grew on the Reddit thread when Eriegin revealed her incredible find, with many users wanting to buy the cars and “rescue” them from life in the garage.
One user wrote: “There should be a Child Protective Services you can call for cars…I’d adopt that baby and put some blood, sweat, and tears into making it a new good life.”
What one Reddit user found when she opened the garage door changed her life forever. She and her grandmother were struggling financially and had no idea what kind of goldmine they were sitting on the entire time.
Next time you’re asked to help Grandma, I’m sure you’ll scramble to help. Who knows what other gems are hidden all over the world in garages, gathering dust and forgotten.
