Late one night, a retired Michigan autoworker received a surprising Facebook message from a stranger. Did you, it asked, lose your wallet years ago?
“If so,” a Minnesota mechanic wrote, “it was in the engine bay of a car.”
Richard Guilford couldn’t believe his eyes. And just like that, a decade-old mystery was suddenly solved. The message reunited Guilford, a 56-year-old retired Ford autoworker, with his long-lost leather wallet, a treasured Christmas gift from his sons. The wallet had vanished during Guilford’s shift at Ford’s Wayne, Michigan, plant in 2014.
The wallet reappeared when mechanic Chad Volk found it wedged between the transmission and air filter box of a 2015 Ford Edge at his Lake Crystal, Minnesota, repair shop. Despite surviving 11 years of extreme conditions, from scorching heat in Arizona (where the car was originally sold) to Minnesota's harsh winters, the wallet remained intact, with $15 cash, Guilford’s driver's license, work ID, $275 in gift cards and lottery tickets.
Guilford had searched dozens of cars after losing the wallet during his shift, but never imagined it could have somehow made its way into the engine compartment during the vehicle's assembly process.
Volk's detective work led him to Facebook, where he found Guilford's profile, indicating his Ford employment history. The mechanic sent a photo of the wallet and driver's license, showing a younger Guilford with his distinctive red-tinged beard.
For Guilford, who retired from Ford in 2024 after nearly 35 years, the wallet has transformed from a lost possession into a family heirloom. He plans to preserve it in his china cabinet for future generations. "It restores your faith in humanity that people will say, 'Hey, you lost this, I found this, I'm going to get it back to you,'" Guilford told the Associated Press.
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