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The maroon, 1976 Chevy Chevette which had been abandoned in Willowdale state forest decades ago under mysterious circumstances, has finally been removed.
According to a spokesperson for The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the car was removed during the last week of August.
DCR provided a photo of the decayed and heavily crushed car, strapped tidily to a trailer in the woods. The DCR spokesperson said that an excavator had been brought in for the removal, and that some light tree trimming had been required. The Ipswich Local News reported on the car last fall. Beyond a few cryptic comments on social media, nothing is known about how and when the car came to rest in the forest, at a spot a good distance from the road.
In the ensuing decades, the car had been layered with stickers, spray-painted with graffiti and stuffed full of debris. It was a well-known landmark and a favorite obstacle of mountain bikers.
The Local News obtained 1996 police report from the IPD that said a hiker had reported an abandoned car in Willowdale, but the report indicated that IPD was aware of it being there for some time prior to the report.
As reported previously, Ipswich Police Chief Paul Nikas confirmed that the car was a ’76 Chevette, and that its last known owner was deceased, and the car was last registered in Braintree, some 42 miles south of Ipswich.
The DCR’s spokesperson said the vehicle would be recycled, and that the area where the car had rested for more than three decades, has “been cleared of related debris.”
