If there is one thing that is not going to end well, it is if a car is underwater. How could that end well? You’ve seen what has happened to things like the Titanic and crashed aircraft, they do tend to corrode and rust. It is a miracle the Titanic is still with us over a hundred years later.

So imagine what would happen to a car. Well, this list contains photos of vintage cars, and one or two other vehicles, that have been left abandoned in the ocean, for various reasons, and through some weird circumstances.

I’m not quite certain how a lot of these cars have ended up in the sea, or indeed in ponds and lakes as well. We hope you find these images rather fascinating. Some of them are quite spooky, and frightening. It’s also impressive to see what nature can do to a man-made object as well.

15 VW Beetle

The VW Beetle has often been called the ‘car of the people’ although its origins can be traced back to Nazi Germany. This one though is clearly not going to be the car of anyone. The production run of the Beetle ended in 2019, ending the long history of the car. Production had started way back in 1938.

14 Mustang

This is an image that certainly makes me pretty sad. The Ford Mustang is perhaps the greatest muscle car that has ever been made. And to see one rusting away at the bottom of the sea like this? It makes me sad. What generation it is I can’t quite tell, but it has clearly been there for many years.

13 Treasure Trove

This could perhaps be called a bit of a treasure trove of classic cars. In this section of the ocean were found a whole bundle of classic cars, including some old trucks that look like they are from the 1950s. It is quite frankly amazing what you might find at the bottom of the ocean, trucks probably wouldn’t be one of those.

12 Rusting In A Lake

This is certainly something that has been in a lake for many years. These cars were found rusting at the bottom of a lake and were recovered, and it is clear that both cars have seen much better days. It makes you wonder how the heck cars like this could well end up at the bottom of a lake.

11 Stuck On A Reef

The remains of this possible truck or jeep have been sat on a reef for many years, and over the years they have slowly rusted away to the point there is little more than a frame left. The tires though are still intact and they still seem to have air in them. Which is pretty impressive.

10 Underwater Bugatti

This has one hell of a story. The remains of this Bugatti Type 22 Brescia were found on the bottom of a lake, after being lost in a bet by racing driver Rene Drefus to Swiss playboy Adalbert Bode. Rolled into a lake, it was discovered in 1967 and recovered in 2009. One heck of a story.

9 Underwater Ruins

Whatever this is, there is not a lot left here of it. It is impressive however that the seat of this car, whatever it once was, is still there on top of the rusting frames. There is sadly no cool story here as that of the Bugatti, which would be cool but the fact it is not very common makes it all the more special.

8 An Underwater Steam Locomotive?

There is quite an interesting tale behind the remains of this steam engine. The SS Thislegorn was carrying LMS Stanier 8F locomotives from Britain, for export in WW2. However, the ship was sunk and the remains of the engines and their tenders have remained in the ocean ever since. Not much though remains of the locomotives.

7 A Closer Look At The Bugatti

This is a more up-close image of the famous Bugatti. The reason for it being rolled into a lake, was because Bode could not pay the import duties. So with no value to a ten-year-old Bugatti in 1934, the car was duly rolled into the lake and until 1967, it pretty much became a myth.

6 Another Sunken Mustang

Another picture of a once glorious Mustang, it’s pretty rubbish that a car that was once so great can be ruined so quickly by the elements. In some ways, it is quite impressive to see what mother nature can do to a man-made object. Proof that nature will win, no matter what we do.

5 Impala In A Pond

Oh, it’s certainly sad seeing a classic car stuck in water, rusting away. Whatever fate befell this Impala, it’s not looking too good now. Production of the Impala started in 1957 and the car's latest generation is still currently in production. This Impala was from 1959 when it was discovered in this particular pond.

4 Abandoned And Ruined

There is not an awful lot that we can say about this car. We don’t really know what it was or what happened to it, but we can see quite clearly that the ocean has really taken its toll on its remains. It slowly seems to be sinking into the mud and dirt at the bottom of the sea.

3 An Underwater Masterpiece

This is not a photo, per se, of an old car, but I felt like it had to be included here. It is, in fact, a painting of a car at the bottom of the sea. And it was just too good to not include here! The attention to detail is brilliant, right down to the plants growing out of it.

2 Buried Into The Sea

At first, I thought this might have been a jeep, then I looked again and just realized it was a very old machine. Whatever it is the dirt and grime is absolutely covering it and slowly turning it into a piece that time will forget. It’s crazy to think this once was running around the roads on dry land.

1 Abandoned Motorbike

Now, this is a different vehicle altogether on this list. Although we have looked at an abandoned steam engine. There is actually a surprising amount of this motorbike left, and even the tires are still on the thing. That is quite something! It quite clearly can’t be used again, but it is impressive how much has been preserved.

Sources: Pinterest, Behance, Barn Finds, Hemmings, Team-BHP, The Drive