Only before Selling Grandad's Car, Man Notices Coordinates Scrawled behind Steering Wheel – Retro Story

While cleaning his late grandfather's car a day before selling it, a man noticed numbers scrawled behind the steering wheel. What's this? he wondered, unaware that the text would soon reveal something completely unexpected.

Losing his parents at an early age was devastating for Chuck. The teenager was still shocked when his grandparents told him they were ready to raise him in their house and promised never to let him feel lonely.

The elderly couple showered their only grandson with immense love and affection and tried their best to provide him with whatever he wanted. They always celebrated his birthdays and gave him gifts he would treasure for life.

When Chuck turned seventeen, his grandfather, Damon, gifted him something extraordinary.

"I can't believe I will finally get to drive your car, Grandpa!" Chuck exclaimed.

"This is just part of your share in my inheritance, Chuck," Damon smiled. "I'll leave a lot more for you!"

"Oh, Grandpa, not again, please," Chuck hugged Damon. "You are not going anywhere, okay? I won't let you go!"

When Damon was young, he bought a brand-new car from his savings. Over time, the car's original paint wore off, and most of its metal body had rusted when he gifted it to Chuck.

While cleaning the steering wheel, some pen marks on the surface behind it caught Chuck's attention.

Damon had also shown photos of his car to Chuck to tell him how beautiful it looked back in the day. "All of my friends wanted to ride in it, but your Grandma never allowed them to sit on the passenger seat," Damon chuckled.

Whenever Damon talked about his car, Chuck noticed that his grandfather felt sad because his car was not the same anymore. It was dull, old, rusty, and often broke down during long journeys.

"Grandpa, I promise I will repair your car and make it look shiny again!" Chuck told Damon.

"I know you will take good care of my car, and that's why I am giving it to you, Chuck. You're a responsible young man!" Damon patted his grandson's back.

A few months after Chuck's seventeenth birthday, his grandmother got a call from a local hospital.

"Am I speaking to Mr. Damon's wife?" the woman on the other end asked.

"Yes," Chuck's grandmother replied.

"Please reach our hospital as soon as possible. It's an emergency. Your husband got into an accident."

That day, Chuck lost the man who loved him the most. Damon was on his way home in his car when he accidentally crashed into a tree and passed away on the spot.

Chuck was devastated after his grandfather's sudden death, but he knew he had to look after his grieving grandmother. Alongside continuing his education, Chuck worked part-time, so he could save enough money to fulfill the promise he had made to his grandfather.

After the accident, Damon's car needed a lot of repairs, so Chuck kept working on it, and years later, he managed to make it look much better. However, at that point, his grandmother suggested he sell the car.

"Chuck, you know how difficult it is to make ends meet," she said. "I think we can get good money after selling your grandfather's car. After all, it's an antique vehicle."

Although Chuck didn't want to sell the car his grandfather had gifted him with so much love, he had no option except to obey his grandmother. He knew how badly they needed money to pay bills.

A day before taking his grandfather's car to the flea market, Chuck sat in the driver's seat and held the steering wheel, pretending to drive the car. Just then, his grandmother appeared and handed him a special leather cleaning solution.

"Remember how Damon used to clean the car's leather interior with this?" she gave a piece of cloth to Chuck and asked him to clean the seats and the dashboard with it.

While cleaning the steering wheel, some pen marks on the surface behind it caught Chuck's attention. Pen marks? Who did this? he wondered and thought it would take him a lot of time to get rid of them.

Turning the steering wheel to the left, he saw some numbers scrawled in a hidden place on the dashboard. "What's this?" he said before he looked closely and realized they were not just ordinary numbers. They were coordinates.

"Grandma!" Chuck screamed. "Come here!"

"What happened? Is everything okay?" she rushed towards the car.

"Look at this!" Chuck pointed at the scribbled text.

His grandmother squinted her eyes to read the coordinates and told Chuck that after his grandfather was diagnosed with a memory issue, the doctor had told him to write things down in a notebook so he could remember them.

"But why did he write these coordinates behind the steering wheel?" Chuck asked.

"I think you should follow the coordinates and see if you find something, Chuck," his grandmother suggested.

Chuck quickly went inside the house, changed his clothes, and sat inside the car to drive to the location of the coordinates. "Wait, sweetheart. Keep this," his grandmother gave him a shovel. "You might need it."

After following the directions suggested by his phone, Chuck reached a field with no houses around. What place is this? he wondered and stepped out of his car.

Then, he looked at the shovel his grandmother gave him and decided to dig at the exact spot where the coordinates met. After digging for an hour, Chuck felt his shovel collide with a hard surface under the ground. I think I found something, he thought to himself and dug deeper.

Eventually, he pulled out a metal chest from the ground. "So this is what you wanted me to see, Grandpa?" he asked, looking at the sky.

When Chuck opened the chest, he was shocked to see gold jewelry inside it. This must be so precious. I should show it to Grandma, he thought and drove back home.

"Oh my!" Chuck's grandmother exclaimed as she carefully inspected the delicate gold necklaces. "I think I know the story behind this jewelry, Chuck."

"What story?"

"Damon once told me that his grandfather had hidden their family jewelry somewhere in this city, but I never believed him. I think he found them and wanted to tell us."

"Yeah, he must have written the location coordinates behind the steering wheel to remember them."

"That's right," Chuck's grandmother smiled. "I think this was the last place he visited before his death. Remember the accident site? It was near the field you visited today."

"Yes, Grandma. You're right," Chuck nodded. "Do you think he was returning home to tell us about the hidden jewelry when his car crashed?"

"I think so," his grandmother replied as tears trickled down her cheeks.

What can we learn from this story?

• Good deeds don't go to waste. After his grandfather's death, Chuck could have chosen not to repair the car, but he did it to fulfill his promise and later found the coordinates scrawled behind the steering wheel. He wouldn't have stumbled upon the precious jewelry if he had left the car in the junkyard.
• There's always light at the end of the tunnel. After Damon's death, Chuck and his grandmother struggled to make ends meet, but fate soon surprised them with jewelry worth thousands of dollars, enough to improve their financial situation.

Share this story with your friends and family. It might inspire them and brighten their day.

A lady took her dying dog to his favorite place in the forest for the last time and found a treasure there. Click here to read the entire story.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.