A Michigan autoworker’s wallet is found under a hood in Minnesota — 151,000 miles later

Petersburg, Michigan – A retired auto-workman of Michigan looked at a Facebook message after midnight from a foreigner: have you lost your portfolio years ago?

“If that’s the case,” wrote a minnesota man, “it was in the engine bay of a car.”

Richard Guilford could not believe what he was reading on his phone – a mystery of decade was remarkably resolved.

The Guilford tripolar leather portfolio – filled with $ 15, a driving license, work identity document, gift cards worth $ 275 and lottery tickets – appeared under the hood of a car in a repair workshop in Lake Crystal, Minnesota.

A Christmas gift from Guilford’s sons was again a family treasure. “Big Red”, as he was affectionately known at Ford Motor, was in admiration.

“It restores your faith in humanity that people will say:” Hey, you lost that, I found that, I’m going to come back to you “,” said Guilford on Thursday.

The portfolio was discovered in June by the mechanic Chad Volk, sandwiched between the transmission and the air filter box of an Ford Edge 2015 with 151,000 miles on it.

“Crazy,” said Volk.

The filter box would not rush after a repair, he said: “So I messed a little, then I removed it and the wallet was sitting on a small ledge where it had to rush. I removed the portfolio and that’s what it was. ”

Return the calendar for 2014, around Christmas. Guilford worked on the same car in a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan. It was in a long line of new vehicles assembled elsewhere who needed additional electrical work before being shipped to the dealerships.

Guilford realized later that his wallet fell from his shirt pocket. It was certain that he had lost it in a car, but thought he was on the ground of a Ford Flex, not on an edge, and certainly not in the engine.

Guilford said he had searched 30 to 40 cars and that his colleagues watched dozens of others, “just opening the doors, looking under the seats, looking at him behind.”

“I can’t take too long to look for this because I have to work. I’m on the clock,” he recalls. “No luck. Life has continued.”

Guilford, now 56 years old and living in Pétersburg, Michigan, retired from Ford in 2024 after almost 35 years. He had put the portfolio out of his mind a long time ago, until the message on Facebook, where his profile said that he had worked at Ford.

Volk sent a photo of the portfolio and included the driving license. “Big Red” saw a younger version of himself with his beard tinged with red.

“The incredible part for me was that she was so protected,” said Guilford about the wallet when he also traced the history of the car. “Think of this: 11 years old, rain, snow. It was in Minnesota, for having shouted aloud. It was in Arizona when it was bought. Think about the heat of an Arizona transmission by driving on the road. It’s incredible.”

Cabela’s, an outdoor retailer, said the $ 250 of gift cards remain valid, but he still offered to give him new cards. Guilford does not know the status of a $ 25 card from Outback Steakhouse. The figures on lottery tickets have faded a long time ago.

“I’m going to put everything back into it and leave it like that, and it will sit at home in the porcelain cabinet and it’s for my children,” said Guilford, part-time auctioneer. “They can talk to my great grandchildren. We are big in stories. I like to tell stories. It’s just who I am. “

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Vancleave reported in Lake Crystal, Minnesota.