Fisherman looking for fish in the Danube finds stolen car that spent more than 50 years underwater

A sonar meant to locate fish instead revealed the outline of a car beneath the Danube near Oberelchingen in southern Germany. Fisherman Bence Szabo saw what looked like a hood, roof and window openings on the screen, then alerted police.

Police, firefighters, rescuers and Germany’s Technical Relief Agency took part in the recovery. More than 50 people worked for seven hours, using a large crane to lift the vehicle from a depth of about five meters.

The first surprise came when the mud-covered wreck emerged: it was an Opel Manta A built around 1970. Police estimated that it had been underwater for more than 50 years. Days later, a woman who saw news reports contacted authorities and said the car had belonged to her former husband, a U.S. citizen who lived in the area. She said it had been stolen in 1972.

The man returned to the United States during that decade and has not been located. Police records confirming the theft are no longer available, and authorities cannot determine how the car ended up in the river. If it is the same vehicle, it may have remained underwater since the early 1970s.

Water and corrosion had almost consumed the bodywork, and the roof suffered further damage during the extraction. Rain later washed away some of the mud, revealing that the car had originally been yellow. The vehicle now stands at the Oldtimerfabrik Classic in Neu-Ulm, where it will not be restored because its weakened structure could collapse during another move. Instead, it has become an attraction for visitors and enthusiasts. Opel built 498,553 first-generation Manta cars between 1970 and 1975.