The Mystery Story of the Chevy Corvair Abandoned in the Jungle: How Did It Get There?

Darien Gap is the only stretch of land that connects South America to North America. It covers 10,000 square miles between Panama and Colombia, along the Atrato River. It is just mountains, tangled trees, and swamps. There are no roads in the Darien Gap, so you can't just drive a car there. Besides, any project of building one faced backlash. Road-building in the area would be detrimental to the environment.

So, the only way to put a car there, in no man's land, would be to parachute it there. But why would anybody do that? It just doesn't make sense.

However, in the middle of nowhere, a group of adventurous explorers found a red sedan covered in rust. How in the world did that car get there? It is a rainforest with no roads, no trails, no space for a car.

It is a labyrinth of trees, just water and wild animals, a land where the Zika virus and the malaria are at home. Law enforcement and medical assistance are non-existent, and you can rarely get a signal on your phone. It is hot and humid, and everything in between.

You can bump into just about anything there, thieves, drug and human traffickers included, because it is a no man's land, and there is a chance that once you go in, you don't come out again. But a car? What would a car do there, abandoned in the jungle between Panama and Columbia?

The shell of the automobile was found covered with vegetation that had grown up all over its body that must have once shined in bright red. It is obvious that it has been sitting there, not moving a single inch, just sinking into the jungle floor, for decades.

The windows and tires are long gone. There is no badge, absolutely nothing to identify the mystery car. It is a left-hand drive model and has a rear-mounted engine. All these clues, plus the design cues, indicated one single model: the Chevrolet Corvair.

Introduced by the American automaker in 1959, the Corvair shot to fame. However, soon after deliveries started, when it turned out it had a rear independent suspension issue that could make it flip over, sales figures went crashing down.

The Corvair remained in production for only a decade, seeing two generations, and it was not sold in Central or South America. Somehow, it got there. But how in the world did it get there? It is miles away from the highway.

The mystery of the Chevrolet Corvair found in the middle of the jungle

In 1960, a caravan of three Corvairs and three supply trucks left from Chicago to Panama, intending to return with footage for two promotional films to be used by a dealership, hoping to sell more cars.

The caravan made it to Panama City, and, in January 1961, the three Corvairs and the two trucks started off to the Darien Gap and into Columbia on a 70-mile distance. They would have covered the distance in around one hour if there was a road to their destination. But there wasn't any.

The plan was a total failure right from the start. They did not know what to expect and did not even consider that it would be impossible to reach their destination on that route.

The publicity stunt failed. The 12 men on board the vehicles had to cut their way through the vegetation. They also had to construct rafts to make the cars float along the rivers they encountered. Two support vehicles were lost along the way, including the fuel truck.

Four months later, only two of the three Chevrolets made it to their destination. One had to be left behind. The team had miscalculated the amount of fuel they needed for each of the vehicles, and one of the Chevies ran out of gasoline.

Several team members went back to get some. But by the time they returned, the locals had already started collecting parts from the car to resell them. So, there was no way they could get it out of there.

Today, over seven decades later, the car stands proof that you should not mess with the jungle and the forces of nature.

There was a gold mine in the area

Miles north from the location where the car was found, there is a rusted locomotive. Scientists do know how it got in the area. There was once a railway there, but the vegetation absorbed the rails.

In the early 20th century, mining operations started in Panama. The remains of the locomotive are linked to an abandoned British gold mine in Santa Cruz de Cana.

The railroad navigated for 30 miles to transport workers, supplies, and gold. When the mining operations