Michigan Worker's Wallet Discovered Under Hood in Minnesota After 151,000 Miles Traveled
In a heartwarming tale of perseverance and goodwill, a wallet lost by a Michigan autoworker over a decade ago has made its way back home. Richard Guilford, a 56-year-old resident of Petersburg, Michigan, lost his wallet in 2014 during a shift at Ford's Wayne, Michigan plant. The wallet, containing personal items and $275 in gift cards, somehow ended up in the engine bay of a 2015 Ford Edge, where it remained undiscovered for years[1][2][3][5].
The car, which was originally sold in Arizona, made its way to Lake Crystal, Minnesota, in 2016. Mechanic Chad Volk, who serviced the car regularly, discovered the wallet during a routine repair in June 2025. Volk noticed that the air filter box wouldn't snap into place and, after some investigation, found the wallet sandwiched between the transmission and the air filter box[1][2][3][5].
Using the owner's license and work ID inside the wallet, Volk was able to identify Guilford via Facebook and contacted him. Volk then mailed the wallet back to Michigan, with everything intact—including $15 cash, Guilford’s driver's license, work ID, $275 in gift cards (some still valid), and faded lottery tickets[1][2][3][5].
Guilford, who retired in 2024 after nearly 35 years at Ford, plans to preserve the wallet as a family heirloom. He will leave the wallet in its original state and keep it in a china cabinet for his kids and future generations[1][2][3][5].
This unusual 11-year journey of the wallet from Michigan to the engine bay of a car in Minnesota and back to its owner highlights a remarkable story of discovery, careful detective work by the mechanic, and the goodwill of strangers restoring lost property[1][2][5].
- Guilford was working on the same car at a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan around Christmas in 2014.
- The wallet was discovered by mechanic Chad Volk in June.
- The status of a $25 card from Outback Steakhouse is unknown.
- The car was part of a long line of new vehicles assembled elsewhere that needed extra electrical work before being shipped to dealers.
- The wallet was originally a Christmas gift from Guilford's sons.
- Guilford searched 30 to 40 cars and his co-workers looked at dozens more, but found no wallet.
- In Michigan, a retired autoworker named Richard Guilford received a Facebook message from a stranger in Minnesota.
Richard Guilford, while working on a car at Ford's Wayne, Michigan factory around Christmas in 2014, accidentally lost his wallet. Fast forward to June, when mechanic Chad Volk discovered the wallet, sandwiched between the transmission and the air filter box, during a routine repair on the same car, which had made its way from Arizona to Lake Crystal, Minnesota in 2016.
