[HN Gopher] Since the '60s, Ford has stored cars underground in ...
___________________________________________________________________
Since the '60s, Ford has stored cars underground in a Kansas City
cave
Author : walterbell
Score : 123 points
Date : 2024-11-07 17:00 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.hagerty.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.hagerty.com)
| pimlottc wrote:
| There's a similar facility called Iron Mountain in Boyers, PA
| that stores, among other things, millions of government records:
|
| https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/01/inside-iron-mountain.h...
| wlesieutre wrote:
| Also in PA, Wampum Underground where you can store your boat,
| RV, or other vehicles in their cave for the off season
|
| https://wampumunderground.com/vehicle-storage/
| fnordpiglet wrote:
| Only 1.7m square foot though.
| neilv wrote:
| > _Resting in a former limestone mine, it's one of the nation's
| most secure data centers and storage facilities. Few people
| inside Pennsylvania and outside it know this place exists.
| That's the way the owner, Iron Mountain, likes it._
|
| > _"The reason people use this place is because we don't talk
| about this place," said Chris Miller, Iron Mountain's
| infrastructure manager._
|
| The tone of that is unclear, while giving a tour to a
| journalist.
| rmellow wrote:
| The person giving the tour knows security by obscurity is
| weak for actual security, but strong for marketing.
| neilv wrote:
| That could be, although I'd guess obscurity in this case
| might reduce the likelihood of random mentally ill people
| minor threats, and also reduce the likelihood of being the
| chosen target of some more capable terrorist threat.
|
| (Even random mentally ill people are likely to have access
| to firearms, and maybe heavy vehicles.)
|
| Before cloud got big, I used to have a personal physical
| server colocated at a network facility, in a nondescript
| commercial building that you had to know was there, and
| turn off the main street to get to, with no signage I could
| see. (Also, biometrics scanners, when those weren't
| consumer things, and a waiting room that seemed to securely
| lock in visitors, in view of guards.)
|
| I'd previously heard of non-government buildings without
| signage, for security reasons, so I figured that was it.
| Rather than not wanting to spend the money on a sign that
| would make it easier for customers to physically find,
| increase brand awareness, or raise their prominence in the
| minds of local officials before whom they might
| occasionally have business.
|
| And, over time, you hear of other non-government unmarked
| buildings that are arguably "sensitive", for one reason or
| another. The ones that personally come to mind,
| historically that type has been threatened before (by,
| e.g., people angry at a company that they blame for
| automating away jobs, people who saw a movie involving
| blowing up records of bank loans and think that will work
| in real life, animal rights activists who want to free lab
| animals (and didn't see that other movie), eco-terrorists,
| people who are are mentally ill and found something
| conveniently located to fixate on). Maybe also no need to
| invite protestors?
| neuralRiot wrote:
| >in a nondescript commercial building that you had to
| know was there.
|
| If I had to do it I'll make it a boring unsuspecting
| commercial building with signage "storage R us" for
| example.
| mjmsmith wrote:
| The Many Lives of Iron Mountain (New York)
| https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-many-lives-o...
| CyberDildonics wrote:
| This is normal storage space, anyone can rent it out.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| I've driven into some the caves a number of times. Pretty wild.
|
| Here's a video of "Subtropolis": https://youtu.be/3DJ4VjIRM24
| markrages wrote:
| In the 90s I worked for a company in Kansas City designing
| pagers. We rented space underground for RF testing. There are
| no radio signals in the caves, at least back then. I'm sure
| that's different now, especially with manufacturing happening
| there. (Our cave was closer to downtown and was mostly used for
| warehousing.)
| hinkley wrote:
| In fact the article says there are a dozen companies that make
| custom Fords that occupy some of the space. Zero delivery time
| I guess.
| dietr1ch wrote:
| As for normal I beg to differ, but yeah ofc anyone can rent it.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| tl;dr: There's an old limestone mine that rents out space. Ford
| is a major customer, they store old cars there.
|
| Pretty cool but doesn't need the mystery. I wouldn't mind
| visiting, although I'm not a big fan of Ford. Seeing an old Ford
| GT might be cool.
| hinkley wrote:
| No it looks like they store brand new cars there to avoid
| inclement weather. Kansas City gets hail. And tornadoes.
| edm0nd wrote:
| >Seeing an old Ford GT might be cool.
|
| Be extremely careful if you spot a 1967 GT500 named Eleanor,
| that's how it gets stolen again.
| potato3732842 wrote:
| There's a ton of facilities like this for storage of various
| stuff in middle America. The limestone geology (there was once a
| sea between the Appalachian and Rockies) lend itself well to
| them. These facilities store all manner of things, almost
| everyone reading this has probably eaten cheese from one of them.
| teddyh wrote:
| You might be over-estimating the US-centricness of HN
| readership demographics.
| Retric wrote:
| The US exports a lot of cheese. $2.2B/year or ~5% of global
| trade.
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| Does this come from federal stockpiles? Earnest question;
| how logistics happen is intentionally obscured from the
| perspective of consumers.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| I think there is both "government cheese" and various
| pizza products made with subsidized cheese and dairy.
| Retric wrote:
| Any idea where the history of some of this stuff might
| be?
|
| I'm suddenly curious where the cheese air lifted into
| Berlin after WWII came from.
| marcosdumay wrote:
| I'd imagine that the entire international trade of cheese
| carries just a tiny part of the cheese consumed over the
| world.
| Retric wrote:
| Sure, but a lifetime is also a long time.
| paganel wrote:
| Does the geology related to the current shale revolution from
| pretty much the same area have anything to do with that past
| sea? I'm just curious and too lazy to search for it now on my
| mobile phone
| dredmorbius wrote:
| Very likely.
|
| Virtually _all_ petroleum (and shale-oil) deposits were
| formed in shallow seas, though possibly in lakes or wetlands
| (though swamps are more associated with coal-bed formation).
| Oil is largely metamorphosed algae.
|
| J.R. Dyni, "Geology and Resources Of Some World Oil-Shale
| Deposits" (2003)
|
| _Oil shales were deposited in a variety of depositional
| environments including fresh-water to highly saline lakes,
| epicontinental marine basins and subtidal shelves, and in
| limnic and coastal swamps, commonly in association with
| deposits of coal._
|
| <https://kirj.ee/public/oilshale/2_dyni_2003_3.pdf> (PDF)
| oliv__ wrote:
| Ah yes, the famed government cheese. Haven't had the privilege
| to taste any unfortunately!
| vintagedave wrote:
| Site is giving a Cloudflare error: "We can't connect to the
| server for this app or website at this time. There might be too
| much traffic or a configuration error."
|
| Try https://archive.is/DU1Tt
| ttepasse wrote:
| In Upper Michigan there is an underground laboratory by a
| military shower curtain supplier in an old salt mine. Ever since
| the congressional hearings on missing astronauts there are
| rumours that they are researching more than just shower curtains.
| dan353hehe wrote:
| I remember seeing something about that a few years ago. Super
| strange they never were found.
|
| Cave Johnson probably still has them doing some important
| science underground somewhere.
| hnisoss wrote:
| portal reference?
| wut42 wrote:
| Yes: https://time.graphics/event/2394246
| master_crab wrote:
| If only there were large underground caves filled with oil to gas
| up cars in other underground caves.
|
| /s
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Petroleum_Reserve_(U...
| zzzeek wrote:
| this facility seems very appealing and comforting right now given
| the mass dystopia that's soon to ensue above ground
| kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote:
| Probably easier and more comfortable to move to Canada or
| Europe.
| zzzeek wrote:
| OK dual citizenship lucky dude, enjoy
| walterbell wrote:
| "Dutch American Friendship Treaty", https://www.americanbar
| .org/groups/international_law/resourc...
| WalterBright wrote:
| The article didn't say why Ford is still storing the cars there.
| dredmorbius wrote:
| _"In Kansas, in the Midwest, you get rain, you get hail, you
| get winter, you get ice, you get everything. And I think [Ford]
| really wanted to store the vehicles that they were producing
| and assembling in the area that wouldn't come into harm's way,"
| said Tompkins. "And so what better location than under a large
| roof?"_
|
| From TFA.
| bastloing wrote:
| I read the article and it seems they build and store new cars and
| trucks there. Doesn't seem particularly cost effective.
| defrost wrote:
| Limestone tunnels are _extensive_ and "paid for" when mined,
| now they still exist and are assets that can be rented for
| storage.
|
| _Large_ blocks were cut and pulled for processing, typically
| there are access tunnels that are wider than a two line highway
| with clearance for moving van height trucks with _many_ "bays*
| that are large mined voids larger than a basketball court or
| three.
|
| It's cheap storage given the security (controlled access) and
| the shade from sunlight and protection from rain, weather
| (hail), etc.
| mcmcmc wrote:
| Fun fact, there are also a bunch of data centers and colos in the
| caverns
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-11-09 23:00 UTC)