If you are the owner of the bottom half of a red Ford Ranger left in Brays Bayou near Wayside Dr. some time in the last 20 years, your vehicle may be waiting for you in HPD’s impound lot. The pilot program intended to test out a procedure for fishing out the 127-or-so vehicles mapped beneath the surface of a few of Houston’s waterways reeled in its 20th and final car over the weekend before the $49,500 project grant ran out.

The removals started near the Wayside bridge over Brays Bayou in late January, then moved upstream of the crossing of Lidstone St. on the 29th; last Friday, operations jumped down to Sims Bayou to score a few final sets of wheels. Harris County Flood Control District, which oversaw the fishing trips, tweeted that project executives will now meet to discuss future removal plans and compare notes on the process, which involved divers from Saltwater Salvage submerging to attach giant yellow floaties to the sunken vehicles:

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The cars, once dug free and buoyed to the surface, were lifted out by crane:

The vehicles were laid down on some tarps on the shore for a quick checkover before being hauled away:

Many of the vehicles were missing their VIN plates; others were unrecognizable for other reasons:

A quick list of some of the identifiable vehicles recovered, for those of you who have been searching: a red GMC Trailblazer, a black Pontiac Grand AM, a red Ford Ranger, an orange-ish Hyundai Excel, a white ’95 Chevy Cavalier, a blue ’96 Chevy Caprice, a blue ’98 Honda Accord, and that red Buick Regal reported stolen in 1998.

• 12 Cars Pulled Out of Houston Bayou in 6 Days [Houston Chronicle]
• Previously on Swamplot: Stolen Buick First Out as Crews Start Fishing for Used Cars in Houston’s Bayous; Your Treasure Map to 100-Plus Cars and Trucks Rusting in Sims and Brays Bayous

Photos:  Joel Eisenbaum (last photo), Saltwater Salvage (diver atop car), Harris County Flood Control District (all others)