Missing Car Part From This Auto Wreck Photo Is Discovered 51 Years Later in a Very Strange Spot

CREVE COEUR, Mo. (TheBlaze/AP) — A decade or so ago, Arthur Lampitt's left arm set off a metal detector at a courthouse.

An X-ray showed a slender object the length of a pencil, but since it caused no pain or hardship, Lampitt was told to let it be.

He was moving concrete blocks a few weeks ago when the arm began to hurt for the first time.

"Everything was fine until it started to get bigger," Lampitt's wife, Betty, said. "The arm started bulging."

The Granite City, Illinois, man decided to have surgery. He initially wasn't sure what was in his arm but wondered if a medical instrument had been left during an emergency room visit in 1963 after he smashed his Thunderbird into a truck.

Image source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Lampitt family

He unearthed a collection of old photos of the mangled '63 T-Bird taken by a friend at the scene and noticed the metal blinker lever was missing from the left side of the steering column.

Image source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Lampitt family

He figured that was it, and surgery at City Place Surgery Center in Creve Coeur, Missouri, confirmed it.

Arthur Lampitt and his wife Betty of Granite City, Mo., show off the 1963 Thunderbird turn signal lever that was embedded in his arm for 51 years, after having surgery to remove it on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. (Image source: AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jesse Bogan)

Dr. Timothy Lang removed the lever Wednesday during a 45-minute operation. Lampitt, now 75, is recovering at home.

"Seven inches long," Lang told Betty.

"Oh, my God," Betty said.

The accident broke Lampitt's hip, drawing attention away from the arm, which healed, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Lang said a protective pocket grew around the lever.

"We see all kinds of foreign objects like nails or pellets, but usually not this large, usually not a turn signal from a 1963 T-Bird," Lang said. "Something this large often gets infected."

Lampitt wasn't sure what he'd do with the lever — maybe make a key chain out of it.

"We'll figure out something, I am sure," he said.