Thanks guys for the info and advice. All joking aside, I am going to dig out the remnants of the car because 1) I am planting a “food forest” in my yard and I need to plant some plants there; 2) I don’t want all that gunk in my soil; and 3) whenever I need some exercise, I grab a shovel and work on digging out the car - i.e. it is fun exercise. I have made it pretty far in a couple of afternoons, so I am sure I can get the rest of it out. I’ll just take it in pieces to my local metal recycler, like I did with the trunk & roof.
Once I got the windshield out of the way, the dashboard was all exposed so I took some more pictures - http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz238/behindthewaterfall/Automotive%20Archaeology/?albumview=slideshow The odometer shows 88,973.
I confirmed my suspicion that the car has no engine - which is good news. The frame is still there, as well as the grill. It is amazing how well preserved the chrome pieces are - no rust on them at all. The hubcap looks brand new except for a little denting. Same for the wipers & the triangular windows.
The reason for the landslide 16 years ago was my neighbor decided to make the flat part of his yard bigger (toward us) by getting his buddies from the city to dump dozens of truckloads of dirt from some city project over the bank, making the slope top-heavy. When it became saturated after weeks of heavy rain, it slumped down partially into our yard (along with the car). He got some money from FEMA who made him stabilize the slope with a wall of big boulders. At the time he promised to return our yard to its original state but as you may have guessed he is what many would call a “jerk” and so he did nothing. But I wouldn’t really want him messing around in our yard anyway, plus the back of our yard is about 8 feet higher than it used to be which makes for kind of a nice viewpoint. The slope has been completely stable for 16 years despite rain events similar to 16 years ago so I’m not worried about another landslide. I do plan to stabilize the “car hole” however. I have a bunch of boulders ready for that.
I’ll keep posting photos as I dig it out.