Tom's recent find of an Olds convert in a barn/garage (and of course the 330 America that's been discussed) started me thinking about the hours I spent driving around the backroads in the Midwest, craning my neck to look in fields, open barn doors and sheds for signs of desirable automotive exotica. This was (ahem) some time ago, when there were "still finds to be made", although I never really stumbled on a true nugget. I was led to a few, but that doesn't count as a "find". But I still remember the fervent hope that led to me burning up a lot of gas and hours -- both of which seemed plentiful -- in pursuit of my own Ferrari in a barn.
Anyone care to recount their best/most interesting barn find? Exclude cars that people had for sale and happened to be in a barn/shop/shed in derelict condition, along with cars you were led to as part of a potential sale. I'm talking about genuine automotive archeology -- notable cars that were parked and forgotten, that you found. And if you want, talk about what the outcome was of the find.
For me, it would be:
-- A yellow '56 Alfa Giulietta Sprint (rare, quick and with nice lines) that sat in a lot next to my first apartment out of college. The apartment building's owner/builder owned the Alfa, and wouldn't listen to a word about selling it. Some guys finally talked the owner into selling it, and I never saw it again.
-- A maroon '59 XK150 Jag drophead that was sitting in a field along with a few other cars I can't remember. The weeds were up to the windows and the tires were about 3" into the ground, but they all held air, the car was complete and the engine turned over. I towed it home, was doing a resoration in stages when the motor started making expensive-sounding knocking noises. Turns out a previous owner had turned one of the rod journals .060", but had tossed a stock bearing back in there. Why, who can say. It was starting to get a little beyond the budget of a college student, so I sold it. Hope someone finished it and it's still running today.
Anyone else?
Barn finds
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David Booth
- Posts: 271
- Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2002 2:23 am
- Location: Vista, California
- Contact:
Hi David,
I studied photography at Pratt in Brooklyn, and in the parking lot was a Chrysler New Yorker with a Hemi in it. I'm not sure what year it was, but it was a fifties vintage model with a big rounded body.
It looked like it had been abandoned in the parking lot, but a faded "for sale" sign sat on the dashboard.
My roomate and I spent a summer evening in that parking lot sharing a six-pack dreaming about restoring this old car together. Thankfully it was the beer talking and we never acted on it. About a month later, the car disappeared from the parking lot.
Then there was the story about the '65 Plymouth Baracuda...
Tom
I studied photography at Pratt in Brooklyn, and in the parking lot was a Chrysler New Yorker with a Hemi in it. I'm not sure what year it was, but it was a fifties vintage model with a big rounded body.
It looked like it had been abandoned in the parking lot, but a faded "for sale" sign sat on the dashboard.
My roomate and I spent a summer evening in that parking lot sharing a six-pack dreaming about restoring this old car together. Thankfully it was the beer talking and we never acted on it. About a month later, the car disappeared from the parking lot.
Then there was the story about the '65 Plymouth Baracuda...
Tom
My folks used to vacation in northern Minnesota during the summer (we lived in Minneapolis at the time) and during the summer of '88 I was working for a furniture maker up there. One day he asked me to go pick up some wood from a buddy of his who lived about 10 miles away.
When I got there nobody was home, so I wandered to back to the guy's shop, behind his house, to see if he was there. The guy wasn't there either, but under a thick coat of dust I did find an unrestored 1950 Jaguar XK-120 roadster! It was a true roadster, not a drophead coupe. As was characteristic of pre-'51 models, the front turn signals were mounted on the fenders, rather than being faired in as they were later. It was white with brown interior, steel wheels, dual exhaust, no fender skirts. Aside from the dust the interior and exterior were very good. All four tires were flat. The engine looked clean and unmolested. However, the car hadn't been run in about ten years other than turning the engine over a few time a year with a wrench. It was originally a California car and had never been out in bad weather.
The early production made this a very desirable car, even among XK-120s, but having sat for 10 years it was in pretty sorry shape and if we bought it we couldn't afford to make a labor of love out of it. So my dad and I figured out what we would be willing to pay for the car based on what it would cost to restore and what we could get for it when it was done, and we made the guy an offer. He was polite but made it clear that he wanted much more money, so no sale.
I guess some guy showed up the next summer with a briefcase full of cash (whatever that means) and left with the car. I hope it found a good home!
Andy
When I got there nobody was home, so I wandered to back to the guy's shop, behind his house, to see if he was there. The guy wasn't there either, but under a thick coat of dust I did find an unrestored 1950 Jaguar XK-120 roadster! It was a true roadster, not a drophead coupe. As was characteristic of pre-'51 models, the front turn signals were mounted on the fenders, rather than being faired in as they were later. It was white with brown interior, steel wheels, dual exhaust, no fender skirts. Aside from the dust the interior and exterior were very good. All four tires were flat. The engine looked clean and unmolested. However, the car hadn't been run in about ten years other than turning the engine over a few time a year with a wrench. It was originally a California car and had never been out in bad weather.
The early production made this a very desirable car, even among XK-120s, but having sat for 10 years it was in pretty sorry shape and if we bought it we couldn't afford to make a labor of love out of it. So my dad and I figured out what we would be willing to pay for the car based on what it would cost to restore and what we could get for it when it was done, and we made the guy an offer. He was polite but made it clear that he wanted much more money, so no sale.
I guess some guy showed up the next summer with a briefcase full of cash (whatever that means) and left with the car. I hope it found a good home!
Andy
The Barracuda story:
A buddy of mine lived in Jersey City, and used a parking garage near the train station. One day while visiting him, he showed me this white '65 Plymouth Barracuda covered in dust in the garage. It had an inspection sticker from three years ago, and New Jersey plates. We guessed that whomever owned the car probably got behind on the garage payments, and abandoned the car. The trick was to find out how much the garage wanted to release the car, and try to track down the owner.
I know a couple of cops, and they did a tag search and found me an address on the other side of town to the garage! We also spoke to the garage, and offered $500 bucks for the storage. They came back with $750, and the deal started to roll. My buddy called the woman, and surprised her that the car was still in the garage! She agreed to sell the title to us for $20 bucks, and needed a couple of days to find it.
Within a couple of weeks we were the proud owners of a white '65 Barracuda, with black seats. She had a 273 V-8 with an automatic transmission. The garage offered us one week storage, but we had to figure out how to start the car without eating into our profit of selling her!
To be continued...
A buddy of mine lived in Jersey City, and used a parking garage near the train station. One day while visiting him, he showed me this white '65 Plymouth Barracuda covered in dust in the garage. It had an inspection sticker from three years ago, and New Jersey plates. We guessed that whomever owned the car probably got behind on the garage payments, and abandoned the car. The trick was to find out how much the garage wanted to release the car, and try to track down the owner.
I know a couple of cops, and they did a tag search and found me an address on the other side of town to the garage! We also spoke to the garage, and offered $500 bucks for the storage. They came back with $750, and the deal started to roll. My buddy called the woman, and surprised her that the car was still in the garage! She agreed to sell the title to us for $20 bucks, and needed a couple of days to find it.
Within a couple of weeks we were the proud owners of a white '65 Barracuda, with black seats. She had a 273 V-8 with an automatic transmission. The garage offered us one week storage, but we had to figure out how to start the car without eating into our profit of selling her!
To be continued...
85 928 S
my story (one of many)
down the street from my shop
(in an industrial neighborhood)
is a ramshackle house
with the yard packed with cars, junk, etc
(next door is a place advertising 'child care'
with a cruely lettered sign)
one day in passing I spotted a 928
deep under the carport
(he must have moved the cars in front or something).
covered with grime
looking like it had been there for years
and, I can't exactly describe it
it just looked like it was for sale
(no sign or anything)
just had that 'look'
so I kept my eye on this car
for a few months
never moved
same spot
never washed
never budged
till one day
I was on my way back from the junk yard down the street
(with the car crazy kid i been hangin with)
and lo and behold: signs of life!
someone had the hood open!
now is a good time to intorduce myself
I pulled in the driveway
and hopped out
(the kid being a shy and polite type, remained in the truck)
what timing!
the dude had just put the car on the charger that morning
and was ready to fire it up
the first time in over 3 years
he proceeded to turn it over
and it fired right up!
after a few minutes, started running pretty damn good, too!
(the kid had joined me at this point, and was eating this all up)
body was real straight
paint was real good (light blue)
interior was real nice, too (very dark blue)
I asked "is this an 'S'"?
"yup" was his answer
(S model has 32 Valve V8 BTW)
turns out it is a 1985 928S
(good choice as far as 928s go)
so, I asked him, "Are you considering selling it"
again "yup" was his answer
turns out he was moving the 928
to get to a '65 Chevelle SS (w?later 454)
that he wanted to take for a spin
also real nice, albeit covered with grime and cobwebs
he also had a '80s Monza with a 350
stuffed under the carport
and several other cool cars packed in his tiny yard
all were covered with dirt and grime
had sat for a few years at least
I do not know his story
seems like he was away for a few years
maybe in prison or something
or overseas in the military?
(that's what he looked like to me)
and had just gotten back
(I didn't ask, he didn't tell)
the 928 is still there
all covered in grime
waiting for me...
down the street from my shop
(in an industrial neighborhood)
is a ramshackle house
with the yard packed with cars, junk, etc
(next door is a place advertising 'child care'
with a cruely lettered sign)
one day in passing I spotted a 928
deep under the carport
(he must have moved the cars in front or something).
covered with grime
looking like it had been there for years
and, I can't exactly describe it
it just looked like it was for sale
(no sign or anything)
just had that 'look'
so I kept my eye on this car
for a few months
never moved
same spot
never washed
never budged
till one day
I was on my way back from the junk yard down the street
(with the car crazy kid i been hangin with)
and lo and behold: signs of life!
someone had the hood open!
now is a good time to intorduce myself
I pulled in the driveway
and hopped out
(the kid being a shy and polite type, remained in the truck)
what timing!
the dude had just put the car on the charger that morning
and was ready to fire it up
the first time in over 3 years
he proceeded to turn it over
and it fired right up!
after a few minutes, started running pretty damn good, too!
(the kid had joined me at this point, and was eating this all up)
body was real straight
paint was real good (light blue)
interior was real nice, too (very dark blue)
I asked "is this an 'S'"?
"yup" was his answer
(S model has 32 Valve V8 BTW)
turns out it is a 1985 928S
(good choice as far as 928s go)
so, I asked him, "Are you considering selling it"
again "yup" was his answer
turns out he was moving the 928
to get to a '65 Chevelle SS (w?later 454)
that he wanted to take for a spin
also real nice, albeit covered with grime and cobwebs
he also had a '80s Monza with a 350
stuffed under the carport
and several other cool cars packed in his tiny yard
all were covered with dirt and grime
had sat for a few years at least
I do not know his story
seems like he was away for a few years
maybe in prison or something
or overseas in the military?
(that's what he looked like to me)
and had just gotten back
(I didn't ask, he didn't tell)
the 928 is still there
all covered in grime
waiting for me...
When I was 8 or 9, my dad took me and my brothers to the NY autoshow. In the parking lot below where we parked (as I remember it) off in the corner was a 250 GT with about an inch of dust and 4 flat tires.
As cool as any 70's car at the show.
My Dad tried to see if it was something that could be bought, but it was apparently abandoned there years before. The law at that time was all such cars needed to go through a public auction. The garage owner was holding the car, hoping to get it in lieu of the years of daily parking rates.
Not quite a barn find but the coolest discovery I've come across. I'm sure its been scooped up in the meantime.
As cool as any 70's car at the show.
My Dad tried to see if it was something that could be bought, but it was apparently abandoned there years before. The law at that time was all such cars needed to go through a public auction. The garage owner was holding the car, hoping to get it in lieu of the years of daily parking rates.
Not quite a barn find but the coolest discovery I've come across. I'm sure its been scooped up in the meantime.