What’s The Best Barn Find You’ve Ever Heard Of?

Two barn finds in my home town, but they’re not for sale. A 39 Ford coupe, under cover, rusty but repairable, and all original, in a lean to just out of town. And a 53 Dodge coupe parked up the side of the house in the weeds between the house and the fence, about two streets over from my place. Neither are visible from the street, and neither of them are for sale.

Just a few years ago an acquaintance found and purchased one of two 300SL Gullwings originally brought to Egypt in the mid 1950s. He found it in Aswan I believe and has been restoring it ever since….one piece at a time!

I remember an email I had years ago. In Europe. Someone bought some land and it had this huge barn on it. The doors were welded shut. They opened it and inside were close to 100 prestige cars from the 50’s and 60’s. Was good just to have a gander. That to me would have to be the best Barn yard find!

Nice story. Most of the “barn finds” that I’ve come across were, in fact, derelicts sinking into their own rust. The owners had very unrealistic ideas about values and wouldn’t consider selling the vehicles for any price. They were the hoarders who were mentally unable to part with their “collections”. In 1978 I did come across a 1963 Lincoln Continental that was sitting under a lean-to shed with about an inch of dust and rotting tires. While I was looking at it a young man came out of the weathered house and asked me what I was doing. I told him I had a thing for suicide door Lincolns and was just looking. He then informed me that it was his grandmother’s car, she was going into a nursing home and he was about to put an ad in the classifieds to sell the car. I asked him how much he was wanting the car and he said $500.00. I told him I’d be right back with the cash. He had the title signed by his grandmother. The old Lincoln started with a jump from my pickup truck and I immediately drove it to a tire shop for 4 new tires. After a good wash and wax the maroon paint looked great. The interior was full of old newspapers and magazines but after a good cleaning the leather was very presentable. Even the air-conditioner worked. I kept it until this generation of Continental was becoming collectible and sold it – not for a huge amount – but enough to make it worth while. I still poke around looking for unusual cars and motorcycles but I’ve never found anything that came close to the Lincoln.

This successful racing 1953 Ferrari was somewhat “buried” in a shipping container for nearly 40 yrs….just about 5 miles from my house. My friend put it there to preserve his past with his father. Later, it was sold for several million and restored. A very long and very interesting story.

Back in 1993, my wife and I were in Mountain Home, Arkansas. We were visiting her parents, who retired there a few years before, and we saw an ad in the local rag, The Baxter Bulletin, for a Packard Super 8 for $6500. I had to check it out, so I call the gentleman who placed the ad and set a time for later that day.

As we pulled into his property, we noticed several old Hudsons, late 30’s Packard’s, and other assorted cars of various states of decay. We pulled to where his house should have been, and he came out of what he lived in, which was a camping trailer residing on 4 large tree stumps. He greeted us nicely, and said he had moved there from California in 1961, where he spent his time repairing Packards for customers all over the south.

He took us around his property, and we saw Packards with trees growing out of their hoods, fenders all around his yard, and a WWI era Packard truck. I told him it all was too much work for me to do, so he said, “Come over to my Pole Barn”. As the door opened, there before us was a 30’x60′ barn full of Packard parts, seats, catalogs, tires, engines, and mechanics guides. He had two Packard Super Eights he said he would sell us for $6,800 a piece, and then he said “Come back here”. There, he showed my wife and I an early ’30 V12 Coupe, and a gorgeous sedan, all original, with the interior stuffed with more Packard parts. He said he wanted $15,000 for each, and would pay us 10\% finders fee if we brought him a buyer. My wife and I had zero funds, and my father in law was not a car guy, so the only thing we left with was seed ticks all over our lower bodies….

I went back a few years later, and found that someone had bought the whole collection, and he had died of cancer. I would have loved to have seen who bought him out, and to have been there when they were cataloging the find.

One of biggest… Maybe not in value, but maybe one of largest in numbers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luu0TWdFFnU

First off .. the false assumption here is that every so called ‘ barn find ‘ is a derelict

Second .. the best barn find I’ve ever found by far was a pristine pair [ yes a pair ] of Ferrari 330 GTC’s in a very derelict barn in rural VT . One… a runner .. the other .. complete but in the process of being reassembled . And when i say pristine .. I don’t mean over restored pristine … I mean original and lovingly cared for over the years as they should be pristine .