Barnfinds - what is your definition?

[Terry Bond]

Got around to reading my latest Old Cars Weekly and there was a rather enticing article about a "barn find" brass Peerless, complete with a pic of a wonderful early brass car, nose sticking out of a barn. Read with interest and anxiously awaited the story to begin talking about "creaking doors" "Cobwebs" "a little old lady..." but never got there. Seems this car has been on the show/tour circuit off-and-on for a long time and was pretty well known. Apparently it's been owned by various collectors most of its life.

So, how does the connection get made to being "found in a barn?" It may have been stored in one for a few years between shows or tours, but I wouldn't consider it a true "barn find" as I understand them. Maybe good old barn-finds are so rare that nobody understands what it is really like to discover an antique car in a barn! Maybe it's just good old fashioned used car salesmanship involved since car is going to be sold.

What are your thoughts - and/or good REAL "barn find" stories (complete with pictures too!)

Terry

[trimacar]

Hi- to me, a barnfind is a car or cars that is/are virtually unknown, until the finder of the prize follows leads, or lucks into the fact, that the cars are there.

If someone bought a bunch of cars in 1970, and put them in a barn, then in 2007 someone "finds" them (of course, they have been known to local collectors for years), that, to me, is not a barn find. The recent "find" in Maryland is in that category, as a lot of folks knew that Buddy had these cars, just no one pressed hard enough to buy them.

If someone happens upon a farmer in the wilds of Virginia in 2006, and finds a 1936 Pierce Arrow Club sedan that has been sitting in a shed since 1951; to me that is a real barn find. My ego has to further state that I did just that, got the car running, and (much to my chagrin, I would have liked to keep it) sold it at Hershey 2006/

There are cars that are virtually unknown in collector car circles, in warehouse storage, at both the Smithsonian and the Henry Ford; those surely aren't barn finds, even though they are out of public eye for decades.

The "barn find" is a neat concept, but to me it is overused lately; if a collector puts a car away in the last 20 or 30 years, then it is hard to say it is a barn find.

David Coco Winchester Virginia

[trimacar]

Here are pictures of barn find Pierce, in shed, then after jacking up, removing rims, cleaning same and putting on tires to make a roller. Many people saw the car at Hershey 2006. I drove it on to the red field. One observer said "it doesn't look like it should run!"

David Coco

[trimacar]

trying to get second picture attached

[R W Burgess]

David, your pictures are too large, that's why you're having trouble uploading them. I have corrected those two.

Wayne

[1937hd45]

Barn Find and Rat Rod or two overworked terms today, but if you plan to sell on eBay they must be used to draw attention. In a perfect world a true "Barn Find" would be some brass era or Classic that has been hidden away since WWII, it todays world any vehicle that has sat unused for 25 years qualifies.

[alsancle]

Bob, you are 100% right about being overused.

Required:

1. Unknown but maybe rumored to exist.

2. Unseen for years (at least 25 but 50 is better)

3. Cannot be owned by a collector or somebody that knows what's going on. I've got one that hasn't seen the light of day for 40 years or so but I'm not going to call it a barn find.

On the other hand my Stutz qualifies on every count (including the barn):

http://www.townisp.com/~alsancle

[Guest imported_MrEarl]

While looking at some 54 Buick parts behind a barn up in MD a couple of weeks ago I looked inside the barn and discovered about 4-5 mid fifties Nash and Ramblers. The owner said he has been storing them for about 20 years with hopes of restoring. He is in his seventies so what are the chances of them being restored by him. If I were a Nash Rambler man, would this be a barn find...or... not a barn find.

[Guest windjamer]

My nephew bought a house about ten years ago, and has been telling me about the old gent next door that colects and rebulds bycicles. Told me the guy has hundreds in sheads.In the ten years he has been neighbors he has never been in the mans garage,never evan saw the door open.Last week the old gent(over 80) asked him to help move a car he has in there that he has lost the ability to finish. Turns out its a 1929 Chevrolet woody.I have been invited to look at it,Im told it was placed in the garage and work started over 50 years ago. I would call this a barn find.

[oldcarfudd]

In the mid-60s a friend asked me to help retrieve a Packard from a chicken coop. Turned out to be a 1923 Packard 6 touring. It wasn't in a chicken coop; it was in an abandoned moonshine still, and had been used to deliver the stuff and outrun the cops in prohibition days. That was a barn find, and I wrote it up for Antique Automobile. I imagine that car's been in my friends garage all these years. If he decides to sell it, will it be a barn find all over again? Or is it like "original"; a car can only be original (or a barn find) once?

[CheckerJim]

Trimacar that pierce is amazing. I would love to find something like that. as for the "Barn Find" they are getting harder and harder to find. but they are still there. I have been searching all over Nevada for "Barn Finds" but most of them that are still around are gaurded by angry farmers that dont want you on there land! Dern City folk

[Guest bossmustang]

Hi Terry,

Tom Cotter has written two great books on barn finds. The first was the Cobra in the Barn and the latest is The Hemi in the Barn. Both are available from Motorbooks. I enjoyed reading Cobra so much that I only read a few stories at a time so I would not finish it too fast. I have now reread several of the stories and enjoyed them just the same as before. I just started Hemi in the Barn and am looking forward to reading the stories because some of them are about friend's cars that they found. Tom was gracious enough to autograph them for me at Hershey in the Coker Tire tent on a rainy Thursday. Can't wait for the next one.

Jim Aberts

[C5M1]

New member here jents.

Would a desert find qualify? lol. Been sitting in a desert gully for 50 or 60 years, not even sure what it is. 193? suicide doors front and back, and no bullet holes! Will try to post some pics if I can ever figure out how.

Cheers, dennis

[31 Essex super6]

I found a car which is a barn find. 1931 Essex super six The sat since 1952 in this very old barn. It took about 2 hours getting the old girl and loading on too the trailer

[Ivan Saxton]

Even in the mid 1960's, you would seldom find an old car that had not been viewed by someone in the hobby in some form or other. We were near a place where we went to collect the frame of an early Chenard Walcher for a friend in Canberra nad stopped for some reason. I started a conversation with one of the locals who was passenger in the car about 1920 on a trip to Melbourne. Ten minutes later we were loading dismantled remains of a small 1913 Benz, purchased for $10. The radiator turned out to be in possession of another car entusiast about 40 miles away, which he had gathered from another site. The W5 Benz did not excite me,despite wire wheels. I never started to restore it before a fellow with big business in Melboure who was mad on Mercedes and Benz gave me a calico bag with 30g for it 30 years later. (Some of that helped start my eldest son at university, and he is a theoretical astrophysicist. He has never learned to drive a car though; and I doubt if he could focus his mind on anything so trivial [as Ken Purdy wrote]).

Possibly the best recovery of an unseen vehicle for restoration was shown in the old UK magazine Veteran and Vintage in the 60's or thereabouts. A pre-WW1 Graf and Stift was pulled out after many decades of submersion in a Scandinavian harbour. There wasn't much left of the body, but there was still air pressure in the tyres.

Regards, Ivan Saxton

[CheckerJim]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: C5M1</div><div class="ubbcode-body">New member here jents.

Would a desert find qualify? lol. Been sitting in a desert gully for 50 or 60 years, not even sure what it is. 193? suicide doors front and back, and no bullet holes! Will try to post some pics if I can ever figure out how.

Cheers, dennis </div></div>

I think a desert find is great, I found my 1929 dodge in the desert. early 30's with 4 suicide doors sounds like an old essex or maybe a hudson. I would love to see pictures of it.

[C5M1]

Trying my first picture, only took a day.lol. This thing worth a two hour drive to pick up?

[C5M1]

another

[Dynaflash8]

The Desert car appears to be a 1934 Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler 6 or a Desoto. Best guess: 1932, 1933 or 1934 Dodge or Plymouth. Not enough left for a two hour drive unless you need a door or are desperate for a back fender.

[Twitch]

...yet there are those devout souls who haunt these forums who believe a decayed derelict like that should be restored to its glory days.

[C5M1]

Thanks dynaflash8, I was guessing about the same. Only I haven't seen any Dodge or plym. with both fenders cut out for a spare, kinda threw me off. Will let it set for future explorers.

Regards, dennis

[tbonetraveler]

My experience with Barn Finds is that its better to buy the Barn.