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“Just what is it with people's fascination with "barn finds"?


Paul Dobbin

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Restorer32 wrote in the thread, “Yes, They are still out there”. “What is it with people's fascinationwith barn finds?”

For us, a “barn find” is any un-restored original vehicle that was parked inside as it was when last usedand left un-molested, un-serviced, un-washed and un-polished for really long period of inactivity. (Length of time varies, but the longer it sits, the better the story) If it really is an un-heated barn with a dirt floor, the story becomes legendary. For the owner as well as to be re-told in books like the Tom Cotter's book, Cobra in the Barn. Everybody has a story and the fantasy of finding their restorable dream car, in a barn, cheap. It’s the stuff cars guy’s dreams are made of. Even if the vehicle is later polished and made drivable and shown as un-restored, the story of the find becomes part of its pedigree. Once the dirt is gone and the hard times are washed away, it's still the one that was still out there that we can wish we had found.

Matt Harwood wrote: The formula for determining the value of a "barn find" is as follows:

(restored car's value x 1.3) + full frame-offrestoration cost + alcohol = barn find bidder

I hope that is true when my wife eventually holds my estate sale. We currently own three vehicles, that“when found”, were barn finds. Believe me, they offer plenty of enjoyment in the hobby. They all run and we have shown & toured with two of them, one (A1935 Buick) became a Resto-Mod. Looks restored but has a 50 year newer drive line with A/C and comforts) The other two (A 1935 Ford Pickup& a 1966 VW Bug) remain 100% stock and both have been rejected for HPOF. The 35 Ford for “Not being preserved” (Although it drove to the show with all its original equipment.) andthe Bug for fender skirts and widow decals.

The pickup has been, ridiculed, laughed at, written about, (Even featured) photographed endlessly,and always draws a crowd of admirers. It even made the back cover of the V8 Times, was in a German retail catalog, was in a Hulk Hogan movie, and many have tried to buy it. It's always fun to drive it and talk with others about it. While it does not win big trophies, it looks more like trucks really looked in the Great Depression than anything else we see at Car Shows.

Like most barn finds, we know restoration costs will exceed the finished value and probably lessen the fun in the process. For this reason, restoration won’t happen under our ownership. Doing what's required to keep them functional is part of the enjoyment of ownership that is much better than a bowling trophywith a car on top. Actually they're more fun than our restored cars becausethey make us and others smile more and start meaningful conversations about oldcars. People aren’t put off by the high dollar appearance, or their exaggerated over estimation of value.

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Edited by Paul Dobbin
replacing the spaces deleted in the upload (see edit history)
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The trend toward preserving and driving cars as found rather than restoring them is a great thing for the hobby as well as for history. Unfortunately there aren't enough barn find survivors out there to satisfy the demand. Sadly some cars are being "de-restored" to meet the demand just an in the 1960's many high end coupes suddenly became convertibles. There have even been discussions on this forum about the ethics of replacing non authentic parts that most barn finds have accumulated over the years with original parts so as to make them more "untouched". A local ice man drove a '35 Ford pickup. Dad wanted to buy it from him. Finally the clutch went out of the truck and the ice man decided that was a signal he should retire. Dad bought the truck. I replaced the clutch, possibly the first time I actually wrenched on an antique car. This was 1966 or so. Dad paid $300 for the truck, kept it for maybe 5 years and sold it for $700 to my then father-in-law who repainted it. He kept it until 1987 or so and sold it to a local collector for $1500. Like yours this was a truck that never should have been painted or restored in any way. Wish we had it back. It was even the ever popular green.

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A complete and solid car that's easily restored because it's complete should be what a barn find is all about, but somewhere between rat rods and traditional hot rods the meaning has morphed into valuable pidgeon crap and even dirt. Yes, dirt. The idea and those cars found is so far off from reality I can't seem to get my head around it. Add the latest TV shows (we all know they're real, right?) that seem to always depict some lucky stiff stumbling upon a 6 figure classic for chump change and we now have this desire or fantasy becoming a genuine reality. "The way it was" is what some fools seem to think when this feces laiden filthy forgotten artifact is extracted, and oh Dxxx YOU if you even wash it. Really? Did your grand parents drive filthy cars? Did your fathers, uncles, big brothers, and neighborhood gearheads let their treasures become cracked and broken? Did they NEVER wash the cars? I see this in the hot rod sand box a lot. Some kool ol rod is pulled out, paint now cracked and flaking, seats as hard and brittle as the mud stuck in the wheels, and once posted that set comes out screaming "...don't change a thing!!!" In my day the simple and nasty response to that would be a singlefinger salute because IT'S MINE. I'm not some shop hand, nor am I a museum caretaker. This whole removal of the term OWNER can fall in line with barn finds too. I own all of my cars, caretaker my a&*. When treasures are pulled from the ground or the deep sea, do the museums now leave all the mineral build up and dirt? No? Why? Are they out of their minds? Dirt is valuable!

Will it change or get back to what we used to know or love to see? Probably no time soon, but if this ol bastid stumbles onto a forgotten automotive treasure it will be what the original owners remembered, or if an old hot rod, what the builder was showing in the 1st days of completion. I'd bet it didn't include birdshxx and cracked paint on that day, and I can't seem to recall a single OEM who offered such a thing. Can you?

Edited by R W Burgess (see edit history)
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"barnfind" has become a completely generic term - or a play on Cotter's latest book, and the other book is that there are at least 50 shades of barnfinds, IMO.

To me, a clean original vehicle or older restoration coming out of long term ownership and in need of a good clean up and servicing is the ideal "barnfind" and more interesting to me than taking on a full blown restoration. Probably the best way to acquire an nice old car to enjoy, and even show a bit given the proper attention. But not to "keep dusty" - that is kind of silly, IMHO, but obviously others do not agree.

Just another less meaningful descriptive term nowadays...

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Yes, but is rust and rot and bird crap really "patina"? I know what the true meaning of patina is, but I didn't get the memo that wear and tear and deterioration is now included. Patina is perhaps the most abused term in the collector car industry today. REAL patina in a car is when the gauge faces have yellowed just a bit but are still clean, crisp and clear. Perhaps the glass has that sweet amber glow that only time can do but isn't broken and bubbled beyond use. The paint is all there, perhaps a wee bit thin if you look close, but from a distance looks to be fresh, or it might have that subtle cobweb look that only cotton and Simonize produced over decades of care. In the traditional rod world there was a saying, "...barn find is the new flat black...". Let's be fair here, we're not dealing in home furnishings or art. These are machines meant to be more to some than a mode of transportation. They were conceived with pride and care from engineering all the way to the kid that washed it for it's new OWNER at the selling agency. Profit was driven by price or quality, and our reality is the quality driven versions. They were special when the family got it, they still are today. To leave it worn and broken is simply stupid.

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What highlander says. That is my kind of barnfind vs. something that was less loved, perhaps sufferred a mechanical faillure and was pushed into a barn or garage for many years - or a dusty abandoned project that is apart. These may be worthwhile and desirable projects, but to me, that is a restoration project. In fact, "nice original" or "older restoration" that needs to be "woken up" or, "complete project car" gets my attention a lot quicker than "barnfind. You know what is important a bit quicker. But not unlike "restoration" the term has different meanings to different people.

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Copied from The Old Motor,

<header class="entry-header" style="margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 0px; border-width: 2px 0px 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(46, 46, 46); border-bottom-color: rgb(46, 46, 46); outline: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, 'Times New Roman', Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 17.0666675567627px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(250, 248, 237); background-color: rgb(103, 103, 103);">[h=1]Preservation of Paint Work on Antique Automobiles[/h]November 24, 2014

</header>Throughout the long history of the collecting of other forms of antiques, conserving objects in original condition instead of restoration has long been the focus of serious collectors, museums and institutions. Most automobile collecting efforts that started in the 1930s and earlier, have until fairly recently, involved completely or partially restoring vehicles to as new condition. In the past, unfortunately, little thought has been given to preserving original cars, and many have been restored that should have been preserved instead.

On a positive note, in the last twenty years the preservation and conservation movement has made headway into the field of auto collecting. Along this line, many unrestored antique cars have savable paint, but it can be peeling in places, especially on the hood, where it has been baked and dried out from engine heat. In this post, we will share with you what has been learned about reattaching old paint that is peeling here at The Old Motor. The starting point for this was researching current conservation methods and practices used in other fields of antiques and applying some of what was learned to automobiles.

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Yes, but is rust and rot and bird crap really "patina"? I know what the true meaning of patina is, but I didn't get the memo that wear and tear and deterioration is now included. Patina is perhaps the most abused term in the collector car industry today. REAL patina in a car is when the gauge faces have yellowed just a bit but are still clean, crisp and clear. Perhaps the glass has that sweet amber glow that only time can do but isn't broken and bubbled beyond use. The paint is all there, perhaps a wee bit thin if you look close, but from a distance looks to be fresh, or it might have that subtle cobweb look that only cotton and Simonize produced over decades of care. In the traditional rod world there was a saying, "...barn find is the new flat black...". Let's be fair here, we're not dealing in home furnishings or art. These are machines meant to be more to some than a mode of transportation. They were conceived with pride and care from engineering all the way to the kid that washed it for it's new OWNER at the selling agency. Profit was driven by price or quality, and our reality is the quality driven versions. They were special when the family got it, they still are today. To leave it worn and broken is simply stupid.

I would agree that the term "patina" is often misused in the collector car world. In the world of fine arts, "patina" has different meanings when applied to different objects. For example, a fine old bronze would have a dark "patina" which is the result of years of wear, and yes, deterioration (oxidation); however, for a fine piece of furniture, patina would include small dings (the "tear" of wear and tear), wear on drawer pulls and deterioration of the finish. Classic "patina", in my opinion is an overall effect reflected by years of careful use and maintenance. When it comes to my opinion as to what constitutes "patina" with respect to classic vehicles, the vehicle should reflect the aforementioned years of careful use and maintenance. There could be small dings and surface rust in the bodywork, wear (no tears) on the upholstery, fading and chipping of the paint, surface rust on the frame and exhaust system and the use of whatever post-production parts necessary to keep the vehicle "well-maintained". The vehicle must be DETAILED CLEAN! In my opinion, "rust and rot and bird crap" are not part of "patina" and are not considered attractive by most folks.

I have a 1938 Chevrolet which I consider to be a "survivor", but not a barn find 'cause I didn't find it in a barn. If I were to keep this car as a true "survivor", it wouldn't even start, much less would it be safe to drive. I'm in the process of rebuilding the brakes, and am using "correct" parts wherever possible, but, of course, I'm saving the old original parts. If a part is available at my local NAPA store, well, that's where it'll come from. If it's broken, even on my "survivor", I'm gonna fix it.

I'm sure many folks will disagree with my above-stated opinions, and that is fine. Just because someone disagrees with me, I don't consider them to be "stupid", it's just that their perception of the world is different than mine.

Hey, this is a fine hobby, and I like everything from "100 pointers" to rat rods. I think there's a place for just about any philosophy ... well, maybe not entering a fine classic in the local demolition derby.

Be of good cheer,

Grog

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Never have liked the term "barn find". My second car, a 27 Chev 2 dr.Sedan, was pulled out of a barn. The rodent, chicken droppings, and whatever else was in there made tearing it down a horrible job. Decided to primer the body and sold it for a nice profit instead. After that experience I looked for "garage finds" which are better maintained except for the dust, dirt, and sun damage. They are all numbers matching originals found in the Twin Cities.

I often thought of lining the garage with used barn wood, just so the ads would sound better to some folks.

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The "Barn Find" dream is one many of us have ; we may not admit it, but it is often in the back of our minds. So many "restored " cars have been either poorly restored or over restored that to find a car that is still for the most part as it left the factory is becoming a rarity. {even if the passage of time has not been kind} The "Restorers " out there may not like to admit it , but much of the work that has been done to old cars over the last 50 years or so is squarely in the "fix- up " category.

The wealthy among us can choose from the best of the correctly restored or genuine Survivor grade offerings. For the rest of us an unmolested barn find , rough but still within reason is our "budget dream". As has been pointed out there is a finite supply of projects in this category, and there are of course opportunist's who will try to cash in.

The old car hobby is a mine field of money pit cars which may look pretty good at curb side, but are in reality glossed over heaps. A barn find will often present a clearer picture of the true condition of the vehicle in question, and will often presurve many details lost with renovated or poorly restored prospects. I look at barn finds as an extension of the "it's only original once" principal. They also can extend the price range to a lower territory on a given make, Model, and Year. This may let some of us small fish in on a POTENTIALLY higher value/ more interesting, machine than we would normally be able to afford.

Greg in Canada... still looking for that ideal Barn Find

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On the simplest level, it is the element of surprise finding a vehicle of value thought lost forever and getting it at a good price because of the "conditions" they are sitting in while the “car” itself is in great restorable condition. That is the fascination.

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Good points all. Maybe by stupid I'm being a bit harsh. I was once told "...and I even painted over the original dents...". Yes, I'm serious, that's what I was told. I can't find the "dent" option in the catalog though. Does that make it a COPO? I'm in the business, I strive for fit and finish that's becoming to the cars I do. If I had a $100 bill for every "...never that good..." that I heard I could buy 1/2 the "barn finds" in the USA. Sorry kids, but Packard and others cut and buffed the cars to perfection. Even the Model A was wet sanded and polished (except fenders and standard pickups) and there's a depth to those cars in all of their original pictures. I wouldn't restore an operable time capsule as that too would be what I call stupid. Original survivor cars are the foundations I restore to when there's an example available. Yes there has to be some exceptions in our modern world, but with restraint and discipline we can repeat the past closer than many think. Next...?

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"Barn finds" in the traditional sense have always been the holy grail of the hobby. We all peer into garages and barns when we're out in the country looking for some undiscovered relic. We love that, and there are still some undiscovered gems out there. But the term has gotten blown all out of proportion and for some reason, even experienced collectors are grabbing up grubby, neglected, downright abused cars simply because they're unrestored. A great survivor is a car that hasn't been restored but has always been loved and maintained. It's worn, scuffed, and maybe a little shabby, but it hasn't been shoved into an outbuilding for three decades and forgotten, slowly decomposing back into its base elements.

And as much as I love the car and Jack Rich was a friend of mine, I think this was the car that started the current extreme "barn find" cult we're seeing on the auction circuit:

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Kudos to RM Auctions for completely inventing a whole new category of collector cars that they could use to extract money from well-heeled but not particularly well-seasoned collectors. And now it's a legitimate phenomeon--nobody wants to be the only guy without a "barn find" in his collection, right?

Yes, it's cool that it's unrestored, but when they decided to leave even the disintegrated ancient tires flapping around on the wheels, well, that was taking "conservation" to a whole new (and stupid) level. As someone up above pointed out, having an original car is great, but if it's very deteriorated, original or not, there's not much point to leaving it deteriorated is there? You aren't preserving anything except the fact that the bolts haven't yet come loose. The factory sure didn't install the rust and rotted wood.

I love that Olds Limited and think it's cool to see it unrestored, don't get me wrong, but my point is that Jack did put new tires on it and get it running, so it is once again functional as an automobile. Every heap of rusty scrap coming out of a barn isn't some relic worthy of preservation just because it hasn't totally reverted to iron oxide.

What about that 1958 Chevy Apache pickup truck that was sold at the Lambrecht Auction for $80,000? It had something like 15 miles on it, but it was completely wasted. It had been stored outdoors for decades and nothing on the truck was usable in its current condition (is that the one a tree fell on, I can't remember). What the heck do you do with it? It's not usable as-is, it's not a benchmark for restorers looking for originality (much of the original markings and hard-to-replicate tags and assembly line details were long since worn away by the elements), it's just a deteriorated old pickup that happened to have never been driven. Restore it and it's just like the thousands of other restored ones out there. Someone paid twice what a restored one would cost to own one that will never, ever do anything more than sit there being broken. Restoring it cuts its value in half to current market levels. Leaving it as-is leaves you with an $80,000 hole in your wallet and a piece of static yard art that is neither pretty nor educational. What can a genuine collector possibly gain from that except being "the guy" who bought it?

I also think there's a bit of vicarious excitement of the discovery involved. The guy buying the car at auction obviously didn't find the car, extract it from the barn, and get it home. But by leaving the dirt intact, the auction company is allowing the buyer to live that lie if he wants to. You will note that they used to clean the dirt off barn finds so you could see the car's actual condition. Not anymore. I just saw a "barn find" at auction that had a 6-inch circle of dirt wiped off the windshield so the driver could see out of it while rolling it out of the trailer at the auction, but the rest of the car was still caked with dirt and bird droppings. And I'll wager that dirt was carefully bagged and tagged so it could be reapplied later to complete the look (I'm only half-joking).

There is no logic. It's the same as buying a new house, then painting everything beige because "the next buyer" will want it to be neutral. Meanwhile, you're going to live there for 15 years. Enjoy your time and let the future take care of itself.

True survivors are gems worthy of preservation. There are many wonderful cars out there that are, as my friend and fellow forum commentator BillP likes to say, "unf*cked with" and that's a big, big plus in my book. But leaving a rusted hulk in its rusted hulk condition simply because "Hey, it's original and it's a barn find!" is illogical at best and foolish at worst.

On the other hand, I won't claim that I'm not taking advantage of the lunacy--if guys want rust and dirt and a long-term history of sitting around doing nothing, I'm happy to give it to them. As a result, I have the following "barn find" available for sale. It at least fits the textbook definition and is available for about 10% of the cost of the Lambrecht truck. And mine runs!

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Caveat Emptor!

Sincerely,

David Hannum

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The draw with barn finds is the very same thing that draws folks to finding hidden treasure of ANY sort. Finding a treasure that has been languishing or hidden for years/centuries has always been an exciting event. You folks are certainly correct in that the term has been misused and beaten to death on the NOT real barn finds. Discovering a vehicle with a ton of dirt on it is fine, but it's not the dirt that is worth anything. It's the fact that it is still dirty from the actual discovery that gives it more worth to some. The dirt simply verifies (in some cases) that the vehicle is an actual "barn find".

Edited by keiser31 (see edit history)
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Corvette barn find! Looks like C-4 Series, but not sure until we are able to extract it from the barn and look more closely, but all numbers are matching! Left in pristine "as found" condition. See below:

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OPEN TO ALL OFFERS

To help you keep your barn find in "as found" condition, we offer the following products/services:

  • Finish enhancements, such as DIRT (caked, dust, globs, mud); RUST ACCELERATORS;
  • Interior enhancements such as DROPPINGS or PILES if you wish (chicken, bat, cat, rat, cow, horse), also, see DIRT above;
  • Cobwebs, interior or exterior;
  • Partially decomposed or skeletal remains (rat, bat, cat, bug, chicken, Col. Sanders chicken bones at extra cost, human, horse;
  • DENTS, DINGS or MAJOR DAMAGE This service is available on an hourly basis and would include the use of such enhancement tools as nail files, ice tongs, prosthetic limbs, hammers, sledge hammers, 389 ton "cube crusher" (for the "guess what it used to be" crowd);
  • Finish enhancement application crew. Again, available on an hourly basis.

Our enhancement crew:

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We specialize in converting 2010 or newer vehicles into classic, reeking, grubby barn finds. We can provide any required documentation of your barn find. We'll also supply the barn if necessary.

We can do business.

Jeers,

P.T. Barnum Grog

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post-98383-143142849737_thumb.jpg

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To help you keep your barn find in "as found" condition, we offer the following products/services:

  • Finish enhancements, such as DIRT (caked, dust, globs, mud); RUST ACCELERATORS;
  • Interior enhancements such as DROPPINGS or PILES if you wish (chicken, bat, cat, rat, cow, horse), also, see DIRT above;
  • Cobwebs, interior or exterior;
  • Partially decomposed or skeletal remains (rat, bat, cat, bug, chicken, Col. Sanders chicken bones at extra cost, human, horse;
  • DENTS, DINGS or MAJOR DAMAGE This service is available on an hourly basis and would include the use of such enhancement tools as nail files, ice tongs, prosthetic limbs, hammers, sledge hammers, 389 ton "cube crusher" (for the "guess what it used to be" crowd);
  • Finish enhancement application crew. Again, available on an hourly basis.

We specialize in converting 2010 or newer vehicles into classic, reeking, grubby barn finds. We can provide any required documentation of your barn find. We'll also supply the barn if necessary.

We can do business.

Jeers,

P.T. Barnum Grog

That is great!

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The time machine aspect of a Barn Find is very fascinating for many folks. "Garage Finds" and "Warehouse Finds" are just as fascinating.

My 1937 Ford Survivor sat in a garage from the early 1960s until 1990 and then sat in a large warehouse from 1990 to 2012.

Here is a photo of my 1937 Ford after it emerged from a 50 year slumber (in a garage and a warehouse) and a photo after I cleaned it up and got it running.

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Edited by Pomeroy41144 (see edit history)
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Here's one of our barn finds, although we knew about it all along. My dad actually bought this car in 1960 but had to sell it a year later in 1961 as he was still attending college and had too many cars. He sold it to a friend who lived 2 hours away. The friend did nothing with it for 48 years, and we were able to get it back in 2009 from his widow. It was last on the road in 1968.

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Loaded up for the ride home.

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Lots of dust blew off on the ride home.

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The same day after a quick bath.

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The BMW-based Spohn from the Le Roy Hartung collection had the epitome of that "barn find patina". It was shown roped off in front of the Giant Center at Hershey in advance of the big auction a few years back. Despite its having to be extracted from its habitat, handled, transported, and put in place, I could not see one speck of dust or dirt that had been disturbed. The decision to go to extremes to keep it "barnie" seems to have paid off. Though in need of a total restoration I believe it brought in the neighborhood of 165K. I wonder how much less it would have yielded if cleaned up and made to run.....

Edited by Dave Henderson (see edit history)
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3 things:

To an American, anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

We all used to get that sinking feeling when we read about a nice original antique car that was bought by some numbskull who had to "restore" it with non original colors, upholstery etc so it looked like a caricature of itself, basically ruining an original car that will never be original again. Because that is the way the cool kids at Pebble Beach do it.

Now it is the opposite, not only do they want an "original" car, the more it looks like the wreck of the Titanic the more "original" it is.

The pendulum swings too far one way, then too far the other.

An original, unmolested car is easier to restore than one that has had 4 or 5 bad body and paint jobs, non original parts installed, original parts lost or broken etc. Anyone who has ever worked on old cars can attest to this. As parts supplies dry up and restoration costs rise, the value of such a car becomes evident.

Then finally, people are appreciating unrestored cars as history and that can't be a bad thing, even if they go too far sometimes.

Edited by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)
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Here's my take on the "barn find" and "original" mania. It was a relatively recent invention by dealers and auctioneers so they could get just as much money for beaters and original cars as they do for fully restored cars. The "barn find," "lovely patina," etc. slogans sound just like made-up BS.

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So one of the big variables is where the line is between a car needing to be restored (which does not lessen the car as a find, but keeping a dirty, rusty lump is not everyone's idea of preservation) vs. cleaned up like Pomeroy's very cool Ford sedan. As much as I like the show, this makes me think of Chasing Classic Cars where Wayne finds a Cobra and is hesitating about washing the dust and crud off of it, seems like presentable paint underneath.

I was following a conversation on another site concerning a traditional hot rod - a lot of complaints that the car was "too clean for my tastes" - hmm, I guess to each their own. Kind of flys in the face of advice I was once given when selling a Corvette with some needs - "don't sweat that, kid, clean it up to the best of your ability, you are selling a dream as much as a car" - advice I have followed since when selling - still sound??! :confused:

Edited by Steve_Mack_CT (see edit history)
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That must have been a great car to have in college! My dad bought my mom a 140MC in 1971 for 400.00 as a mother's day present. Everybody laughed cause it was a bit of a POS. He restored that entire car for 3k. Along the way he bought a 58 150 FHC that was mostly complete. I started saving money in 8th grade to restore that to use in HS. That dream went nowhere and I settled on a GTO.

Part of the allure of a barn find is that idea that a car has not been messed with for 30 or 40 years or more. Condition may be worse, but completeness and originality should be better - in theory.

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I met a lawyer who told me a story about his 140. He was accepted into a law school in Florida and was going to drive his Jag from Chicago where he lived to school in Florida after which he had to sell it. On the drive he decided to see if he could drive the Jag 100 miles at 100 mph or over. He figured that it wouldn't matter if a trooper stopped him since he wouldn't be driving anyway while in school. Somewhere on the interstate thru Virginia he accomplished the feat. My 140 drove like a dump truck 'til you got her up to 60 or so then she'd really romp.

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Do you have the overdrive? My mom's has the high compression head and overdrive. That really makes the car move. I don't know that I ever went more than 80mph but at that speed in overdrive the motor is basically idling. It has been a while since I last drove it but my impression was that is felt very solid and heavy for such a little car. My dad just had the car resprayed and reupholster in the last couple of years in the blue that he restored it in back in 73. I was pushing him to get the heritage certificate which he finally did. Car came back as originally black with red interior - I was bummed he didn't do it earlier.

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I started selling cars to adults when I was 13. My Grandfather had a Used Tire and Used Car Business

post-46237-143142850499_thumb.jpg I am the seasoned mechanic in the black sweat shirt, about 3 years seniority there. We called them Lizards and if you go to a closed dealer auction the term still floats around. The barn find term is a media term. The best I can figure is that it is a disambiguation for "Where'd they drag that lizard from?" And answers by implying "Oh, that's a good thing." Unintended idle, long term storage has never been a good thing for a car.

For me barn find reminds me of the media inspired telephone characterization where one points there thumb at their ear and their little finger at their mouth while curling the remaining three fingers. That's a phone! Well, they got a few million Bozos to think so and imitate them.

If I die tonight my wife has instructions to scrape the registration stickers off my cars. She knows the license plates are on with wing nuts. And there are five full vacuum cleaner bags on the shelf. She'll have barn finds for sale by noon.

Selling Cars, the best American Sport!

Bernie

Edited by 60FlatTop (see edit history)
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Mine does have OD but it never worked. Fastest I ever drove it was about 117. I chickened out but still had gas pedal and overdrive if it had worked. I was still recuperating from having both knees crushed in an auto accident so to stop the Jag in a hurry I had to use both feet on the brake pedal. My car was originally Suede Green with green interior and a French Grey top. Disc wheels and spats. Dad had a tire shop and bought a 150S Roadster from a customer for $700 in about 1969. A few years later we sold it for $3500 and thought we made a killing.

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Actually old Jag engines are pretty much bullet proof but do require regular maintenance. We've restored several XKs for customers as well as a Mark VII. Just can't seem to get around to working on mine. Now, admittedly, if you were to set a team of engineers to the task of designing a car that would rust as fast as possible they would come up with something closely resembling an early Jag.

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The engine is bullet proof, that is true. I think some of the later cars, notably the V12 gave the marque a bad name. My mom drove that car as an every day driver in the summer for 20 years. Never broke down once or failed to start. You did need to watch the temp gauge on hot days. Big engine in a very small space.

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