HAGERTY BARN FIND COLLECTION

[STEVE POLLARD]

Just watched Tom Cotter's Barn Find Hunter,  episode 46.  37 mins long and it was just unbelievable !!   You will enjoy it ! 

 

 

 

[K8096]

That guy must have bought the 1929 Stutz model M sedan at Hershey.   It was for sale in the old White Field (airport runway) 20 years ago.   It was dark blue then & unrestored.   I remember the owner at Hershey saying it had sold.  The windshield was modified in the mid 30's to be slanted to look more modern.  It was done in a very workmanlike manner.  

[Laughing Coyote]

OMG! He's got a gold mine.  

[intimeold]

Just Amazing!

[Lebowski]

I planned on just watching the first couple of minutes of the video but ended up watching the whole thing. He has an amazing collection of MoPar muscle cars, old Corvettes, Nomads, '58 Chevys, a couple of '59 Caddy ragtops including one with 3 deuces, some old Jaguars, and a LOT more. The owner looks to be at least 80 but of course none of them are for sale. It's obvious by the flat tires that most haven't been driven in decades which is unfortunate because I think old cars are meant to be driven but apparently he doesn't think that way. Anyway, I would recommend watching the video because most if not all of you have probably never seen a 100+ car collection like this in one place that hasn't been driven for a LONG time. Thanks to Steve for posting this amazing video.... 

[STEVE POLLARD]

I had to watch it again.....just to see what I missed the first time. I just like the fact that it's just not only one marque of automobiles.... just wow !!

[Big Beat]

I find such hoards very sad. Those cars just sit there and deteriorate. He never drives them, he no longer even has the strength to organize them and keep all the junk and debris and mice away from them. Yes, it's a nice collection and it's a good thing that somebody has saved these cars for posterity, but they are certainly not actively enjoyed in the present. Just memories, mostly, at this point probably better served by a good photo album instead. I always thought that keeping two or three well-maintained cars was much better than a neglected hoard like this. Heck, I only have one vintage car, and life gets so busy sometimes that I can't find the time to take it out for a drive as often as I'd like.

[1912Staver]

If I had the $ resources to assemble a collection like this I would definitely do things a little differently. However there have been a number of collections of far more valuable cars than these kept in much worse storage conditions.  And that suffered far more damage than these cars are seeing.  The Bugatti "sleeping beauties " jump in to mind. Also the "falling down shed's " find in France a couple of years ago.  And these were both collections with several individual multi - million $ cars.

 Many cars are to one degree or another in the same boat as their owners get into their declining years. It can be a million $ classic, a big block 4 speed Chevelle,  a 57 Corvette or a 77 Granada. We all get old eventually. Some of us tend to part with objects as we age and some of us cling to the things we cherish. Eventually most are sold to someone younger and the cycle begins fresh.

 

Greg in Canada

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[K8096]

Something else I'll tell you guys.   The owner of all those cars in the video is not some uneducated, backwoods hick either.   I talked with him at Hershey 15+ years ago.   He told me he was born & raised in the Metro NYC area.   He only moved to Tennessee later on, maybe when he was in his 30s. 

    

Edited December 23, 2018 by K8096 (see edit history)

[capngrog]

1 hour ago, K8096 said:

Something else I'll tell you guys.   The owner of all those cas in the video is not some uneducated, backwoods hick either.   I talked with him at Hershey 15+ years ago.   He told me he was born & raised in the Metro NYC area.   He only moved to Tennessee later on, maybe when he was in his 30s. 

    

 

So, if he's from Tennessee, he's an " ... uneducated, backwoods hick ...". 

 

Cheers,

Grog

[Marty Roth]

While on an AACA TOUR - I learned of this private collection, spoke with the owner, and arranged for our entire group to follow his father back to his home from where we saw the “Beltie Cattle” in order to view the collection. Wonderful afternoon and gracious host.

 

sometimes the unplanned and unexpected side trips turn out to be the most enjoyable. I inadvertently left my new and very expensive digital camera behind in their washroom and didn’t have it with me for the next tour up in Bar Harbor, Maine. Thankfully when I finally realized much later where I had last used the camera, I made a side trip and retrieved it. Again our host was very thoughtful.

[franklinman]

For most of us, especially those who derive their greatest enjoyment from driving our cars, it is sad to see a group of car languishing like this.  The lack of care is disturbing. However the fact remains that they are being preserved, to a greater or lesser degree depending upon your definition and/or point of view.  And they will, at some point in the future end up being transferred to other ownership under which they will receive the repair and restoration they deserve.  This is not a new phenomenon.  Many of us "old timers" can well remember other "stashes" of cars such as the Pollard collection.  I eventually ended up owning one of Barney's brass era cars and restoring two others for customers myself.  The saddest part of that collection was the fire that eventually destroyed many desirable cars before they could be saved by other collectors.  For some folks it's all about the number of vehicles they can accumulate.  As I've grow older I've found that, for me, it's better to have fewer cars that I can reasonably maintain and use, and leave the rest for others to enjoy.  Again, everyone has their own take on the hobby.  Time will pass and these cars will get sorted out as well.  

[8E45E]

28 minutes ago, franklinman said:

  For some folks it's all about the number of vehicles they can accumulate.  As I've grow older I've found that, for me, it's better to have fewer cars that I can reasonably maintain and use, and leave the rest for others to enjoy.  Again, everyone has their own take on the hobby. 

My firm rule I made with myself about ten years ago, is:  If I buy another vintage vehicle, one I currently have MUST go!  I have a cap on my amount now.

 

Craig

[chistech]

21 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

My firm rule I made with myself about ten years ago, is:  If I buy another vintage vehicle, one I currently have MUST go!  I have a cap on my amount now.

 

Craig

Seems my wife has that same rule for me!

[1912Staver]

My wife has recently gone a step further. I bought another one two weeks ago, and the requirement for wifely happiness is that 5 of my parts hulks will make their final journey to the scrap man by my birthday , the end of June.  The back hulk storage area is getting a bit crowded however I have always found it easier to leave parts cars intact rather than stripping them and dealing with heaps of parts I might someday use.

 

Greg in Canada.

[chistech]

4 hours ago, Dave Fields said:

I basically wish that basically the term "barn find" would go the way of the over use of the term "Basically." Basically, I wonder if the people that use the word barn know what an actual barn is. Basically, when I see 2X4s and metal walls, I know it basically isn't a barn. There is no AACA category for "barn find." There is no value guide for Barn find. There is a lot of hype about Barn finds, that really aren't. 

Basically, lots of pole barns are indeed square or round poles with 2x4's crossing the vertical poles with aluminum or steel siding along with steel or aluminum roofing. They've been building barns like this for over 50 years. My own 32' Olds went into storage in 66' and it was a aluminum skinned pole barn. There were over 80 cars in total in 3 barns built this way. (sorry, couldn't resist using "basically".)😀

 

pole barn

noun

 

1. a farm building with no foundation and with sides consisting of corrugated steel or aluminum panels supported by poles set in the ground typically at eight-foot intervals.

[60FlatTop]

16 hours ago, capngrog said:

So, if he's from Tennessee, he's an " ... uneducated, backwoods hick ...". 

 

That's an example of a poorly programed relational database.

 

There's a lot of hype about finds that really aren't.

 

And my Wife doesn't believe a word about the cars I buy.

[1912Staver]

Another notion I would desire left the hobby is the often repeated opinion of "they are just sitting there rotting" , or similar words to the same effect. 

  All old car are in fact just sitting there rotting. Some of us are able to slow the rot to a crawl, and some cars are in a part of the world where the rot is at a crawl due to the environment but the overall reality is that they are all indeed deteriorating . And have been from the moment they rolled off the assembly floor onward.

  If you feel that strongly about a particular make and model buy one yourself and keep in a environmentally controlled vault.  But otherwise they are objects owned largely by fellow old car people and all other factors are somewhere on a very broad spectrum. 

 If someone is close to aging out of the hobby then the cars will be soon enough be in someone else's care. It could even be your care if you are in the right place, at the right time with the required quantity of beans in your pocket.

 Worry about your own vehicle care and be thankful that all those other obsolete transport devices at least survived to this point. You never know , some day you might have the opportunity to extend your careful stewardship to additional gem's.

 

Greg in Canada 

Edited December 21, 2018 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[8E45E]

8 hours ago, chistech said:

Seems my wife has that same rule for me!

Fortunately, I don't have any use for one of those!

 

Craig

[CarlLaFong]

The Lincoln Cosmopolitan was the top of the line, excluding the Continental

[Xander Wildeisen]

18 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

Another notion I would desire left the hobby is the often repeated opinion of "they are just sitting there rotting" , or similar words to the same effect. 

  All old car are in fact just sitting there rotting. Some of us are able to slow the rot to a crawl, and some cars are in a part of the world where the rot is at a crawl due to the environment but the overall reality is that they are all indeed deteriorating . And have been from the moment they rolled off the assembly floor onward.

  If you feel that strongly about a particular make and model buy one yourself and keep in a environmentally controlled vault.  

[Gunsmoke]

I don't think there is a serious old car nut out there who has not at some point in their life fantasized about finding a special old car in a hidden spot, be it a barn, basement, the woods, behind a shed, the end of the rainbow or any other unexpected place. Let's just use the term Barn.  I have fantasized such a find most of my life, specifically finding an old roadster left for dead. When I talked to my dad about old cars in the 80's and 90's, he always reminded me of the "Big Black modified '31 Chrysler Roadster " a friend of his had in the early 50's. Dad died in 1999, so I forgot about that car, but occasionally thought about finding it some day. In 2013, having had no luck finding my fantasy car, I built this half model roadster from a block of scrap hardwood, pretty primitive, but symbolic of what I imagined finding, and to reinforce the idea, used some 200 year old barnboard to "house it". A year later in the fall of 2014, while out scouting as usual, I found the car my dad had mentioned 40 years earlier in an outbuilding, where it had sat forlornly for about 45 years. Yes I was excited, almost shocked, and now I don't fantasize at all. I'm just hoping I can finish it and take it for a ride before it becomes a barnfind for someone else!  

[1912Staver]

That is truly remarkable. You were able to find and buy the exact car your father knew of ! Hopefully you will be able to rebuild it in reasonably short order.

 

Merry Christmas , Greg

[Gunsmoke]

Thanks fellow Canuck, better still it is a Canadian-built car, one of very few (possibly 3 or 4) CD8 Roadsters built in Windsor Ontario in May 1931 (a guess based on serial number sequence). As you may know the Chrysler Heritage Center has no build info for cars produced in Canada, but 381 CD8's of all styles were built here, mostly Sedans and Coupes. This is only Roadster known to exist. So rare on several fronts. Here it is in 1957 as my Dad knew it, driven by a friend of his, and with another friend of his who owned the equally rare 1940 Packard Phaeton. I spoke to one of them 2 yrs ago, he was 94 at the time and gave me these photos, confirming my Dad's story about the car. Note it still has same mis-matched bumper when I found it! Merry Christmas.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Gunsmoke (see edit history)

[John_Mereness]

I took the Airedale on a walk yesterday (nobody bothers me when walking a show dog on a leash) and we stopped in at a vacant house (actually 2 were on our list yesterday) that I would guess would have last been lived in since the 1980's (had mini blinds in the windows, and other than that no way to date it without doing better homework)  - could not figure out what was in the garage, but they are smaller, low, and covered with heavy black plastic, plus two telephone poles planted in front of the garage door too and a good 50 County notices taped to the front door (and a 350K English Tudor too even though will need rebuilt - the 3" thick ivy vines that cross from one side of the other and across the slate roof do not come without serious issue).