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History What's in the barn?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by HOTRODPRIMER, Sep 13, 2019.

  1. I'm sure I am not the only person that has driven by a house and notice a ram-shackled old barn out back and wonder what's in there. and if the local folklore was true that it housed a Henry J.

    I got the courage to stop several years ago and ask a gentleman cutting the grass did he know the people that owned the house next door, he replied that he did indeed know the man but the place had been vacant for a number of years but he worked at the local hardware store and gave me his name.

    The next time I needed some stainless nuts & bolts I stopped in to get what I needed and hoped I would see the man, he wasn't working that day so I kept trying Until I finally caught up with him.

    He said that he did have a Henry J in the building but it wasn't for sale but agreed to show me the car.

    I met him at the agreed time and it was in pretty good shape, I offered to buy it and again he didn't want to sell the car, I did give him my card with the information on how to get in touch with me if he ever decided to sell.

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    Life goes on and then one day I'm driving down the road a see a primer grey Henry J sitting at a friends repair shop and turn around and go back, I ask Micheal about the car and sure enough he bought it from the guy, I told him I had been after that car for years and he told me the man had decided to sell the car because he sold the property and had tried to call me but we were out of town the next name on the list was Micheal.

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    I ask him did he want to sell the car and he said if I wanted it yes, we have been friends for years, he loaded it up on his ramp truck and it was at my house the next day.

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    I had big plans for the car but like many of us I had too many irons in the fire and a fellow hamber wanted it so I let it go.

    This was not the only car drug out of a shed, My cousin left me this car in his will, I was unaware he had the car until his wife called me about it.

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    I pulled the 327 Chevy out of this car to rebuild it, during that time I was also working on my Deuce pickup and the engine ended up in the truck so the car sat outside behind my shop, I eventually sold it also.

    This obsession of finding and buying cars that have been out of sight has not worked like I would have hoped, I always intend on building them and it seem I end up needing the money I invested it these projects to finish another car.

    Today, I don't have a project I am currently working on so I'm ridding around and actively looking in back yards again. o_O HRP
     
    dutch deuce, burl, Okie Pete and 17 others like this.
  2. olscrounger
    Joined: Feb 23, 2008
    Posts: 4,770

    olscrounger
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I'm on the hunt as well-another 40 is what I'm after.
     
    LOU WELLS, wicarnut and HOTRODPRIMER like this.
  3. Budget36
    Joined: Nov 29, 2014
    Posts: 13,174

    Budget36
    Member

    Cool story HRP!
     
    osage orange and HOTRODPRIMER like this.
  4. TagMan
    Joined: Dec 12, 2002
    Posts: 6,295

    TagMan
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I've had a '29 A roadster, two different '37 Chevy 1/2t's, a '46 Chevy 1/2T, a '63 Chevy 1/2t and several other old cars I bought, started working on, was offered a profit and sold them way before completing them. I din't really miss any of them, but the last one I bought (my avatar '36) has been worked on constanly, with a few years off to fight cancer, undergo heart, back & prostate surgeries and it's NOT leaving before it's finished and maybe not then. Right now it's in storage after moving it and all the pieces to my new home in Kentucky, now waitng for my new shop to be built. My goal is to live long enough to drive it !!
     

  5. 2935ford
    Joined: Jan 6, 2006
    Posts: 3,843

    2935ford
    Member

    My only barn find was a 1932 Ford pickup that was well, beside the barn under a lean to attached to the barn but that's pretty close.....isn't it? It didn't go to me first but through a few hands before I finally got it. Then hoping to garner a very nice '40 Ford coupe, I sold the pickup but never managed to get the '40.
     
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  6. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,713

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    It's a sickness we all have! I am constantly looking at peoples yards, barns, fields, you name it, looking to spot that next holy grail. Don't need anything else, but I keep on looking anyway!
     
  7. 5window
    Joined: Jan 29, 2005
    Posts: 9,517

    5window
    Member

    Henry J's for sale in Mifflinburg,PA tomorrow.
     
    HOTRODPRIMER likes this.
  8. The only "barn find" I was ever able to buy was my Corvette. The body shell was under an old tarp but I could recognize the shape as a Vette. The owner took it all apart and I don't think he could put it back together so he let me buy it.
    Everything else I have ever found was not for sale. Always the wrong time or wrong place, or both.
    But like you guys, I have never stopped looking, its a sickness.
     
  9. catdad49
    Joined: Sep 25, 2005
    Posts: 6,401

    catdad49
    Member

    Danny, does Brenda know?!
     
    osage orange and HOTRODPRIMER like this.
  10. Petejoe
    Joined: Nov 27, 2002
    Posts: 12,264

    Petejoe
    Member
    from Zoar, Ohio

    Am presently working on a way to get this car that was given to me.56 Packard.
    The old small barn built in the 1800,s is soon ready to fall on it.
    Plan to shore up one end and get the chain saw out.

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  11. boy_named_sue
    Joined: Apr 9, 2006
    Posts: 136

    boy_named_sue
    Member
    from Dayton, OH

    There’s a half-primered 49 chev peeking at me every morning from behind a shrub at the back of a parking lot behind a stereo warehouse. I’m not giddy about that particular car, but one of these days I promise I’m gonna stop and ask who owns it and how much do they want for it. It’s just a shame for good ol metal like that sitting under a shrub with nobody to keep er warm at night.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  12. 41rodderz
    Joined: Sep 27, 2010
    Posts: 6,540

    41rodderz
    Member
    from Oregon

    Same way here. Always looking.
     
    osage orange and HOTRODPRIMER like this.
  13. { A STORY } I have always checked out old barns, and sheds looking for old cars. And I've found quite a few too, but that's another story. This happen years ago. I notice this large old Barn, that was way out in the country. It was late in the evening, and starting to get dark. So I ignored the no trespassing signs, and when I got to the barn. I looked through a hole, in the old barn boards. There in the center of the barn, was an 1950 Studebaker. The floor had given away, and the rear had dropped through it. The bullet nose was now aiming straight up in the air toward the roof. But the roof had an large hole just above it. I guess that's what had rotted out the floor. The only light was now coming through the roof, and shining on the old car. It looked as if it were ready to blast off. Boy do I wished I had a camera. But like so many others, I never went back. I'm sure that the old barn eventually feel in on it. Back then it just wasn't Hot Rod material. Ron.......
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2019
  14. BuckeyeBuicks
    Joined: Jan 4, 2010
    Posts: 2,705

    BuckeyeBuicks
    Member
    from ohio

    There is an farm auction coming up that list an AD Chevy pickup that was drug out of the barn to take the pictures after sitting for years. I am going to go to the auction, probably to watch someone else buy it but you never know:D
     
  15. She is a Oracle, She knows, everything. :D HRP
     
  16. wicarnut
    Joined: Oct 29, 2009
    Posts: 9,055

    wicarnut
    Member

    I used to stop in when I rode my motorcycle to visit a friend of my Dads, another old racer/ car owner, very successful in 40's/50's. His "Barn" housed a machine shop he ran for years, a trip back in time when you stepped through the door, all the machines ran with the shafts/belts from the ceiling, it had a dirt/cinder floor, some concrete, huge wood burner. I'm talking in the 70's, neat old guy, enjoyed his racing stories, he had a midget racer, famous car, V8 60 with Jiggler cylinder heads. For years I tried to buy this car, the last time I stopped in, the barn was locked up, it was never locked. Did some asking around with other Old Timers, he passed and car was sold, never to be seen or heard of again. Lost that one. I Did hear about a Midget racer in a family room of an Old Timer from friends of the family, kids wanted to sell it, jumped on that lead, took a pocket full of cash, went to see what it was. WOW ! It was a brand new 1946 KurtisKraft chassis assembled, never painted or engine installed, The story was, he was always was going to buy a new Offy for it, years went by, never happened and he just enjoyed looking at it in his family room. I made the deal with the Son and we loaded in the back of my pickup truck. IF I would have been smart, That chassis became very valuable as a collector item, 80's/90's. NO, I was not that smart, sold it after a few years as I had purchased a newEdmunds chassis at the same time. That beautiful KK got cut up, wrecked, junked by the idiots I sold it to within a few years. I already had my Dad's Midget stored for future restoration not realizing how valuable the old stuff would become. Win Some, Lose some. Foresight 0 Hindsite 100%
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2019
  17. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,442

    Boneyard51
    Member

    What are those Henry Js worth? I went to an auction earlier this Spring that had one in the barn. Interior was good no rust, all the chrome was in the trunk. Supposed to run, engine was free and it looked like it should run. I though it would go high, as there seemed to be a bunch of people interested in it. It was sold for $1200. Seemed cheap to me? Since no one else wanted it it scared me, that I had missed something, so I didn’t buy it. Also didn’t really need it.






    Bones
     
  18. Many moons ago when I was very much into old Harley's I stopped at a gas station a few miles from my home to purchase some liquid libation and a guy ask me if that was my panhead out front, I replied that it was and he ask me if I would be interested in some old parts, I said I might so he told me to follow him to his place and upon pulling in it looked like he lived in a junkyard.

    He motioned me to a rusty old aluminum outbuilding, the type you could buy cheap and put together yourself.

    No lights and a dirt floor with mildewed cardboard boxes and lawnmower parts, but over in the corner was a metal milk crate complete FL lower end, a transmission and a tool box.

    I ask how much and he said 100 bucks, I countered with 50 and we met in the middle, I went back the next day with the money and my pickup and loaded up the parts, I started hitting all the motorcycle swap meets, in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia and within 2 years I had another nice panhead.

    The lack of a title wasn't a issue in South Carolina in the early 70's and all I did is show them a bill of sale, that would never happen today. HRP

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  19. I spotted this today when I got home from work. In my barn! It’s staring at me like a lonely puppy. ‘48 Plymouth business coupe
    1E43FE66-12BD-4D28-B0AC-4C13A817624B.jpeg
     
  20. wicarnut
    Joined: Oct 29, 2009
    Posts: 9,055

    wicarnut
    Member

    The very best and sad barn find story I've ever heard and it's a true one. A fellow I used to know years ago, would go for a ride with wife and stop in at farms as Wisconsin is loaded with family farms and buy cars/stuff/junk and he hit the jackpot this time. Stops at farm, looking abandoned, little old lady answers door and after conversation states she has a car in barn that her Son had purchased when home on leave from Army, Sadly he did not come home, KIA VietNam 67, very sad story, her husband used to keep it polished, but he passed and she was alone for several years and car sat in barn with cover on it. It was a 67 Charger, Hemi, AT car, red, black interior. 1500/2000 miles. He offers to buy car, she gets original paperwork and wanted what he paid for it, I seem to remember $3800/$4000 or so ? Rick, being a stand up guy tells her the car is worth much more than that but she insists on amount of invoice, would not take anymore and was happy he was going to fix it up, She Felt bad that it got neglected, it was a shrine for their Son. Needed repaint, pigeon poop damage, some chrome, SS replace and interior was ruined from mice/varmints and I think he rewired it. He never said how much he put in it, he did it right, pro paint job, car was Beautiful. I lost touch with him, but heard he ran it through Barrett Jackson in later years so I'm sure he made out well.
     
  21. 40Standard
    Joined: Jul 30, 2005
    Posts: 5,963

    40Standard
    Member
    from Indy

    all I ever found in a barn was horse shit
     
  22. I hear you, but if you keep looking you might find a gem in a barn. HRP
     
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  23. 2935ford
    Joined: Jan 6, 2006
    Posts: 3,843

    2935ford
    Member

    For sure they are still out there.
     
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  24. choptop40
    Joined: Dec 23, 2009
    Posts: 5,114

    choptop40
    Member

    Found a 51 Chrysler last fall upstate NY in a barn , no rust...so much rain the property was muddy and owner never got back to me..might have junked it
     
    HOTRODPRIMER likes this.
  25. s55mercury66
    Joined: Jul 6, 2009
    Posts: 4,335

    s55mercury66
    Member
    from SW Wyoming

    I ran out of gas one evening 30 years ago in Hollister, Ohio, right beside a small cement block barn. Looking through the window from the highway revealed a Willys coupe inside. I told my cousin about it, and found out he was already aware of it, it was a '41, the owner bought it new, and it was absolutely not for sale. Betcha it ain't there any more.
     
  26. Does this count? 36 English “Y” model 14E3A8AF-8B57-47BD-A1B0-F5A2CFDA0400.jpeg Oh shit it’s in my barn.
     
  27. You can't wait too long on asking about the cars you see in barns. I was carrying mail on a route that went out into the country back in the late 70s. I had the route about once a week for a couple of months. Tucked away, peaking out of the front of a barn was an MG TD, early 50s. I was going to ask about it but it looked like it had been there for years so I wasn't in a hurry because I was still working on my 32 Coupe. Well, the very week that I decided I was going to go up and inquire about the car.......it was gone. Day late and a dollar short.......story of my life...:(
     
    Okie Pete and HOTRODPRIMER like this.
  28. I better keep the shades down!:eek:
     
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  29. Our family had a '52 Henry J back in the mid-fifties. We took a family trip from Kansas City to St. Louis during the summer of '57, no A/C. We vacationed in the Ozarks - twice - in that car. I would love to have one now - so simple, light and nimble. That's a great barn find!
     
    AHotRod and HOTRODPRIMER like this.
  30. olscrounger
    Joined: Feb 23, 2008
    Posts: 4,770

    olscrounger
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    No barn finds but spotted many from pole top when I was a lineman. Behind fences, in back yards etc and bought quite a few.
     

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