Folks Of Interest Brookville, Pa barn collapse on antique cars

The barn collapsed the second week of August when I was on vacation. I saw it on 8-20 driving to work in Brookville and almost cried. I texted my friend who knew Jack. I met Jack for the first time that week. He lived in a trailer next to the barn. He was unsure of us at first because of what happened. He opened up after we spoke and I told him I was there for the the cars " like the lorax" . After talking to him for two hours which I wish would have been more, I told him that my dad once said to me and my brother while carrying the hood to his 39 Chevy "the body will heel but the car doesn't". Jack understood. We talked about how every story on the cars there started with where he found them and how he towed them home. I took pictures ,which my dad ( doug3968) posted on here, and showed him.
He described the night of the collapse. He said it was about 4am and he heard a loud whoose and he said it was like a vacuum. He said it wasn't loud.
To talk to a person who was 100 and didn't skip a beat was amazing. I wanted my kids to meet him and experience some of the things he did and why. Why is the biggest question many younger people would ask. Why would anyone collect and gather that much and put it in a barn.
He had a story for every car . His favorite was the late 20's black Dodge my dad posted a picture of I believe, don't quote me on the make please,. He was happy it survived.
In all, don't criticize him or the barn, we all love history!

 

Right on Stogy.....with all the negative.....good someone stored some stuff maybe others will benefit ! And thats DaneSCJ for the photo's......

 

Sure was a bunch of cars in there. Shame to see the carnage, lot of good iron hurt; sure felt sorry for the '41 Merc. The broken woodie struck me as sad, too. Looks like the '29 roadster wasn't too bad.

 

Thanks to everyone involved in sorting this mess out...and for the coverage.

Its a shame but there are still ways of bringing this back...and many are worthy of that chance.

I do again hope that opportunity is given to purchase these to take them to the next level...they deserve nothing less and then the stories can continue...

 

It's a shame this 42-48 ford coupe's backend looks better than the one I'm working on even after a barn fell on it.

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The '41 next to it now wasn't so lucky.

 

With what has been done on here by HAMB members that 41 is definitely repairable. Sure would love to be able to purchase something from this place.

 

Reclaimed barn wood is pretty valuable. They could also sell the wood and fund parts of these projects.

 

Barn collapse near a friend in Carcassonne, France as a result of recent storms. He has lost most of his Citroen collection - some restored, some awaiting restoration. Heartbreaking but, again, no lives lost.

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Lots of nice iron in that barn. Too bad he didn't need the money and sell the cars before the barn came down. Could have sold half the cars and fixed the barn. He would have still had cars and a nice barn.

That reclaimed barn wood is only valuable after the nails are pulled and it is freshly planed. When those guys come to buy your barn they usually quote how much you will have to pay them if they have to get rid of the junk wood.
The last one I was involved in the guy gave $500 for the barn if he did not have to haul or burn up the remainder. He spent 2 days pulling out the beams and some interior planking. The outside boards he said he never takes, too weathered and dried out to do anything with. when he left it looked from the outside like he was never there.

 

So what's the plan for the cars? Are they destined to sit out in the snow, or will there be a sale or auction?

Most of the Coupe's with damaged roofs look to be repairable. The squashed 4 dr.'s are good parts cars/chassis donors.
That Woodie is still a good builder. We have to remember that many Woodie's start with nothing more than a chassis and cowl. Even if some of the wood is not salvageable, at the least it looks to be a fairly complete car which means all the woodie specific parts in the doors etc may be present.

 

So @RICH B you seem to be up close and personal with this and there is of course others related, also Hambers so I suppose there is a huge undertaking underway cataloging and preparing for the next part of a sizeable plan. There are quite a variety of vehicles and conditions.

As alluded many are eager to perhaps purchase parts cars and projects.

Thank you for the detailed journey. I am one of those that truly enjoy dirty old cars...

 

Not really up close; I was intrigued by the post HAMB and when there was not much in the way of follow up pictures; I shared some from a shared FB post. The barn didn't look like a very large barn in the collapsed state, so I was surprised at the number and variety of cars pulled out of the wreckage. Wonder if the second story was overloaded; or maybe the steel roof was just installed too late. Wonder what will happen to them next.

 

Well we appreciate your porting the stuff over...I'm sure it was a grenade with the pin pulled...

Aged Barn including Rot, no doubt overloaded for condition, extreme moisture and heavy winds unlike we have encountered in years or ever. As alluded lucky no one was injured or killed...

Perhaps @danescj has info he will share as this continues to unfold.

 

Isn't that what Portapowers are for?

 

pics of some of the cars and an offer to buy are listed on DuBois Online Flea market on Facebook. Offer is buy one or buy all. $100K

 

That Model A pickup truck looks more like the Uncertain T. Ouch.

 

Is there a list with pics as most here are not FB'ers? Thanks for the update...

 

My son, DanesCJ, told me about it, no Facebook here either! Btw, I hear the road going by the barn is closed cept for local traffic.


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https://www.facebook.com/groups/159...80231682052238/?sale_post_id=2280231682052238

 

Thanks @Rich B...

Damn FB sucks it's almost like Photobucket...

They will sell separately it seems and anyone who wants anything should get on it...but they are missing out on many potential buyers by using that site...just my opinion of course.

Hopefully better coverage of this becomes available...one should not have to sign into an account to see items for sale.

 

I live not far from there, about 50 miles. I hope hes not lost too much.

 

The F-book ad says that there are 36 vehicles and the hopeful price for all is 100k. At about $2700 each, I think that there is a lot of optimism for mostly parts cars that were rusted out even before the roof crushed the usable sheet metal.

 

I think it was pretty bad but no injury to any family member. It's near Limoux and they had very bad flooding also.

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There has to be as in any sale of classic cars an effort to offer easily accessible detailed information with multiple pics or it can be run like your average wrecking yard keeping things more localized.

@Justin in PA's with your math it seems a reasonable starting point for negotiations that could fluctuate as alluded due to condition.

At the very least things are moving forward.

 

I do have to say, there have been a lot of comments about how he should have sold, etc. At 100 years old, he probably had many of these cars for over 40 years. Meaning, that had he not collected them, they would probably be long gone, and part of a Toyota or a Chinese refrigerator. What is left will be brought back to life, even if just as parts of another car. He should be held in much higher regard, for his love of cool stuff has kept it here amongst us.

 

Those look like NOS compared to some of the stuff I've seen built on here! I'd say all are saveable by some of the HAMB craftsmen!

 

So I have downloaded and resized to get some visuals that may be of interest to some of you...Note there is said to be 36 in total this is only 14...there is no more pics that have been posted...

Below is a Quoted response from the FB sales Site by Andrew Glinkerman

"Update: all inquiries are being looked at however we have recieved thousands of inquiries since posting, this is cross posted on many groups and has been shared a bunch. Individuals interested in the entire lot are being considered first. If my grandfather cannot make a deal on the whole group they will either be sold individually or at auction. Please do not ask me specifics such as price on xxxx, specific years, do they have this that or the other because I likely don't even know what car your referring to and I'm not in charge of the estate or pricing. All cars have titles and we will attempt to get a list together of makes models and years based off the titles and post it in the comments. Anyone is welcome to contact me but if I don't answer you it's because I don't know the answer to your question. If they decide to have an auction or sell individually I will contact anyone who has asked about a certain vehicle"













































https://www.facebook.com/groups/159...80231682052238/?sale_post_id=2280231682052238​

 

Stogy, thanks for reposting the Facebook pictures.

"All cars have titles".
Titles are a huge plus. Kudos to the Gentleman that not only stashed the cars but he was organized enough to retain titles and do his best to keep the cars out of the weather.

Reiterating my previous comment that some of the Coupes with crushed roofs look to be savable. There's some great builder material there.

On the other hand, the 33 Sedan with the bashed roof would be an ideal candidate for a Coupe conversion!!!

 

In PA you have to have each car insured. My garage caved in and they paid for everthing except the cars My car insurance had to pay for the car which they did. This was caused by snow