History When did you first hear the corvette in the barn story

Heard about it the same time the hoard of army issue Harley 45’s in crates packed in cosmoline were found. 100$ each

 

I think the first barn find story I heard relating to a Corvette, was in 1973 after finally returning to BC from 10 years in the air force. I was working in Vancouver, and the story was about a 57 Corvette that was garaged in North Vancouver, and although there was more to the story stating the reason it was stored, I can't remember it after all these years.
The true barn find story happened to a friend of mine in the mid 80s. He was looking for a Corvette and heard what he thought was a BS story about a 58 Corvette stored in a small town about thirty miles north of here. He chased the story down, and found two Corvettes, a 58, and I think a 61, that had belonged to a guy that did contract oil drilling overseas, and had purchased them as an investment, but died in Indonesia because of an illness or an accident.
Both cars were in excellent condition, and my friend bought them that afternoon. He sold the 61 to help pay for the ability to keep the 58. I had a chance to buy the other one, but the only Corvette my wife would allow me to buy would have been the 64 coupe I sold in 1970. She has never forgiven me for selling that car.
I forgot to add, that in the passing years I have done several searches for my old car, but was never able to find a trace of it.
Bob

 

I don't have a Corvette barn story, but I do have a '59 Corvette in my barn that people call me about after someone they know has been in my barn and seen it.
Sorry but the pic is the only one I have of it in the barn and I only have that because I needed a pic of that bellhousing for an ad.
Along with that Vette there is a '33 Ford sedan circle track race car, '33 Olds coupe race car and a '40 Buick with a '41 engine. The Buick has the factory 2X2 intake and factory dual split exhaust and is not a race car!!!
Just a note, in Mo a Corvette title says Chevrolet under "make". That's probably what a lot of states do and is the reason many old Corvettes are listed as Chevrolets

 

I was going to bring that up. Seems the stories are always mentioned together, or near enough. Warehouses full of war surplus. Never heard about them for sale. In those days, at least as kids we still looked at the gubbmint overall as "big brother", though in a good way, and hoped maybe he would disgorge the contents of the warehouses for our benefit. Jeeps were another constant source of speculation. Comic books fed into this, because I think maybe a few were sold.

It is true that right after the war a lot of material was abandoned or dumped overboard at sea. Jeeps especially.

 

My understanding is, that all the French flatheads that have been available in recent years, were from a barn find.
Sometime in the early 90s, I remember reading an article in a car magazine about finding the post WWII flathead engines, all wrapped in cosmoline and crated, in a warehouse in France.
Bob

 

I heard a story that there is an original cobra in a storage building or garage in Niagara Falls Canada.
The car belonged to a wealthy kid who was a draft dodger and brought the car to Canada in the late 60s avoiding going to Vietnam. Somehow the car got left behind.



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I heard the story about the 53 or pick you year Chevy for $500 ad being a Corvette clear back around 1975 or so.
Have heard it with the Vietnam victims a few times as well

I have heard the dead guy in the Corvette, Cadillac, Lamborghini ect a lot more times.

Heard the RV fuel tank turned into a spare Toilet waste tank and getting siphoned a few times as well.

I knew were several cars were parked in garages were the owner died and the widow would not sell when I lived near Santa Rosa CA.
One was a 67 Chevelle SS still had the original tires . I tried for years to buy it then one day it was just gone.
Another was a 69 Z28. that one got sold for big money .
Both were in a retirement community.
My buddy had a Harely that belonged to a soldier who did not make it back. he got it pretty cheap from the poor kids parents .

I just bought a ton of street rod stuff from a guy who bought out his late buddies widow . And by a ton I mean it truck was bottomed out on the frame stops.

Sadely I know were my best friends cars are who just died last year of a heart attack. There in a actual barn , chevelle SS impalas, a dodge coupe and a willys
I carefully mentioned when the time comes I'm interested. I also offered to find here buyers at a fair price for no charge It's a bad situation.

 

Not a Corvette, but 35 years ago I knew where a '67 Mustang convertible was, that was left to the owner by the original buyer in 1967 when he went overseas. These guys were both from my neighborhood when I was growing up. Less than a block away from that Mustang, sat a '69 Boss 302 that was never driven by it's 16 year old original owner, as he was blinded at the Indy Nats that year when a piece of Jim Paoli's clutch hit him.

 

I think I've heard about every version since about 1958.

 

Not a barn find, but a parking lot find. On my mother’s grave every word is true.
There was a tool maker at work that told a story of kissing his girlfriend good night on her front porch, leaving his Corvette running at the curb. A car comes around the corner, a guy jumps out and takes off in the ‘Vette. It was winter time and snowing that night. I never heard the story from the horses mouth, he was in a nursing home as a result of a fall by the time I got into the tool room.
A few years later I’m out with my now wife and we are double dating with her girl friend and the guy she eventually married. Knowing I worked at GM Jackie mentions Bob Zachek (sp?) and asks if I knew him. I say I had heard the name but never met him, he was in a nursing home. Naturally I have to ask about the Corvette story and she verifies every detail.
OK, now for the rest of the story, there was more than I first told here. Bob carried the extra key and he was obsessed with looking for his Corvette. He did find it, repainted, it was in a parking lot at a shopping center and he got in and drove it away.
Jackie said it was true. Bob saw the car and said- That’s it! That’s my car! He checked the vin tag and they drove it away. Jackie later broke things off with Bob, he had developed a drinking problem, and likely it was when he was drunk that he suffered the fall.
When I told Jackie that Bob was in the Manteno Veterans Home she drove out weekly to visit him until he passed away, the only visitor he had other than a few guys from work that used to go for his birthday or Christmas.
RIP Bob.

 

Back in the day I had a Model A coupe hot rod. Years after I sold it and moved away, my mother told me that periodically someone would ring the doorbell, asking if she had a Model A hot rod in that garage out back. Mom has been gone a lot of years but I wonder if the current owners of her house ever have the doorbell rung by someone who has heard there's an old hot rod in that garage out back.

 

How about the V-16 Cadillac roadster hidden in a garage for decades? I found it....

 

I also found a 1936 Ford four door sedan in a garage down the street from my home when I was a kid. The roof of the garage had fallen in on it. It was in solid condition, but dented up.

 

1969 some friends and I are riding in his dad's 68 Electra 225 when suddenly he does a hard u turn on a narrow two lane road and pulls into the driveway of a slightly rundown farm outside Detroit. Anyway alongside a rundown shed is a '41 Chevy coupe, driver had one when he lived in Vegas before he moved back to Michigan. My buddy knocks on the door and soon is speaking to a elderly couple about the Chevy. The car was not bad shape, still had '56 Michigan plates on it. The gentleman quit driving while the plates were still good, his vision started to get real bad according to his wife but he used it to go to the woods behind the farm to get firewood but not in the last few years.
A deal was struck, 25 dollars for the Chevy. The farmer said that he had some fog lights in the big barn for it. As Gordy was looking at his new car I followed the farmer into the barn. In there was a beige 55 or 56 Cadillac convertible with a black top. Wide whitewalls, car on blocks with wheel covers off. Covered in clear plastic. The farmer sees that I am just staring at it, looks at me and said "It's not for sale, don't touch it and don't ask" which I complied with.

I came out, he went into the house to get the title for the Chevy. His wife walked up to Gordy and I and told us the story of the car. It was the gentleman's nephew, they had no kids of their own. Apparently he was kind of a hellraiser and while the car was still new was killed in a barfight. The car was put into the barn and there it sat.

As things happen Gordy never picked up the Chevy, he meant to go back before the snow flew, never did that year. Over the winter Gordy's dad passed, he and his mother sold his dad's tow truck (he was partner in a used car lot) so he lost the ability to move it. About '74 I drove by there, an estate sale was going on. Both of the elderly couple were deceased, some relatives were running the sale. They knew nothing of what happened to either of the cars.

 

To my knowledge those were brought over by Richard LeJuerrne (Halibrand), a friend bought one at the Goodguys show in Pleasanton California.

 

Several years ago a guy in Connecticut used to install Koi (fish) ponds. A little old lady wanted him to install a $ 2500 koi pond for her. he did the installation, and told her that if she wanted to change, or alter the pond, just to call him. Well, she called and he went to see what he could do for her. She told him what she wanted done, and he said he wasn't driving his truck that day, so he didn't have any tools with him. She said there were tools in the garage, so he went into the garage to get some tools, and there was a 1940 Willys coupe with a dented front fender. He made the changes that the lady wanted, and then asked about the Willys coupe. She told him it was her late husband's, but he passed away before he got to work on it. He asked if she wanted to sell it. he offered the cost of the Koi pond, $ 2500 in trade for the coupe. She agreed. He bought the Willys coupe home, cleaned it up, and advertised it on E-bay for big money. he had a potential buyer from California that offered him less than he wanted. The buyer offered to send his man to look at the car, and if it was as the owner said it was, it was a done deal. Long story short, the man came looked at the car, called his boss, and it was a done deal. I know the financial result, but I won't divulge what I know.

 

How about the fellow here on the H.A.M.B. that looked at an old car in a barn, but couldn't, or wouldn't come up with the $ 30,000 asking price. Somehow, Wayne Carini, ( Chasing Classic Cars ) got wind of the car, and bought it. It was the most original Stutz Bearcat survivor. Wayne brought it to his shop, cleaned it up, and got it running. he then took it to one of the big auctions, and it sold for $ 750,000. That is a very true story.

 

That’s a fascinating story Ron. I don’t think it would do any harm in asking someone in the family about it.jmho. Snowman

 

They are Chevrolets. The model is Corvette.

 

Where I'm from there was a man that owned a mobile home lot. He ordered a new Corvette, circa 77-78, for his son's graduation gift. His son was killed in a car crash before the vette came in, but when it came his father had the car put in his son's bedroom and its still there today.

 

56/57 Corvette sat for many years in a driveway in Marysville WA. not a secret. Spring would come and the blackberry bushes would mostly overtake the car, fall/winter would arrive and the blackberries would recede revealing more of the car. Few guys tried to purchase to no avail. Lady that owned it finally sold to Lincoln's Auto Wrecking in Seattle. Story behind the car, who knows?

 

From the looks of that picture, there was some vette wrecking mofos in Seattle

 

I've heard these stories since I was a kid. My dad was a big believer in all of them. I remember my dad telling me he checked out the Cadillac being sold by a woman whose husband ran off with his young secretary and want the wife to sell the car and send him whatever she could get for it. My dad said the ad had a price of $25-100, I don't remember exactly, but when he got there the car was sold and the lady told him the story. Sorry Dad, I figured the story was BS almost from the beginning.

I had a transmission teacher that told the whole class the Corvette story like it was true although by the time I heard him tell it I must have heard it at two dozen times and all the stories were about a buddy's buddy who bought the car, never a first hand experience except once. My kids' scout leader had stories about every subject and one was about the time he personally answered the old Chevy ad that turned out to be a Corvette. Same exact story as the others but in his story, he saw an ad in the paper for a '57 Chevrolet and went to see the car. He got to the old lady's house just before a second guy pulled up. The lady takes both of them to the garage and when they go into the garage there's the Corvette. The lady was asking some low ball price for the car thinking it was just an old car. Same story, son bought the car and then died in Viet Nam. Here's the piece to the story scout leader added, he knew the car was worth a lot more than the lady was asking and told her so, just then the second guy offered her more than her asking price but still below what the scout leader knew the car was worth. The second guy upped his offer but again the scout leader stepped in and told the lady the car was worth a lot more. The second guy started telling the lady she just had an old car and the scout leader was feeding her a line of BS. At that point, according to the scout leader, he grabbed the second guy by the collar and belt and forcibly through him out of the yard. The scout leader told the lady to not to answer any more people coming to look at the car and he would help her sell it for a fair price. The leader was full of stories like this. I don't know why people repeat these stories, we all know they're total BS when we hear them for the 20th time.

 

I "heard" the Corvette story too but it went like this........
1966............Friend saw an ad in the newspaper: For Sale 63 Corvette split window coupe....HiPo 327...4 speed tranny leather seats.....$250.00!
Previous owner had committed suicide inside car and was not discovered until 3 months later. There had been several buyers but NO ONE could get the 'death smell' out of the car..........yada-yada-yada.
Of course no one (I knew) ever went and saw the car............
Kinda believable
6sally6

 

They do happen, here is an example relating to a Ferrari. It was the subject of an insurance scam. I remember reading about it years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buried_Dino_246_GTS_incident
Bob

 

I am also reminded of two cars, one a 57 Corvette, and the other a loaded 67 390 Fairlane 500 convertible. Both were involved in divorces.
The Corvette belonged to someone that I met through a friend. the car was his wife's, and she walked out on him. The car sat and rotted in his car port for over 25 years, and he stated that the car was going to rot before he would sell it. He finally passed, and the car disappeared.
The (what once was a very pretty) Fairlane was sitting outside on blocks with the top down, a few miles from my place, and I could easily see it from the highway when I would drive by.
A friend of mine new the guy, and told me that the Fairlane owner's wife cheated on him, and this was his way of getting even.
As a Caliente owner, it even hurt me to see that beautiful car rotting away.
Bob

 

In my neck of the woods there was never any mysterious stories about a vette in a barn but there was always the old car in the barn and 9 times out of 10 it was reportedly a Deuce.

Usually ended up being something like a 4 door Dodge. HRP

 

I heard both the Corvette and the corpse in the Cadillac story for the first time in 1974. I was a sophomore in high school at the time and the same person told me both stories .


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That is a great story. I would like to see some pictures of the Willys Coupe if you have any. They are a very hard car to find these days.

 

Anybody ever hear the story of the concrete truck driver that found out his wife was cheating on him? Of course the guy boinking the concrete truck drivers wife drove a new Caddy convertible and the truck driver spots the Caddy in front of his house as he’s on his way to make a delivery; stops truck, rips hole in convertible top, puts chute in hole and fills car to top of the doors with concrete.

Heard that in many different versions over the years on construction jobs from a guy that knew a guy who........