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Old Fallin Down Barn Story

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Scott F., Sep 21, 2011.

  1. Scott F.
    Joined: Aug 9, 2006
    Posts: 1,012

    Scott F.
    Member

    I feel like I just got punched in the gut a little. Listen to this (it's a little long). So...my dad works with this guy Tim. Great guy, works at the store and works on cars at his house in his spare time (new stuff)to make extra money. This fella comes in the store who's a fairly regular customer. Tells Tim, "Hey I bought that old so and so place on Grand River at the end of blah blah Hwy. We're tearin that old barn down that's fallin in and there's a lot of old car parts in there. We're gettin rid of 'em but I know you're into cars and might want to stop aout and check it out." Tim stopped at Dads Sunday to tell him about it but Dad was out of town. Dad saw Tim today and hadn't known of this opportunity. Tim shows him a sampling of the stuff he got. Dad was rattling off all kinds of stuff. Lots of 50's and 60's NOS parts. From mechanical stuff to tail light lenses, an early 50's poncho hood orn. perfect shape with the plastic insert thingy that the eyes light up. Tim tells Dad "I took what I could, tried to get stuff that looked familiar or that was identified or was neat. Filled the pick up." He says, "They had a lot of, like, headlights, you know where the whole bucket was exposed outside the fender, a lot of it was like new stuff. I didn't know if it was worth anything and they didn't want it, so it all got thrown in the scrap dumpster." I said the "F" word out loud (we were in the garage) Dad told him that if he ever gets that opportunity again to call us, we'll be right there. He told him that between us we could have Identified most of it and he told him i could help him sell it for a fee if he wanted because Tim didn't know where to sell most of this stuff or where to find people that would want to buy it. Well, there, I got it off my chest and I still don't feel any better. I still might get to help him identify and maybe sell what he did get.

    P.S. There was a car in there too. Like an MG or something. Too rusted out to be worth anything they said. Gone.
     
  2. Von Rigg Fink
    Joined: Jun 11, 2007
    Posts: 13,418

    Von Rigg Fink
    Member
    from Garage

    Timing is everything
     
  3. 327-365hp
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 5,429

    327-365hp
    Member
    from Mass

    I hate those stories! Years ago I started a new job. A guy there found out I was into old stuff. He proceeded to tell me about cleaning out his dad's barn. Dad had owned a gas station/repair shop all his life!!
     
  4. DeucePhaeton
    Joined: Sep 10, 2003
    Posts: 1,013

    DeucePhaeton
    Member

    Hey. I live nearby and would like to get the barn wood. Can you hook me up?
     

  5. timbo
    Joined: Mar 21, 2006
    Posts: 206

    timbo
    Member
    from PA

    Sorry, but this sounds just too much like the "old lady who sold her husbands 63 Chevy for $100, turned out to be a split window corvette", or "the old guy who passed away and the kids junked the old car, turned out to be a pristine Model A". I can't belive stupidity runs that deep in situations as described above. Stories are just that....stories
     
  6. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,828

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    people throw good stuff away every day. not just old cool stuff but every day stuff other people could use. too much bother to give it to a thrift store.
     
  7. Scott F.
    Joined: Aug 9, 2006
    Posts: 1,012

    Scott F.
    Member


    Yeah, you're right. Except that I know the guy and my dad saw the truckload of stuff. The guy doesn't know what to do with it, but he saved what he could because he knew it had value to others.
    But you're right, that stuff probably wasn't real.
     
  8. VoodooTwin
    Joined: Jul 13, 2011
    Posts: 3,453

    VoodooTwin
    Member
    from Noo Yawk

    Go find the whereabouts of that dumpster.
     
  9. seventhirteen
    Joined: Sep 21, 2009
    Posts: 721

    seventhirteen
    Member
    from dago, ca

    don't get out much?, recently a fella died and his wife is scrapping ACRES of cars, hell do a search there are several threads about lots getting scrapped out that held hundreds of cars not just a bunch of parts and headlights

    timing as always is everything

    on a side note, John Finn here is san diego would sell parts for scrap value before he died. He was amazing you would drag a set of buick drums out of a corner of his acres of junk and he'd know exactly where you found em, would weigh em with his hands and give you a scrap price for em. R.I.P. John Finn a true american war hero and junkman
     
  10. Southfork
    Joined: Dec 15, 2001
    Posts: 1,465

    Southfork
    Member

    The title to this thread really hit a nerve. Here's my "story": A neighbor and his wife were cleaning out and starting to disassemble a rickety old barn on their property a month or so ago when it suddenly fell down and killed them both. The wife died right away, but it took the man about 9 days to cash it in. True story.
    Be careful around barns that look like they are about to fall down.
     
  11. i'm bummin' about the barn. last winter we had a couple big snow storms in a row without any thaw in between. i drove to my friends house about 10 miles away and counted four barns that collapsed along the way.
    i have found there is almost always something good in those old buildings.
     
  12. timbo
    Joined: Mar 21, 2006
    Posts: 206

    timbo
    Member
    from PA

     
  13. Belchfire8
    Joined: Sep 18, 2005
    Posts: 1,540

    Belchfire8
    Member


    Ain't that the truth. We had one old car junkyard in the area, stuff from the 30's to the 60's in there. Owned by the usual strange old guy. (he would walk around with you carrying his cat) One day they just closed up and cleaned the yard out, most didn't know it was gone for a while. Where i was working at the time, and a few years later, we got lumber from a local yard. after a couple years with the same kinda weird guy delivering the lumber I found out he was the son of the old guy that owned the yard. Had he known that i was into old cars at the time he said he would have told me the yard was closing.
     
  14. brigrat
    Joined: Nov 9, 2007
    Posts: 5,615

    brigrat
    Member
    from Wa.St.

    I am waiting for this one to go down, haven't checked this year, I figure one more bad winter.....................nothin it it anymore, just want the wood.
     

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  15. seventhirteen
    Joined: Sep 21, 2009
    Posts: 721

    seventhirteen
    Member
    from dago, ca

  16. timbo
    Joined: Mar 21, 2006
    Posts: 206

    timbo
    Member
    from PA

  17. No, it still happens. Believe it or not, there ARE people out there who have NO idea that this "old car junk" is worth anything or that there are people out there who'd love to have it.

    Some friends of mine befriended an elderly couple in their neighborhood. When they died, the kids knew that my friends looked after their parents and basically told them that ANYTHING that they wanted in the house (FULL of stuff) they could have for free or else it was going into a dumpster. My friend (NOT a car-guy by any means) brought me a small stack of speed shop catalogs from the late 50's and said "These were ALMOST in the recycling bin, but then I thought that you might like them. I'm SURE that they're not worth anything, but the artwork on the cover must be pretty cool to a car guy..." There was an Almquist catalog, a Bell Helmets, a So-Cal catalog, a Harley Davidson clothing & accessories catalog, and two or three JC Whitney catalogs in the stack. He added later that they had already cleaned out the garage full of "nasty old parts from cars that he probably used to own, and all of the rusty tools and crap...". I STILL wonder what was in this old "car guy's" garage??? I mean if he had a So-Cal catalog, a Harley catalog... :confused:
     
  18. LANCE-SPEED
    Joined: Aug 10, 2006
    Posts: 2,259

    LANCE-SPEED
    Member

    It happens every day we just dont hear about it. I remember seeing on here the videos of the people destoying all the old cars, laughing and celebrating the destruction.
     
  19. seventhirteen
    Joined: Sep 21, 2009
    Posts: 721

    seventhirteen
    Member
    from dago, ca

    ya guess I did miss your point, I thought you were saying it doesn't really happen, carry on
     
  20. B.A.KING
    Joined: Apr 6, 2005
    Posts: 4,039

    B.A.KING
    Member

    ok off topic i know,but gotta ask,what ya do with the wood. hmm that don't sound rite does it!!! anyway, wood?people are tearing those things down around hear all the time , burning the wood??
     
  21. VoodooTwin
    Joined: Jul 13, 2011
    Posts: 3,453

    VoodooTwin
    Member
    from Noo Yawk

    There was/might still be a big market for old-growth recycled timber. It's good stuff, compared to the new-growth stuff. Very dense, stable and prettier to look at.
     
  22. In 1967 I was in high school and a guy I know, who was the son of the ford dealer came up to me and said that weekend he had cleaned the attic of his Dad's dealership that had been there since the 20's. Told me he took 2 pickup loads of new parts to the slough at the dump. He wasn't into cars at all. I felt sick.
     
  23. outlaw256
    Joined: Jun 26, 2008
    Posts: 2,022

    outlaw256
    Member

    b.a.king. where are these barns they are tearin down? ive been wanting to but a old barn for the wood for along time.i want to build a old looking general store/gas station here at the house.
     
  24. B.A.KING
    Joined: Apr 6, 2005
    Posts: 4,039

    B.A.KING
    Member

    just a month ago on hwy 36,guy tore one down piled it up and set it on fire. i'll keep you in mind.
     
  25. Scott F.
    Joined: Aug 9, 2006
    Posts: 1,012

    Scott F.
    Member

    On my way home from work today on the freeway, I looked across the freeway and could see this barn smoldering. It doesn't look like it burned down though. Pretty sad really. Someone would have liked that wood.
     

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