"barn find" what is the fascination!

Mickeyc - you spelled it out perfectly! It was so much fun leaving the property with the barn find on the trailer, knowing that I was the lucky one to take the old coupe home.

 

Hey If you found your car in a barn I have know problem with that.Im just pointing out the OVERUSE of the term to sell a car.Now we all know most 50-60 year old cars are not RUSTFREE!.Thats why i prefer to buy a original car with all the rust in its glory so i know what i have to fix up.Ive seen to many 20k-30k cars come into the shop with just a few paint bubbles only to find an inch or to of filler slathered over the bodywork.

 

I think, looking at the window trim, it's a '34

 

Thank you! Ad me to the list that understands as well. Bob

 

I believe this all started with farmers and their miserly or frugal lifestyles. They only bought what they absolutely needed and used it till it was pretty much done, but unable to throw anything away or get rid of of stuff, they kept all their stuff on their properties.

When sons got the properties they could't give up what was dad's so the stuff sat. and the barns became repositories for mechanical stuff cars and trucks and motorcycles. Finding an old bars with stuff in it is a gear heads adventure, regardless of make model year or condition. If you can't understand that you might be in the wrong hobby..............

 

That was awesome

 

Oh yes, it was project at best. I did buy one from a long warehouse storage that had lots of hidden rust. The owner tried to hide it and I expected such and paid accordingly. Lesson learned a humid storage area may rust up a car from the bottom up because it never gets to dry properly. This kind of storage can be worse than outside.

 

36 replies and no one want's to know what in the hell a pontiacin pennsy is????

 

AHHH, Pontiac in Pennsy(lvania).

 

How many moons does it take to qualify for barn find status? lol
Here is the 51 i found on Craigslist it was in a barn since the 90's

 

"Barn find" is okay, the overused phrase that has lost all meaning is "ran when it was parked"!

 

Has great Patina, wood still looks good but looks like the rain gutters are gone.

 

Back in the mid 90's I heard about a '34 Ford that had been parked in an old wooden garage since 1959. I got to go look at it with my insurance man and sure enough, there was a '34 Fordor Sedan with a '59 Kentucky plate still on it. It was all there, all original, and owned by the widow of the man that parked it there. I didn't end up with the car but just being one of the first people to see it after that long was an experience I'll never forget.

 

Well here is my barn find, and by the way it's still there! I'm going to get it when it cools off a bit


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If you don't know what the fascination with a "barn find "is your reading the wrong web site.

 

True. You either get it or you don't.
I love it myself. I've been on a few 'hunts'.

 

My '63 Falcon was a real barn find, as it had been in the same barn for 23 years before I bought it. Pumped up the tires and they held air while we loaded it on the trailer.


I was excited to get a real "barn find" car until I started cleaning it up. Four 5 gallon shop vac canisters emptied with mouse nests, plus the horrible smell of a chain smoker's remnants in every ashtray! Had to wear my canister respirator during cleanup, and wire brushing all the floors! The headliner had to be cut out in sections between the bows so I could suck up more mouse nests as I opened it up!
Barn finds are neat, but can't say as I expected quite the mess and smell I got with mine! Not nearly as cool to clean up the crud as it is to say it's a barn find! I don't regret for a second buying it, or the cleanup, but it's sure not as big a deal as people make it sound!

 

Being able to say I was the (in my case) first person to put a hand on Her in 20 years I got this Wagon in 1980 We rebuilt Her and I drove it until my oldest Son turn 16 then She went from Son to Son after The three Boys got thro with Her We are rebuilding Her and now its the Grandkids time.If a person can't understand that then they are on the wrong Site

 

I noticed it, in many adverts by FNG's


I think the term is getting ruined myself. Those who use it honestly are loosing the luster or distinction because others are using it when it doesn't apply.

 

The only fascination is figuring out how to perform that initial wash....it's like the 8th wonder of the world. Even the Dos Equis man can't solve the mystery.

 

I've made some actual 'barn finds'.

First one:

1955, Santa Clara. Took a shortcut to my bud's house, across the tracks, cut thru the pasture and out past the big barn across from Presto Plating...Only the barn wasn't there! It had blown down during a wind storm a few days before...
But sitting right next to where the barn had been was a Model A body! It was a '30 Cabriolet, with all the top bows, some canvas was there, both doors, deck lid (rumble seat)...NO RUST! (later discovered a tiny group of pinholes on passenger side lower cowl)

There were some guys sitting behind the lumber Co. next door, eating their lunch so I asked whose it was...One of them said it was his. He had taken it off his frame to switch bodies.
Make him an offer... I had 3 dollars in my pocket, they all laughed, but he said, "Sold."
I told him I'd get it Saturday.
Two of my buds and myself pushed my '36 chassis down there (by hand, 18 city blocks) and dropped the front and rear suspensions out, slid the frame and pulled the axles (with wishbones, driveline and tires) across 3 sets of Union Pacific railroad tracks!
(cut out a full half mile of pushing)

We lifted the body onto the frame, but steering wheel was above the cowling...(O.K. for hand pushing!)

Left the property of Lantz Lumber Co. at 12:30 P.M., pushed around Parker Ave. to Coleman, up to Brokaw Road and took a right, crossing the tracks at the Brokaw crossing.
From there it was a breeze...steady push at 2 MPH, made it to Grandma's house and in the garage before 7! Whew! My FIRST ROADSTER!
Thanks to Jim Rose and Eddie Burkhouse!

There were more...
but the LAST one was 1/2 mile from HERE, in Atwater!

2008.
My nephew and his pal were on a 'hike'...(they go out in the country and cut across properties, looking for tin...)
They came upon a group of rusty stuff behind a metal building, on a ranch...ON Highway 140!
They hurriedly came over, told me about it...Phil was looking for a Model A, but here were these two '27 Ts, one touring and a nearly complete roadster!
I met the owner, he wanted $300 for each...I got them for $500 cash. But I had to clean the area when finished, and unearth 2 Packard wire wheels for him.
Done Deal!
Borrowed my bud's car trailer, made it in 2 trips, all in one day.
Cars loaded fast...Those consarned weeds took the time...Got done by dark.

 

You try to get as much dust/dirt off the car without touching Her just using water with hardly any pressure.then you use something real soft and a lot of soap with very little pressure but it has to be done by hand so you don't push the dust/dirt into the paint.I couldn't believe the paint that was on the Car but the Car was and old/new one at the time but even today the Car has never had any metal other than the floor pans replaced

 

Can’t really call it a find but my dad tucked this 3-window away in the mid 80’s and someday never came for him.
Really wanted to keep it but the “ barn find movement” brought a silly money offer for it and had to let it go.<O
Sad because his time ran out before he had a chance to build his dream 3-window, even had a nice original Ardun set up planned for it.<O

 

Well said!! Nuff said!!

 

A guy my old man knows deals in a lot of Corvettes. Him and a buddy bought a 63 from a little old lady. Got it running good and then drove it through a dirt pasture. Parked it in a barn and pulled the battery out and sold it as a "barn find" for $15k over what they paid. Surprise surprise the new owner brought a battery and it fired right up!

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Barn Find and Patina are two of the most over used terms in the traditional hot rod world. HRP

 

THat barn needs Flames!

 

Thank you HRP!

 

Barn finds are like born again virgins......
I just got a 53 desoto sitting since 1978, bring her back to life and let her see the sun and the road again.

 

I like Born again Virgins but They cost a little more