How did you find your abandoned car?

I read about lots of stories here on the HAMB about barn finds, abandoned cars in woods, fields, etc. I know a few locals that claim to know where there are some good finds but wont let the secret out.

Everytime I read these stories I always wonder, how did they find that? Just a little curious how others find abandoned cars

 

Since I am lazy, see link.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170904&highlight=32+barn+find+love+my+wife

 

I advertise on my truck that I buy and sell vintage car parts. My phone number as well in the advertising has had amazing success in finding cars. Other than that I hang out at the local coffee shop and shoot the shit with the old guys. One of which delivers furnace oil in the country. He sees vintage tin every where!Follow up on every lead. Search Ratmotor Mike on Youtube.com and see....

 

I got a PM here on the HAMB from a lurker. I had never had any contact with him in the past. The PM said he knew of a 46-48 Olds convertible in a large garage in the ghetto of a major Metro area. He said the owner wanted to sell and if I was interested in it, and not the other cars in the garage which he was interested in, he'd give me the owners number.

My reply PM stated I was intersted in convertibles only and I was very interested if the price was right. He gave me the owners number, I called, deal was done, I sent a check and a couple months later drove to the ghetto of Philly and picked up a '47 Olds convertible that is now sitting in my garage and referred to as Rusty Olds.

Rusty Olds had been sitting in the garage since the mid 60's and hadn't been moved. I'm probably not going to bring him back to life but will more then likely put him up for sale here shortly. Just don't have another full blown project left in me.

 

I went to an old man's house to pick up two Willys Jeep rims for my Willys pickup he had been using on a farm trailer for 25 bucks... He was super friendly and I spotted the rear end of a small car sitting in his backyard. I asked him about it and an hour later it was mine for 350 bucks. His Willys rim ad was on Craigslist. My car is here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=315859&highlight=typhoon

Best 350 bucks I ever spent.

If you're into the craigslist thing like I occassionally am, it doesn't hurt to ask someone (if they're friendly) if they have anything else they might want to sell while you're there. You'd be surprised at what you find that way.

If you're good at wording things gingerly and politely via email, you can also look in the background of pics posted on craigslist to see if anything in the background is for sale. You have to be careful doing this, but a friend of mine noticed a '68 fastback Mustang in the background of a Jeep ad, and it was his for 3 grand that day.

 

I ran an add in the local sales paper

 

talk cars with anybody that will listen. The 29 Essex I am currently trying to get bought was the result of asking a steam show vendor about an exhaust whistle he had for sale.

 

Wandering around,,seeing things laying in yards ,,mostly people saying "your into cars are'nt ya" and by accident ,,buying something not car related and wow,,look whats under the tap,,and just traveling around

Have had to pass on MANY cars as just did'nt have the room for em all

 

i was bored in class one day surfin the web when i found a site with a ton of cars on it, and links to pics of each one. i found a 31 on there, printed the pics out and took it to my boss at the shop i worked at and told him that was the kind of car i was looking for. he looked at them and told me he knew that exact car and he could probably get the guy to sell it to me. long story short when i got there it was one of those scenes every hot rodder dreams of. field full of cars just sittin there, big barn on the side also packed full and my car sittin pretty under an oak tree. apparently the guy has been burned pretty good in the last couple of years and he took the site down and no one but close friends gets to go out there anymore. im just glad i got to see something like that once in my lifetime

 

i hung a left in albuquerque

 

farms alwasy have old cars always. always

 

See this post for pics: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=317006

I always keep my eyes peeled and try not to pass up the opportunity to look in old dumps, iron piles, ditches, sheds, barns (only with permission!). Last Easter weekend 2008 my wife and I were visiting her parents. My mother in law is like me, a junk digger at heart. She was doing some interior room painting for some people who own some land where they run sheep and cattle. There is an abandoned house there and they said we were welcome to poke around and could have whatever we found..... We looked in the old house, nothing but sheep poop. Old sheds were empty too. But then up the draw there was a dry creek wash that I decided to check out. I see what looks like a rusty early fender and yep, an old roadster is buried in an old dump in the creek wash. It's still only half dug out, I live a couple hours away from where it is. It will be a lot of work getting it all the way out. I think it may be speedster material.....
Tombat

 

I wish I could find half the stuff you guys run accross

 

If you had half of what all these guys have run across you would have to have a shop the size of Minnesota.

 

my boss was @ an estate sale when he saw my car and gave me a call to see if i was intrested.

 

I guess i'm gonna have to start looking harder at some of the places around here take some old country back roads and see what i can see.

 

JUST went and looked at two old trucks in a creek bed behind an old cemitary today. The land belongs to the family of a friend of my 14 year old son. It turns out my son was looking at pics of a 55-57 chev truck and the kid said he had some old trucks out back. Low and behold there is a 57 chev panel and a 53 international. I have a 55 chev truck so permition will be asked of the owner and parts liberation will begin in the spring.

 

found mine on the internet . had to go to michigan to get it . i live in ca. but a good price . had been in a barn since WW2 .................... steve

 

My dad knew about a stash in the bush on somebodies property where people had been dropping off cars since the 50's. We used to dirtbike up there in the summer to check it out...fast forward 5 years to last sunday, and i finally had the chance to grab two '54 chevies out of there that were waiting for me.

 

Wow most of the cars i know about were drove off into strip mines around here and there is no way to ever recover them in one piece if you could even find them at the bottom that is.

 

Learn to see around corners and through houses as you drive down the road. Realy

 

i know where theres a 54chevy but i have never stopped to look at it.it looks like someone started working on it then abandoned it but it like an hour or so from here.

 

Yup!

When I was a kid growing up in East L.A. I remember cruising down old alleys and stuff looking for parts or cars. When we go back to visit family 2x a year, the first thing we do is hop in the rental car and go down alleys lookin'.... I sure miss the cars in California!....

 

People who are into deer hunting around here are a good resource. My brother in law found the front half of a '27 T touring car on a lead from a friend of his who found it while he was out deer hunting. Gary built a roadster pickup out of it, nice rod.

 

Jeez, where do you start with this one? I have been lucky just spotting stuff and asking after it. I love to roam through junkyards. While working I would keep my eye peeled. I have came across a bunch of neat stuff i.e. Shovelheads, Sportys, Triumphs, Ducatis, ton of Jap bikes, early 6v sirens, AMC rebel, 28 Ford Model A Huckster, Chebby coupes out the wahzoo, Sunbeams, 32/33 Ply coupe, effies, Caddies, Lincolns, etc. Most of them for sale some of them a deal. I never have enough money or space. If I know someone is looking I pass the find along.

 

I had a pig that could find truffles. Retrained him.

 

I come across ALOT of old cars around here while hunting or riding atv's and snowmobiles. Great spots are on old mining trails, logging roads, powerlines, etc... they're easiest to spot when there's no leaves and there's snow on the roofs. I find them alot on powerlines... here's some on the powerline behind my house-


Here's a truck I came across while grouse hunting. It must've been from logging... it was far from any road or trail.



I know where there are many more cars and trucks in the woods around here, but most of the time I don't have a camera with me when I see them.

 

It also does not hurt to have the ability to tell what a car is while it is still under a car cover. I went to a man's business that had a private wharehouse with about 60 cars in it, all under heavy canvass car covers. I ID'ed all but about a dozen without lifting a single car cover. When I see cars covered in garages or carports or yards it helps when you leave a note or knock on the door if you know what you are asking about.

 

damn, the more thats gets posted the more I want to find some old iron

 

^
seriously.
i always try to look hard whenever i'm out in the woods or in the country. half the time i don't have the $ or space and don't even ask. i've gotten lucky a few times though.
when i bought my 54 chev the lady was so taken back because she said nobody had asked her about that old car in the years it had been sitting there, and i happened to be the third person that day that knocked on her door. then she said "third time's a charm i guess" i towed it home a couple days later..