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

In 1983 I was visiting a well known Harley collector in Sodus New York. He told me a story about an old Harley. In 1961 an old guy died and a young couple bought his house. They could tell that the old front porch had been enclosed and was now the front room of the house. The original front wall of the house was extra thick so they pried off boards and found a 1909 Harley inside. They talked to the deceased guys son who told them that his father bought it new, rode it down the gravel driveway and fell over in the gravel. The old guy pushed it back to the porch and leaned it against the wall, later enclosing the Harley. So it was still new, didnt have one mile on it. The kicker? My friend didnt even go look at it. He said nobody wanted an old motorcycle in 1961, so he had no interest in buying it or even going to look at it.

 

^^ sadly he was right , But can you still say DUMB ASS!! lol Larry

 

In 1968 I bought a 1964 Corvair Monza coupe from the family of a deceased solider. He didn't come back from Viet Nam so his mother sold the Danube blue 4-speed coupe to me for $40. It had the 4-carb modification (Bill Thomas?) and ran great. I don't remember the mileage, but the car wasn't that old so it probably wasn't too many.

 

I have no personal experience with this, but that type of story goes back a long way. Another version of the story goes back to the days of coal burning and sawdust burning furnaces.
The person wanting vengeance, would order a load of coal or sawdust, with instructions that the homeowner would be away and not able to get back in time for the delivery. They would instruct the truck driver to open the basement window and dump the load into the basement.
Bob

 

The bricked in 53 in the basement.

 

I always heard it was a 63 split window advertised in the paper just as a 63 Chevy.

 

heard about the first Corvette story when I was 16 in high school. Friends dad was a house painter and would travel around to the small towns in Indiana looking for work during the winter slow time. He would stop in barber shops and look for adds for cars, trucks & motorcycles for sale to make extra money. Stopped in a small town out by Richmond in a barber shop and found a add for a 63 Chevy for sale. no other description just a phone number so he called it from a pay phone. Lady answered the phone and said it was her dead husbands. He was a mechanic had died in a farm accident on his dad's farm two weeks after he bought it. It had set in the garage at their house since he picked it up because she could not reach the peddles to drive it. She was tired of seeing it set there and she wanted to part her Vega in the garage. Told him to come out, look at it and make an offer. It was a 1963 Corvette vert with the hard top with fuel injection. Red on Red. No radio or heater. inside looked like new but paint had the pattern from the blanket that was on top of it for protection burned into it from age. Friends dad made her an offer of $1000 and paint her house inside & out. He brought it home and spent about 6 months going through the brakes, new gaskets for the engine, had the fuel injection taken apart and cleaned. Made sure everything mechanical was good to go. He spent the most time on the paint trying to get the pattern out of it. After he got it back together he drove it a bunch the first year and kept it until he died in 97 when he left it to my friend Bob. I haven't seen Bob for over 20 years and hope he kept it safe and secure.

 

Is it that time again to rehash all of the bullshit stories that I heard 55 years ago in jr. high? The dead rotting body in the Corvette or T Bird? The Coke bottle in the Caddy? the hundred dollar bill taped to the dash? On thing has always bothered me. Ho did these kids manage to buy Corvettes, Cobras and other high end cars before being shipped off to Nam to never return? Why weren't they repoed by the banks. All I left behind was a 45 inch HD in a basket which my mom sold, with my permission, of course. BTW, the Corvette walled up in the store is true. I have the copy of SIA where it was photographed and documented back in the 70s
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2012/...corvette-now-heads-to-auction/#comments-block

 

In 1972, I just missed the sale of a ‘63 split window Corvette for $800.00 by a few minutes. Ad was in newspaper. Thinking about it 48 years later, that was probably all it was worth in 1972????

 

I know of two true stories, I know they are true because they happened to me.
Story # 1 You can tell from my aviator I am into early Thunderbirds. About twenty years
ago I was driving down a country road about twenty miles from my home. Parked under
a large Oak tree, near a mobile home was a white 1955 Thunderbird. It appeared to be in
decent shape, but I could see from the road a spot rusted thru the trunk about the size of
my hand. A 6' high chain link fence surrounded the property. I went to the gate with the
intention of opening the gate and knocking on the front door. On a post about 6' inside
the gate was a large bell similar to a school bell, with a rope to the gate. I decided to ring the
bell instead of knocking on the front door. As soon as I rang the bell, four extremely large
dogs came from the back of the house. The rope pull for a bell ring was definitely the correct
choice. A man came out from the house and talked to me. I asked him if the car was for sale
and he replied no. After explaining to him I could provide him sources for the parts necessary
to restore the car, he said he had no intention to restore the car. I remarked it would be a shame
to let the 'Bird set under the tree and accumulate additional rust. He said if that bothered me that
was my problem, it didn't bother him a damn bit. I turned to walk away and he called me back, and
said when Jesus Christ comes, then he would sell me the car. I continued to see the T-Bird under
the tree rusting away for about another five years, and then it was gone. I never found out what
happened to the Thunderbird. I did however find out about the owner, at his previous residence
he had a Model A Ford in his front yard. It seems he got his kicks from telling people it's not for sale.
Ernie

 

Story # 2 Also true, it happen to me in the '90s.
A business associate of mine told me he had a friend that was a meter reader for the electric
utility company, and he knew where an early Thunderbird was parked under a carport. He said it
had 1967 year license plates on it. Yeah, I have heard that story more than one time and forgot about
it. Years later I happened to be in that East Texas town, and remembered the story. I never even
asked for the address, because these stories are legend. I did however remember the resident's name, as it
was extremely unusual. With time to kill I looked up the name in the phone book, us old timers
remember phone books. Three people with this name were listed, with such an unusual name, they had
to be related. After reaching one of the persons listed, he said his uncle at one time had a Thunderbird
and his three children all drove it during high school. He didn't know if he still had it, but gave me his
address. Sitting under the carport was a 1956 Thunderbird with 1967 Texas license plates on it.
An older gentleman invited me in to talk, he said his wife had died a few years ago and he didn't
have many people to come by to visit anymore. He confirmed his two sons and daughter did indeed
drive the car to high school. He showed me the car and car parts in the storeroom, fender skirts,
air cleaner, and soft top. He did not want to keep the T-Bird as he never liked the car, too much power
and rough riding, he said. Condition of the sale was if his children did not want the car. He gave me
their phone numbers, one son lived in New York City, the daughter lived in London, England, the other
son was a dentist living in a town about 50 miles from me. The son in New York and the daughter had
no interest in the car. You guessed it, the dentist wanted the car. He told me was going to restore it.
After a few conversations with him and explaining if he farmed the restoration out it would be
expensive. He told me he had a patient that agreed to do it for dental work and $ 1500.00.
Another barn find lost. The father and I bonded somewhat, as he had a peach orchard and irrigation
system pump was not working. After I looked at the car, I fixed the pump. The dentist got tired of
me calling him about the T-Bird and told me not to call back. About three years later I happened to
drive by the Father's house, and the car was still under the carport. I stopped to visit, and the owner wanted
to show me his new irrigation system. He had a new car and we got in to go down to the pond.
In my part of the country, the peach trees are set out in raised rows. To get to the pond I assumed we would
drive down between the rows. Not so, we proceeded to cross the rows rapidly in the new car.
I continued to visit the T-Bird for six more years. On the last the visit, the house was closed and the
Thunderbird was gone. I talked to a neighbor and was told the owner died and everything including the car
was sold in an estate sale.
Ernie

 

I can't figure out people who don't want someone else to have what they themselves can't enjoy. Spite?

 

Grew up riding a school bus that drove past a garage with no door that you could clearly see the back end of a 53-54 Corvette. K-7 rode past it 2 times a day on Old Greensboro Road. When I turned 16 I drove over and knocked on the door. It belonged to the lady's late husband and one of the kids/grandkid's were going to "fix it up" one day.

It disappeared a few years later.

 

You know I really wish I was smart enough to have bought a camera years ago so I could have taken pictures of the cars I have stumbled onto. The 63 Corvette I wrote of above I worked on with Bob and his dad. It was one of those found a vette stories that actually existed. The other one I know of I haven't spoken of for years because it really messed with me.
When I was 17 I worked with my best friend at a Standard gas station south of Indy. The owner had a Ford F350 Holmes 440 tow truck that we used a lot on weekends. My friend and I would split jobs and make money for the owner on Saturdays and Sundays, especially during the spring and fall. That was the time that college students would be traveling to and from the IU campus.
We always would be towing people from ditches and fields that ran off the road or had car trouble. One Sunday I drove a guy over 40 miles to his car and changed 4 flat tires from his off road excursion. He had slid about 300 yards off the road through large patch of thorn bushes and all you saw was his tire tracks entering the bushes. I drove the Ford tow truck down his tire tracks through the bushes to his car and got all four tires changed.
I had to tow his car out of the bushes but saw that there was a old farm house about 100 feet from where his car had stopped. The farm house looked like nobody had lived in it for years and apparently nobody had. After I got him about out and on the road I drove back through the bushes to the farm house to look around.
That was my first mistake. The second was seeing a mid 70's Corvette parked in what had been a driveway. Weeds had grown up in the driveway & all over the yard blocking view except for the top story of the home. The bushes had just about blocked the view of the Corvette. I really doubt if you could have seen it from the street that the driveway came out on.
I got out of the truck and looked into the Corvette only to see a decaying body of a guy setting in the drivers seat. I just about threw up. Totally caught me off guard. Not thinking I would ever see a dead guy in a car. He must have been there for years. The license plate on the Corvette was from Missouri and dated 6 years before I found it.
I ran to the Ford, hopped in and made a bee-line straight to the station. Once I got there I told my friend and we called the state police. I reported what I had seen, where it was and never heard anything else about it EVER. Never got a call back. Never had the state police stop in and ask me about it. Never saw anything on the news. Drove back down there three days later and the Corvette was gone.
The only thing was I had nightmares about this for years. It was totally fugged up.

 

I missed one too. a 64 convert, no hard top. Red, Powerglide 250 hp.. Right around the corner from me in the new housing tract I moved into in 71. This was in mid 74. Talked to another neighbor about it and he told me it was for sale. No sign or anything. The owner told me a week earlier he told his brother to take it Las Vegas to sell because he had been trying with no luck. $600.00. I just about cried because I had been looking for a powerglide one.
It did lead to me buying a drag race 40 Chevrolet for $500 and we turned into a LSR vintage coupe. Still have it.

 

Supposed to be a C-1 in a Quonset building less than 10 miles from me, but I don't know for sure.

Gary

 

My story is a bit different, but true. When I was approaching 16 and near getting my license, there was an ad in the paper for a '69 Chevy for 750$. I didn't have the gumption, or money, to tell my folks.

I finally called the ad and an elderly lady answered-this was 4-5 days later. She told me it was a two door Chevrolet that she had bought new had (memory fading, this was in the late 70's) 60-70K miles on it, and "just wasn't a car for her now".

So, two days later I get a ride to go look at the car, it was an effing Z/28. Again...I couldn't get the balls up to talk to my folks about it. FINALLY a few days later I talk to my Dad, he says something like "That's seems like a good deal, call her back..."

Ya, ya guessed it...I called her back and was sold the day before.. No idea if it was a high dollar Z/28 or not, being 15at the time and only knowing it was a Camaro, was all I had in the tank. Lol.

So not a Corvette...but a '69 Z28 I KNOW for a fact, sold for 750 or less in '77.

 

In the Mid 90's I had a 70 Mach 1 I bought to resell. This B.S. artist came by, tried everything to talk me out of the car. Told me this story about some corvettes in a barn, and some other cars about 50 miles away he was trying to buy. A few year later, he had investors and hired me to pull them out. He did not get the Nomad, but got the rest, and then some. Paid decent money for them as I recall.

 

The story I heard, and this is true, was a little different. I guess I was about 9 at the time and this guy comes back from Vietnam in 1969 and goes straight to the Chevy dealer, buys a new 1969 silver Vett. All the parents on the street were saying "that young guy don't need a fancy car like that" or " he don't need a $5,000 car" I always said more power to him! anyone that made it through that shit should get anything he wants! I remember Wayne removing each letter off of the rear of the car and waxing it each weekend. not long before some were missing.

But anyway, a little twist on a sad story, this time the guy made it home and got the prize!

 

My Dad bought a 57 vette in 62, he had it dismantled by about 66. It sat that way for twenty years. I’ll bet it inspired some stories.

 

I bought a '66 Corvette a year after I got out of the service in '72. I worked at a Texaco station for a while and the car sat out on the lot everyday I worked so I got to hear all of the stories about the "steel" Corvettes as well as the ones with the bodies in them, ect. One of our regular customers was always telling me of an old Corvette that was in his neighbors garage. Didn't pay to much attention to it as I had heard the stories before. Finally one day I said to him,"lets go have a look at it" thinking the story would end and he said he would arrange it. Well, I went and it was there. 1956, two fours, hyd. top and had a hardtop on it also. Car was also an automatic! Guys wife had it since it was new and couldn't drive a stick. This thing was complete down to having the original washer fluid bottle still in the holder. Kids rock collection sitting on the hood and tranny fluid running all over the garage floor. Asked him if he would consider selling and he said they were going to and wanted 2500.00 for it. I had just paid 1800.00 for the '66 and was making 4.50 an hour at the station. He might as well been asking 25,000 for it! Anyway a few weeks later I saw it heading south out of Ofallon, Mo. on the back of a wrecker and never saw or heard about the car again. The one that got away I guess. D

 

In 1976 I was service manager at a GM dealership and owned a 66 vette . I drove it to work one day and was changing the oil during lunch when one of my new hire technicians came over and started talking Corvettes to me. He then told me his uncle had an older one sitting in the garage behind his house. He told me it hadn't moved in years and the roof on the garage was collapsing. He said he would take me over to it on Saturday.
Sure enough, His uncle opened the garage door and there sat a white 62 Corvette. The garage roof had rotted and a small sections of wood were laying on the car. Inspection revealed the only things changed were headers and a Hurst shifter. I stuck a deal and made it mine. Paint was very worn, but it was a nice car. That's my Barn Find.

 

Hello,

When we were little kids riding our bikes in our Westside Long Beach neighborhood, we used to see plenty of old cars sitting at the curb or in a field. There were plenty of open fields despite being a post WW2 tract housing development. Some streets had more empty lots than others and some homes had adjoining lots added to their property, too. But, barns were harder to find unless we went over the bridges to the Eastside and then, in the older neighborhoods, were barns of all sizes attached (or separated) to the main houses.

It was not a country atmosphere, but some homes were on equestrian trails that ran along the LA River and the dry side of the tall banks. But, we did not know or care about those barns, we could see tons of old cars just sitting on empty fields in all their rusted glory on our side of the LB Freeway and LA River. Some were covered and protected somewhat, but others were just sitting in the backyards and in adjoining fields. Remember, it was 1948-65 when we were active in growing up and then as we got older, doing hot rod/drag race things.

It was a common thing to know where those old cars were. That notion paid off for us in finding our first Model A coupe. That one was seen almost everyday walking to school. It was in a neighbor’s back yard next to her single car garage. Covered, but still able to see what was under the canvas tarp. Then a few years later, several 1940 Willys coupes were discovered in a block or two over from the Model A’s previous location.

Jnaki

So, barn finds, not necessary in our neighborhood. But, inside of those barns that our fiends owned, were “horses of course.” Horsepower of a different kind was plentiful. One of our high school classmate’s dad owned a commercial property that had several barns and his business was renting out horses for the public. During the holiday season, that equestrian trail was the scene of girls and guys in a horse drawn wagon, clomping down the trails, singing holiday songs appropriate for the occasion. Followed by several on horseback doing the same thing.

Cool old 1940s-50s cars, but, not a hot rod in sight…just plenty of horsepower.

 

My wife and I bought our home here in Everett, Wa in 1987. Shortly afterwards, I started exploring the area. There's a large, "Public Storage" complex not far from us that has indoor, covered outdoor, and open outdoor storage areas. In one corner, there are two 56/57 Corvettes. They are still there to this day! One has a single hoop roll bar, neither have engines, and you can image what sort of shape they're in after so many years being outside and uncovered; one is blue, the other is white. I'm sure the storage complex operators get asked about them all the time. If you to do a GoogleMaps.Com search, 9011 Evergreen Way, Everett, Wa. After the complex comes up, locate Dorn Ave, and take that east to the end of the property; that's the corner of the lot they're located at. Or, if you know how to use navigation charts, 47.915646-122.230447 will put you right on them. My computer does't have enough detail to really see things clearly, or maybe a different server will make them easier to see. I'd kinda like to know the story, but I'm sure the operators are tired of being bugged about them. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

In high school (66-69) I worked at a Standard Chevron Station. Used to be a guy who would be towing his 56 Chevrolet, Sedan Delivery, Junior Stock Drag Car with an old Chevrolet pickup truck, headed to the drags. I fell in lust with that car, and because of it, and a few notable Junior Stock Class Deliveries, I've owned three 56 Deliveries and a 57. He also got drafted, and had to store the car at his Father's house on Beacon Hill in the Seattle area. I really wanted that car, kept in touch with him and with his Father. He had been living with his Mother in the Lynnwood, Wa area (parents were divorced). He was one of those that came home from Viet Nam in a coffin. I still kept in touch with his Father, but he was't interested in selling it. It was garaged in a small, single car garage, that was sided with roofing shingles (something that was done frequently in the 50's-60's). I stopped at his Father's house one weekend coming back from Seattle International Raceway as it was called at the time. The garage had burned down; apparently kids set it on fire "accidentally". It sounds like the garage went up very fast, partly due to the roofing shingle sides/roof, and the hot summer weather. The Delivery had already been scrapped; there was't anything salvageable according to his Father. His Father was really depressed, he'd lost the only connection he still had to his son, and I was just stunned, and it felt like I had been gut punched. I've told this story here on the HAMB before. It's also my "one that got away" story. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

My story starts in 1978 and ends in 1994. I was doing a road call while working for Milos Amoco in Torrington, CT. for a jump start the winter of ‘78, December some time. A dead battery leads to a conversation about the 1969 Super Bee sitting in the garage since 1970.

Same story, son bought new and was drafted after only driving the car for a year and 9,000 miles. He’s killed and the car is still sitting in the garage. No, it’s not for sale.

Fast forward to 1985. I’m back living in the Torrington area and remembered the car. I figured I would stop buy and see if the car is still there 7 years later. Not much seems different at the house, a newer car in the yard but not much else. A good sign that maybe the same people still live there. A knock on the door and I’m greeted by the same woman who’s car I started some years ago. After a few minutes she recalled the road call and the fact I had showed interest in the car but didn’t try and buy the car from her. I asked if the car was still in the garage and sadly, it wasn’t. It was now parked out back in the yard.

Can I see it please, sure but it’s still not for sale. I look and it’s still pretty nice, a day two car with keystone classics and such. Fast forward to 1990 and I stop in again, the woman and husband have both passed, a daughter lives in the house and her son was driving the car till it died. It’s out back again but fading fast. I snapped some pictures but Is it still not for sale. It was my brothers, I can’t sell it. My last trip was 1994, family’s gone, cars gone.

Cliff Ramsdell

I have more pics but this one is handy.

 

1968, went to help a friend and his father pickup a 41 Lincoln Continental. When we got to the place in Vermont there was a 60 Corvette in the barn along side a VERY rare 1940 Lincoln Continental Zephyr convertible, only 7 were made. The Zephyr was rough, but the Corvette was only missing a few parts. We rented two truck and trailers and hauled them out to the farm.

 

My buddy fed me the line about the $100 bill taped to the dash a while back although it was in an OT Ferrari F40. I believed him about the F40 but now I'm skeptical of the $100 taped to the dash. These stories really grow legs I guess.

 

I first heard the Vietnam corvette story in the early 60's been around ever since

 

First or the last? First one was in the 70's in high school, more than one.
I believe there are more out there today, with different but similar stories. My father is 90 and counting, many, if not most of his friends have passed, many of their beloved cars are still parked where they left them. I know of quite a few, including 32 fords and a 67 Corvette. Dad still has a 46 ford, 29 roadster pickup and a 30 A coupe. The 46 was driven a few years ago, the coupe and the roadster have not moved in quite a few years. He will have them till he's gone, my brother is taking the coupe. If I was not close to deal with them, they would become one of these stories and considered "garage finds".

 

My father had a similar instance… he answered an ad for a 1959 Corvette that was for sale in Cincinnati sometime in 2015-16ish. It was advertised as a repainted but disassembled vette with a rebuilt engine. A young man meets him at the house where the car is stored in a detached garage. After driving 4+ hours to view the car the man says he does not have the keys to the garage, and he has to wait another hour plus while he has a locksmith come to gain access. So, the story behind this car is that it was his father’s, which he bought new in 1958. Sometime in the early to mid 60’s the father for whatever reason replaces the 283 with a 1961 265 single 4-barrel engine. In 1983-1984, he disassembled the car, had it repainted, and the engine was rebuilt. Their father had a heart attack and passed away before reassembling the car. The son lives in New York City, the daughter moved into the father’s house but never did much in the little detached garage, neither of them had any interest in the disassembled car. Fast forward to thirty years later, the brother and sister are in an argument on how to split up their father’s estate. Estate lawyers are involved to sell off everything including the house. So now my father sends a few hours digging through this garage trying to find all of the parts for this Corvette. When he felt comfortable everything was there, he then makes a good deal on an agreed price. Now the son tells him they have to go across town to his lawyer’s office to settle the payment and get the title. After a very long day of runarounds & waiting, he gets the car home late that night.


Paint had a wrinkle at a seem on the front fender but otherwise looked good. While the engine was supposedly rebuilt, it sat for over thirty years on an engine stand never running. There was a brand-new white soft top still in the box, but while folded in the box for thirty years, it crumbled apart from dry rot. The only thing I recall him saying was missing was the frame/sliders the seats mounted to. My father's car build went more the restro-mod style with a modern engine and then he sold it off in 2018.