"Barn fresh" pics and stories
 

Most everyone loves the dusty, neglected or forgotten old classic lurking in old garages, barns and the like. What pics and stories does everyone have?

I bought this 67 Coronet R/T about 2.5 years ago, the owners were in their eighties. 1986 inspection sticker, old yellow PA plates. Went to the door, asked about it. Nice old guy says, well lets see if she starts. Second try and it fired up and sounded good. My jaw was on the floor. He still took it around the block about once a month. Almost wish I had kept it, what a neat car.

This is always the best finds !!! Last spring I found a 1972 Pontiac Parisienne with only 60000 miles in the paper, the owner was in his eighties as well and told me he could not drive it anymore because his hearing was going and his wife was scared of driving it because of the size of it. The Parisienne (Canadian version of the Catalina-Bonneville) was red and 2 doors in very good shape but was too plane jane for my liking. It had a 350 2 barrel CHEBBY engine ! If she had a 455, I would of bought it on the spot ! $2500 was the asking price ! I felt bad for the old folk so I did not buy it to make a profit on it, he was very proud of his car and was telling me good stories about it like the time he drove 1600 miles from Winnipeg to Toronto without having any problems with it and poeple couldn't believe their eyes that he had such an old car in such a good shape and sooooooo big ! That was not too many years ago. He was playing me an old eight track tape of himself playing the violin...I love them old poeple and respect them.
By the way I beleve more in So little cars...So much money such as 100000 $ + GTO's...

"Barn fresh" pics and stories
 

3 years ago I saw a lemans for sale in someones front yard with an elderly woman coming out of the house. By the time I get my work truck turned around & back to the house there is nobody home. I look at the car. It is a 71 lemans 4 door with a real nice body & interior. The price on the sign says $200.00 I looked inside it had a factory AM FM radio & the ultra rare factory cassette player. I take all the for sale signs off of the car & the one they had in the yard with me. I was not going to let this one slip away.

only 24 - so my 'barn' stories are limited

but i've got one

and pictures from last year, as it happened to me

a guy said he had a '67 convertible GTO that just had a piece or two left, and a mostly complete '75 formula firebird

told me '25 for the gto and 5 for the firebird' on the phone

i went and looked, not knowing whether he meant 25k and 5k or 2500 and 500

all of the GTO except the motor was there - just laying in random parts around the garage
and the firebird was all original 4spd with everything there too - nice interior

bought both on the spot - was a ton of fun
had been in that barn for at least 20 years - i found quarter mile tags in the GTO and drive-through movie tickets under the seats
unfortunately, sold both by now

Found a 66 GTO convert in a parking garage a few years ago. I was told it was there for at least 15 years. I believed it because it had and inch of soot all over it. The car was i great shape. The kicker was that it had the dealer intallled Ram Air set up. A real rarity. I tried to get in tough with the owner many time leaving him messages. After about a year, the car dissapeared. Dont know what happened to it.

This is exactly how I found my 64. It sat in the hay loft a barn from 1975 till I bought it 2001.

That is gorgeous! Your heart must have skipped a beat seeing that with 20+ years of dirt. Is that skyline blue or yorktown blue? Looks about the equivalant to fontaine blue, my favorite color and the original color to my LeMans. I hope to have it the correct color by spring 07.

Barn Cars
 

Here's one barn car and one garage car...

Barn car is a '69 RA III Judge, 4 sp. ALL original except for the block. Was sitting in a barn for the last 12 years. Got a good deal but didn't "steal" it. Bought in Jan '06. Pending frame off resto.

Garage car is a '66 Fairlane convt, 289 auto. Straight, complete, and rust free. Rear springs broke and they quit driving it 12 years ago. Got it CHEAP! This will be a driver.

Scott

i enjoy these pictures MUCH more than restored pictures

goatmanmitch

Thanks, and you are correct, my heart did skip a beat when I saw it. You can't see it from the picture, but there was a small stoop above the rear part of the car and the bird would perch themselves on this stoop and do what they do best. The car actually had bird poop built up and running down it like an icicle on both sides.

The color is Yorktown Blue.

This is a cool thread. I could read this stuff all day. Back when I had a 68 Cougar (2002) I found this one in Evenston IL. It had been sitting in a garage since 1978. LIterally untouched or seen in all those years. The dust was about 1 inch thick all over it, four flat tires and we had to drag it onto the trailer because the drums had rusted solid. Got it home, cleaned it up and put some Marvel Mystery Oil in the plug holes. About a week later, changed the plugs & Cap & Rotor and it fired up and sounded great. No Smoke, knocks or anything......Not a bad find for $800....

This was my father in-laws car. I pulled it out after not seeing daylight for 16 years. Unfortunatly, it turned into a parts car. Too many wisconsin winters.

My father-in-law gave my yongest son his 70 Ranchero GT. He ordered it in the spring of 1970 and had used it for many years. In 1992 he drove it into his shed and let it sit. Mike got it in '03, but we could not save it. When you jacked up the rear with a floor jack under the axle, you could watch the body flex in the middle. The only part of the body worth anything was the roof. Too much midwest salt and too many dirt roads had done the damage.

He did save the 429, C6, 31 spline 9 inch rear and front disc brake set up and bought a 66 Failane to drop everything in. We could not save all of it, but we did save part of it.

this is a good site to check out some cars in barns

http://carsinbarns.com/

have fun.

Soft spot for rancheros
 

Dave, you son should have a great car when your done. My first car was a 76 ranchero with a 351MC400 car. Too fast for a 16 year old and i totaled it before I ran through the first tank of fuel. OUCH. I still kick myself for not keeping the engine tranny rear combo and dropping it into an old two door hardtop Edsel my dad had. Imagine that combo!!
My boy is only 7 and I can't wait to get caught up on some bills and start a project car for him (or my daughter she's 9)

Good luck on the project!!

BARN PICS
 

1965 GTO POST COUPE-
Bought from original owner, San Diego 2004.

BTW, This is an awesome thread! Keep the "as discovered" pics coming (let's leave out the in work ones)

"found" last weekend.

Here's my GTO, body as I found it in a field in Santa fe, NM

I just got it running... probably hasn't been driven in at least 15 years

Here's my 67 bird in the storage facility when I bought it a couple years ago. $700 took it home on a flatbed. It started and ran ok after putting a new starter in it. It was a fabulous deal. It's now in the garage with all the paint stripped off it, waiting for me to weld a pair of new quarters in.