Barn find stories?

Elk Grove IL. Been sitting like this for at least 8 years. Drove by a week ago, there is so much over growth you can't even see the car now. Dude just won't sell it.
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Well, there have been some interesting barn find stories on my country... my first car was actually a legitimate barn find, although it wasn't a Ferrari or anything as fancy. It was a 1966 Mustang Fastback GT. The car was abandoned for about a decade (I bought it in 1996) in a barn that was next to a swamp... there was no floor on the barn, and the front of the car was partially buried in the dirt (that swamp made the whole surrounding area kind of wet... on the ten years the car was left there, it "dug" itself in). The owner had broken the original engine and placed a six-banger instead (that engine came from a 1965 Mustang that was crashed) in the early eighties.

I did get the original engine as part or the deal, but the block was badly cracked, and the machine shop said it was not repairable.

I found a 302 engine on a local salvage yard, and that's the one that's on the car to this day.

There's a famous story about a barn-kept car here, related to a Lancia Stratos that was raced at the "Transchaco Rally" (the biggest automotive event in Paraguay). The owner bought the car new, and was close to winning the race, when something broke on the car. This man became so angry at the car, that took it to his farm and literally threw the car on the barn without even washing it. I saw a picture of the car taken a couple of years ago... and it seemed in nice shape for a car that was raced. Some trim bits were removed, as I recall... I'll try to find the picture and post it.

Although the guy has no intentions to sell it, he refuses to repair the car, because he's "punishing" it as I was told by a friend of him... sounds like quite a character, huh? This person is a very wealthy local industrialist, so he has the means to do it if he wanted to.

There's also the urban myth of one of the missing Tucker cars being stored somewhere in Paraguay... according to the story, the car was brought from Brazil in the 60s, after plans for producing the car in Rio de Janeiro where dropped; the car was one of the two "sample" cars brought from the US. I never witnessed any proof of this story being true, though... there's always the famous "cousin of a friend that saw it once", but other than that, nothing really tangible.

 

I found a box in a barn in he met,CA. Where I live. The people there were having an estate sale, fyi an estate sale is like a yard sale except that the people sell everything in the house, they might even sell the kitchen sink too. Anyways I went into this old barn and high on a dusty shelf there was an old cardboard box, lnside the box there was lamborgini shop books and a Ferrari 330gtc shop manual in Italian among other things, the lambo books say modena racing inc, a 1960 flaminia and a bora book. Inside the 330 manual there are handwritten notes in Italian and in the bora book there are notes in Italian and a signature. I am trying to research if there is a connection to Luigi and Alfred and how did these books end up in a old cardboard box in a dusty old barn in hemet. I would appreciate any help the members could provide, thanks/tony

 

Any additional barn finds of Ferraris?

 

Find the "Ghia" 5000 GT and you may have the "ultimate barn find". The holy grail of lost cars. Missing for over 45 years.

Ciao and best!
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I am assuming it is not possible to post Henry Wessel's photos? I love "as is" photos of found automotive treasure.

 

Take that Enzo!!

Pete

 

Found the pictures of the Lancia! One is from the Transchaco Rally in the 70s, and the other one is of the car in it's current shape... pretty neglected...
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Great story, nice looking car considering....any more info welcome of course.
Thanks for sharing.

 

I thought the TR that was buried when the barn burned down was in
Pennsylvania. I have heard that the turnpike was built over it.
The only othe truly buried Ferraris I know of is Lord whats-his-name in England who claimed 5 Ferraris were stolen when it turned out he buried them in his yard, and the lady in Texas (what was her name and wasn;'t the car a 365GT 2 plus -2) who was buried in her car in a very large coffin

 

That would be Sandra West buried in San Antonio in her 1964 330 America, s/n 5055.

Her nephew dropped into this thread several years ago:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5290&highlight=sandra+west

 

Try proving this - and no, I'm not holding my breath waiting. Wessels/Felton clearly stated that they found six cars, a Ferrari (an unknown type at the time, which later turned out to be the 250TR), an Alfa 2900 and remains of 4 American cars.

 

I love (looks of) the state where the Lancia Stratos is at the moment, that patina can't be bought. All it really needs is TLC (wipers, tyres, over haul for brakes, engine service and basicly make sure it would not do any damage it), wash the interior and windows, then back to road.

Huomenta Kare.

Cheers
Samuli

 

I have bought several 250 Lussos from owners who had stored them for years in underground car parks in Paris but the best and totally true story I can contribute concerns a 250 GTE, chassis 2245GT.

One day in 2000 I received a telephone call from a foriegn sounding guy who claimed he worked for Lambeth council.....to others outside of the UK, Lambeth is a fairly run down area of South London.........He claimed that the local authority were about to demolish a block of apartments that had been built in the 1950's and part of the garage area beneath had been let to non residents. In one of the parking spaces was a Ferrari. They had been unable to trace the owner and now had title to the car in lieu of back rent. Was I interested in buying it ?

I thought it was either a hoax or it was going to be a very tired Mondial or 308 so I asked him why he had chosed to call me ? He said that he had purchased a classic car magazine and had seen my advert and as nearly all my cars had wire wheels he thought it was worth calling me......Wire wheels...now I was interested...... I made an appointment to view the car and found this GTE. Flat tyres, piles of rubbish heaped on top of it and it was so dirty I couldn't determine the colour. The council had broken the door locks to gain entry to the car in the hope of finding proof of ownership. I bought the car for parts and paid a fair price on that basis of GBP 10K. The tryres held air when pumped up and we towed the car out of the garage. When it was going up the ramp I noticed underneath that the exhaust looked new....in fact stainless steel. However It wasn't until I got it back to the garage that I realised what I had bought. It must have taken 2 weeks of constant cleaning to get the grime off of the car but it was then obvious that the car had been totally restored prior to storage. The paint was virtually unmarked and the original leather was beautiful. With new lock barrels, fresh oil, petrol, battery and plugs the car ran well. It was a rare RHD car with matching numbers and one of the first cars imported to the UK. It is also one of the early GTE's that have the extension to the chrome bonnet trim that extends into the front lip. With new tryres and a full service by Bob Houghton the car was sold to HK. It is now proudly owned in the UK and I am told has been restored again.

GBP 10K seems very cheap today but in 2000 these cars were considered to be worth around 30-35K for a good example. I still dont know the complete details as to how the car came to be there but I am told it was owned by a US citizen who was a Navy diver. He purchased the car....dont know where.... and had Kevin O'Rourke at Moto Technique restore it for him. On payment and completion it was delivered to this storage facility and never moved. I am further told that the owner was working in Korea and has never been heard of since. The V5 (Title certificate) was never registered in his name which is possible in the UK so I have no way of tracing the history. I think it had been in storage for about 8 years.

Anyway, thats my only 'Barn' find.......if an underground car park can be described as such. The irony is that had this been a 250 SWB it would still have come for 10K. The council had no idea what it was worth or probably what it was. I was the only person contacted and the price was determined by the rent outstanding and various legal fees to gain title.......
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2245GT prior to sale......
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Great story Paul. I trust you made a profit.

 

I live in Green Bay and have visited a very well respected restoration shop nearby and have some car friends that I've talked to about barn finds. There's supposed o be a TestaRossa somewhere in the area holed up and the owner won't sell. It's been seen and verified, in poor shape and getting worse.

Perry

 

Sitting in a car port in Marin County. The car was originally purchased by a Ice skating company in France later imported by a French diplomat to the USA.
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My story is many years old - around 1979-80. I was making a short-cut through my hometown of Manitowoc, WI and passed a couple of foreign cars in the grass next to an old quiet looking shop. The car closest to the street is a Gullwinged MB 300SL. I'm 16-17 years old and know just enough that this car is special. So I write down the business name Reimschuessel Sport-Car Garage, look up the phone number and give them a call. Being a dumb kid, I really wasn't prepared to talk a car I knew very little about, so I stammered out a couple of sentences asking if the car was for sale. The pleasant lady on the phone chuckles and politely comments that a youngster like me can't afford a car like this - I guess my youth was clearly heard audible though the phone. I hang up and blush a little before moving on. I catch a glimpse of the car the rest of the summer on my now regular short cut before it just disappears. End of story...NO!

A year or two later I meet my high-school sweetheart's Grandmother. She is warm and sweet, very German and fun to chat with. Lo and behold, she works at Reimschuessel Sport-Car Garage. I tell her about my phone call regarding the 300SL. Out comes the same chuckle and the rest of the story. I guess my phone was repeated to the shop owner Bert and they all had some good laughs.

Come to find out Bert was an extremely experienced and sought after mechanic with Porsche transporters showing up from Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI that needed race tuning and Mercedes that needed a delicate touch sent up from Chicago dealers that couldn't finish the job. He sadly has past, but his story is strong: Scott Grundfor Co | Article: Reimschuessel's Treasury of Tools

Bert is in the first picture. Grandma Grace in the second. The Gullwing would have been near the fence in the third photo. Great cars, great people.

 

Did she ever say what happened to the Gullwing?

 

Awesome! Do you have any pictures of it as you found it, with all of the dirt and such on it?

 

I speak of 340 America Roadster, RHD, 118A, once belonging to Lincoln Cabraloff. Back in 1970 when I started to go to FOC club activities in So Cal he made quite a picture, silver haired, tall gent with natty attire, cowboy boots, and a big cigar driving a RHD red Ferrari with no bumpers everywhere. Only later I found out it had a Chrysler slant six. I remember him telling me, maybe sometime in the mid-'80s, when he was getting ready to sell it, he had a lawyer friend broker the deal to buy the original engine which had been sitting back East for decades. Maybe that was for the next owner. I am sure the engine cost a lot more than Lincoln paid for the car.

To me there's a bit of a mystery that the car was owned in Texas back in '53 where it was offered for $7000 and then the next listing of owenrs is Lincoln in 1970. By my arithmatic, that's a 17-year stay in someone's barn. I never asked Linc what he paid for it but would like to know for my barn find collection of stirring sagas.

Last time I saw Linc he was buzzing through Palm Springs in a blue 400GT. He was always urging me to move there but today it is 122 deg. there so I am glad he didn't convince me..

Anyhoiw anybody who can add a tale of how it came from Texas to California and who put the Chrysler in it, I'd like to hear it.

 

Here is what I have.// 11/30/53 for sale by Brown $7.0K//12/6/53 Raced at Ft.Worth by William Jarnigan 5th #71//1954 Daytona Speed Week with Johnny Rutherford[not verified]// to Ron Kellog,plate PNF 173//1/1/69 For Sale Autoweek by Russ Pollock $3.0 K with new body hardware. lights.chromework etc//1971 owned by Kellog Chrysler 440 engine??//1971 to Lincoln Cabraloff, Los Angeles, Chrysler eng??,wood dash/Stewart Warner gages[ask Ed Niles, tried/failed to buy. Hope this is helpful. tongascrew

 

118A
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Someone said something about a Tucker here in Brazil. There is a magazine that has been doing the follow-up on the car's story.

It was brought brand new by a fellow who wanted to sell Tuckers here. This guy went through some financial difficulties, and sold the car. Eventually, it was bought by some moron who adapted a Cadillac engine at the front and a Cadillac dashboard on it. The car was placed in a museum, around the 70's or 80's. The curator passed away, the museum was abandoned. Its location did not help much, since it was close to some drug addicts lived. They stole many car parts from the museum, specially the aluminum bits, to exchange it for crack. Recently, was is left from the museum was donated by the family to the government, and they opened the place up, took the cars out, cleaned the Tucker, and some other special cars that where there.
It is not clear yet if the Tucker is going to go through a restoration process, or remais as it is.
I am sure you can find loads of pictures of it on the web.
Type in google images: Tucker no Brasil



The stories I have to share aren't really barn finds, but tragic ones.


A Porsche 550 Spyder came to Brazil around the 60's to race here. The car was sold to a local and crashed. Engine and gearbox where removed from the car, and the shell was left aside in a body shop. Some guy was passing by and asked if he could take the body to an aluminum recycling plant so that he could make some money. The owners of the shop thought he was doing them a favor by removing that piece of junk from their shop. So that 550 is forever lost.

Also, there is a story about a TR that crashed in a race here, and a bambu split it in half, but I dont know if this car was restored or not.