Tell your story about a rare find that you bought...

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by A-Snake

If anyone has a truly interesting "barn find" story it can be forwarded directly to Tom Cotter. There is no need to send it to 'Historybuff' first.
I can provide the contact information if needed.

Paying for stories is NOT something Mr. Cotter is interested in doing.

Tom Cotter has a new book out in this series. The new book is "The Hemi in the Barn" available on Amazon.com etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Hemi-Barn-Stor.../dp/0760327211

Excellent as I hate dealing with "brokers" who are trying to make a buck off of someone elses story and technical expertise and much prefer to deal directly with the author in question. This kind of post reminds me of the kids at school who wanted to copy my homework because they were to lazy to do it themselves.

Bill S.'

[trularin]

Bill makes a good point. I am a bit reluctant to give a bit of my life to someone who will get paid telling my story.

However, I did actually get to see a fabled $300.00 1963 corvette. As the guy told me and to paraphrase.

"I was down on my luck when my car died and I was looking over the want ads. I needed cheap transportation. I saw an ad for a 1963 Chevy for $300.00. I called thinking it was a rusted Michigan car. Some old woman answered and told me that her son purchased the car and then was drafted into the army. He got killed in Vietnam and the car had been sitting ever since. He husband had died and she was moving into a retirement home. She told me the car did not start. I agreed to go over and look at it. I thought it was going to be a Chevy like an Impala or Biscayne. When I got there and house was on it's down side with a for sale sign out front. I knocked and the old lady came to the door. She said it was in the garage. I went out and opened the door. There was junk and dust all over everything, it was clear the door had not been opened in at least twenty years. I pulled back a blanket in the back of the car and wiped the name plate. It said 'Corvette'. I looked around for the 1963 junk I expected. This was the only car in the garage. I shut the door and told the lady I would take the car. I also told her not to open the garage to anyone else and I would be back in half an hour. I came back and bought the car for $300.00"

I remember this story vividly as I stood looking at the cream colored Corvette at the job site we were checking on. I had jabbed him for telling a bull$h!t story, but when I saw the car, I was amazed.

True story.

[Bill Wells]

earlsflyincobra .....

wrong colors . thx. bill

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Just thought of 2 more cars.........

1: last year while talking to a buddy (Ford nut also), he told me about a car in a local junkyard, he was not interested so he passed the info on to me.........well, it was a couple of weeks later before I could get there and sure enough it had been sold about 5 days earlier........

the car was an all original 67 Galaxie 7 litre with an automatic trans....the junk man told me it had around 60,000 miles on it and he did get it running after fiddling with it for about 30 minutes.... the story goes like this: it was a local car, original owner, the car had basically been parked for about 10 years, but the elderly owner would start it up about once a month or so and drive it around the block to keep things in decent working order...the old man died after a 6 month bout with cancer and his wife had died a few years before, the kids came by to take some things from the house before selling the home place and no one wanted that big old Ford car, so they called the local junk man and asked if he would come get it FOR FREE, he said yes and asked if they had the title to it, they did and along with the car he got the title...he then calls my buddy to offer him the car as he knows he likes old Fords, but he's into small block early 60 Fairlanes and passes on the info to me.....by the time I get there, it's gone.....

The junk mans specializes in chevys, told me "dem ole fords ain't worth nothing." he told me the car was all there, chrome side moldings and all, a little surface rust, but not bad, and one door had been slightly scraped as in maybe a sign post, but not really dented, just scraped...........Now for the kicker: he sold it for $800.00 and was glad to get that much for it................ I almost cried!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Car # 2: I'm sure half the population of the state knows about this one and have seen it and tried to buy it.....the story goes like this:

Back in 1965, this guy registers for the draft and gets a fairly low draft #, knowing he's going to Viet Nam, he goes and buys a 65 Vette,327-4 speed with all the goodies, figures he may not ever come back so he'll enjoy life for now.......he ends up going to Viet Nam and his mom pays off the car and parks it behind the house right next to the chicken coop and covers it up.... He comes back from his tour of duty and is crazy as a loon or worse, stays in the house all day drinking and smoking dope and basically does nothing..... sometime later on, his mom dies and he's all alone now which makes matters worse....he will not sell the car for any amount of money and just lets it sit....(the car has less than 10,000 miles on it) now it's the early 1970s and he decides to get it running and start driving it, well, the block has cracked wide open from one too many freezes, so he goes to the local GM dealer and orders a new replacement 327 block, but never does a thing with it, it's still sitting in the shed next to the chicken coop.....he once went to the local bank to get a loan but had nothing for collateral, the loan officer being a car guy offered him the loan if he would put up the Vette (by now in poor shape) for collateral, but he refused, saying he'd let it rot away before that would happen........last time I heard it's still sitting next to the now long rotten chicken coop in the back yard and he's still crazy as ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

David