What happens when life starts falling all around you? Well, in the case of these classic cars, you sit and wait for rescue. A hefty collection of more than a few dozen cars have been flattened by a collapsed barn in Brookville, Pennsylvania. The owner recently passed away at the age of 100. Now, the collection is up for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Thank you Patrick S. for the Fox News article tip.
Organizing the effort is Andrew Glinkerman and his grandfather. Glinkerman, whose great-uncle, Jack Smith, left the cars to sit in the barn for over 30 years. Glinkerman has hired a crew to skillfully remove the cars from the pile of rubble. Unfortunately, many of the cars were damaged by the falling debris. A few made it through unharmed. The collection ranges of cars from the 1920’s through 1960’s.
All but one of the cars has a title with it. None of the cars are able to move on their own power. This is a great collection to sift through the photos of. If you get excited seeing rusty old cars, then you won’t be disappointed. The hard part is trying to pick what would be best to make a project out of. There are plenty to choose from.
One of the most notable vehicles is a Ford Bronco that appears to be all original. With the truck market ablaze right now, it is no wonder many buyers are interested in the Bronco. A fraction of the collection has already been sold. Facebook Marketplace has photos of cars and Glinkerman is accepting inquiries on the cars. Considering this made national news, he might be working overtime on those messages.
Sorry, this really grinds my gears. It’s too late, mostly junk now. What’s particularly disturbing, is the lack of interest through the years. They knew these cars were there, some nice ones, too, and knew the building was falling down, could have easily moved them, even outside with a cover. And I’ve know machine operators, they don’t care about the cars, just clean up the rubble. Hard to be delicate with an excavator. With a few exceptions, nobody but the scrap dealer will want these.
I totally agree, it grinds me as well. So many people that keep old cars seem to lose perspective of how to store and care for old cars (don’t leave them on a damp dirt floor or outside under a tarp), and certainly lose perspective of how much those old cars are worth. And how about the 85 year old gentleman with an old car that is ‘worth a lot of money’, but he refuses to sell it. He won’t sell it, nor will he fix it, so it’s left to rot away or be disposed of by a family member who has no idea what it’s worth. How many times have we seen old cars stored under a pile of junk, but the owner believes he’s sitting on a gold mine. If it’s worth so much, then why are you piling junk on it? This story seems to be another one of those sad tales.
Howard, The old guy saved most of them from the smelter and becoming Toyota’s. How many have you saved from the same fate? Even if simply used as Parts cars (unable to really tell the condition by the photos) it is better than being shipped to Japan as shredded scrap metal. It is too bad that his barn failed.
And we all know what happened the last time we shipped scrap metal to Japan:|
I agree with Howard. Not a week goes by without learning about a “collector” that is “saving” cars – out in a field, with trees growing up through the rusted floors and through the broken windshields. This is NOT saving the cars. It is curating a collection of slowly but surely deteriorating former cars. It seems some of these folks have the goal of restoring them on their own, but don’t get around to it. Others are using the “collection” as a retirement plan. But all too often, the cars are not worth what they’d hoped and they fall to ruin. Sad.
dont buy any
I am a machine operator. I could dismantle that barn board by board with an excavator and stack them according to size. And excavator operators are by and large car guys. On behalf of all of us we are a little offended Howard.
And once again, there are all of those cars preserved in some form for decades so we can look and perhaps purchase them. They do not look collectible for the most part so their value for most of the time they are in the barn was near zero. That collector devoted valuable space to saving them and at 90 or 100 years of age he likely had neither the time or energy to deal with them.
Thanks Martin, not the crabby old operators I dealt with. Us dump truck drivers always had a running feud with those guys. Neither would rarely help each other. ( had a burnout operator run his shovel out of fuel once. I knew how to get it going, but kept my mouth shut, the guy never did get it going and sent us home) I’m more upset it could have been saved, but again, nobody cared until it was an eyesore laying on the ground.
Do you think there is something odd about that barn collapse.It is so uniform all the way around as if the four winds all blew at once.
Also, I just visited Facebook Marketplace. It is horrible, to say the least and the ads are very misleading. Only one photo. One ad said $600.00 for car, followed in FB by “$600.00 down, $57.00 weekly.” Question: for how long? Until ti is paid off? What’s the total price? Unknown. Put the ad on E-bay or Craigslist. Much better idea
Didn’t we already see this on Barn Finds a few weeks back?
“I’m going to fix that barn up some day”
This was featured here last week, the $100,000 package price is still ridiculous. Someone needs to put in the work to figure out which individual cars have value, then list them separately. Winter is fast approaching, I’ll bet most if not all, will still be for sale next spring.
Steve R
It was posted that the Bronco has already been sold.
The best way to look at this. At least even as parts cars these vehicles have avoided the scrap yard for 50 years.
A summer storm produced tornados in the area. I wonder if that is what brought the building down?
I think folks are being a bit harsh here, this 100 year old gentleman cared enough to collect all the cars. Once u are 100 i bet you would not be driving to look at the barn. This is a sad happening looking at the pictures they are mostly prewar cars that could be restored.
All the smashed roofs is a real loss.
Also if one is good at thier trade,i.e. heavy equipment operator the debris can be removed with minimal extra damage.
I think this was on Jalopnik. Half of the barn collapsed initially, then the rest
Don’t know whether to laugh at the benign neglect, or cry over the loss. I agree that the 100 yr old gentleman may not have been able to go check on his collection, but perhaps the two other gentlemen mentioned could have?
Admittedly, I didn’t see much there that I personally would be interested in, but I’m sure that others would have been interested – and still may be.
A lot of classic cars have been destroyed through the Campfire catastrophe in California too. These things do happen and it will only decrease the pool of classics out there. Apart from human lives lost, it’s very sad. My heart goes out to the survivors there.
These cars are not destroyed like being burned……..simply damaged. My step son spent months towing burned cars out of California fires for the insurance companies. Most adjusters wouldn’t even go look at them until he had them out.
I’m not sure what you mean Dave, “these cars are not destroyed”. Fire has destroyed many around Paradise, CA without a chance to ever be restored again. Some even had melted to a puddle of molten aluminum, the news pictures showed.
The barn collapse cars have not been destroyed like having gone through a fire……only “damaged” the conversation is about the cars in the collapsed barn.
Don’t blame family members – out of respect for “Grampa”, many would never consider going behind his back to rescue a collection of cars even though they know it would be the sensible thing to do.
The worst thing as we all know is a car sitting for prolonged periods of time is definately not the best thing for the car to go through. the old cars need to be driven, not horded unless you have a roller project you’re working on. and yes this same article was posted last week
Im with Dave Wright, instead of cashing out he held on. Some stuff you only have the money to hang onto it. Maybe he got the cars then put up the barn to keep them out of the weather. At 100 years old , im sure he can tell you that time flies, maybe he just couldnt fond the time to soak them in waste oil. Thank God for those who have the greeenbacks to preserve cars in a climate controlled environment. Those who have parking garages full of cars. Didnt Saddam Hussien torch 80 of his kids classic american cars just to get his attension? Ok im done
Oh come on guys. Do any of you naysayers actually restore old cars? There’s still a lot of good iron there! Most look restore-able. Parts also look good. Yeah, would have been nice to find them earlier, but then they would be one less collection available to find now. They don’t make these anymore you know. Someday all the barn finds will be gone.
What is the Corvair-looking car? It’s not a Corvair, I think it’s German.
Might be an NSU. The Chrysler (?) Convertible in the foreground could be interesting.
1940 Ford for me. Make a great hotrod!
What year is the Caddy? That thing looks huge/wide from the photo perspective.
When I was still delivering the mail I found out the hard way that some owners of yard cars/barn cars/garage cars anything of value in a yard get to a point where they enjoying telling people that the said vehicle/vehicles aren’t for sale. It becomes some kind of psychological FTW bravado, and I hope to hell I never get it. But when we encounter this are we more peeved at curbers pestering these owners and leveraging the cars away under false pretenses or the situations like the story above? Talk amongst yourselves………….
Hello Rex Karhs, that car caught my eye also. Can’t make out the emblem but a Corvair would be my guess also.
Anyone know what it is?
If it’s rare or European sourcing another roof is going to be a fun puzzle. The side in the photo looks straight with no rust.
I would hope these cars are sold at a price to allow people to put them back on the road as restored or restomod/hotrod.
Once they get crushed they can’t come back.
the car in question is not a Corvair, It’s a German NSU Prinz, made in Neckarsulm in the late 1960s & early 1970s. Rear engine transverse air cooled 4 cylinder, available in 1000 cc, 1100 cc, or the very rare 1200 TTS. In the late 1970s a friend and I bought out the USA Importer’s collection of NSU cars and parts, from Allied Light Cars in Washington, D.C., including the first NSU Spyder Wankel imported into the USA, the red one featured on all the car magazines in 1964.
That is what my eyes see………they raced the hell out of them in Germany, some very entertaining amateur racing…….20 of them cunning Nurnburg ring, the first few laps were akin to bumper cars. They would have to clean the track of debris before we could run our Formula Fords. They sounded like bumble bees once they stretched out on the track.
Funny thing about wood barns. They go for a long time without a collapse. A truss member here or support there splinters and cracks. A post rots on the end. Then one day an unusual weather event, wind or snow, happens and its down (or in this case first one half, then the other). It is really expensive to retrofit old wood with new, especially for an old guy. I doubt he drove them in there thinking the barn was going to fall on them one day. I have a couple of old buildings on life support and still park my old stuff under them as it is better than leaving it out in the weather.
Sorry son not for sale, I’m going to fix it up some day = the death of many a nice car.
After reading the Fox News article I see tons of good parts. Boy, that red post-war Lincoln convertible looks great ! Looks like a Crager mag on the front, Someone had a hotrod Lincoln droptop!
I know the Lincoln >>Continental<< is considered a registered classic from these years, but this one is far more cool. As someone said last time around, I don't think I've ever seen a mag wheel on a 1940's Lincoln! Cool car.
Sometimes the kids need to take the keys away from dad because he can’t drive anymore. Sometimes dad loses his ability to drive (skill) or he makes mistakes when he does. It’s a family mistake when good cars rot in a field or in barn. “Kindness” is helping someone do what is best. This should have been taken care of long ago and I bet Dad would have gotten a kick out of seeing someone restore some of his cars.
As I noted the last time this was posted, I’d take the IH R-110. None of the others interest me.
Cadillac made some beautiful cars in the 1930s, but that 1939 wasn’t one of them. That thing is just plain butt-ugly. To be fair, all of GM’s 1939 cars are less than stellar-looking. Even the LaSalle is kind of homely.
As I said the last time this was posted, I’d take the IH R-110. The others don’t interest me.
Cadillac made some beautiful cars in the 1930s, but the 1939 wasn’t one of them. That thing is just plain butt-ugly. To be fair, all of GM’s 1939 cars were less than stellar-looking. Even the LaSalle is kind of homely.
There are also the owners that say they ate “going to restore it some day” as it sits out side with grass growing up around them.
When I lived in Maine, there was a 1967 Ford Fairlane XL, 390 4-speed that sat outside this guys out building.
I stopped by fairly regular for over 10 years asking him about it. He always said he was going to to restore it. He got pissed when I said, “Maybe you could at least dump some gravel and cover the car?” He told me to leave and never come back.
I saw it continue to sit, for about 5 years after that. I watched that car rust to death over a 15 year period. It hurt my heart!
It was White on Red with a black vinyl top. So sad :(
@ Chris Kennedy. No such car as a 1967 Ford Fairlane XL. Either a Galaxie 500XL, or maybe a Fairlane 500 in those years. Good story, though, Chris! I pulled a 1968 Galaxie XL fastback from a field after the property owner advertised any car in the field, $100. This was in 1989. Sadly, he offered no assistance to pull the cars from their muddy spots and a lot of them are still rotting there today!
Do people ever make a tempting offer to buy these cars? People don’t appreciate giving someone a break on a car they want to restore only to see them flip it for thousands more.
this is the sort of thing that I do not understand.
Is that a (sadly) squashed NSU Prinz 4 sitting in the midst of them all ?
Perhapes it’s tiny 2 cylinder air cooled motor could be salvaged.
Should’ve just poured gasoline over the pile of rubble and been done with it.
Need the thumbs down back.
The NSU/Corvair is a ’60s Mercury Comet, if you are discussing the white 4-door.
What a shame. Something could’ve been done before the barn came down.
Has anyone found a list of the cars available as FBMP only lists one car pic?
Happy Thanksgiving Peter, go to FBMP and look for the 18 dots in the gray bar below the photo. Click those to see more photos. You can also hover over the photo and if you look close you will see an arrow on the left and right edge of the pic. You can click those also to scroll the photos. Take care, Mike.
Thank you Mike. Found them. Likewise retrospectively for Thanksgiving.
He has a good collection there.
Procrastination is a key word in many cases. Here today, Gone tomorrow. Either sell items now or buy them now for tomorrow they may be gone forever.
Barn Finds…the only place where people complain about.. Barn Finds. Haha
That Barn was along a main road and many including myself tried lots of times over the years to try to buy the cars…..Nothing was for sale. There were other cars outside that rotted away over the years. Everyone who knew about them sadly kept telling each other –well the Barn looks worse this year knowing nothing could be bought. DAMN shame !!!
I live beside a junk collector. Has two old coupes and those cars have sat in a falling down garage since th 80s. Will not sell . The garage was set on fire once and he just moved them to another spot. The one rare time I was able to see one up close and talk with the guy , he had put a 409 in one and uses to race it across a bridge. I checked into his story and found it to be true. Locals raced across a bridge in the 70s I guess for the heck of it. The dude is in his 70s and will never part with them.
Dave Wright,
I remember attending both Nurnburg and the Hockenheim Ring tracks back in the 1970s, and yes, they did sound like bees, especially the 50cc class of motorcycles!
As for losing parts like crazy, it’s no surprise; while the Prinz 4 cylinder cars were mechanical wonders, they were cheaply constructed when it came to the bodies and trim. The front bumpers were actually held onto the body with 4 sheet metal screws. I found that out when we tried to tow a Prinz with a rope, only to pull the bumper off when I tugged on the rope, just me pulling on it!
I had a very late [1972?] 1200 TTS with the twin 2-barrel carbs, It was a terror on the track, but with the carbs located directly above the starter motor, the last time I tried to start it, a carb float didn’t close, and it caught fire. Since it was burning behind me, I didn’t realize it was on fire until it was too late. Total loss.
We raced Formula Fords on the European tracks in the later 70’s. Royale cars and Scholar engines. It always looked like the NSU racers had a lot of fun. We were a pretty serious group……..I have seen guys racing NSU’s that were candidates for a DUI. Great memories.