Dave L – This barn is located on a township road outside Steubenville, Ohio (Dean Martin’s home town). The wife and I were out for a Sunday drive. We figured we could do our part with the social distancing, but still get out of the house. When we spotted this barn, we decided to have a peek inside and quickly noticed that there was a convertible and a hardtop Corvair inside. A passerby told us the property used to belong to a local mobile home dealer that had passed away a few years ago and put us in touch with the current owner (we got permission to go inside for a closer look).
Someone did a high dive to the hardtop. Both didn’t appear to have any bad rust and appeared to be complete. The three cars in this barn have obviously been there for a long time judging by the amount of dirt on them. There are windows down on all the cars. There is also an 8-10 foot trench dug out in front of the barn, and the other three sides are at ground level, so that puts the cars on the second level of the barn. The third car looks to be around a ’69 two-door Lincoln. Same condition as the Corvairs. All three appeared complete, and no major damage.
They might be in pretty rough shape, but this is still a cool find! It will be really interesting to see if they can get more information on the cars and the story behind them. Our thanks to Dave for doing his part when it comes to social distancing and for sharing his find with us!
If you’ve come across a cool find, we sure would love to feature it! Send your photos and story to mail@barnfinds.com so that we can share it with the entire Barn Finds Community.
Cool! Just plain cool!
I like to cruise back roads. When I see old barns, that is the first thing I think of: “wonder if there are any interesting cars in there?” And the actuality is, there certainly must be thousands of old cars in barns, especially in places like Ohio where old barns are everywhere.
When I worked for Westinghouse, my head was always on a swivel. The most interesting car I found was a Chrysler 300C with a dual-quad 392 in Pruntytown, WV.
If you’re driving around, go north of Steubenville on OH39 and check out the abandoned showroom next to the Ford dealership in Glasgow.
True barnfinds. Right on.Thank you.
I have always wondered why most barnfinds or field finds always have the windows down and the air cleaner off. Inquiring mind want to know.
One person in the car to work the starter and the other person fiddling with the carburetor?
The Dean Martin mention is excellent.
Go a little farther West on U.S. 22 to Cadiz and visit the childhood home of Clark Gable. Go a bit North from there and visit New Rumley and visit the birth home of George Armstrong Custer.
Get back on U.S. 22 and go West to New Concord, and visit John and Annie Glenn’s home.
The roads are usually in good condition, excellent for cruising on motorcycles and vintage cars.
Don’t forget to swing over to Zanesville…where Zane Grey wrote and lived… great old brick roads still there to enjoy in my old town of years gone by… and the pottery place on/just off I-70
“Way to go, Ohio”,,actually, I can say, in all my trucking, Ohio folks were some of the nicest people. Go out of their way for you, especially “PUCO” cops.( Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, who enforces truck laws) Minnesota/Wisconsin, conversely, the worst, especially if the Packers or Vikings lose. Sadly, I doubt these cars are going anywhere but to the crusher when the new owner , who thinks they are junk, will dispose of them. Playing out all across the country, stuff like this. Shame.
Got the music vibe on your ” Way to go, Ohio !!
Looking at these cars, and wondering how they got there, and how long they have been sitting there, I can only come one conclusion- “ Everybody loves somebody sometime”
Ah, Steubenville, Ohio….reminds me of the Abbott and Costello “Niagara Falls” bit. In 1966 I got a ride home from college (Lake Forest, north of Chicago) to New York with a couple of older students. It was a 1959 Pontiac Bonneville convertible that he owned (or his parents did). I was driving at around 90 or so when I slowed down to 80 to talk to the very pretty young lady who was the other passenger. Distracted, I failed to note the state trooper who pulled me at 80 (in a 70). It was very late afternoon and since we were out of state, he took us to the JP’s house…Murial Mertz, who was cooking dinner for her family. Not to pleased with me, she charged me $1 dollar per 5 miles over the limit plus $18.25 court costs. Oh well. Never did get to date that pretty gal. Steubenville!
I thought that was the 3 stooges
Niagara Falls…slowly I Turned….
Step by step,… inch by inch…
Cool find ,sort of,as the cars are too far gone,for what they are.Driver Corvairs,and Lincolns can be had for a fraction of the restoration costs of these ones.Personally,I am a fan of the styling of all 3 of them,but reality is what it is.
My father was the lead electrical Foreman when they redid a Sears in a mall in Steubenville. Right when terminator two came out. The mall was sinking into a mine.
the Ft Steuben Mall is still there. struggling to stay alive.
I like the barn
Where are the photos of the interiors and engine compartments? No idea if either of the two cars are a Monza. If the lower parts are solid there are a couple nice cars to be had for just hauling them away, for restoration. I would opt to restore the convertible first.
Christopher, by studying all the photos, the convertible has to be a 1968-69 Monza 110/powerglide. Poor photos, Rough and dirty, needs a lot, maybe $1000-$1500 if complete and not rotten. Hardtop, who cares. It’s a $300 parts car if halfway complete. Some old parts are hard to get and you never really know what it has till you look close. Could be hiding a rare option. The data plate would tell more.
I used to in the ’60s rally in a Monza. I loved that car! What rare option would come on that convertible? Hopefully, the turbo and air cleaner assembly is intact.
Christopher, no turbos made after 1966. Rare options would be quick ratio steering box, am/fm and/or stereo multiplex radio, wood steering wheel and maybe wire wheel covers in the trunk! Air conditioning would be valuable also for parts, but the photos don’t show that. Air cleaner assemblies for a 110 engine are easy to find.
Go Buckeye Barns! :-)
(I’m from Columbus, and had two corvairs in college in the 90’s.)
That Lincoln is a Mk III. They’re starting to get some attention these days. Still you can buy a nice one for less than it would cost to restore this one.
God bless America
A barn find in Dean Martin’s hometown? Shouldn’t it have a Volare? Oh Oh Oh Oh.
I’ll show myself out.
That’s a 1969 Corvair Monza Convertible. They only made 521 of them and they are very sought after. You can tell it is a 69 by the amber turn signal lenses on the front and side marker lights. I had a 1969 Corvair convertible with a 110 hp and 4 speed. That car was one of my favourites
Rick, I keep looking but can’t tell if the side marker light is amber. Front turn signal lenses were amber from 65 on. Could it be a 1968? I’ll check my resource books to see if there are other apparent differences between the 2 years.
I was going to go check out info on Corvairs but I see Rick answered one of my main questions I thought that there were a very limited number of them produced it would appear to be the case ,thanks for the info Rick. Are these cars for sale ?
unlike what it said in the text, we did not talk to the current owner. But we were told by the passerby that said he knows the owner, the cars would be for sale.
Thanks Dave L.