This listing is one near and dear to my heart – because it’s mine! Thanks to a reader who flagged my significantly updated listing where you can now visit an expansive gallery of photos on my company’s website from the barn find collection in north Georgia. Over the past few years, I’ve launched an entity called The Common Gear, LLC specializing in the digitization of vehicle records for the long-term preservation of vehicle histories, so it only made sense to connect the Georgia property with my professional endeavors. As you know, we have featured numerous vehicles from this property on the site in the past, and while many of the cars and trucks have sold, we still have plenty more available. Please view the full listing here on TheCommonGear.com where you’ll also find videos of select vehicles.
I recently partnered with my friend Bill who runs The Flat Broke Garage to film a YouTube video where we talk about the cars and trucks that are still up for grabs; you can watch that clip here. Fortunately, nothing has changed in the status of the property owner who has become a very good friend of mine, but it doesn’t change the fact we still want to find new homes for the vehicles that deserve a shot at living again. I have literally never seen this truck in all my years of walking the property, but with the kudzu gone for a few months, this clean Chevy C10 short-bed with the desirable stepside bed revealed itself. Complete, with engine, transmission, and a very decent interior.
There are some vehicles I’ve always known about but have only recently had the chance to properly document. That includes this Dodge Ramcharger, which is definitely solid enough to return to the road. The owner also has a second Ramcharger Prospector Edition that is in even better shape that I hope we can prepare for sale soon. The property is largely dominated by GM and Ford products from the late 70s through the late 80s, but Mopar still makes its presence known. Rust is not a guarantee; what I mean to say is don’t assume everything has rust issues, because of these vehicles have escaped without too much damage in terms of rot. However, there are definitely some that are too far gone.
If you’re into imports, we have quite a few of those as well. There’s a W123 turbodiesel Mercedes-Benz; a mid-90s Saab 9000 Turbo CSE; a large assortment of Toyota Cressidas, including one with a digital dash; over 20 Volkswagen Beetles in various states of condition, ranging from restorable to parts cars (several water-cooled VWs as well, including MK2 Jettas and a clean 1984 Cabriolet); Mazda B-Series pickups; first-generation Honda CRXs, with one solid project and two excellent parts cars; and this rare turbocharged Nissan 300ZX, which features a true two-seater setup and the preferred 5-speed manual gearbox. It does have rust but it’s hard to find one of these in stock condition.
This is one of the more recent additions to the yard, a Mustang II project with a six-cylinder engine. Yes, it’s not particularly desirable from a collectability standpoint, but it’s a cheap entry point into classic car ownership. I encourage you to visit my site and see the full gallery of photos as it’s the most extensive chronicle I’ve created yet after all my visits to the north Georgia property. We’ve found lots of homes for these project vehicles among Barn Finds readers and would love to re-home a few more! Please reach out to me via the email address shown on the gallery page or through the contact form right here on BarnFinds.
- Price: Varies
- Location: Southern Tennessee
- Mileage: 100,000
- Title Status: Clean / Missing
Jeff,
Thanks for the post/update.I love going in places like
that & looking around.It must keep you busy,commuting back-
& forth in the BarnFinds executive jet.
It’s a good thing I don’t have the space,or money for another
project,or I’d be looking into that CRX,plus I couldn’t work on it
either,since I’ve been off work for months due to hand surgery.
No surprise, wet blanket here. I enjoyed looking at those places too, but that’s as far as it’s going to get these days. Say, 20, 30 years ago, this would have indeed been a treasure trove, because many of the vehicles here, people were still driving, and “kept the beater going” a couple more years.
These are the discards of our automotive past, if it isn’t nice, with a few exceptions, as usual, I don’t see much of a future for most of these, except a date with the shredder. Your last line pretty much outlines the situation today. Anyone that may have a shred( pun intended) of interest, are getting old, and a restoration physically, and certainly monetarily, eliminates anyone that might be doing a restoration on a , IDK, Dodge Ramcharger? Nobody wants a driving one.
The good news is, scrap cars are up in price, almost $310/ton. Looks like maybe 100 vehicles? Take a couple off to the side,and $50 grand in scrap may be the best option.
Howard A,
I’ve been watching multiple YouTube videos of large collections of vintage vehicles being auctioned off, and many of the vehicles are bought by scrap dealers who don’t give a damn about anything except what the vehicle will bring as scrap. They make money by quickly turning metal into money.
I recently watched a YouTube video of a complete and running Bentley sedan from the 1990s that needed a brake overhaul, and the owner simply didn’t want the car anymore, so he brought it to a scrap processor, and the car was filmed as it was loaded into the crusher and turned into a slab of metal. [YouTube; Luxurious Bentley gets Crushed in Car Crusher] It’s not the only one on YouTube being crushed!
Ever wondered what a decent running Rolls-Royce or Bentley late model V8 engine sells for? Last time I checked, it was well over $10k. But that guy probably got more than $1,000 for the whole car in scrap!
I watched another video of a big auction of almost 100 old [1930s & older] tractors and tracked crawlers, most of them selling to a single guy who said they were going directly to the crusher.
The biggest reason for this is the problem of where to put the vehicles. So many people who have older vehicles don’t have the luxury of a place to store extra vehicles. And those who do have some extra land [like I did at one time] are often faced with local zoning restrictions that don’t give a damn if that unlicensed car next to your garage is a complete and nice looking Rolls-Royce or not, “If it’s not licensed and running, it’s legally considered scrap and may be removed & crushed”.
Hey guys, don’t think that happens? It did to me about 25 years ago, when the county, seeing my 1985 Silver Spur centennial [1 of 25 built] sitting next to my home without license plates, declared the car as scrap. While most car owners would panic and get rid of the offending vehicle, the law firm handling this problem for me dared the county to take the car for scrap, as it was appraised at over $100k. For 6 months, every 30 days they issued another citation and fine. After the 6th citation, we filed suit against the county for harassment, and the result was the county agreed to drop all claims and not to seek such claims for any vehicles on my property!
The mustang II???? Thanks for making me say for the first time ever “I’d rather take the Cavalier”
Mustang II? thought it was a Pinto
The 62 Chevy ridge runner to cool..
Other than maybe a early Camaro, 60s modified impalas , five to six older trucks ? Wheres the super rare cars?
Oh wait I saw a Maverick out there and a Karman Ghia…
I luv old bone yards but this is one unique invisible barn protecting the parts picked and no title cars sitting in the elements…
A whole lot of rust going on here.
The 62 Chevy ridge runner is awesome.
The snakes are gonna be ticked off about the eviction.
Realistically, are there more than a small handful of vehicles with a shot at restoration?
Where’s the barn?
I think in Realsville, we call that a “Junk Yard” and it is not a “find”
@bill
We are destroying the hobby.
Fran, It’s been ongoing for 100+ years.
What’s happening today is nothing new, it’s simply a case where so much of the destruction is put on the internet, hence we know about it right away.
In the early 1920s Ford Motor Co actually set up a “de-assembly line” and the company shipped thousands of old cars [generally 5 years or older, all the way back to the 1880s] back to Michigan and systematically dismantled the vehicles for their various metals, oil, even upholstery stuffing. Henry had decided that if the used car market was gone, people would have to buy new Fords. Here’s a short silent film on how it was done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQk-YeCaE2k
And of course the scrap drives of the 1940s led to destruction of far too many cars of value, to turn them into new war materiel. I’ve seen photos of cars like Marmon, Mercer, early Pierce Arrows & Packards, even a photo of a Duesenberg being burned for the scrap metal. Many were sold off for scrap, just because the tires were more valuable than the vehicle they were on. I knew about a collector of Packard 12 cars that was forced by the government in 1944, to sell his beautiful cars for scrap.
And again in the late 1960s with the beginning of Lady Bird Johnson’s “Keep America Beautiful” campaign to eliminate auto junkyards. In 1976 a friend and I were in the process of buying a junkyard in Western Maryland filled with older cars, when the federal government stepped in and declared eminent domain due to toxic waste, and scrapped everything. A couple of years later it was a Christmas tree farm!
And let’s not forget the congressional 1980s “Cash for Clunkers” bill in 2009.
Jeff and his partners might come out better selling it by the pound than individual sales
Where in North Georgia?
Cool 2 – 70’s T/A’s and a mid 60’s Catalina – My Style :)
i might take the tree across the toyota for firewood if its not rotton too… `
As Lady F is wont to say, why is it that women are considered hoarders, while men are thought of as collectors, when its all trash anyway?
That lime green car ~ I don’t know what it is, but the orange hood scoop on it is worth about $300 or so, give or take. Would need to see the part numbers on the underside to tell exactly what it came off of originally.
It is externally, visibly identical to the scoops that were used on the ’69/’70 Cougar Eliminator, some Cyclone models, as well as later Mercury Comets. It is also possible it came from a ’71 Cougar GT (quite rare).
AMC Hornet/AMX
Wow , thats a lot of rust and critters , better cover yourself , wear gloves and prepare to attack !
I would consider a few but the shipping for canada makes this senseless
Lime Green car is a Hornet AMX.
Dozens of decent projects there! Not sure what some of the previous commenters were looking at… Square body and C-10 Chevy trucks, F100’s, VW Beetles, the ’62 Chevy just to name a few. Wonder if any of you have ever really restored a car!!!
Yes I have restored a car and I will never do it again. Buy them done and let the previous owner take the loss.
These finds were better left unfound
I had a situation similar to Bill Mccoskey. I had a 73, 74 Challenger in my back yard that was part of my retirement plan. I retired Dec 2021. Both cars were under a carport on a concrete slab. The 74 was a complete and running car, the 73 was my project car. I also have a 64 New Yorker that was my dad’s car. The Chrysler was under a carport along with my daily drivers. All the vehicles were on jack stands so it’s not like the tires were flat. I had the stands low enough to make it look like the vehicles were on the ground. We went on a three-week camping trip in September and returned in October to find a “red tag” on my front porch. It was a notice that the vehicles were considered abandoned because they were not tagged, or they were dismantled. The 74 was my project car and therefore gutted. However, I was doing body work on it. I had $6-8 in new parts scattered throughout the house and workshop. The 64′ front bumper was removed so it could be rechromed. I had one day to take care of the “red tag” issue.
The “red tag” was issued just after we left on our camping trip. All three vehicles are no longer on my property. I sold the 74′ Challenger; the 73′ Challenger is also gone, and the 64′ New Yorker is in the shop for some engine work. After talking to the mayor and explaining my situation he says, “just cover the vehicles.” I guess out of sight out of mind was all I needed to do. I still wonder why the carport wasn’t good enough. BTW, you would have to look for the cars in the backyard to know they were there plus you would have to go into my neighbor’s yard to determine if the vehicles were tagged or not. Either case, there goes my retirement projects.
I am willing to bet your neighbor turned you in. I had one turn me in for my 928 sitting in the driveway. I went down the the town and the clown told me if I was willing to buy an official for sale certificate things a cool for 90 days! I said for the 14 bucks sure! I renewed that 4 times, guess what, my neighbor’s wife stopped by and asked me what I was doing with the car, I told her sone azzzzhole turned me in, she said oh. A few years later brain cancer got the best of her, which by all means is so sad, at the funeral the husband told me that she was the person who turned me in!!! BTW the car was neat and parked!
Fran,
In 1971, an elderly man who lived in Takoma Park, MD owned a 1950 Dodge sedan he bought new. His wife died years before, and they had no kids. It spent all it’s life outside and didn’t look so great, but he would drive it to the store every couple of weeks, and it was a good running car. I know, because I used to work on it for him.
One day the car is gone from where he usually parked it at the curb, in front of his home. It disappeared overnight. He called the police, and after they investigated the case, they found it had been towed by the town after being tagged as an abandoned car less than 24 hours earlier. And yes, it had legal license plates, registered to the man, at the address where the car was parked everyday,
After a story in the Washington Post, the truth came out. Seems a local town councilwoman wanted the town spruced up, and went around tagging old “junkers” for being abandoned, even if they had legal license plates.
The final outcome to this situation, after several court dates, was the town was ordered to replace the car with the best example they could find, or pay the elderly man $25,000. Somehow they found a 1950 Dodge sedan with under 20,000 miles, and the car had been garaged all it’s life. The car was gorgeous. He drove the car for a couple of years before ending up in an assisted care home, and I helped him sell the car.
That town of Takoma Park has long been populated by those who feel it is their right to interfere with others, and they actually passed a regulation making Takoma Park a Nuclear-free zone! That’s right, should a Nuclear bomb be set off in nearly Washington DC, the radiation is not allowed to go into Takoma Park! It’s the law!
Mike,
How well do you get long with the neighbors? I suspect they waited until you were gone, then arranged for the cars to be red tagged. I don’t know exactly what the law is in your state or county, but if the cars were not visible from public property and only visible from a neighbor’s property, then it would have to be a neighbor that filed the complaint.
While the counties often refuse to say who the complaint was, they rarely accept anonymous complaints because of the legal trap of accepting an anon complaint that ends up being false, as the county can then be charged with making a false claim. You might be able to find out who filed the initial claim by using the federal FOIA law to discover who it was.
Nice work Jeff, not only setting up this BF post but actually getting in there to investigate, post images, vid with Bill etc. Thanks, nice entertainment for us..
So I guess I’d need to actually get down there to get more info on the black (dark colored) 60 Ford. -Didn’t see any detail on individual cars, or did I miss that..
The Merc must be special. It gets to ride on the flatbed.
That black 67 Falcon Sport coupe looks really decent,, and the scalloped fenders and cross grille are a one year only item .Since its popular sister is the Mustang, all the driveline parts are readily available . It would be the car I’d check out at a car show, surrounded by a sea of Mustangs !
Sure a lot of negative comments for supposedly car guys. I’ve restored or partially restored many cars in the last 60 years. For the most part I made a little money on them, but you won’t get rich if that’s what you think. There are several that caught my eye; the 62 Fairlane, the 69 C-10, 66 Ford pickup 65 Falcon possibly a Sprint. Those would be my choices, but like most I have no place these days to park and work on more than 2 projects at a time and I’ve got 2 right now.
God Bless America
End of listing states cars are in Tennessee.
The guy that accumulated these cars had the best intentions….its a shame how they ended up.
ben here i now live in fla where i have over 60 vechs had a neighbor who said it looked a junk yard iam zonned the best commerical in this county they ended up putting up a 7000 dollor fence this is a dieing project iam going on 72 have been buying selling sense i was 13 it gets in your blood have the fun is digging them out had the fist time u drive one again is the best rush keep findiong and ill keep buying and selling and enjoy them
Hi Ben,
I had a car restoration shop for many years here in Maryland. It was located on State land that was set aside for a future highway, and we had around 100 vintage cars & trucks that we saved from the crusher, some of them we kept for spare parts. I had a 10 year lease with 2 automatic 10 year lease renewals.
A new neighbor, after moving into the area, complained to the county office of zoning about the cars and the shop. The county, without checking the state laws tried to close my shop. The property was 14 acres, and no building or vehicle could be seen from public or adjoining property. None of the other local neighbors had issues with us. We used to host car club events, and typically invited the locals.
So we went to court. My attorney asked if the county knew who owned the property, and the county attorney replied that it didn’t matter who owned the property, saying the only thing that mattered was the property didn’t have the required county zoning for commercial auto repair. My attorney presented a copy of the lease where it showed the State Highway Administration owned the land. He then presented a copy of the state law that exempts state-owned lands from local zoning regulations. On finding the county had failed to check who owned the land, he ordered the county to cover my legal costs and the shop’s loss of gross income for the 3 days the county ordered the shop closed, plus that day’s income while we were in court.
About 10 years later, when the state began building the road, we moved to a new location. Now, instead of a dense forest between my shop and the neighbor’s home, he has an unobstructed view of a busy interstate-quality 6 lane divided highway, with far more noise 24/7, than my shop ever made!
Karma. We have the same issues on farms. Some townie moves into the neighborhood and complains about smell/noise etc or the town expands out to the farm boundary and it is the farmer who is supposed to leave. Canada brought in “The Right to Farm” legislation about 30 years ago when I was there, to stop all these frivolous complaints. Same goes for those buying under flight paths to airports.
Id be interested in the Mustang II or the Maverick,have owned both of those in the past.
Saw an old impala SS clone the red one with blue fender mag wheels or how about the 65 to 67 mustang sitting low in the dirt,been there awhile.