Barn Finds

Restore or Clean and Enjoy? 1937 Packard 1501 Coupe

You never know what is waiting behind a garage door.  Take for example this 1937 Packard Super Eight 1501 coupe.  Think of the long journey this car has been on for it to end up advertised on Craigslist in… more»

Garage Find Trio: ’60s Mercury, Ford, and Plymouth

  Most collections tend to favor a particular brand, or type of car, and even model years. In this case, the seller has a trio of seemingly unrelated cars that may have once been projects of the (former?) owner…. more»

White Hat Special: 1969 Dodge Charger

Here’s a 1969 Dodge Charger White Hat Special, originally powered by a 383 V-8, that has sat around since 1991 as two owners failed to follow through on their plans to get it back on the road. The White… more»

Sport Wagon: 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Nomad

A list of Chevrolet’s sales disappointments of the 1950s would have to include the Nomad. It was a 2-door “Sport Wagon” based on the Chevy Bel Air and derived from a 1954 Corvette concept car. Fewer than 23,000 were… more»

BF Exclusive: 1931 Ford Coupe Clown Car

One of the joys of writing for Barn Finds is the eclectic mix of classics we see. This 1931 Ford Coupe fits that description, having spent part of its life as a Clown Car. The owner recently released it… more»

Rare 454 V8! 1970 Chevrolet Caprice LS5

The Caprice joined the Chevrolet lineup in 1965 as a luxury version of the popular Impala. Sales of the Caprice would continue to grow each year and an estimated 92,000 were built and sold in the 1970 model year…. more»

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Convertible Project

The Chevelle Malibu was a popular car for Chevrolet in 1970. More than 300,000 of them alone were sold as Sport Coupes and a large percentage of them were ordered as Super Sports. But a lesser number were convertibles,… more»

Convert It Back? 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle

Volkswagen introduced the Super Beetle in 1971 to give dealers more choices for U.S. buyers. The Super Beetle varied from the standard Beetle by its curved windshield, larger luggage space, and McPherson front strut suspension. But none of them… more»

Drop-Top Garage Find: 1960 Studebaker Lark

The Studebaker Lark was one of the new compact cars to hit the U.S. market in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Along with the Rambler American, it debuted in 1959 – a full year before the Detroit “Big… more»

Stored for 35 Years! 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

Some owners demonstrate greater restraint than I will ever possess. I can’t imagine owning a classic like this 1965 Corvette Convertible and leaving it in storage for over thirty-five years. That is its story, although the dry environment has… more»

Numbers Matching Project: 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

The Z28 was a performance option on the first-generation Chevrolet Camaro. It was Chevy’s way of competing in Sports Car Club of America’s Trans Am Series (racing) which limited engine displacement to 302 cubic inches. The Z28 Camaro had… more»

Foxy! 1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible

No question, the last few years have brought significant price appreciation to the Fox body Mustang. With its launch in 1979 and a long production run through 1993, these Mustangs had plenty of time to influence a couple of… more»

Barn Find Project: 1969 Oldsmobile 442

The 4-4-2 began as just an option package for the Oldsmobile Cutlass back in ’64, but by the time the 1968 model rolled around, the car had earned the status of becoming its own model, a position it retained… more»

348 V8 Tri-Power: 1959 Chevrolet Impala Project

For the second year in a row, the 1959 Chevrolet was a different automobile than it had been the prior year. Chevy had moved on from its successful “Tri-Five” platform after 1957 with an all-new car in 1958. But… more»

LT1 Survivor? 1972 Chevrolet Corvette 350 V8

The Chevy Corvette had its best sales performance in three years in 1972, yet it was little changed. Labor issues had affected production output in the prior two years, so perhaps some catching up had been done. Out of… more»

Alternative Energy: Coal Gas Powered 1931 Ford Model A

On June 22, 1940, the unthinkable happened to the people of France.  It was on that date that the French government under Marshal Henri Petain signed an armistice with Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany.  Before long over half of… more»

Barn Finds