This 1961 Chevrolet Corvette presents a good question – can a restored car qualify as a barn find? This one looks pretty dusty in the photos, but it actually underwent a frame-off restoration at some point in its recent past. In fact, it has only been parked for the last 8 years. The seller is a dealer and they are really playing off of the whole “barn find” thing. As-found photos are included as well as snap shots from when the car was loaded onto the trailer. Unlike common practice today, they do include many quality photos of the car all cleaned up too. It’s located in Valley Park, Missouri and is listed here on eBay for $53,795 or best offer. The before and after photos alone make it worth a look.
No offense to the site but questioning whether a restored car qualifies as a barnfind is a bit presumptuous given there really is no definition of a barn find.
Aside from a romantic term used by dreamer’s and a term overused by flippers there really is no qualitative definition.
While a great name for the site its a term that causes great strain on the optic nerves from all the reactionary eye rolling.
I’m willing to cut some slack when terminology like “barn find” is used. Obviously, there are only “x” number of barns, and I’d hate to think all the possible “finds” are hidden in them only! Nor, for that matter, do I want to think that intrepid car-hunters are looking in them only.
Then there’s “Rat Rod,” which has been distorted in a big way since I first heard it in the 1950s. And my own particular bugaboo, “patina,” which seems to mean anything from a slight bit of sun-fade to sheet metal turned into lace by the Rust Demon.
I wouldn’t reject this “Vette because it came from a garage and not a barn. I wouldn’t reject it if it came from a showroom! But that’s just me, and I salute the BF crew for digging up the good stuff wherever they find it. I’ll look at ’em all, and with luck, one day I’ll drag one home for myself. Lots of barns around here….
Chill out and just enjoy all the many aspects of this site. It gives a lot of us hours of harmless fun, and dreams. Call them whatever you want.
My comments don’t and shouldn’t reflect on this site or enjoyment of it. No need to relax.
The essence of a barnfind lies in drama and discovery, and the sense that a rescue is being performed, or at least attempted.
I know where to go to get a ’61 Vette. A place in Arizona sells only Corvettes. They usually have a restored ’61 around. But that wouldn’t be a barn find. No drama in that. No, I’ll pay extra to get a good story and the sense that I’m preserving some piece of automotive architecture from a certain doom under bird droppings or a fallen tree.
The barnfind is an emotional event. And that excitement usually priced-in.
Funny it has red coves in barn and white ones after cleaned up.
Good eye!
Must be that bright red Georgia clay… ^o^ I asked the seller a question about it. It will be interesting to see if they respond…
That was quick. They replied that, suprise-suprise, they repainted the coves white. If I felt like being a troublemaker I’d write ebay and protest about the inaccurate vehicle description! ^_^
Nice eye, blindmarc.
It looks to be a nice car. For that price, it should at least be re-commissioned and drivable.
One of my Trans AM’s was stored in a basement. Does that make it a Basement Find?
The other Trans AM was stored in a sunroom with the blinds shut to protect it from sun damage. Does that make it a Sunroom Find?
Both cars had the benefit of being stored in climate controlled areas of the original owner’s homes, which is a huge advantage over a dirt floored barn with humidity to cause rust, mice to eat everything, pee on what they don’t eat, and birds to poop all over it.
nobody mentioned the missing front bumpers… You are going to hear all the right things from this salesman.. how many times have you heard them..
The ad states the front bumpers are being redone.