From Donald T – Spotted these in Lake Havasu City, Arizona where I live. It is a resort town with a lot of retired guys, so there’s a lot of classic cars that the old farts here have because they didn’t have them in their youth. Many old cars are used for eye candy advertisement for businesses as well. Attached are a couple of finds that are interesting. The Buick is rough, but good bones. The older Ford(I think) is merely a shell, absolutely nothing but a body & frame.
This Buick might be worth a closer look. The seller’s sign shows an asking price of $5,000, which might not be too bad if it runs and drives. It’s definitely going to need work, but it looks solid and complete. A close-up photo of the seller’s sign, which includes their phone number can be seen below in the photo gallery. If you end up contacting them, let us know in the comments!
Our thanks to Donald for sending his sightings in! If you spot some interesting classics parked along the side of the road, grab a few photos and send them to us here at mail@barnfinds.com.
The older car is a 1931 Chevrolet
When I saw that Buick I immediately began looking for Broderick Crawford.
As I recall, the cars used on Highway Patrol we’re Nashes, not Buicks. However that was a long time ago, and my memory could be wrong!
There were a lot of Buicks. I understand that Buick was Broderick Crawford’s preferred ride. I also saw some Oldsmobiles and even some Batwing Chevys. Dodge was pretty much the king of the hill when the series ended in ’59.
When I saw the Buick police car, I immediately remembered one of my late dad’s favorite shows entitled. “Highway Patrol”
“ten-four!”
’21-50 bye.’
At least being in Arizona the only thing that will rot of these cars ( the chev in particular is the rubber tires. You could come back to that car in ten years and it would still be the same.
The interior will rot out too due to the sun and heat.
Wood rots, fabric rots, insulation on wires rots, paint rots, plastics rot, vinyl rots, glass delaminates, sand and dust may infiltrate every opening if it’s here long enough. Other than that, cars tend to be wonderfully preserved here, well except when they’re full o’ bullet holes, rattlesnakes, spiders, bugs and critter dung.
If you look at the old chev of which I was referring to there is no interior or glass gaskets to rot. You nit pickers missed the point.
Just picked up my 68 R code GT Mustang Fastback in Lake Havasu last month! Just sitting in a garage..
Went to Lake Havasu in ’78 with the family on our way to Cali. to visit relatives. There were cool old cars everywhere, including an English taxi that was parked next to London Bridge.
55 Buick Special, could be a really nice ride. The first car I bought on my own was a 55 Buick Super, red and white, very nice low mileage car when I bought it in 1964. The heater was under the passenger side seat providing heat to rear passengers. Another cool thing was the starter button was under the gas peddle setting the choke when it was started.
So, where’s the Ford??
Wait till the old dudes die, and the next batch of retirees will replace those cars with lowered Honda Civics and exhaust pipes made with their wife’s dryer vent tube. It’s coming faster than you think.
😁😁your absolutely right cat I hope I live long enough to laugh about it the dryer vent tube is funny just about the right size too
I have been to Lake Havasu City, visited London Bridge. Another cool town in Arizona for old cars is Seligman, AZ just off I-40 between Flagstaff and Kingman. One of the shop owners has a 1953 Chrysler police car in front of his place.
Funny you should mention Seligman – 40 years ago I was walking through a field there and found a half buried Cadillac V12 engine, but no, I didn’t stop to dig it up and I doubt I’d be able to find it today but at that time there were all sorts of incredible things to be found – there was an old 300SL Gullwing Mercedes just rotting behind a service station in Prescott and a Griffith 200 beside the road in Prescott Valley with weeds growing up through it! My only personal experience in a Duesenberg was a ride down old Route 66 west of Flagstaff in one. A long time ago I suppose.