We recently featured a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado barn find that was clearly part of a collection of classics. The seller in the ad mentioned that there were more cars available, but didn’t provide more details beyond that. Well, reader T.J. came across a craigslist ad for the rest of the collection. There are over 20 cars available, all of which were hidden away in this Minnesota barn where they’ve been collecting dust. There appear to be more than a few very desirable cars, but the seller’s asking price of $350,000 for the entire stash seems a bit hopeful given the lack of information, but they are offering cars individually if you’d rather not buy all of them. You can take a closer look at the listing here on craigslist, where you can find the contact information of the dealer tasked with finding a home for these barn finds. Special thanks to T.J. for another great tip!
The story of how this collection came to be is surely more interesting than what’s given in the ad. A screenshot from a previous article written about the collection when it surfaced states that the seller’s father amassed the collection with plans of restoring all of the cars. His focus was clearly on high-end American cars ranging from the ’40s to the ’60s. Unfortunately, he never got around to finishing all of the restorations. That means there is a mix of restored cars, unfinished projects, survivors, and spare parts. The listing agent provided a list of which vehicles are restored and which ones are survivors, but there’s no list of what parts are included (likely because they don’t actually know what all is present).
Given the rarity of some of the cars, the asking price might not be unrealistic, but it’s really difficult to say when you don’t know what all is actually included or what kind of condition most of the vehicles are in. There are several photos of an Oldsmobile Starfire Convertible, but if this is the car that’s said to be an old restoration with a $100,000 asking price, the seller might be dreaming a bit. It appears to be in need of another restoration and the values for these cars aren’t what they once were. While it’s definitely a rare find and deserves a good home, you can find nice examples for around $60,000. After adding up their asking prices for each car, it adds up to their original asking price of $370,000. Typically when you are selling a collection like this you offer a substantial discount to anyone willing to buy the whole lot, as it saves you a huge amount of time and headache not having to deal with each vehicle. It appears that they’ve already lowered their asking price to $350,000 and they state that they are accepting “bids” for the collection, so hopefully that means they are willing to accept a much lower offer.
If nothing else, this collection would be amazing to see in person. It isn’t every day that you come across three barns filled with classic cars! If any of you have seen the collection in person or are planning to, we would love to hear more about the cars, their condition, and any more of the story about how the collection came to be! So, are there any finds here you’d love to have? If so, let us know down in the comments.
This is a mess and might even be some sort of a scam….maybe. Maybe just a highly disorganized individual also. The asking prices are way out of line with reality today and the photos don’t even show all the vehilces. Where is the Crown Party Bus? They mention a website “http://www.corvettesandcustoms.com/” but that has no mention of these vehicles and it’s in San Diego. Same for the Facebook page.
So if hey took all the mentioned cars and carcasses and cleaned them up and gathered them at a single auction location they might have some real money…..over $200K…guess. But it looks like a scam from this side of the keyboard.
I don’t quite see a scam here – “Corvettes and Customs” is in San Diego and they say they “unearthed” a collection of cars on a farm in Minnesota. So they’re car hunters or somebody gave them a call. If you’re running a scam, trying to get someone to wire $350K based on a craigslist ad seems like a long shot. The Crown party bus, BTW, is in L.A. according to the ad.
Yeah you are probably right. I saw LA as Louisiana since the rest of the cars are in MN. It’s just such a mess asking people to hunt for information or go to a website that only mentions unearthing cars but doesn’t even have the same photos to tie it all together. Doesn’t really matter though. Some neat cars but they need to put a little more effort into this hobby if they expect the prices they are asking.
Plenty of dust, lots of rust.
I’ve been living off the charity of Barn Finds. I’m not a paying member but I still get to see the absolute beauty this has to offer for free. Diagnosed with ptsd 17 years ago and absolutely not being able to work; my disability pension here in Canada won’t allow for anything xtra per month. So I open every email I get from bf and daydream a bit. Maybe one day I’ll win the lottery ( taxfree ) in Canada and then have a ball searching for my dream. 1971 police packaged LTD!! I mean I deserve it. Everything we did warrants at least one dream come true. Anyway Barn Finds thanx wholeheartedly for these emails. I love all of them.
I’m a sucker for a 60’s Lincoln convertible. But zero mention of condition, clean pics, interior pics and 60k doesn’t make sense. Especially when the owner has a complete parts car. Presumably there were parts needed, that should be part of the deal for the Lincoln.
Thinking the owners are hoping a Dennis Collins comes in and makes the deal simple. But honestly, even if they weren’t interested in putting effort into the presentation, they could pay for someone to wash all the cars, do an honest evaluation of each, and take decent pictures to document each. Would probably pay off for them. Some self-promotion would probably wake up interest. People may be more willing to negotiate a single car.
Who knew there are 2 “Jim in FL” readers?
Hello from Daytona Beach, fellow Jim!
I think the seller is spending to much time watching auction reruns on tv how do they arrive at such high prices for things that are in need of total restoration. Good luck to them hope they get close to what they want.
A few years ago I looked at a ‘69 Z28 that the seller advertised as “needs nothing”. I drove to his house and, except for oxidized paint, needing reupholstery, and a sbc 400 instead of the 302, he wasn’t lying. His asking price was $7500, and, with gritted teeth, I offered him $2000 for it.
That was when I discovered what is wrong with the collector car market.
He said, and this is an exact quote, “One just like this sold on Barrett Jackson for $65000.”
I told him “Trust me, it wasn’t ‘Just like this.’”
He relented a little and dropped the price to $4500, but, ultimately, I walked away.
But, “One just like it sold on Barrett Jackson….”
A sad commentary.
You should have bought it…
A lot of hype in the Craigslist ad.
And the prices? Here’s my favorite-
1962 Pontiac Bonneville 2DR Convertible – $10,000
Complete, rotted
Such a deal!
The 1962 Pontiac Bonneville for 10K is a deal. A most enjoyable car and about as long as a Cadillac also. A good chance it has factory installed AC.
I just love the line “Restored minus top & Rumble seat”. ?????
It’s amazing to me how many meanings there are for “restored”.
Not to overstate the obvious, but the middle man dealer is on drugs. Period. 100K for the Olds convertible? Come on.
Is there really someone out there who will hand over 400 K to some middleman for a poorly articulated group of cars? I know everything is upside down today but a little common sense will put the skids on this, pronto.
Hopefully before I am consigned to the junkyard in the sky, the old car world will right itself.
They say there is a sucker born every minute.
I don’t see the car market righting itself very soon. With the economy and supply chain issues being what they are, prices are going to start everyone’s project budget. For example, for my daily driver I needed a circuit board for a tail light on my 1997 Yukon – $20 (made in Taiwan). Picked up a new cabin air filter for the little lady’s 2005 Pontiac Vibe – $10. With these numbers for run of the mill normal maintenance items, the price of bigger items are surely going to increase. Glad I bought a bunch of parts already for my current project but, been thinking about the next one and…$$$…doin it cheap is going to be a thing of the past, or maybe people won’t be doing it anymore.
I love his optimism.
Astime passes and the years go by
I realize that
So many lives and time wasted on drug use
And by the looks of this
Its another case of a numbed brain …