# Barn finds??????



## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

I'm really getting sick and tired of so many cars classified as a "Barn Find." Is there some oooooh-ahhhhhh significance to this that I am missing? Does it increase the value thousands of dollars over a car found on Ebay, Craigslist, down the road, in a field, behind an alley, or sitting in an impound?????

The term "Barn Find" ranks right up there with my other favorite stupid descriptive moniker, "Tribute Car." Its a frikin CLONE, and not an original GTO, or whatever the car is that sparks your fancy.

I never knew that there were so many barns hiding so many GTO's. I didn't know there were so many barns -and I have driven all about the country. Can't wait until they start shouting, "It's a parking garage find!" :banghead:

Having a complete history of the car is a different story AND CAN add value if all the original documents, protecto-plate, etc. come with it. I'm all about history. Met *El Monte Slim* and his beautiful 1966 GTO at a local car show. Talk about a perfect car with all of the history and pics to go with it. He stored the car in a metal building for years before pulling out for a damn near 100 point restoration which he did countless hours of researching to get it factory correct. I don't recall him ever speaking of the car as a "metal building hibernation restoration." Suppose he could, maybe he should, who knows, it just might add value in the future.

OK, that's my rant for today..........and don't you LS guys start with me either. :rant:


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

My '61 Corvette was an 'airplane hanger find', having been stored with a hurt engine for about 25 years at a small rural airport. Didn't add any value to the car, just kept it from getting weathered while it sat still all that time. A couple weeks of work and I was driving it! Oh well...can't upload a picture. The site has once again reduced the file size allowed.


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## doby67 (Jun 10, 2016)

WoW calm down Pontiac Jim. lol I described my Craigslist '67 GTO as a 'Barn Find' because that's what it was. Not your typical barn where horses and hay are kept like on the Rifleman, but out on a farm where the guy had his tractor and equipment pushed. He also had two '67 GTO's in there. A rare Ram Air IV that he's restoring and the one I bought. He also had one out back with the junkyard dog. lol


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## Goat Roper (Oct 28, 2014)

My GTO was found on a horse ranch, maybe that is why I am having to deal with so much horse$hit restoring it.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

doby67 said:


> WoW calm down Pontiac Jim. lol I described my Craigslist '67 GTO as a 'Barn Find' because that's what it was. Not your typical barn where horses and hay are kept like on the Rifleman, but out on a farm where the guy had his tractor and equipment pushed. He also had two '67 GTO's in there. A rare Ram Air IV that he's restoring and the one I bought. He also had one out back with the junkyard dog. lol



Yeah, I get it. But if you found it (Barn Find), then it had to be lost, right? So was it really a barn find, or a barn stored car that was advertised for sale? - and never really lost. The judges on this one say the best you can claim in any future posts is the term "Craigslist Find" because you did find it on Craigslist and not in a barn, although it was stored in a barn to whom the farmer was aware it was there, and not lost or in need of finding.:yesnod:


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

totally agree with Jim, such collectible cars or even as collected partscar were never LOST, they were simply stored. Some may not have been properly stored. stored in a barn...well there are millions of barns across the US and Canada. We tore our oldest farm's barn down at 108 years of service. it was too rickety to store collecor cars in. Instead stored several of my Pontiac parts cars under attached loafing sheds. Many also store longterm in garages, often times for decades. Many of us have come across a desirable in a backyard storage shed, storage locker, in a basement, under a lean-to or carport, in a boxcar (yes, have witnessed this with two 'Cuda converts). These car lives today to provide some firm of usefulness, not because they were found, but many times, because of the foresight of their owners! The barn find lingo can be traced straight back to the Internet, various condenscending websites, "Rotting muscle cars", etc. Unfortunately, "barn find" has now made it into the hyped lingo of the checkerboard floor carlot crowd and to all the wannabe get rich crowd. 

Another term that is way over used today is "Survivor". So ridiculous how that term is thrown around for vehicles that lost their originality many decades ago. For many years, the term "ORIGINAL" was used for this class of very original vehicle, esp at higher profile national shows. Pontiac Oakland Club used to consider a vehicle with 85% or more original paint, with a very original interior, and original drivetrain (except a few maintance items) as an Original Class vehicle, not a restored class, not a semi modified class, etc. Now bowing to Joe Carlot vernacular, POCI is Using the "Survivor" Class label, but the originality requirement is less stringent...makes me wonder,who's great idea.


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## doby67 (Jun 10, 2016)

Yep I agree throw all Tom Cotter's books and videos in the garbage.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

Thanks, PH, I forgot about the other $$$ hyped label "Survivor." I see a lot of "survivors" in junk yards, but I wouldn't put a dime into them because they should really be called "rusty remnants."


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## 68GTO4004Spd (Jun 19, 2008)

"numbers matching" is the one I am sick of hearing. It's numbers matching with an LS motor in it....dumb&[email protected]'s.


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## 1964SS (Dec 2, 2015)

PontiacJim said:


> I'm really getting sick and tired of so many cars classified as a "Barn Find." Is there some oooooh-ahhhhhh significance to this that I am missing? Does it increase the value thousands of dollars over a car found on Ebay, Craigslist, down the road, in a field, behind an alley, or sitting in an impound?????
> 
> The term "Barn Find" ranks right up there with my other favorite stupid descriptive moniker, "Tribute Car." Its a frikin CLONE, and not an original GTO, or whatever the car is that sparks your fancy.
> 
> ...



HaHa! nice rant! I completely agree, but what do you have against LS motors? I've got one in my Chevelle and absolutely love it. Technology upgrade at it's finest.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

1964SS said:


> HaHa! nice rant! I completely agree, but what do you have against LS motors? I've got one in my Chevelle and absolutely love it. Technology upgrade at it's finest.


Oh, wonderful engines in Chevy products and hot-rods. Would almost go that route my self - some great HP & torque numbers.

Put one in a Pontiac...........Blasphemy!!!!!! There are still enough Pontiac engines, parts and builders to make the Pontiac based engine just as reliable. I don't have a problem upgrading the Pontiac to electronic, EFI, TBI, FI, coil packs, etc.. Now, someday in the future, just like the flatheads, the Pontiac engine will fade along with all us older farts who ran them and GTO's and other Pontiacs will have whatever engine of the day - it only makes sense.

What if some guy ( perhaps a politically correct tree hugger under the Hillary Clinton administration) took a 1970 Chevelle SS LS-6, 4-speed car and inserted the Hyundai 1.4 front wheel drive as a conversion because he wanted _GAS_ mileage as he drove the car, how would you feel about it? I know I'd be snatching the keys out of that man's hand and never give them back while my buddies held him down and we had a roll-back load his car and hid it from him, never to be seen by him again. I might also put a GPS on him, you know, one of those military injectable devices, so we could always track this guy to ensure he never ever purchases another muscle car with the intentions of making it a gas mileage car. What if he got his hands on a 426 Hemi Superbird or ZL-1 Corvette????? :banghead: 

We have a whole discussion on the topic available to read if you car to. :thumbsup:


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## 1964SS (Dec 2, 2015)

Hyundai? come on now, you can't use such an uncool motor as a comparison. :smile3: I'll have to find that discussion now. I'm sure it's a great read.


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## Goat Roper (Oct 28, 2014)

1964SS said:


> Hyundai? come on now, you can't use such an uncool motor as a comparison. :smile3: I'll have to find that discussion now. I'm sure it's a great read.


At least go period correct and use an engine out of a Simca.
My buddy has a '54 Ford PU with a Buick Nailhead in it.
Yup, it's a Fuick.
:wink3:


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

1964SS said:


> Hyundai? come on now, you can't use such an uncool motor as a comparison. :smile3: I'll have to find that discussion now. I'm sure it's a great read.



Ah ha!! I think my reply hit home and in a mere moment of time you got that queasy, nauseous, bowel tightening image of a foreign Hyundai engine sitting between the frame rails of a great supercar........and reacted to take computer in hand and say BLASPHEMY PontiacJim! LOL See, its all in the eye of the beholder what is cool or uncool and an LS engine is an uncool motor in any Pontiac as compared to a Pontiac engine in a Pontiac as long as my eye is beholding. :bannana:


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## 1964SS (Dec 2, 2015)

So where is this thread you're talking about located? I can't seem to find it.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

1964SS said:


> So where is this thread you're talking about located? I can't seem to find it.


It is a Sticky. Look under *1964-1974 Tempest, Lemans & GTO Complete Engine Compartment Discussion* 

Top of the page: *Sticky: LS Swap to Early GTO - MY OPINION*


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## Jared (Apr 19, 2013)

You should have warned him before he read that post that there are some angry people in there.

The Hyundai motor is a far stretch and would be uncool because of what it is. I have seen a couple hot rods with non-traditional engines that I thought were cool just because of how different they were. Those being a Model A hot rod with a Buick T-type turbo 6 and the other being a mid 30's Plymouth coupe with an old Datsun inline six (the one with the three Webber carbs). At least in both those cases, the engines used had way more power than what was originally under the hood.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

Jared said:


> You should have warned him before he read that post that there are some angry people in there.
> 
> The Hyundai motor is a far stretch and would be uncool because of what it is. I have seen a couple hot rods with non-traditional engines that I thought were cool just because of how different they were. Those being a Model A hot rod with a Buick T-type turbo 6 and the other being a mid 30's Plymouth coupe with an old Datsun inline six (the one with the three Webber carbs). At least in both those cases, the engines used had way more power than what was originally under the hood.


Oh ya, hot rods are open to any engine selection. See all kinds of different ideas at the shows I go to. But........I don't feel that Muscle Cars have quite hit the earmark of "hot rods" yet. It'll happen at some point, but in the meantime, inserting certain engines into muscle cars is blasphemy. As much as I love the 426 Hemi, I just can't picture it nestled between the frame rails of my '68 Lemans even if I had one. I would have to find a Mopar body OR hot rod (1941 Willys Coupe for me) where it would find its home just as equally accepted. :thumbsup:


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## Goat Roper (Oct 28, 2014)

What would you put in this Jim?


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## RT-1 (Mar 21, 2012)

Here's a good translation sheet for those number matched barn finds.


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


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## Hallett Dave (Apr 29, 2016)

Goat Roper said:


> What would you put in this Jim?


I can't get the pic to enlarge. 
Is that an old REO?
No matter what it is, how about stabbing a Poncho 326 OHC in that classic old work truck. :smile3:
That would be different.:wink3:


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## Jared (Apr 19, 2013)

" What would you put in this Jim?"

I would consider that to be a potential hot rod. Anything other than a SBC. Late model Diesel if it would fit. Picture that with 800 ft lb of torque.

Also, curious what it is. I'm not too familiar with old military stuff. Very cool truck.


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