- This is an amazing place.
I don't know if you sitting at home
are as excited as I am, right here.
This is a real discovery.
(upbeat rock music)
This is what barn finding is all about.
I mean, this is it, man.
I tell you what,
I'm gonna tell you what it is.
(upbeat rock music)
Whoa, whoa!
Oh wow, I know what it is.
That's a first-generation Corvette.
- [Man] Yup.
(laid-back blues-rock music)
- Hi, this is Tom Cotter.
I've been hunting down cars since I'm 12 years old,
and I'm still doing it today.
Follow me in this series, as we hunt
down hidden classics, all across America.
(laid-back rock music)
You may remember, a couple of episodes ago,
we met a gentleman named Dean who showed us
his Edsel station wagon, that he stored
in his friend's towing yard, in South Carolina.
Well, he also has another group of cars
in north Georgia.
I can't wait to see what he's got.
(laid-back rock music)
So, this is a Rambler Marlin,
which was AMC, or Rambler Motor Company's version
of a muscle car,
to compete against Barracuda and the Mustangs.
So, a 292 V8, and it's got only power brakes;
no power steering, no air conditioning.
I live near Charlotte, North Carolina;
there were guys in Statesville, North Carolina
that entered one of these, new,
in the 24-hours in Daytona, and wasted
against Ferraris and whatever.
I don't know how they did, but I have to commend them
for doing something like that.
Now, if you look at the body's design,
it's actually pretty stylish.
AMC did not have a lot of money
for research and development, styling, whatever,
so they had to work with cars that they had,
and they used a lot of parts off the shelf.
But the back is actually quite attractive.
If you look at the roof, comes down straight
into this little, almost a fin right here.
There's a picture of a marlin on the gas cap,
or, that's an emblem actually, not a gas cap.
But even though it's got a large trunk,
it has a very small opening for the trunk,
so if you had a large box or something,
you'd be in trouble even though the trunk is huge.
Inside here, casually, if I walked by this car
in a parking lot, it looks like an automatic,
but actually, it's got a four-speed.
The shift knob is an odd-looking shift knob,
but it's got a reverse lock-out like a Mustang had;
you see the clutch pedal down here, it's a four-speed.
Dean told me he'd take three grand for this car.
I mean, it's not a big-block Chevelle,
but you won't find another one of these
at a local car show, or Cars & Coffee.
It might be hard to get parts for, but thankfully,
this seems to be very complete.
This was a car that a guy was gonna make
a drag car out of, and never finished it.
This is a '63 Fairlane, Ford Fairlane, sport roof.
So it had the stylish rear C-pillar,
and no B-pillar; it's a hard top.
No engine.
It had an automatic, I guess it had a V8.
Yes, it had a V8.
But look at this body, and he wants $600 for it.
That's a good price.
Okay, what else you got?
El Camino. - Yup.
- [Man] Raise the hood on that bad boy.
- Whoa, whoa!
Whoa.
Two four-barrel big block.
What is that, a 502 or something?
(laughing)
- [Man] It was a 427, but it could be a 396.
I'm not sure, but it is a big block.
- It's monstrous. - Yeah.
- [Tom] Man.
It's got a bench seat, automatic on the column.
Pretty standard interior.
And how much would that one be?
- [Man] $8,500.
- [Tom] Your prices are pretty okay.
It has a big old 98. - 70 model.
- [Tom] 455, air conditioning, full power.
How much are you asking for that one?
- I'd take six grand. - And it's a driving car.
- [Man] A driving car, yeah.
- So is that a '59 Chevy? - '60.
- '60 Chevy. - Uh-huh, 348.
- Really? - Uh-huh.
- Oh, man. - Four-speed car.
- Well, this is one of the rarest cars
we've seen in a while.
'60 Chevy Impala, convertible,
with a 348 cubic-inch,
four-barrel, four-speed car.
You can see the shifter, yeah, they had
a three-on-a-tree, so now it's a four-on-the-floor.
That is a neat car, man.
- [Man] I'd have to have 40 on that one.
- 40 grand? - Yeah.
- You can clean this up in a weekend.
It would make the whole difference.
Man, that's nice.
I tell you what, tell you what,
I'm gonna tell you what it is.
Oh wow, I know what it is.
That's a first-generation Corvette.
- [Man] Yup.
- Jeez.
Oh, man.
Wow, that's a Blue Flame six,
with three side-draft Carter carburetors on there.
- That's a number car. - This was a car
that General Motors made, to kind of replicate
a Jaguar; a big straight six cylinder
with side-draft carburetors,
and they never really did it.
Some people raced these things and didn't do very well.
What year is this?
It's '53, '54?
- '54. - '54.
So it had an automatic, it had a Powerglide.
You could only get a Corvette with a six cylinder
and an automatic, for the first two years.
'55 was the first year with a V8.
And they were with a two-speed automatic.
Well that's probably the rarest car we've seen all day.
So this flips up and the top comes out--
- Yup. - Like that, yeah okay.
It has a top right there.
- [Man] This is the top.
- [Tom] 3,600 1954 Corvettes were produced.
They were all produced with a six-cylinder,
Blue Flame six, three one-barrel Carter carburetors,
with a Powerglide automatic.
If this were in concourse condition,
Hagerty prices it out at $138,000.
This has got the larger horsepower motor,
believe it or not; the standard horsepower motor
was 150 horsepower, this has got 155 horsepower.
If it were in excellent condition,
$93,200; good condition, $67,000;
and in fair condition, $44,700.
In honesty, right now, the way you see this,
it's probably in fair condition,
but the fact that the hood that's missing is right there,
the windshield's inside the building,
he's got all the hubcaps for it.
It ran when it was parked here.
I would say that you could bring this
from fair condition to good condition,
in a week of cleaning, going through the hydraulics,
get it running well,
and bolt on the pieces it's missing.
So, this is probably a good-condition car
that's just not quite there yet.
A little bit of elbow grease would do it.
So this is a '61 Ford Starline, er, Sunliner,
which was a convertible.
'61 Ford.
What motor's in that? - 352.
- [Man] Original motor, original transmission.
- Convertibles always, the floors rust
out; what's the floor like? - It's a pretty solid car.
- Three-on-the-tree?
- Oh, it's automatic, okay. - Automatic.
- So Dean just said he would take 8,500 bucks
for this car; it's a 352,
automatic on the column.
It doesn't have the original front seat,
it's got the original back seat.
It's originally a blue car;
the back seat's still blue, the front seat's not correct.
But I think, a pretty attractive car.
This is an amazing place.
I don't know if you sitting at home
are as excited as I am right here.
This is a real discovery.
That's a '57 Chevy Bel Air, two-door,
hard-top, no post, it's got no motor in it.
It's got a hole cut out in the floor
where a floor shifter was,
so this was a hot rod.
For you guys at home, I'm gonna ask
how much this car is, because you might be interested in it.
And, he needs to clear out this property.
So, there might be some deals here.
Dean, how much for the '57?
Five grand.
1978 T-tops, four-speed.
What engine?
350, okay.
What are you asking for that?
Six grand.
There's some deals here, folks.
That's a 280Z, I think.
How much for that?
1,500 bucks.
Is it a manual gear box? - Yeah.
- And then you got a Z car over here.
That looks like a 280
ZX turbo; and how much for that one?
- [Man] I'll take five grand for it.
- Five grand, and it's--
- [Man] Original motor, original transmission,
but a new turbo on it. - And it runs.
And it runs? - Yeah.
- Okay.
This is what happens when the floors
rot out in a convertible, and you can't afford
to do it right, you just lay a bunch
of fiberglass cloth and bondo in there and say a prayer.
Two grand.
289? - 289.
- [Tom] Is there any, like, what do you got in the garage?
Anything good? - Yeah.
- Oh, good. (laughing)
Oh, boy.
Grand Sport convertible.
455, GS, air conditioning,
power steering, power brakes, convertible.
Is that automatic or a standard?
- [Man] Automatic.
- [Tom] This is a 1970 Buick GS
stage one convertible.
232 were produced in 1970,
convertible; it had 360 horsepower on its 455.
Just to let you know how rare this car is, and how much
demand it is, in concourse condition,
this car is worth $163,000;
in excellent condition, $137,000;
$111,000 in good;
and $63,600 in fair.
Now, tell me, how'd you find this car?
- This car came up at auction,
in Anderson, and I bought it. - How long ago?
- [Man] About six months, four months.
- Recently. - Recently, yeah.
I knew this was coming up. - So, you said
this is a one-owner car? - It's a one-owner car.
- Man.
And it runs nicely? - It runs really good.
- Is this one of your for sale cars?
- I'd put a price on it; wouldn't care
if I sold it or not.
I'd take 50 for the car.
- And if it had a battery, it would start right up?
- Yeah, yeah, I've drove this car.
- It shifts nicely? - It shifts nice, everything.
- Disc brakes?
Probably. - It's got drum brakes.
- [Tom] Oh, it does have drum, look at that.
- [Man] I think it's got drum on it,
but they're the wide drums.
It is original motor, it is a one-owner.
- [Tom] Alright, well let's see what else you got
in the woods here. - Okay.
- [Tom] How about for the Corvette?
Two grand; so you got the engine,
needs a rebuilding; it's got an automatic transmission.
Two grand for a Corvette.
(laid-back rock music)
This is a '68 Chevelle SS, 396,
matching numbers car, big block, four-speed.
What would you ask for this car?
- [Man] $7,500.
- So for a big block, matching number Chevelle,
$7,500; that's a no-brainer.
Okay, so let's talk about '67.
Now this is not an SS, it's not even
a two-door, it's a four-door, but 283.
Okay, a 283 two-barrel, little tiny motor.
It's got power steering, manual brakes,
no air conditioning, no power anything.
It's got an automatic, it's a four-door.
And what would you ask for this?
- Three grand. - Three grand.
(laid-back rock music)
So, big block, air conditioning, power brakes.
So that's a 454.
What would you ask for that?
- I'd take $5,500 for it.
- $5,500.
So this is a '64?
- '63. - '63, okay.
- [Tom] Oh, that's pretty sweet.
So is it a 327? - 327 with 350 heads on it.
Four speed. - And a four-speed,
and a four-door, it's lowered.
It is lowered, right? - Yup, it is lowered.
- So chopped springs or something.
Low rider? - Yeah.
- And so, this runs? - Yeah, it runs
- [Man] and drives good.
- Are you selling that?
- [Man] Yeah, I'll sell it.
- What do you want? - 45.
- 4,500 bucks.
Yeah.
We're back in South Carolina,
on the western side of the state,
and we've heard about a gentleman
who's got a building
with some unusual cars inside it; cars that many of us
haven't even heard of.
So we're gonna go see what he's got.
(laid-back rock music)
Hello, Sam. - Hey.
Good to see you, Tom. - Good to see you.
- [Tom] This is what barn finding is all about.
I mean, this is it, man.
Tell us what you've got here.
What's that pretty little shape right there?
- [Sam] This is called an ASA,
and it plays into some of the Ferrari's history.
- [Tom] So that's an Abarth.
- [Sam] This is an Abarth, what's known
as an early Allemano Spider.
Next car is called a Zagato body double bubble.
- [Tom] Now, what are these?
- [Tom] These are the Berkeleys,
a British car that was fiberglass
and aluminum construction; it does have
very unique kind of suspension that is tubular,
more formula-car looking, on some levels,
and that sort of thing, but interesting construction
being so light.
- [Tom] So that's a steel-body car, but the rest
you have are aluminum? - Most of them.
- [Sam] This particular car was a limited-run car,
it was a transition car,
and it was called a Sestrière.
I think it was named after some Italian.
The next car there is called a Record Monza.
That is a car that was more their race version,
a little bit lighter, a little more low profile
on the roof, that sort of thing.
- [Tom] Do you have a favorite car here,
of this whole group?
- [Sam] As far as, maybe my favorite car
might be the Record Monza.
I think it's a pretty car, and
an interesting history to that car, that sort of thing.
- Carlo Abarth was a guy like Carroll Shelby;
he would take cars that were rather mundane,
and soup them up, a little with bigger engines,
bore them out, put headers on them
and multiple carburetors,
and make them into race cars
like Carroll Shelby did with Mustang.
And then he brought this small car,
based on, instead of, Shelby used Ford mechanicals,
Abarth used Fiat mechanicals.
So, sometimes they used Fiat bodies,
and sometimes they used their own special bodies.
A body company called Zagato, in Italy,
built cars for various companies.
They would make a Zagato Aston Martin,
Zagato Ferraris; this is a Zagato double bubble,
of which there are a couple in this room.
And it's a double bubble because
you can see, it's got a roof
that has a little hump in it.
That's so your head could fit in that area
if you were tall, and you wouldn't hit the headliner.
So these cars were fast street cars,
and they were fast little peppy race cars;
not like with a big V8, these had small engines:
750cc's, 1,000cc's, but because
the car was so light, they really ripped.
And because they were light, they handled really well.
This is called a Record Monza; it's a 750.
Cars like this would run at Sebring,
and race tracks around the United States,
and also across Europe.
I happen to like this purple one here.
It has a different grill on it; a rather stylish car.
This is a steel car.
Most of these cars are aluminum;
this Abarth happens to be steel.
And we're walking by a couple of odd cars here as well.
These are not Abarths; these are called Berkeleys,
or in England they call 'em Barkleys.
But here is a production-based car.
It's a Fiat 600, and this is what
Carlo Abarth would get, a Fiat 600, and soup it up.
Little motor, expand it, bore it out, carburetors,
and make what Carroll Shelby did with the Mustang;
make a production-based vehicle into a race car.
And this is tough; fat little wheels,
got a little ripping exhaust.
And then over here in the corner we have
an Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
And that's an amazing car, an ASA,
which is a baby Ferrari.
That car is a four-cylinder version of a Ferrari;
the details, the styling,
the mechanical bits and pieces
are miniaturized Ferrari units.
It's a very rare car; I don't know how many they made,
but in your life you might see a couple of these
if you're a car enthusiast and keep your eyes open.
Pretty cool stuff.
You have a really cool collection
of cars. - Thank you.
- Thank you for allowing us to come in here.
Thank you. - Thank you, Tom.
- [Tom] Finding old cars, you've gotta be a salesman.
You've gotta talk to old mechanics,
find out where the old restorers live,
go to auto parts stores, go to repair shops.
So next time you're on your way to get pizza
or a quart of milk,
see how many cars you can find on the way home.
Happy hunting.
(upbeat blues-rock music)