(rock music)
- There's a very good bookstore
in Burbank, California called Autobooks-Aerobooks.
It's been there for about 60 years
and because I write books
I go in there once in a while and sign them
when I'm in town.
Well, the lady that owns that bookstore, Tina,
gave us a lead on a friend of hers, Astra,
who lives very close to the bookstore,
whose husband recently passed away.
And he's got a couple of cars that he owned
in their garage that they are looking
to now, probably, sell.
So, they've invited us inside to
take a look at what they have.
Hello, you're Astra?
How are you?
Tom Carter.
- Hi.
- Hello, I'm Davis.
- Davis, okay.
And this is a bigger garage than most houses around here.
Did your husband build this garage?
- [Astra] Yes.
- Huh, it's a beauty.
- It's a beauty.
Well, let's see what's in there.
- I'll go turn the lights on.
- [Tom] Uh huh, now can you tell us about these cars?
- I can tell you some about them.
That's a '65 Citroën Ami Six.
As you can see, it's very original.
I do understand there's a different engine,
a larger Citroën engine put into it
but original type is still
the two-cylinder, air-cooled engine.
- Two-cylinder, air-cooled?
- Yes.
- [Tom] So, it's like a Dozier Vol motor?
- [Davis] I believe so.
- [Tom] Huh.
And so how long did he own this?
- [Tom] He's owned this for more than 30 years.
- And that's probably original paint,
I mean it looks like in fantastic condition.
You know what year it is, though, right?
- [Davis] '65, yeah.
- '65! Oh, '65, okay.
Wow, that's beautiful.
So, this was last registered 2003, so really,
this has been 14 years since this has been on the road.
Just sit in this thing, I've never...
I don't think I've ever seen one of these in person.
- [Davis] Lift up a little bit.
Press the button and lift up. - Ah, there we go.
Citroëns are French, and so the French
just have different ways of doing things.
Like designing a steering wheel with one spoke.
You know, so most wheels have two spokes
or maybe three, and early cars would have four.
All the French decided, why have all those spokes
when one will do?
So the spoke on the wheel is actually connected
right down to the steering column, right through.
Interesting, and it still seems pretty solid.
This has got 75,000 miles on it.
It's got a shifter that comes
out of the dashboard, like a 2CV.
That's a nice little car.
For a 1965 car, this is in amazing condition.
You know, we looked at the French-designed steering wheel
with the one spoke.
Just take a look at this hood here, it's almost
like a mustache, and it fits right in
down here into the grille.
What an unusual style.
Everything about, you know, French cars,
and especially Citroën, is unusual.
They're like, you know, rolling sculpture in some case.
They don't have a lot of horse power, but they
really do look beautiful.
Or unusual, I should say.
And this car?
- [Davis] This is a '68 Datsun 510, all original.
- [Tom] Did he buy this car new?
- Wow.
It's funny, we've been doing Barn Find Hunter episodes now
for a year and a half, I suppose, we've never run
across a Datsun 510, and we've run across two now,
in two days.
This is certainly the nicest one
that I've maybe seen in my life,
and I'm a Datsun 510 enthusiast, driver, collector,
and I used to have a business when I was just out of school,
repairing Datsun 510s.
I've raced them, I've rallied them.
This car is a one-owner car, it's at 88,000 miles,
which for a 510 is still brand-new.
88,000, these are 200,000 mile cars easy.
The weak part of these cars was rust.
They would rot out the quarter panels,
rot out in the rockers.
The floors would rot out, 'cause they used very thin metal
and didn't undercoat anything.
This is a California car,
it's been off the road since the '80s.
It's one-owner, it's been taken care of and garaged.
It still has...
come over here, take a look at this.
This car was bought new, being shipped from Japan.
They had plastic covering the door panels
so they wouldn't get marred or dirty.
Look at that, the plastic is still on here from 1968.
On all four doors.
This is just an amazing car.
You know, I get excited about cars like this.
It might sound unusual to some people,
but this is a car that is increasing in demand
and respect these days,
and people are looking for these cars.
And so this car, I haven't spent much time around.
Did he drive this car much, or do you know him that long?
- [Davis] Oh, I've known him, yeah, many years.
He did drive it, yeah.
Like you mentioned, you know, we speak Latvian.
He drove this to the Latvian Community Center
once in a while.
- And what a contrast between a lightweight, low-powered
French car to a heavyweight, high-powered American car.
So his interests were all over the map.
You don't have a price on this one yet?
- [Davis] No, I do not.
- [Tom] That's a good, solid car.
So you've shown us Astra's cars here,
but I'm told that she has a Ferrari
that you're working on at your house.
Can we go over and take a look at that as well?
- Yes.
(rock music)
- [Tom] This is a 1981 Ferrari 400i.
I stands for injection.
There's not many of these in The States.
This is a great market car, and what Davis said,
these cars were never imported to The States.
People brought them in individually.
What makes this car unusual is
that it's got a manual gear box.
Most of the cars you see like this are automatics,
use a GM Turbo-Hydramatic.
How many miles are on it?
- [Davis] It has 102,000 kilometers.
It's very confusing, it has the mile per hour speedometer,
but the odometer is still in kilometers.
(laughing)
- So does it start, run?
- Yes.
- Let's see this.
Fire that mother up.
(car revving)
- Are those the fuel injectors rattling in there?
- The alternator has a loose bearing.
- Oh, a loose bearing. - That's what that is, yeah.
- Whoa!
There's a lot going on in there, man.
That's smooth, man, wow.
So I guess it's a, is it a four liter?
- Yes.
- Four liter, double overhead cam, 12 cylinders,
so little tiny pistons that are able to move very rapidly.
That was the whole idea Ferrari always had,
small displacement, lightweight cars
that would race American cars, like Cobras and GT40s
with bigger displacement engines, but they were heavier.
That's a nice car.
Let's take a look at the trunk.
That sounds pretty, doesn't it?
So just some accessories and parts in here.
This is probably the jack.
Ferrari toolkits are like an industry in themselves.
Some of the early Ferraris' toolkits can go for $50,000.
- [Davis] Wow.
- [Tom] This is probably the last affordable, front engine,
12 cylinder Ferrari there is.
Every other 12 cylinder, front engine Ferrari in history
has gone up in value to millions,
and in some cases tens of millions of dollars,
in the case of a GTO.
So, if you were a Ferrari enthusiast,
but can't afford the traditional Ferraris,
of racing cars and touring cars, here's an '81
that might fit your budget.
I'm looking at that Hagerty value guide here,
and in concourse condition
this would be valued at $44,900,
and that would be a clean car with good tires,
good paint, good chrome.
Then we go down to excellent condition, $33,200,
and good condition, $28,500, and in fair, $22,000.
But down at the bottom, there's a little asterisk
which says "Add 35% for a 5-speed," which is what this has.
So, suddenly these values, you can inflate them somewhat.
I would say this is in excellent condition
for a car with 102,000 kilometers on it.
It's complete, it runs well.
The only thing I can see it missing is a radio,
which could be sourced without too much trouble,
but it's got a fifth spare tire on the same rim as on here.
It's got the jack, toolkit,
nice interior that could be brought back up.
The leather seems to be in pretty sound condition
with some age cracks, but I think
that could be massaged out of it.
This is probably the last affordable 12 cylinder,
front engine Ferrari you'll see in a while.
- [Davis] I know all the parts are in the backseat for it.
- [Tom] That's a pretty clean motor for, what year, '64?
- [Davis] '65.
- [Tom] '65, what a clean motor, whoo.
Did he buy this locally, I guess?