Barn Find Road Trip

by Tom Cotter

  “This was obviously a high-end car,” said Greg. “His cousin told me this car was running just a few years ago.”

  Full disclosure: I have been a vintage car enthusiast and collector since I was 14 years old, and have always been a Ford man, but this Dodge is one of the most impressive early cars I have ever seen. I have never seen an early car so heavily optioned as this Dodge. It was more Lincoln than Dodge, if that makes any sense.

  If it were mine, I would clean it up and enjoy it as is, but Greg would like to restore it back to like-new condition. I know one thing: it will be a very expensive restoration.

  Greg said there had also been an Indian motorcycle on the premises that sold during the auction.

  “It was all in pieces, and it sold for $4,500,” he said. “The guy who bought it sold it for $16,500 on the Internet.”

  Greg said that he had notified the producers of the American Pickers television program about the impending auction, but they opted not to come.

  “I sent them pictures, but they never got back to me,” said Greg.

  Greg also found a 1927 Harley Davidson motor in all the clutter that sold for $1,200.

  Because Greg doesn’t have room for the huge Dodge in his home garage at this time, the deceased man’s family told him he could keep it in the building for as long as necessary, or until the real estate is sold.

  We had one more stop to make with Zach before he had to go to work and we had to head toward West Virginia.

  The Dodge’s owner, Greg Cash, hopes to restore the car, which he received as a thank-you for assisting in managing the sale of the estate of the car’s longtime owner.

  We followed Zach a few miles away to a former gas station not far from I-81. It is now called Weaver’s Garage, and is a truck repair shop. It is run by two brothers, Jim and Steve Weaver. Their late father started the business in 1978.

  Sitting on the grass just to the side of the garage was a time-machine 1971 Ford Torino. The car had obviously been sitting in that spot for a long time, because it had sunk into the turf down to its chassis. Next to the Torino was another Ford, a 1966 Galaxie LTD two door, which seems to have been parked there just as long.

  This Torino was a muscle car enthusiast’s delight: dark green with laser side stripes; 429-cubic-inch engine; four-speed; bench seat; and hideaway headlights. The car had been parked there for at least 20 years, according to Zach. Actually, it was even longer.

  “The car has been parked there since 1981 or 1982,” said Jim Weaver. “That was the last time Dad put an inspection sticker on it. Now it belongs to both of us.”

  This 1971 Ford Torino would have been quite a discovery if it had not spent the last few decades sinking into the turf. The car is an original 429-cubic-inch, four-speed car. I worry about the floorboards and chassis substructure, though.

  Their father started to work on the car, but then diabetes started to affect him, so it was parked and it has sat there ever since.

  “Dad put on new radial tires and new brakes,” said Jim. “He bought it off the original owner.”

  “And he had a new dual exhaust bent for it like the original system,” said Steve Weaver. “It ran pretty strong. The boy that bought it new in 1971 had a friend who bought an identical car except it had a 428-cubic-inch engine in it. One time those two were racing up the interstate, and they were identical in speed until they hit the rest area. That’s when the 429 just took off like the 428 was standing still.”

  The brothers said some work would still be required to get the car complete, like the front bumper would have to be reinstalled, the headliner would have to be replaced, and the four-speed shifter needed to be lubed.

  From this view, it is obvious that the car is slowly sinking into the earth. The owner has decided to sell the Torino and the LTD as a package deal.

  I didn’t want to point it out to them, but after sitting outdoors for more than 30 years, the car would need much more work than a bumper installed and a headliner replaced. The car’s subframe had been sitting on the grass for decades, so the car’s very structure might require major surgery.

  “My dad never bought us anything ‘Fireball’ like that car, so when he let me drive it, my hair stood straight up on my neck,” said Steve. “Then I knew why he never would buy us anything like that.”

  I asked the brothers how many people have stopped by to ask if the Torino is for sale.

  “There ain’t a week that goes by that somebody doesn’t stop to ask about it,” said Steve. “It should have been sold a long time ago.”

  I spoke to Jim, the older brother, about whether the Torino was for sale.

  “I won’t split those two cars apart,” he said. “I’ll only sell the 1966 Galaxie and the Torino together as a package. I’ve owned that ’66 since 1967. It was a good car but not a hot car. It has a 390 in it. I’ll take $20,000 for the pair. If the right person were interested in them, they would be a good buy.”

  I promised Jim and Steve I would keep this Ford package deal in mind for any of my Ford muscle-car friends. We said goodbye and thank-you to Zach, and we headed toward West Virginia.

  We had spent too many days in the Roanoke/Staunton area and needed to get into another state to stay on schedule.

  “We won’t stop again in Virginia, I promise,” I said to Brian and Michael.

  Brian looked at the map and said our best route to West Virginia would be to drive north on State Highway 11 for a few miles before cutting west toward West Virginia. But wouldn’t you know, just a few miles up the road from Weaver’s Garage we noticed, in the driveway of a very old house, three Studebakers: two pickups, and a sedan.

  We had to stop. We just couldn’t pass a scene like this.

  We made a U-turn in the Woody, Michael following behind in the Ford Flex (I bet we made 500 U-turns on this trip, right, Michael?), and we pulled up in front of that house. I went right up and knocked on the door. No answer. So I walked around to the side door and knocked. No answer there either, although I did disturb a bunch of sleeping cats.

  I always recommend knocking on the door before exploring old cars on private property, or else you might be picking buckshot from your hind quarters. Still, I’ve found that, if you are polite and are genuinely a car person, you can go onto private property without fear of getting arrested. Or shot. At least it hasn’t happened to me yet. With nobody at home, as long as we kept our hands in our back pockets, we decided we could probably look around.

  As we were approaching the West Virginia border, this Studebaker in a driveway got our attention. Little did we know that in the backyard there were a dozen more!

  Wow, the three Studebakers in the driveway were complimented by a nice old Rambler Super 10 sedan in the front yard. The odometer said only 2,700 miles! Could it be? Then we looked behind the fence in the backyard and couldn’t believe what we saw. I counted 15 more Studebaker cars and trucks scattered about.

  Darn, I wish somebody were home.

  But a few minutes later, a young man came walking from the house. I introduced myself, and he did the same. His name was Adam Early, and he told me that his father, Jerry, owned most of the cars, but that some were also owned by his mother, his brother, and himself.

  It’s a family affair: Jerry, Adam, and Betty Early pose next to one of the many Studebakers in their backyard.

  Adam explained that his family’s classic home was built in several phases starting in the 1700s. The first part of the house was a log cabin. “We find pieces of pottery and Civil War coins whenever we dig around here.”

  Then our conversation turned to old cars.

  “My father owned a restoration shop called Early Restorations, and he focused mostly on Studebakers,” said Adam, 32. “Then he started restoring Pierce Arrows. Now he is retired, but we’ve been into Studebakers for a long time.”

  Doesn’t look like a movie star, does it? But in fact this truck was quickly converted to a late-model drivetrain and chassis for a movie that was filmed near owner
Jerry Early’s house.

  Adam explained that most of the cars we were looking at were purchased as parts cars, and that his family stored their nicer cars in a nearby warehouse.

  Adam also told me that the Rambler I had been admiring in his front yard does in fact have less than 3,000 miles on the odometer, and had never even had an oil change until they bought it. And the spare tire has never been mounted. It had been discovered in a shed in Staunton, where it had been parked for 30 years. It is now his mother’s car.

  Hiding behind the hedge in the front yard is probably the lowest-mileage 1959 Rambler 10 in existence. Just 2,700 miles are registered on the odometer, and the spare tire is brand new.

  As we were talking, a car pulled into the driveway and two folks approached us. Walking toward us were Jerry and Betty Early, Adam’s parents. Adam introduced us to his parents and said that some of their cars were for sale.

  “Well, actually, if you ask my dad, none of the cars are for sale, but if you ask my mom, they are all for sale,” he said. “If you ask me, it depends.

  “The only car I won’t sell is the Rambler, because the first song I heard when I turned on the radio was, ‘Oh, Elizabeth’ by the Statler Brothers,” said Betty. “That’s my name.”

  Adam’s dad pointed to one of the pickup trucks in the driveway and told us it was a 1992 Studebaker. I wondered what he meant.

  “That truck was in a movie,” he said. “Hearts in Atlantis, a Castle Rock production that was filmed right here in Staunton. The movie people pulled up and asked if we had any cars they could rent. I worked on that project for two weeks. It’s sitting on a Jeep Wagoneer chassis, four-wheel-drive and everything.”

  The family has lived in this house for 40 years, but they have been into Studebakers even longer.

  “I drove one back in college,” said Jerry. “A 1956 President.”

  This was a happy family, and the perfect way to end our barn-finding in the state of Virginia. We will not stop again until we are out of this state!

  It occurred to me that I could probably write a book exclusively about the old cars in the state of Virginia. I mean, we had discovered dozens of cars just within the Roanoke area, and there were plenty of towns and villages between there and the coast.

  Virginia had been good to us, and we were now officially saying goodbye to this bountiful state.

  As we were sprinting toward West Virginia, this Chevy and Plymouth on the right side of the road got our attention. These two cars led us to 40 more.

  — OMG, WE NEED TO STOP! —

  I swear we intended to leave the state, driving west toward West Virginia—purposely not looking left or right—until…

  “Stop!” Brian shouted.

  We had just passed a bunch of old cars, cars in fields, cars in sheds, and cars in barns. Another incredible Virginia discovery.

  We made yet another U-turn and doubled back a couple of hundred feet to inspect what we had stumbled across. I’ll bet Junior Johnson never made as many bootleg turns as we did, even in his moonshining days!

  This was not a happenchance assembly of vehicles; this was one heck of a collection of 1950s and 1960s cars. A quick survey revealed that the owner had an eclectic taste. I knocked on the door of the farmhouse, but nobody was home. So we figured we could walk around with our hands in our pockets again and look without offending anyone.

  Thankfully many of the cars in Robert Horton’s collection are under cover, which has kept cars like this Edsel in solid condition.

  We were just beginning to check out this cache when a man came riding up on a four-wheeler. I figured he was the owner. He wasn’t. His name was Mike Zimmerman, and he was a neighbor and friend of the cars’ owner.

  “I live across the field, and saw some people walking around Robert’s house,” said Mike. “I didn’t think he was expecting any visitors, so I figured I better check out who it was.”

  Mike was a cool guy and proudly told us he owned three 1961 Ford Starliners: one that was owned by his late father, one he bought, and another parts car. He had no problem with us walking around looking at his neighbor’s cars. He told us the cars belonged to his friend, Robert Horton.

  A Hudson and a Rambler huddle next to one another under the tin-roof shed. Robert said that he would consider selling some of his collection.

  Ok, ready? Here is what Mr. Horton had parked on his property (in no particular order): Hudsons, Fraziers, Mercurys (Montclairs and Comets), a Willys, a Crosley, a Ford Fairlane, Studebakers, Nashes (including Metropolitans), Plymouths (Valiants and otherwise), Ramblers, a VW Beetle, Edsels, Chevys, Fords, a Rambler Cross Country wagon complete with a Pininfarina-designed body, and a steam engine.

  Steam engine?

  Yes, a 1914 Kaiser Peerless Steam Engine, complete with huge steel wheels, that Mike showed had current license tags. He said it had been recently driven for a parade. Its owner told me later it is 100 years old, and back in the day it was a power unit.

  Out in the field were about a dozen cars, including this 1963 Mercury Monterey and a 1960 Lancer, the Dodge version of the Plymouth Valiant.

  A former chicken coop housed the nicest cars in Robert’s collection, including Fords, Ramblers, Hudsons, Nash Metropolitans, T-Birds, and others.

  “It could be used as a tractor, a saw mill, or it could pull a gang of mowers or plows,” he said.

  Mike told us that Robert was currently at the Carlisle flea market and would be going directly to Hershey immediately afterward. He did offer to get Robert on the phone, which we greatly appreciated.

  Robert proved to be an interesting guy. We spoke for a few moments on the phone, then I interviewed him at Hershey the following week. This is what I learned:

  “I’ve been collecting cars my whole life,” he said. “I got my first car when I was 12 years old. It was a 1940 Pontiac that was sitting at a woman’s yard up the street. She asked, ‘Would you like to have it?’ It took a while to convince my father, but he finally said yes, so he helped me tow it home behind his tractor.”

  Robert makes his living as shop manager at WW Motorcars and Parts, a restoration shop where he has worked for 23 years.

  “Even though I work on old cars every day, it’s still just a hobby,” he said.

  I asked if any of his cars are for sale.

  “Some are for sale, and some I’ll keep,” he said. “Unless I was offered a ridiculous amount of money—then everything is for sale.”

  Brian already had designs on buying a 1963 Mercury Monterey two-door from Robert, which he thought would look just right slammed to the ground, with dual exhaust and some kind of funky wheel/tire package. Now remember, he had fallen in love with A. C. Wilson’s Lincoln Continental just a day or two earlier. I’m beginning to think that falling in love is a daily routine for my navigator.

  Some of the prettiest roads we encountered were on the border between Virginia and West Virginia.

  — WESTWARD HO! —

  Well, that discovery provided a terrific climax to the great state of Virginia. As we swiftly drove west toward West Virginia, I told Brian, “I don’t care if we pass a Duesenberg in the bushes, we’re not going to stop.”

  And true to our words, we kept on trucking, not past Duesenbergs, but lots of old Ford and Chevy pickup trucks and sedans, and even a street rod shop. There were cars that we would have normally stopped and photographed, but not now. I had budgeted three to four days per state, and we needed to leave Virginia or we’d blow our schedule.

  Finally, we crossed the West Virginia state line, and to celebrate, we stopped at a very old and authentic general store for an RC Cola and a Moon Pie.

  Almost immediately after crossing into West Virginia, we passed an old Chevy coupe. It turned out to be a 1939 Chevy that had been modified with a Nova subframe and a 305-cubic-inch engine. The car was for sale and included $1,000 worth of new red paint in the can and a new battery. It would be an easy project to complete for someone with minimal mechanical skills and a moderatel
y equipped shop. The owner was not at home, so we spoke to his uncle, who didn’t know all the details.

  Michael shoots a selfie after downing an RC Cola and a Moon Pie at a countryside general store. That’s a classic road trip lunch, Michael!

  For the next hour or so, we drove through some of the most beautiful countryside we would see during our two-week journey. We drove through a rural valley between two mountain ranges, the sun was shining, the weather was warm, and the scenery was spectacular. The terrain kept changing but was constantly beautiful.

  As we crossed a second set of mountains, we came to a wide spot in the road that held a site that made us weak.

  No, we didn’t see a field full of old cars, but a rusty, very old commercial, tin-sided building. On the building was a sign that read Seneca Motor Company. Next to it was an old neon Ford Tractor sign. This was a must-stop situation.

  We parked the Woody in front of the building, and as we were snooping around, two gentlemen came driving up. “We’ll have to charge you if you take photos of that building,” one of them said. They looked serious, then they both smiled. They were cousins and explained that their grandfather had opened Seneca Motor Company, the Ford car, truck, and tractor dealership of Seneca Rocks, West Virginia, back in 1915.

  Soon after finally crossing into West Virginia, we came across this 1939 Chevy coupe that had been modified with a V-8. It was not completed and was for sale.