Hagerty Video: Pontiac GTO sitting for 40 years along with other American icons and hot rods | Barn Find Hunter

Hagerty Video Transcript

– Just an hour ago, we were in downtown Detroit. Here we are, west of Detroit. We’ve driven down a dirt path to a barn in the woods following up a lead that one of our friends at Hagerty gave to us and it looks like it’s gonna pay off.

So let’s see what Steve’s got in here. Hello, Steve. – Tom, how are you? – Tom Carter. – Steve Rose. – So are you the car enthusiast I heard about? – I am the car enthusiast. – So this is like a little private museum in the woods. – You might call it that.

– [Tom] Wow. – Some people would call it a junk collection, but. – [Tom] Tell me, how long have you been into collecting cars? – About 50 years. – 50? – Yeah. – What was your first collector car? – First one was really that Model T right there.

– [Tom] So that began something that you had to build a building in the woods to store them all? – Ultimately. Yeah. – Wow. I guess we might as well start with the car you’re sitting on. – [Steve] Okay. – Don’t tell me, I’m gonna tell you. ’64.

– You got it. ’64 Corvette. I got this about 20 years ago. But I subsequently found out that the frame was shot. You know, I joined the NCRS. And the guy who was in charge at the time, guy by the name of, well, anyhow.

He had a shop and he put a new frame in. And I was amazed he could get a new one or an old one. I bought a new one. – [Tom] See I just did a. It’s funny, I have a ’64 Corvette. – [Steve] Oh, do you?

– [Tom] I just swapped the frame out this winter. It was harder than I thought and easier than I thought. I bought an old one, but a rust-free one from California. Anyway. So did you buy it like this? – [Steve] Yeah. – [Tom] Pretty blue paint and nice top.

– [Steve] Yeah, yeah, exactly. – [Tom] So you didn’t have to restore this or anything? – [Steve] No, I did not. I did not have to restore this. One thing I did is, you know, the steering is kind of hard, it was manual steering. I knew the chief engineer of the Corvette.

– [Tom] That’s handy. – [Steve] I retired from GM. – [Tom] Ah, okay. – [Steve] Yeah, I worked there 32 years. I said, “Dave, you know, this car steering’s real hard. You think I’d put power steering in?” He says, “Absolutely”. So I had ’em put power steering in this

And it’s been a pleasure to drive since then. – [Tom] This is a 327. – [Steve] 327. Stock. – [Tom] Stock. So you never modified it? – [Steve] No. – It was 20 years ago. So you were already beyond that hot rod stage, probably. – Yeah. Yeah.

– [Tom] So has this car ever been restored before you got it? – [Steve] I don’t think so. – [Tom] Yep. It’s a beauty. – [Steve] Thank you. – [Tom] I mean, I would just love to wash this thing. I bet it’s fabulous. – [Steve] It’s nice. It’s pretty.

– All right, you got my interest. Okay, so this GTO, ’66? – ’66. – [Tom] ’66 GTO – [Steve] Three deuces and a four speed. And I bought that in November of ’65. – [Tom] So you bought this new? – [Steve] New. And it was originally burgundy.

And then when I came to GM, my friends and I said, “Oh, let’s change the color, let’s make it black.” So we painted it with a lousy lacquer color black. And that’s the way it’s been since I’d say ’71, ’72. But it needs a little body work there in the back.

– [Tom] It’s a pretty solid car? The floors and. – Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. It’s got only 60,000 miles on it. – So what made you buy this, of all the cars in the mid-’60s, muscle cars, what made you buy this? – [Steve] I had a street Hemi on order back then.

– [Tom] In what, like a Coronet or something? – Yeah. It was a Mopar. And what happened was they changed the warranty from like three years or whatever it was down to 30 days. And I wasn’t gonna buy a car with 30-day warranty because I was having a lot of problem with cars.

– And that was gonna be your daily driver? – Yeah, exactly. – A one-owner GTO, there’s not many of those left in the world, I’d say. Can I sit in it? – [Steve] Sure, go ahead. No, don’t drive it. – [Tom] 67,333. – That’s not bad, right? For a ’66 car.

– [Tom] Hmm. So when was the last time you fired this up? – [Steve] A year or two ago. – [Tom] Wow. Well thank goodness you put the pellets in here because it’s keeping the mice away. – [Steve] Exactly. Exactly. – This car shocked me.

I’ve not looked up the value of a early GTO before. This is a one-owner car. Steve bought this in 1966, I think it was December. So he bought it pre-1967. But it’s a ’67 GTO sport roof, sport coupe, no pillar, 389. It’s got tri power, it’s got a four speed.

If it’s a factory, four-speed, add 15% to these numbers. Man! Number four condition, the worst condition but a running car, $56,700. 56 grand plus 15% ’cause the factory four speed. Good condition, number three, $98,000 plus what, $13,000 more factory-four speed. Holy mackerel. And number two, excellent condition. $134,000.

And Concors, number one best in the world, 166 grand and add 15% for a four-speed. That is amazing. – [Steve] Thank you. – [Tom] So what do you wanna show us next? – How about this one? – All right. – [Steve] This is a 1924 Studebaker.

It’s got a small block Ford in it. Five liter. – Oh, geez. Look how far back it is. – [Steve] Yeah, really. – [Tom] Wow. – [Steve] And it really runs good, you know. I did a bunch of little things on it, but look at the interior on this. – [Tom] That’s crazy.

Look at this car. How tall are those wheels, like 21 inch or something? Skinny 21. I’m not sure. There’s vintage wheels, vintage tires and a late model drivetrain. Power steering. – [Steve] Right. – [Tom] Have disc brakes? – [Steve] No, but it’s got hydraulic brakes. – [Tom] But drums all around.

– Yeah, drums all around. As a matter of fact what I did is, there’s an S-10 rear in there. – [Tom] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this engine, I mean this could be another foot further. So this probably handles pretty well. – [Steve] Yeah, no, it runs good. I love this car.

– [Tom] So this must have been a restored car that somebody just. – [Steve] Yes. – [Tom] Wanted to keep up with traffic. – [Steve] Yeah. And it’s automatic transmission. – [Tom] That is a blast. – [Steve] It’s a floor automatic and I really love this car. – [Tom] Wow.

– [Steve] I guess I’m attached to a lot of these cars. – Okay, so you got a shoebox. ’51. – [Steve] ’51. – Now how do I know it’s ’51? You may ask in television land. – Go ahead. You wanna tell ’em? – Well, it’s got two bullets in the front.

A ’49 had one bullet and a much simpler design around the parking light. And a ’50 had one bullet with this design around the parking light. I mean, so, okay, we got Chevy, Pontiac, Studebaker, Ford, so you’re non-denominational. – Non-denominational. – [Tom] What made you buy this car?

– [Steve] This car, I had one when I was a freshman in college and that one had a wide block in it, 292. Thunderbird engine. And I used to have a lot of fun with that drag racing. – [Tom] So does this have a flathead in it? – [Steve] This has a flathead.

The original engine in there. – [Tom] Three on the tree. – [Steve] Yeah, three on the tree. – And these are all play cars. I mean, they’re toy cars. You don’t drive them cross-country or work anything like that? – [Steve] No, just for fun. – Is that a ’51 Studebaker?

– [Steve] Yes sir. Champion. – So this is like, you know, I guess when Studebaker got that reputation is it going forward or backward? I mean, you know, this kind of looked like a windshield. – [Steve] Yeah, yeah. – My mother was from Germany and she fell in love with this car

And she wanted to buy one, my father said I don’t like it. – [Steve] But this car’s been a lot of fun. Go ahead. – [Tom] Oh, nice interior. So how long have you have this one? – [Steve] Maybe 20 years. – [Tom] So this doesn’t have, like the other Studebaker,

Some kind of late model drive train in it? – [Steve] No, this is stock. – [Tom] Stock, flathead six cylinder. All right, so we have a Dodge, is that a Wayfarer or something? – [Steve] Coronet. There’s a guy I worked with at GM. He was moving, he had this Dodge,

He wanted to get rid of it. My father had one like this, so, I couldn’t resist buying it, so I bought it from him. I haven’t started in a while. – [Tom] And that’s an original flathead six cylinder? – [Steve] Yeah. Now behind you here. – [Tom] Don’t tell me. ’59.

– [Steve] You got it. I bought this from a friend of mine. Do you know a guy, Art Cervi? He was Bozo the Clown and he was the nicest man. He died within the past year or so. He was in the Ford Mercury Restorers Club for quite a while.

– [Tom] Bozo the clown was! – [Steve] Yeah, Bozo the Clown. – So he was a car enthusiast, who knew. – [Steve] Yeah, the engine is shot. But I have another one in my workshop. – [Tom] Is it like a 292 or 312? – [Steve] Yeah, I think so.

I think it might be a 332. Boy, this is big, isn’t it? It didn’t look that big back then, you know. – [Tom] So I think that’s a rare Chevy up there. Maybe we work our way. – [Steve] Yes, that is. – We’re not gonna be able to see the front probably,

We can see the back. – Yeah. That is a rare Chevy. That is a ’42 Fleetline. I bought this probably about early ’90s, I think, at Midland, at the auction there. But I love this car. It drove really well. My nephew and I were taking a trip to,

Oh, west of here, car show. And I said to him, “Jonathan, this car can travel anywhere”. And as I said that, it started knocking. So, you know, they had 216, 6-cylinders. – A good motor though. – Yeah, but the lubrication was splash. – [Tom] Ah, really? No pressure. – Yeah.

So, I was gonna do something with it and the friend said, “No, don’t do that, just get a.” – [Tom] A later model. – Yeah. So I think what’s in there is a 235. – Yeah. That’s the thing to do. – Yeah.

– [Tom] I’d like to see what the front of this looks like because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ’42 Chevy. So the grille is similar to ’46, for sure. Is this Chevy restored or is it original? – [Steve] It’s more or less original. Right now, it’s got a problem,

That’s why it’s on the lift, it needs a u-joint. – [Tom] You could have one car, all the rest could be taken away. You could have one car outta this building. What’s your favorite car? – [Steve] I’d probably keep the GTO. For memories, you know. – [Tom] I can understand that.

Well this has been a pretty good find, I gotta say. This was a lead we got and I never knew it was gonna pan out. You never know if these things are gonna pan out ’cause sometimes you get there and he’s got a building full of shiny cars.

The brand of this program, Barn Find Hunter, is not about shiny cars, it’s about neglected, dusty, dirty cars. Let’s go take a ride out there. So we drove an hour from downtown Detroit to a barn in the woods to an amazing collection of antiques, muscle cars, hot rods.

And all these have been with the owner for minimum of 20 years and that ’67 GTO, since new. You don’t find that very often. So you know what? Every lead’s worth following up. Good luck and happy hunting.