Barn Find Hunter

After the exceptional barn-find 427 Cobra and Ferrari 275 GTB/2 from the same garage a few months ago, we asked Tom Cotter what could possibly be left to uncover. “I dunno… It’d be cool to find a Gullwing.” Kismet’s a funny thing. With the help of the legendary Bill Warner, Tom makes the trek to an undisclosed location to open an old storage unit. Inside? You guessed it, a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. Not just any Gullwing, either, but a completely original and unrestored example that was the 43rd off the assembly line. Follow along as Tom and Bill explore this stunning slice of automotive history.

Sunny Southern California is a hotbed for classic cars, from road-worthy beauties to the forgotten junkers that Barn Find Hunter Tom Cotter wakes up every morning hoping to uncover. But California is tightening state laws concerning the possession of non-functional vehicles, making it tougher for folks to put off projects. In this episode, Tom scours Craigslist to track down Alex, a car guy whose motherlode of Fords and Mercurys has managed to evade the ire of California’s enforcement. Cougars, Fairlanes, Comets, and Torinos—many with 390 engines and/or factory four-speeds—count among the forgotten gems in Alex’s stash.

Tom Cotter's sojourn to oil country proves fruitful. With no leads to go on, he cruises the dusty landscape around Midland, Texas, only to stumble upon a fellow barn-find enthusiast with a yard full of Ford Galaxies, Fairlanes, and Ranch Wagons. The dry climate means many old cars can linger outside with little risk of rusting, and while paint and interiors get baked and dried out, fixing those issues is a cinch compared to a disintegrated frame. Topping it all off, Tom attempts to bring a desert-faded paint job back to life with good old-fashioned elbow grease (and maybe a little help from an electric buffer).

Following a lead from an owner on last episode of Barn Find Hunter, Tom Cotter continues his oil-country campaign, unearthing more dust-covered classics in the desert of Midland, Texas. This week starts with dusting off a couple of Oldsmobiles, but Tom uncovers a whole bounty of American metal. In the shed and out back, the property showcases a landscape of Eighty-Eights and Cutlasses, as well. Lined bumper-to-bumper between the Texas shrubbery, this menagerie of lopsided grills and sunbaked hoods is now kept by the family of the late collector, and among these American gems, Tom investigates a Dodge Dart 270 and a Pontiac wagon, eventually coming upon a Plymouth Road Runner with bizarre scars of mods past.

While cruising down the road in central Florida, Tom Cotter spots a familiar-looking pair of GT-package headlights. Languishing in a pile of leaves outside the owner’s house is a moss-ridden relic of the early pony-car craze—a 1965 Mustang. Originally a project car for the owner and his son, the car started the process of becoming one with the lawn after it got its hood smashed in. The owner’s hopes that his grandson would take up the cause proved fruitless. But when Tom wanders out back to peer into a garage, he discovers another titan of Ford muscle. Hiding in the shadows is none other than a 1970 Shelby Mustang GT500 convertible, and as luck would have it, the owner is eager to share the car’s story.

When there are a pair of unlikely automotive Frankensteins languishing half a mile from the Mexican border, leave it to Tom Cotter to sniff them out. These homemade Volvo and Mercedes pickup trucks, parked in a garage before being sculpted from bits of old Fords and restaurant refrigerators, find company with a hoard of other hidden classics. Two 1951 Packards, a 1939 Buick, and a 1930 Plymouth-all of them for sale. Tom continues the hunt elsewhere, on a dusty rental lot where he finds a complete Dodge Omni GLH and reminisces about the early days of the hot hatch. Between the barbed wire and hunks of scrap metal, he comes upon an El Camino, a Plymouth Road Runner, and a pair of MG Midgets.

They told him that he couldn't find any more cars in Midland, Texas. This week, Tom Cotter hits the oil country highways to prove them wrong. Drawn in by the rusty bones of an old Torino, Tom investigates the pickings of a fellow car guy, among which is a 1972 Dodge Charger housing a 318-cubic-inch engine that, after some gentle prodding, slowly coughs to life. Cold calls come next, and soon Tom visits a woman who proudly imparts the history behind each hollowed-out shell in her yard, from an engine-less 1957 Thunderbird drag car to a VW Beetle with a Ford V-8. Touring through her garden of drag metal and classic iron, Tom turns up a McLaren Mustang convertible, the body of a 1963 Econoline Van, and a half-restored 1977 Chevy Blazer, each with a story-and a price.

Tom Cotter's 1939 Ford Woodie wagon comes to the rescue once again in this week's episode of Barn Find Hunter. While Tom is having lunch in Midland, Texas, a man takes kindly to the old Woodie and strikes up a conversation that leads to a whole day's worth of finds. The tip yields plenty of cool hot rods as well as a Plymouth and Pontiac that could be sale… for right price, of course.

The finds keep on coming in Midland, Texas, in this week's episode of Barn Find Hunter. A lunch conversation with a local man leads Tom to Jeff Roland, who, until several years ago, operated a Mustang restoration and repair shop. Having shifted the focus of his business, Jeff is eager to sell any of the 100-plus cars on his lot. Mustangs abound, including a rare K-code model, along with more Ford, Chevy, and GMC trucks than you can shake a stick at.

During a visit to San Diego, Tom gets a lead on a couple unique cars way outside of the city. He and the woody hit the road and arrive at Randy Carlson's house a few hours later. As it turns out, Randy has more than just a couple cars and, to Tom's delight, a good number of fun stories to accompany them. After checking out some Fords, Packards, Volkswagens, a Lincoln, and some old Hondas, Randy pulls back the cover on an interesting custom Porsche coupe, hand-built in Germany by a design school.

"There's no other place on the planet that can possibly resemble what we're about to go see right now," said Tom Cotter as he parked his car outside of Fiberglass Farms in Tampa, Florida. In this episode of Barn Find Hunter, Tom meets up with his old friend, Geoff Hacker, to dive into the world of one-off fiberglass kit cars.

Tom meets up with his good friend Geoff Hacker once again. Geoff shows off a very unique race car transporter custom built back in the late 1950’s by some California hot rodders. Most notably, it was used to transport Jim Hall's Chaparral 1 race car to Riverside Raceway in the 1960s. Tom and Geoff then head to a storage unit containing a 1948 Packard Super Eight Convertible, previously owned by a drug dealer. While there's a lot to be done on both vehicles, Geoff is motivated to restore both of them to their former glory.

A field full of rusty cars just off the Interstate in southern Virginia leads Tom to Snowball Bishop, an old stock car racer and true car guy. Snowball recalls a great story of buying a 426 Wedge engine from Richard Petty. Tom then browses the field of parts cars before checking out a 1963 Ford Galaxie convertible that's looking for a new home… with a price tag that may have you reaching for your wallet.

Alaska: The last frontier… for finding old cars! In this episode of Barn Find Hunter, Tom Cotter heads to Fairbanks, Alaska, and finds a nice sampling of Ford Mustangs, including a rare 1971 Mach 1 with a 429 Cobra Jet engine, factory 4-speed, and air conditioning.

You’d never know that down an unmarked, unpaved road lives a barn-find collection that would melt any car enthusiast’s face off. Dodge Daytonas, a Plymouth Superbird, big block Chevys, Ford Thunderbirds, an L-82 Corvette with under 10 miles, DeTomaso Pantera... and the list goes on... and on... an on! This is the episode of Barn Find Hunter you've been waiting for.