Barn Find Hunter

In episode twenty of "Barn Find Hunter," we visited a gentleman named Steve who had thousands of motorcycles stashed away in barns. There were so many bikes we had to go back. Welcome to our first motorcycle-dedicated episode of "Barn Find Hunter," where you will see a slew of significant Japanese bikes, over 200 Triumphs, bikes with Wankel engines, you name it, Steve has it. The second location we visit has a handful of extremely rare British motorcycles that even make somebody like Steve jealous. Bikes like a Velocette Venom Thruxton, Norton Dominator, Vincent Rapide, Triumph Bonneville, and a factory BSA 650 Road Rocket in a Goldstar frame.

A while back we asked you, the barn find hunter viewers to submit your barn find stories using our Hagerty Community page. Using these submissions, we have created a news series we think you may enjoy where Tom reacts to your barn find stories, and gives his thoughts or opinions.

Who would have thought that the little town of Hickory, NC has such significant Porsche history? In this episode, Tom takes you to a friend's restoration shop, Herman & Walker LLC to show you some significant Porsche 356 barn finds that even the Porsche family themselves have an interest in. In addition to some high-end 356 finds, Tom spots a few affordable Porsche 944s sitting alongside the road waiting for a home.

On "Barn Find Hunter," you always get to experience the joys that come with hunting for old cars. The leads we follow up on, opening that garage door for the first time in 30 years, hearing the stories, and sometimes even finding new homes. Rarely do we get to see the final product or happy ending to any of these stories. Behold, the first restored vehicle that has been featured on the show. This 1972 De Tomaso Pantera was sitting in a trailer for over 35 years and was rescued by a gentleman by the name of Peter Weeks. Peter has spent the better part of two years restoring this beauty and has allowed us the opportunity to share his work with you.

Tom explores the collection of a fellow Datsun enthusiast while reminiscing about the Datsun's from his own past. He finds the much sought after 510s, plenty of Z-cars, and a Japanese copy of a British roadster. We also get to see some of the progress on Tom's own 510 rebuild.

In this episode of "Barn Find Hunter," Tom reacts to barn find submissions from our Hagerty Community Page. One of the members on the community page, Longboard Luv, who goes by the name of Matt Jackson, submitted multiple posts about discovering different types of Volkswagens. It turns out it's a group of five guys who all go out and hunt for Volkswagens for fun. Tom was so intrigued he decided to get them all on a Zoom call and find out what makes this group of enthusiasts tick.

Tom rarely comes across a barn find location that traverse's more than 40's years of automotive evolution. In this episode of "Barn Find Hunter," Tom takes you to a Volkswagen repair shop that he's known about for years to show you the 40-year generation gap of Volkswagen sitting behind the shop.

If you remember episode 59 of "Barn Find Hunter," Tom found a 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88 Tri-Power Rocket that had been sitting for over 40 years. Since then, it has been purchased and restored by a gentleman from Ohio who was generous enough to share the final product with you, the "Barn Find Hunter" viewers.

Tom gives us a tour at his own collection of barn finds and automotive oddities at a storage facility in North Carolina. We also head to Tom's favorite repair shop to get an update on some barn finds from past episodes.

In 102 episodes of "Barn Find Hunter" Tom has never found so many cars in such a small stretch of road. Tucked away in a back alley of Davidson, NC are three significant Triumphs and two Jeep CJ 2As that Tom has passed for many years but never knew of. Just a testament to his saying, "that there are always cars in your backyard."

After a long break, Tom is back on the road hunting for cars in Traverse City, MI, in a 1970 Dodge Challenger as his new conversation starter. One of the biggest struggles when hunting for old cars during the workweek is people are never home. This proves to be an issue as Tom strikes out several times before finding a diamond in the rough. With the taillights peeking out of the garage, Tom spots a Mopar that he has never seen in all his years of barn find hunting, A 1966 Dodge Polara 500. P.S. - If you stick around, you may see these two Mopars go head-to-head.

On "Barn Find Hunter," you always get to experience the joys that come with hunting for old cars. The leads we follow up on, opening that garage door for the first time in 30 years, and sometimes helping cars find new homes. Rarely do we get to see the final product or happy ending to any of these stories. Behold, the second episode of our "Barn Find Hunter," (Revisited) micro-series where you get to see cars that have previously aired on our show and see what they have become after finding a new home

In the previous episode of "Barn Find Hunter," Tom made friends with a Gentleman named, Cliff Wilson who owned a Dodge Polara 500. As usual, Tom asked the question, "Do you know of any old cars around?" Sure enough, Cliff pointed to a location down the road to a man who restores Case Tractors and also has a barn full of cars. The fun doesn't stop there! Tom then hears about a local who has an all-original low-mileage 1984 Buick Grand National that was a press car in Detroit during the early '80s

Tom visited Mike Nickels Woody restoration shop and was fortunate enough to see all the patterns, equipment, and projects he was working on. Since then, Mike suffered a devastating fire that brought his everyday life to a screeching halt. Ride along as Tom and Mike walk you through what exactly happened.

Buried inside a dusty New England barn for 36 years sat this 1960 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. Andrew Bolasky, the new owner of the 1960 Bugeye, was not a born and bred car guy. He went from a music major to an automotive specialist and mechanic for the Nicola Bulgari car collection. Ride along as Andrew explains how he came to own this car and his interesting background with cars.

Looking for barn finds in the middle of the week always proves to be a difficult task. People are usually at work or out running errands, and any chance of catching a glimpse of their prized possession is slim to none. That's when Tom likes to change his methods a bit and look for cars behind businesses or by industrial parks. This method comes through for Tom when he drives past an Automotive detailing business with a Hot Rod Z/28 Camaro with a 1995 LT1 and a lifted Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Another trick for hunting barn finds during the workweek is to talk to Farmers. Farmers, naturally, are always home or around the barnyard. And if they don't have any cars, they can probably point you in the right direction. In a previous visit to Traverse City, Tom met a syrup Farmer who owns several Broncos lying in a field and some American Muscle hidden inside his barn.

On "Barn Find Hunter," you always get to experience the joys that come with hunting for old cars. The leads we follow up on, opening that garage door for the first time in 30 years, and sometimes helping cars find new homes. Rarely do we get to see the final product or happy ending to any of these stories. Behold, the fourth episode of our "Barn Find Hunter," (Revisited) micro-series where you get to see a Ford Galaxie 500 XL that has previously aired on our show and see what it has become after finding a new home.

Have you ever been in a commercial airliner 30,000 feet up thinking to yourself, "What's down below?" It's always been a dream of Tom's to fly around and hunt for cars from an airplane. You can cover more ground, see what's behind fences, as well as rusted treasure buried in the woods. In this episode of "Barn Find Hunter," Tom discovers a collection of cars from the air that turns out to produce another lead of a gentleman who has a stash of unique Fords.

You met a man named Vernon Brannan, who took us on a tour of one of the most impressive barn find collections we've ever had on this show. Vernon has since invited us to see his collection of Triumphs and other British sports cars buried deep in the hills of North Carolina. One car that makes this collection so unique is a Triumph sedan that has an interesting backstory. Back in the late 1970's British Leyland began negotiations with Honda to develop a small family sedan that would fill a production gap until the release of the Montego in 1983. To keep a long story short, Honda ultimately ends up re-badging one of their cars known as the Honda Ballade to become what we now know as the Triumph Acclaim. It's Vernons collection of unusual triumphs, such as the Acclaim, that make his collection one of the most complete collections of Triumphs in North America.

In our final episode of the season, Tom lets you ride passenger through the highs and lows of a typical barn find trip. Despite what most episodes portray, not all barn finds come easy. This episode is a prime example of Tom digging for leads and finding any way possible to discover cars. After several failed attempts, Tom finally discovers a Dodge A100 sportsman van the good ole fashion way, the traditional drive-by. This van proved to be a decent candidate for a runner, despite some of the rust. This particular A100 was packaged with a 318 V8 and served as a daily driver for most of its life. Heading on down the road, Tom finds another location of cars that is littered with unique finds. Among the bunch, there’s one car that takes the cake, a car we’ve never found on “Barn Find Hunter,” a GMC Syclone. This low-mileage beast of a pickup sits nestled up on blocks to keep the pressure off the original Firestone tires and suspension. It’s rare you ever find an old car this well preserved