Boneyard of 300 Classics Sweetens the Deal for New Hampshire Home Listing
The Zillow description starts with zero pulled punches: “ARE YOU A CAR ENTHUSIAST?” And because you’re reading Hagerty, we’re going to assume the answer is “yes!”
A house in Canaan, New Hampshire, is up for sale, and within the 18.4-acre lot dwells a slew of nearly 300 classic cars. Most are in some state of disrepair. 197 Orange Road is, according to the listing, the home of Parts of the Past, a classic car business that aims to aid enthusiasts in their hunt for hard-to-find parts by offering a boneyard of sorts.
Constructed in 1988, the 1648-square-foot post-and-beam house features one bedroom and two bathrooms, one of which is a half-bath, and a wrap-around deck on the outside. There is also a 1200-and-change-square-foot garage on the property.
Admittedly, the house is in fairly rough shape; there’s quite a bit that needs completing on the interior, though, from the looks of it, all the important stuff, like the plumbing and the electrical, appears intact. (As with car shopping, however, one never knows until the inspection report comes back.)
On to the important stuff. Scores of classics from various decades spanning the ’40s to the ’70s litter the lot, as do dozens of individual parts. Doors and other body panels are sprinkled on the property like dandelion fluff. From the images, we can see a Nash Metropolitan fading into the forest floor. There’s also a 1958 Ford Edsel parked at the front of a row of other rusting metal. Another image shows what appears to be a DeSoto Firedome, possibly a 1956 model, with a crunched hood, though most of the chrome trim pieces still might be usable. We think we can make out a 1949 Chrysler Imperial Crown Limousine engulfed in ferns and other foliage.
Our staff has spent the better part of the morning playing “Can you I.D. this car” across our internal chat system. Consider this your invitation to chime in in the comments if you recognize other models in this mix.
Per the listing, this property is being sold as-is, and the buyer will be purchasing not only the home and the lot but also the business and its name, as well as this cadre of classics and parts. When this listing hit the market in August of last year, the asking price was $585,000. Since then, it’s experienced numerous price reductions and is now listed for $399,900, with the ask for cash buyers only.
If you’ve been toying with the idea of getting into the classic car business or just care enough about the hobby to want to see this institution remain active, now’s your chance. Let’s hope our current caretaker can find a new buyer quickly; the thought of this property (and everything it comes with) lingering too much longer pains us a bit.
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Paging Sanford and Son, Paging Sanford and Son, your country estate is now ready….
Good luck finding someone who wants to take on that migraine of a headache of a property. And even if you do, good luck finding the person with the ready-cash to buy it. Maybe Howard Hughes has a a slightly off great grandson looking to retire to a quiet, rusty estate.
Yep, that property looks like a potential nightmare to me.
Right after you sign on the dotted line, the EPA comes swooping in.
I would object to the usage of the term “classics” to describe any of these vehicles. Some may be “special interest” or “collector” cars but most appear to be junkyard candidates.
Some may have usable parts but the effort to remove and market them is probably not financially viable and the asking price still looks too high to me. It would be interesting to see an inventory of the vehicle on the property to see if any of them are worth restoring.
That pale blue beauty looks like Virgil Tibbs’ ride in “In the Heat of the Night”.
The overhead shots of the property look like scenes from a serial killer documentary.
Most if not all of the cars appear to be trash along with the house. By the way, I never heard of a Ford Edsel. Is that in the same category as the 56-57 Lincoln Continental?
If you’ve not heard of an Edsel, and don’t know the history of that name, you’re clearly not a car person.
Well Mr Knowitall, the fact you took the time to type your response shows that maybe YOU aren’t the car guy you thought you were…
The point Mr Hargrove was making, and accurately so, is that there is no such thing as a Ford Edsel. Edsel was its own brand, much like Mercury was. It’s not a Ford Mercury, now is it? Nope. Therefore, it’s not a Ford Edsel. Imagine running around and saying “boy my dream car is a Ford Edsel Ranger!” People would look at you silly.
And he drove the point home by stating, again accurately, the ‘56-‘57 Continental is not, in fact, a Lincoln. A try at a stand alone brand again.
Seems Ford has always made a point to distance its products from itself. Humorous.