Never Stop Driving #132: Barn Find Cold Call

Sooner or later, all the desirable cars that were tucked away and forgotten will be uncovered, right? That’s what I wonder sometimes now that Tom Cotter has spent about 10 years finding cars on his Hagerty YouTube show, Barn Find Hunter.

Cotter keeps finding not just left-for-dead Chevettes, but real treasures. You might remember the episode from seven years ago when he revealed, in a dilapidated suburban garage, a handful of cars that included a 427 Cobra and a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB. Amazing! I am not going to give away the subject of our upcoming episode but I can assure you that Cotter continues to discover treasures.

How does he do it? This week, we got a glimpse into his process. In this latest episode, Cotter cruises into Meridian, Mississippi with his restomod woody wagon and gives himself a near impossible challenge: He sets a timer for one hour and bets that he can unearth gold.

Part of Cotter’s unique skill is that he gets strangers to open up to him. Imagine some guy knocks on your door and asks to see what’s in your garage. You’d tell him to buzz off, right? Somehow Cotter charms his way in.

When I’ve asked how he does it, Cotter’s quick to give credit to his sidekick, the 1939 Ford Deluxe. Perhaps it’s no surprise that that car has a fascinating backstory: In 1969 Cotter bought it when he was 15, before he had a driver’s license, for $300. This was in Long Island, New York. Of course, it needed work, but as Cotter explains he had “No garage, no tools, and no money.” So he sold it a few years later to help pay for college. How many of us have similarly sold a special car when we needed the dough?

Cotter’s Woody, however, enjoyed a different outcome because years later his wife found the wagon and bought it back. The couple then restored it. There’s way more to this story and you can get all the details in this video.

The vintage Ford, says Cotter, puts folks at ease. They see it and immediately understand that Tom’s like them: a true car lover.

I’m oversimplifying here because the car helps, but Cotter certainly has some intangible qualities that get him to places most of us would not be allowed to enter, like this secret stash in Detroit. Our video about it has over seven million views.

Back in Mississippi, with an hour to fulfill his mission, Cotter cruises the neighborhoods until he sees a first-generation Bronco sitting in a driveway.

My first thought when I saw the Bronco in the video, out in the open, was that the owner probably gets hassled so often about it that he no longer answers the doorbell. For most of us, maybe, but with Cotter, the owner gladly shares the story. And it’s a special truck that’s unmodified with a V-8, three-speed manual gearbox, and front disc brakes. You’ll hear all the details and how it came to be sitting for some 40 years. Cotter strikes again. Never bet against him finding something original.

There are countless similar stories in the vintage-car world, those bits of lore and trivia that any car person would love to surface during a bench race session in the garage or over beers at the bar. Check out this piece we published this week about a Ford that had a special “million mile” odometer just for New York State.

Last week we, like everyone else, watched in horror as Kendrick Lamar and others danced on the hood of Buick GNX during the Superbowl halftime. G-body fans were livid at the idea of a rare car being treated that way. Good news for Buick people, it wasn’t all that it seemed and this behind-the-scenes explainer is our most-read story of the week.

As expected, the Corvette ZR1 is a monster. And even in this age of electrification, there are cohorts within GM that still have a need for speed and for beating Porsche. Read how a handful of GM engineers traveled the country to set track records with GM’s new supercar.

And this week Hagerty Marketplace is providing a trip to my college years by auctioning a Rabbit GTI that is similar to the one I owned and back in 1990 that hardwired the love of driving into my brain. The one for sale is a rare version with the Callaway turbo kit.

Have a great weekend!

Larry

P.S.: Your feedback and comments are welcome.

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