In a departure from his typical methods of finding cars by old-fashioned sleuthing and poking around, Tom Cotter follows a tip from a viewer on the latest episode of Barn Find Hunter. And it leads him to a fantastically cool former Buick dealership in Iowa. Bet you can guess what happens next.

The dealership—built in 1941 just before Buick switched from building straight-eight car engines to wartime V-12 and radial aircraft engines—has interesting Art Deco architecture and lots of charm. There’s even a curved glass façade and generous use of glass blocks. The building’s owner, Robert, tells Tom a bit about the history of the structure, and Tom can’t help but peek inside for his first glimpse of the cars that have been stored away for decades. The first he’s able to identifying is a diminutive, door-less two-seater known as the Crosley Hot Shot.

Tom is all smiles as he finally sets foot inside the building and gets on with the exploring. First, the cover comes off a 1968 DeTomaso Mangusta, the svelte mid-engine Italian sports car was the predecessor to the long-lived Pantera that also used small-block Ford V-8 engines. Unfortunately this car was without its 302-cubic-inch V-8 and manual transaxle, but it appears that the small-block’s headers were still in place.

Barn Find Hunter 48 detomaso mangusta
Jordan Lewis
Barn Find Hunter 48 mangusta interior
Jordan Lewis

Barn Find Hunter 48 mangusta engine bay
Barn Find Hunter 48 Jordan Lewis
Barn Find Hunter 48  mangusta top view
Jordan Lewis

Moving further into the dealership yields a wonderful variety of sports and GT cars. A Jaguar E-type, MG MGC-GT, and Facel Vega are worth noticing, but Tom is drawn to the biggest of the bunch, a fully-restored 1965 Imperial convertible complete with 413 big block power. Next up is a Toyota-R16-powered Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite and another British roadster, an MG TD.

Robert and Tom spend a moment poking around the wonderful French GT car that we saw earlier, a 1957 Facel Vega FVS that’s powered by a Mopar poly V-8. Inside the trunk there’s a GT-style fuel cap on a nicely finished fuel tank. After a quick stop with the six-cylinder MGC, it’s off to another Italian, a Lamborghini Espada. The roomy GT is powered by Lamborghini’s V-12 engine and which is fed by six Weber side-draft carbs. With 20,000 or so miles, it looks like it’s a tune-up away from being ready to hit the road.

Next, the pair make their way to a 1963 Jaguar E-type, Robert’s dream car that he’s owned for 35 years, before heading to the old bodyshop portion of the dealership that offers up a Willys Jeepster and a litter of tiny Crosleys, including the Hot Shot Tom spotted earlier. Robert and Tom explore more of his eclectic collection before making one last stop at the Imperial to hear that big-block Mopar V-8 fire up and rumble.

This Barn Find Hunter has some of the widest-ranging cars under one roof. But rest assured, Tom will always be on the hunt to see if he can top it with the next find.

Barn Find Hunter 48 lamborghini espada
Jordan Lewis
Barn Find Hunter 48
Ben Woodworth

Barn Find Hunter 48 jaguar e type xke
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Barn Find Hunter 48 datsun 240z
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Enjoy Season 4 stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

To live in a place as wild and wide open as Alaska, you need something to bring you closer together with those in your community. That’s true on a practical level—a car is essential to get around—but I found that there is a real love for classics in Alaska that leads to conversations with total strangers like you’re old friends. And if there’s one thing people in Alaska really love, it’s Broncos.

While at a burger stand in Delta Junction, Alaska, a few weeks prior to our visit, Barn Find Hunter host Tom Cotter struck up a conversation with vintage first-generation Bronco owner Adam McNabb. The two gearheads bonded over McNabb’s blue 1972 Ford Bronco, and Tom said he’d follow up to come check out some of McNabb’s various Broncos and assorted off-road delights.

Upon returning with the full Barn Find Hunter production staff, we set off in Tom’s borrowed 1966 Shelby GT350, heading out of urban Fairbanks and into the densely wooded countryside. The burly drawl of the vintage Mustang echoes through the trees and over the river as we cruise across miles of empty road, the occasional RV or lifted truck passing the other direction and flashing their lights to signal their appreciation for our good taste in American muscle. It’s the car, the beautiful landscape, and the joy of driving.

Turning off the main road, we are trace a few long dirt paths, finally arriving at a gravel trail that leads to McNabb’s house. A pair of barking dogs greet us with wagging tails. Waiting there in front of the garage is McNabb, a strong-looking guy whose build suggests he could have been a fearsome football player at some point. He extends a meaty hand and greets Tom and me, offering to show us around his property and tell us about his passion for Broncos.

Ford Bronco
Jordan Lewis
Tom Cotter driving a Ford Bronco
Jordan Lewis

We start off with the blue ‘72 Bronco that first caught Tom’s eye. It’s a first-generation, original-paint truck. “I picked it up from the second owner about 160 miles from here,” he says. “He bought it from a school district that used it to transport kids across a small creek crossing during high water. That’s pretty much all it was used for.”

The truck now shows 110,000 miles, and is powered by a 302-cubic-inch V-8. It’s almost totally stock, aside from a new Holley carburetor in place of the original Motorcraft. “It had sat for about 15 years. I threw a battery in it and filled up the float bowl with gas, and it started just like that. I’ve been driving it ever since,” McNabb tells us.

Right now it’s a trusty daily cruiser for summer, because during the winter the Bronco can’t keep the cold out. “Alaskans like Broncos because they get around different terrain easily,” he says. “They make good plows, and the tight turning radius is great. For my son, Nathaniel, his first vehicle will be a Bronco.”

Next up is a 1966 Ford Bronco, the oldest complete example in McNabb’s fleet. The reason this truck doesn’t look barn-find worthy is that he put his mechanic and restoration skills to work, transforming it from just a frame in the woods behind someone’s house into a family road tripper. After adding new Dana 44 axles, among other upgrades, McNabb towed the truck behind his family’s motorhome and used it as an adventure-mobile throughout off-road destinations in the Southwest, including Moab. “Lots of great memories in this rig,” he says.

Alaska barn find
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truck restoration in Alaska
Jordan Lewis

classic Ford Bronco towing a boat
Jordan Lewis

He then takes us to another 1972 Ford Bronco, this one suffering from some rear end damage but bearing just 72,000 miles on a 302 V-8 with a three-speed transmission. There’s a bit of rust, but nothing terrible. The truck has an electric heater in the cabin, which some Alaskans use to keep the interior warm when vehicles are plugged in at night to an engine block and oil pan heater. But McNabb doesn’t recommend it. “ I think they burned a lot of vehicles to the ground.” This truck, McNabb says, will be a good candidate for his son to restore when he’s older.

We head to another property just a mile away, and Tom gets behind the wheel of the blue ‘72 and gives McNabb a chance to drive the Shelby GT350. It’s the perfect example of how cars bring people together and offer the chance to get in someone else’s shoes. “I think we’re making his day,” says Tom. “And he’s making my day—I’ve never driven a first-gen Bronco.”

At the second property, we see that McNabb also has a thing for Toyota FJs. “I’ve got an addiction for pretty much anything four-wheel drive,” he admits. There are a bunch of FJs lined up, and he explains that while the Broncos make for excellent daily drivers, the Toyotas are tough as nails and the better choice for a high-power engine swap and a lot of hard, abusive off-roading. One example has awful rot, because people sometimes used spray-on foam to keep cars warmer and better insulated, which traps in the moisture and leads to stage four metal cancer.

Tom Driving a Ford Bronco through Alaska
Jordan Lewis

A ‘68 Bronco shell rests nearby, originally equipped with a six-cylinder engine and a three-speed. McNabb was driving it for a while but decided to pull off the body for a better one, but Tom can’t believe that after some of the metal was sand-blasted seven years ago, there’s only a bit of surface rust visible—a testament to the dry Alaskan air that keeps old cars alive out here.

McNabb saves the best for last. Out in the field is a lovely 1972 Ford Bronco Sport. It has no motor, and it’ll make for a great restoration candidate. Part of the reason the cars are so popular in the area is that the Air Force base nearby at one point bought a whole bunch of them, so there are survivors floating around that if nothing else make for good parts donors. And as these 4x4s become ever more popular and desirable, it’s going to only get harder to find clean examples at good prices. You might want to get away from the lower 48 and take a trip to the Last Frontier before it’s picked clean.

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