Barn Find Story

[Bob Eyres]

Just yesterday I had an experience that has nothing directly to do with ZR-1's, but taught me a lesson about our Corvettes that I think you'd like to hear. It's a lesson about value that I think sheds light on our enthusiasm.

As some of you might know, I've been a freelance News Cameraman for many years. Occasionally I'll get to shoot a story that touches my heart, and teaches me something about myself, this is one.

Yesterday we were shooting a story about a "barn find" for a show that I won't name but you've all seen. A very rare and famous Italian exotic car of the sixties was offered for sale by the still grieving family of a recently deceased man in his seventies.
The host of the show is a well known dealer, an expert in collectable classics, especially this type of car.
He was there hoping to buy the exotic, or contract to restore it, and also to make good television.
The surprise when we arrived was that this family weren't the wealthy collectors you would expect to have such an exotic work of automotive art in their garage. But a normal middle class American family in a modest older suburban neighborhood.
There were no "barns" involved, just a cluttered two car garage in a forty year old home.
My son, who is also my sound man, and I were given the job of being the first inside to assess the lighting inside the dim garage. We went in a side door inside the home, and to my surprise, amongst the clutter, there were two cars entombed there. The dim single bulb overhead illuminated the low slung shape of the Italian car under a grungy tarp, and next to it was a late sixties Shark. A big block Corvette coupe, covered with only a thick coat of grime and dust. Both cars were in very depressing shape, the windows were opaque, the paint faded and chalky. The twelve cylinder car was intact, but the Corvette was a patchwork of broken fiberglass panels, four different colors, much of it bare fiberglass, with a very old gel-coated L88 style hood.
In a short time, back outside with our camera rolling, the garage door was raised and both cars were exposed to the morning light. A sad sight. Much of the clutter was then stacked outside, and the Corvette was rolled out into the driveway to allow greater access to the rare machine inside. Our host explained that it was indeed intact and mostly free of corrosion that could doom it's future as a multi-million dollar collectable. A true find, and a very valuable one.
We explored the whole car for hours, our host explained on camera all the unique details, and interesting facts about it's unique design. It was a real education for the family that had kept it all these years, when only the now deceased owner knew all it's secrets. All this time the ragged old Vette sat out in the sun, ignored.
The elderly widow of the owner came into the garage, to reminisce on camera about her husband, and his cars. She told about how he had already owned the Corvette for years when he developed an obsession for this particular Italian supercar. He saved and planned how to acquire one. He waited until examples of this model had aged, and had dropped in price enough to make the purchase. He promised to sell the Corvette and recoup some money, but only after he actually had the Italian car in the garage. In the early 1980's he took out a second mortgage on their home and made his move. He bought a trailer and towed this red machine home from Indiana, where he had found and purchased it from an ad in a magazine.
Once home, he didn't show it off. He spent a lot of time with it, but was afraid to drive it much because it attracted a lot of attention, and attention meant the risk of theft or accident. He would never take it anywhere where he would have to leave it unattended. His wife only got a chance to ride in it a few times. His car crazed nephews weren't allowed to touch it, much less sit or ride in it. "Later....much later, when you grow up, but you can only look at it now".
But the Corvette was a different story, it got weekend duty all the time, racing, autocross, he even took the kids for ice cream in it. He loved to wind up that bad big block, and hammered it so hard that, while it aged, it collected numerous battle scars and scrapes. No problem, he could go down to the Chevy dealer and get fresh parts. After all, by that time there were almost a million Corvettes on the road.

But this show wasn't about old sharks, thoroughbred stallions are much more valuable. And the exotic Italian was worth a small fortune as it sat, without repair, like a rare fine painting waiting to be brought back to life by the restorers careful hands.
The owner of these two cars never did fulfill his promise to sell the Corvette. He kept it because it was so much fun to drive. The wife didn't really care, she explained that he was a great guy who had dreamed of being a serious professional racer when young. Instead he fell in love, settled down, and raised a family instead. And she felt he had earned the right to his obsessions.
He fell sick in recent years, and both cars collected dust under layers of the junk in his garage. As years went by he was unwilling to let them go. He was finally gone in February, and now the cars will be gone soon too.
As of today, negotiations are continuing on the vintage Italian. But everyone expects that the elderly widow will live much more comfortably in coming years because of the money it will bring. It will be refurbished and sit in a wealthy man's garage, a thing of beauty.
There is no sale in the Corvette's future. The widow decided to give it away. She's giving it to one of her nephews. The one who was most excited by it as a child. He plans to restore it, and give the kids plenty of rides.

This story is true, and part of it will appear next season on one of the car programs that many of us watch. When you see it you'll know.