- Of the thousands of Fords
that were made this year, station wagons, this is
the only one ever equipped with a four-speed manual gearbox in '67. But they couldn't do a four-speed in here, unless the top management
signed off on it. And so Lee Iacocca, then
head of Ford Motor Company, signed off on it, and the man
that purchased this car new got a phone call that said,
"We can build that car for ya." And this is it today,
it's an amazing discovery. (country music) I'm Tom Carter. The first car I found, I was 12 years old. I'm 61 years old now and
I'm still finding cars. That's a rare car, I don't
know when the last time I saw one of these. And in this series, you'll see that there are still plenty of cars left. (country guitar music) We're meeting here with Alex Tard in the suburbs of Detroit. We heard about Alex at
a cars and coffee event, so we found out where he
lived, came over here, and Alex has got a pretty
amazing setup here, and we're gonna take a look
at what I consider to be an automotive Disneyland for car people. So you can see this assortment of cars and memorabilia that Alex has, pedal cars on the roof, cars inside sheds, cars sitting outside. What kind of car is this one? - That's a Pontiac, that's 1929 Pontiac. A 1929 Durant. 1914 Princess. - [Tom] I like this car,
can you show us the motor? There's a little four-cylinder motor, one, two, three, four spark plugs, and these are pressure relief valves, so you can turn the engine over, releasing the pressure from the cylinders. Does this motor turn over? - Yes it does.
- Ah, okay. You can see the radiator,
a wooden firewall. Cow lanterns. And these lanterns worked
with a flame and a wick like a camp stove would have. You'd put, probably kerosene in there. A two-seater, a little runabout, you can see the convertible top. Wooden steering wheel. Wooden steering wheel and wooden wheels. So this was almost like
a little sports car back in the teens. Cute little car. Have you ever had this running? - [Alex] Not yet, no. - If I wanted to buy a car like this, what would this cost? - [Alex] This car, I
would let it go for eight. - $8,000.
- Yeah. Well, that's pretty cute. Now, you can see what Alex has done here, this is Alex's buggy works,
buggy works, carrot shop, sawmill, so this is a
whole little village here, leading up to what you'll
see in a little while. Would you guide us through here? - [Alex] Yes. (soft country rock music) - [Tom] Do you ever think of
having a flea market back here? So this is one of the many
garages that Alex has, and these are the cars that
are in much better condition. - [Alex] And there's a 1920 Franklin. - This is an amazing car. Look at the front of it,
compared to the traditional front ends of cars in today. What year is this, '20? - [Alex] '20, 1920. - This is aluminum, and
this is, is this air-cooled? - [Alex] Air-cooled engine. - Air-cooled, can you lift that motor? - [Alex] Yes I can. - Look at that motor. So it's a a six-cylinder, straight six. So this car was truly a different breed. When this car was made,
Buicks and Fords were made, whatever, but this was air-cooled, everything else was water-cooled, this was a straight six when
most other ones were fours, this had aluminum body, while
most other cars were steel, this is a fabulous touring car, you can see the old roof here, but the aluminum body doesn't rust, the interior's intact, the gauges. This would be a really neat car
to preserve, not to restore. So tell us why this Ford is
such a special car to you? - When I came here in this country, this was my first car to drive
and go back to work on it. - So show us around this car a little bit, has this been repainted? - [Alex] It's been repainted one time. - One time.
- Yeah. - Can you show us the motor? - [Alex] Yes I will. - [Tom] So what size motor's that? - 292.
- 292 Y-block. And looks like a two-barrel. Good running car? - Very good running.
- Right now, you can get it and drive it? - Right, if you put a battery on it, you can right now, but you
have to put a battery on it, maybe some fresh gas and everything, 'cause this car's been sitting in here for almost 17 years now, right in this-- - Right here, it hasn't moved. It's original interior car. How many miles are on this? - [Alex] I think last
time we seen about 50s, 56, 56,000. - I see.
- Or 57,000. - [Tom] And even though
you bought this one new, you're the only owner of this car, you're selling this car as well. - [Alex] Yes. - Hagerty Price Guide lists
a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, with the band up here, and the 292 engine, in fair condition, for $15,000, in excellent condition, $33,000, and in concourse condition, $46,000. I would say that this car's not concourse, but it's certainly excellent, or above, because of the ownership, 60
years of nonstop, one owner, original owner, no rust,
original interior, one paint job, so most likely, this car is worth somewhere in the area of, I'd say $30,000. So Alex charging $20 for it is a deal. So Alex is the second
owner of this Thunderbird. He's owner for at least 45 years. Tell us about the condition of it, Alex, does it have any rust? - This car don't have no rust in there. It need it, buying the
bodywork, I was gonna get it ready to paint
it, and never come to me. I got everything for it, all it needs is a good paint job, I got
the new upholstery for it. - So you have a new
upholstery kit, new seats. - New upholstery in it,
the seats and everything, and I got it ready to be installed. And it's power steering,
power windows, power seat, it's all power. - [Tom] Hard top, you have a soft top? - [Alex] Yeah, there's
the soft top behind there. - [Tom] And the mileage on there, let's see what the mileage says. - [Alex] It's a low-mileage car too. - 53,000 miles.
- That's original mileage car. - It's a 292?
- Yeah. - Another 292, okay. And that's a four-barrel. So, this is a two-owner car,
which Alex says is rust-free, comes with a new upholstery kit. Do you have new chrome
trim for it or anything? - [Alex] I got everything for it. - [Tom] Everything there is for this car. - The chrome, actually, got
missing, and then I got in there because I took them out,
because I got everything for it. - How much are you asking for this one? - Listen to this here carefully, Tom asking what (mumbles). I'll take $14,000 just the way it is, just the way it is with the
new upholstery and everything. That's a buy. It don't need no bodywork. - Wow.
- Body's real solid. - [Tom] It's a nice car! (country rock music) If you've been watching
The Barn Find Hunter series for a while, you know that this woody is one of the characters in the program, we drive it all over the country, in California and Texas
and Florida and Maine, and now Detroit! But this week, in a
heatwave here in Detroit, 95-plus degrees, the
electric fan went out, so I made some contacts
and got a phone number for a street rod shop called
Brothers Custom Automotive in Troy, Michigan, and while
it was here being fixed, we looked around at some
of the cars that they had, and there happens to be a
couple of barn find cars, let's take a look. So Bill and Autumn, tell me
how you came across these, it's a pretty cool story. - Oh man, well, a customer of mine took a liking to one of my cars. And he said, "My friend has
a whole barn full of these "up north," and there
was this '56 Lincoln, this '56 Lincoln, and one
other '56 Lincoln, Premiere, all inside this barn since 1973, and the barn was falling down. And I just couldn't get 'em out, there's no way one guy could do it, let alone maybe two, you
need some heavy equipment-- - Now, how much did he
want for the three cars? - We didn't talk about price at that time, I just said, it's gonna be
really difficult for me. So three years goes by,
and he calls me, and says, "I need to get those cars moved out. "What if I gave them to you?" Then like, well, now my eyebrows go up, I'll come up and take a look. So he calls me and goes, "They
got two of them outside," this was the week I went up. So I went up, and I
picked up the blue one, which is actually inside the building. And then the following weekend, we went back and got these other two, in fact, we just put air in the tires and they raised up off the ground and they were easy to roll. - After 40-something years.
- Yeah. - [Tom] So these are
Premieres, there's the model. So there's a two-door, and a four-door. The Hagerty Price Guide
lists a Lincoln Premiere, the four-door is about
$7,000 in fair condition, and the two-door, about
$12,000 in fair condition. These cars are beyond fair. I think the fair condition
is for a running car, and these haven't been run in decades now. So, they're worth something
less than that, for sure. - I would probably take
around three apiece for 'em. - Three grand apiece?
- Yeah. - Well, okay, so. So if this were in fair
condition, it'd be 12, you're getting two for six. Oh, that's not a bad deal,
and then they could have you fix it up here as well. - [Bill] If they wanted, sure! (country rock music) - We're at a mini storage complex just outside of Detroit. Lots of people in Detroit need
places to put their things. We're gonna go look at a four-wheel thing, a rare four-wheel thing, inside this storage unit right here. Well. If you've watched this show for a while, you know that I love station wagons. And I happen to love Fords as well. This is a barn find, '67 Ford, Country Squire station wagon. You're probably saying,
"Well, big deal, so what?" Well let's back it out, and
we'll walk around this car and take a look. (engine growling) So this station wagon has,
well, it says 19,300 miles, so I guess you could probably imagine, it has 119,300 miles. It's got the optional wood siding, it's got the optional roof rack. It has the power rear window. It has a tailgate that
can open sideways, or, conventionally. It's got the rear-facing seats for the kids to fight back here, or, this folds down, and the
second seat folds forward, and it makes a large cargo area. Okay, what else does this car have? It has power windows. Crank-out vent windows, there's
something that we all miss. It has bucket seats. Bucket seats in a wagon! Wow, that's unusual, this is factory. It has a console! This is starting to look
like a sports wagon here. Look at the shift lever. It's got a four-speed
transmission, from the factory. It has a 428 cubic inch engine. This is one rare car. Power brakes, power
steering, air conditioning, every option. This was purchased new by a man in Ohio who wanted to own a hot rod,
he wanted to own a Cobra. His wife needed a station wagon to take care of the family. Go shopping, bring the
kids to baseball practice. So he ordered a muscle car
version of a station wagon. But they couldn't do a four-speed in here unless the top management
signed off on it, and so Lee Iacocca, then
head of Ford Motor Company, signed off on it, and the man
that purchased this car new got a phone call that said,
"We can build that car for ya." It's got the Marti
Report here that verifies all that information. In 1957, 952,553 Fords were built. Almost a million. Of that, 48,115 were Country Squire four-door station wagons. Of that, 1,149 came with a 428 cubic-inch four-barrel engine, but only one came with a four-speed manual gearbox. In addition, this is
the only station wagon produced by all of Ford Motor Company with a 428 four-barrel engine
and manual gearbox in 1967. And this is it today,
it's an amazing discovery. You could never find
another one like this. There are 427, 428
cubic-inch Galaxy, sedans, this is the only wagon
ever built like this. When I arrived in Detroit, I didn't know of a single barn-find car,
but by asking questions of mechanics and repair shops, and going to a cars and
coffee, just ask people, do you know of any barn finds? "What's a barn find?" Well, it's an old car. "Oh, I know of a guy that's got," and we're this close to Detroit, 10 miles from downtown Detroit, if
they're here, they're everywhere. Happy hunting. - I'm thrilled, when I saw this, and I looked right there. - [Tom] Oh, look at that. - And it's original paint, I'm like, there's no way that it's that nice. It sure is, I mean, don't
mind that, but, there's-- - Look at it.
- This is the way you want it, get a car like this. - [Tom] So this is the
original painted door jambs, stickers, it's due for an
oil change, by the way. Wow. - [Bill] But the windows, I
put power to the battery post, and the windows just went down, 'cause they're powered, and
it was up when I got it.
