When I was a teenager I had a 49 Dodge. Technically it was my fourth car but I always had two or three cars. Drove the snot out of it for many years, rebuilding the motor twice along the way. Finally I gave it to my sister and then she gave it to her daughter. A few more years of use. Then the motor blew. I finally sold it and a 50 Dodge parts car (my third car, the 49 was originally going to be the parts car for it, but then it turned out to be in better shape so the 50 became its backup) to a friend of mine. He was going to get it back together. I lost contact with this friend. Fast forward a long time. I get the urge for another 49 Dodge and I find a not-too-bad, non-running car in the midwest in Hemmings. Bought it sight unseen (I do that all the time, never been nurnt yet knock on wood) and had it shipped east. It arrived, was fairly rust free, had a perfect dash and even had four spare doors. Tried to start it and I actually got the motor to fire. Then, due to no time, it sat in my driveway for a coouple of years. I eventually found out where my friend was hiding and I asked about 'my' 49 Dodge. He had sold it but he thought he knew who owned it now. I track that guy down, and he is telling me how he could not get the car started. I asked if he knew about the kill switch. "What kill switch?" The one I installed under the dash when I was a kid, dummy! Well, he kind of got the idea that maybe he should not own this car, and I bought it from him. Now I had my original car back. Someone had done a funky restoration on the car. Fugly carpet and interior door panels, and some chrome was gone. But the motor was running fine and everything else seemed OK. I put it on the road and drove it for a few months. But I still had no time. So I decided to put both cars out to pasture. I moved both of them into a great big container somewhere nice and safe. They have been there for over fifteen years now. About seven or eight years ago I pulled the plugs, squirted in oil and cranked the engines until they showed oil pressure. I visit the cars every five years or so. At this visit I took some pictures. Perfectly dusty, my blue (faded to purple) 49 Dodge and a good parts car wait. I should really be doing something with these cars. But there is plenty of time. Some day I'll be ready and they will be there, my own barn find ready to go.
Be sure to tell your family where they're hiding, so when you die of old age, they'll know where they are. Better that then having them go to the scrapper. hahaha.....
I agree with 39 ford. I bought my 30 A sedan from an old timer who had it in his garage since 1954. He always wanted a nice Model A sedan and pickup, was just waiting for some time to get to them. He was 70 years old with terminal cancer when he sold the sedan to me 2 years ago. Untouched all those years.
Ahh another collector with a stashed car {or two} slowly rotting and rusting maybe someday after you're gone some one will stumble on them drag them out and do something with them or maybe they'll sit there till they rust to nothing your cars your choice Sorry not really trying to be mean -am hoping it will make you mad enough to drive one some time soon . hope my sarcasm is well received Good luck with your cars
LOL they are neither rotting nor rusting. Nice and dry; a lot of dust is all. For now I have plenty of projects to keep me busy. When the time is right I will do something with these. Or not. LOL
Yep, could happen. So far so good, though. I'm amazed that the seven of eight tires have held air all these years. The left front of the green car is a little low - and that's an easy one to pump up.
so um... little hard to call this a barn find, seein as how they aint in a barn and they dont need "found" i dont get it
Some guys go all their lives hoping to come across a barn find. I simply made my own. Thinking ahead - insurance policy. They are there when I want them.
I think that's great! Nice to have something stashed away for retirement or whenever. If something happens to you before that then another lucky guy gets a shot at 'em. I happen to know where there's a very solid (shiney paint) '49 dodge sitting, hasn't been moved in the 16 years I've known it to be there, might be my own "well know barn find"....
You're a small-scale hoarder. You need a HAMB intervention. Find someone on here living close to you that's willing to break a sweat and get them on the road. DO IT.
Don't do like I did and wait too long......... Trust me on this, before you know it you'll be on Social Security and taking so many meds you don't have the get up and to do your car..........
I was thinking the reason for this post was to make people want them. You know, "hey look what Ive got" type.
A customer of mine at CarQuest had a 49 Chevrolet pickup stashed in a container at his country place waiting for his retirement. This was a very very nice truck, I'd seen it when he bought it. He wanted to have something old and nice to drive and enjoy when he made the move to the country. Well, the container was high and dry on a stack of railroad ties at each end, he thought. After many years, he decided he'd get the old truck out and get her running because he was going to retire the coming spring. When he got to the country place and drove out to the field where the caontainer was he first noticed the stack of ties at the front of the container had collapsed. Well, that didn't bother him too much, just made opening the doors at the upside a lot more difficult, so he threw a chain around a tie or two at the high end and jerked 'em out from under the container which settled slowy down to a more reasonable angle. He got out, unlocked the lock, opened the door and found his truck in water so deep the entire front end of the truck including the bulk of the cab looked like the Tulsa Plymouth. The "roof" of the container had developed leaks from leaves and such falling on it and settling into little corrosive piles here and there. Then the "death blow" came when the ties at the front end collapsed and all the water that was there and all the water to come filled the front of the container higher and higher and ate his truck. Yes, he did scrap the truck, and the container, and that really got his goat! He had $750 in the truck and $1200 in the container.
Looks like your conatiner sweats a little...Might have the roof sprayed with something to keep it from happening. Cars locked in air type conditions with moisture is never a good mix.
Absolutely not. Totally in response to the various barn find threads. It's not like 49 Dodges are rare or that these cars were owned by Eisenhower or something.
It's actually rigged so that there is some air flow. It also can't collect water as described in one of the other replies (that was a real horror story - poor guy). But the storage is not perfect; it is what it is.
I have 4 of the 40 foot containers, they keep the mice out of toys. The cars look great for setting so long.
Well, guess what. I read all of the replies in here, including the ones insinuating that I was somehow inappropriately hoarding these cars. After thinking about it a lot, well when I first stored these cars it was because I really wanted to get back to them some day. But now I kind of have gotten used to them being 'away', and truth be known there are other cars and builds that I am more interested in working on at this point in my life. Unless one of my kids shows a real strong interest in either of these cars, which I doubt, they will go on the block. Expect to see them in the 'for sale' section before too long. Thanks to everyone who provided alternative viewpoints that got me thinking.
I don't see any problem with hoading a few cars for "someday". Hell, I got my 48 Plymouth when I was 15 and it's no worse off in 2009 than in 1987 when I parked it. Right now I have 6 cars in reserve. Am I hoarding? Maybe, but in ten years the kids will be grown, I will have 30 years in at my state job and can retire at 50. If a bus hits me tomorrow, then more "barn finds" for the rest of you.
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