Route 66 Barn Find Road Trip

Abandoned cars on America's most iconic abandoned road. Sounds like a great idea for a road trip. For a nation that loves the idea of the road, there is no more legendary ribbon of highway than the 2,451 miles comprising historic Route 66. Along the Mother Road lies the detritus of the automotive age: motels, roadside attractions, diners, service stations, drive-ins, and dives. Hidden in, around, and behind its buildings or abandoned along its roadside hide collector cars, lost trucks, and moldering motorcycles. How could there be a better destination for automotive archaeologist Tom Cotter? In Route 66 Barn Find Road Trip Cotter and his BBF (best barn finder) pal Brian Barr jump on Route 66, just outside Chicago, seeking rusted gold in every state Route 66 passes through. Along the way, ace lensman Michael Alan Ross documents their finds, mishaps, and various adventures. Starting in the Midwest and barreling through Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, the barn-find bunch continues on to Arizona before completing their quest in Santa Monica, California. You'll never guess what automotive treasure they see peeking out from corroded garages and behind weary buildings along the way. You can bet every awesome barn find was investigated and recorded in Route 66 Barn Find Road Trip. Whether you've only dreamed of retracing US 66 or are familiar with its path but never considered car hunting there, Route 66 Barn Find Road Trip will take you on the trip of a lifetime. Hop in; you can ride shotgun.

Tom Cotter is barn picking along Route 66! Motorbooks' newest collector car title records his journey and incredible automotive finds.

Great collector cars are still out there--just waiting to be found! Sadly, there is very little reality in reality TV. That wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that these shows are the only TV shows for the barn-find collector car aficionado. Barn Find Road Trip is the antidote to all the manufactured collector "reality" shows. It's a real-world, barn-find banzai run in which auto archaeologist Tom Cotter, his car collector pal Brian Barr, and photographer Michael Alan Ross embarked on a 14-day collector-car-seeking adventure with no predetermined destinations. It's barn-find freestyle! Roaming the Southeast, they documented their day-to-day car search in photos and through stories and interviews. This trip is absolutely real and the same kind of junket any gearhead with the skills, knowledge, and time can undertake. Cotter and company hit the road in Cotter's 1939 Ford Woody, the kind of car that opened doors and started the conversations that revealed where interesting cars were squirreled away. The result? The discovery of over 1,000 collector cars and some of the most amazing barn-find stories Cotter has yet unearthed, all accompanied by Ross' evocative photography. If you love stories of automotive adventure, this is the book for you!

Automotive archaeologist Tom Cotter is “The Barn Find Hunter” in Hagerty’s popular YouTube series. In Secrets of the Barn Find Hunter, he reveals how he finds amazing collector cars otherwise long forgotten.

Tom Cotter is the best-known barn-find collector-car expert working today. Tom Cotter's Best Barn-Find Collector Car Tales​ pulls together his best barn find stories from America and around the globe. Tom Cotter bought his first barn find some 50 years ago and has never looked back. Over the proceeding decades, he has continued to unearth automotive gems, some of which reside in his garage and others found just for the pleasure of the hunt. Tom's passion for automotive archaeology has made him a nexus for other barn finders, whose stories he has collected for more than 20 years. He’s further expanded the scope of his passion as host for The Barn Find Hunter, a Hagertys-sponsored webcast with over 20 episodes now available. Tom Cotter's Best Barn-Find Collector Car Talespulls together the very best stories from Cotter’s previous books and adds several new tales, all of which are presented in this handsome hardcover edition. From Shelby Cobras, to classic Duesenbergs, to Harley hoards and lost supercars, Cotter brings to light the most amazing, outrageous, and unexpected finds he and his barn-finding brethren have discovered.

"Ken Gross is one of the premiere auto writers in the United States. This is a terrific book... a great Father's Day gift and a great read." - Jay Leno Cars and rock ‘n roll have always gone hand in hand. Whether it’s a garage band piling into some decrepit rig to get to the next gig or a killer guitar riff blasting from a Mustang, rock ‘n roll keeps us moving when we’re behind the wheel. It’s no surprise, then, that some of the music world’s big names are also serious car guys. Jimmie Vaughn, Billy Joel, Brian Johnson (AC/DC), J Geils, Brad Whitford (Aerosmith), and others each spend as much time behind the wheel as they can. Hot rods, customs, muscle cars, motorcycles, race cars, and sports cars—the variety of vehicles is as eclectic as rock ‘n roll itself. Rockin’ Garages showcases top performers, their cars, and their garages. Authors Tom Cotter and Ken Gross profile each musician, revealing the story behind their moto-lust and what drives their car collecting. Each profile is complemented by Michael Alan Ross’ top-notch photography. Rockin’ Garages puts you behind the wheel with some of your favorite musicians.

Detroit: Motor City... and the poster child for urban blight and dysfunction. This presented challenges and opportunities for Cotter, as he trolled the historic city looking for lost automobile gems. Here he tells the story of these "barn finds" and shares anecdotes of the cars and his journey.

A photo-filled account of traveling the Lincoln Highway in a century-old automobile, and contemplating a future of self-driving cars: "[An] epic road trip." —USA Today Driverless cars are on the horizon, but before the world falls asleep at the wheel, let's look back down the road from whence we have come. Ford Model T Coast to Coast documents the cross-country adventure of two brave drivers as they pilot a hundred-year-old Model T on a 3,000-mile journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast. This book is as much a contemplation of early-twentieth-century American life as it is a fond farewell to the automotive age. Can the car still be the vehicle of freedom and discovery when we're no longer in command? Or will we finally be able to fully appreciate the scenery rushing past? Accompanied by Michael Alan Ross' evocative photography, Tom Cotter stops in small towns, meets local people, and hears their stories about cars, travel, and life. The two also explore back roads adjacent to his main route, the Lincoln Highway—the first transcontinental road. Significant cross-country runs, such as those by speed-record setter Cannonball Baker and literary adventurers Jack Kerourac, John Steinbeck, and Bill Bryson, are considered in light of the driverless future. Cotter also drives some of the same roads that a young Edsel Ford traveled in his father's Model T upon high school graduation in 1917. In addition to the central road trip, Cotter visits interesting automotive and transport museums as well as "keepers of the flame" such as Model T clubs, mechanics, junkyards, and collectors across the country. He also records the numerous trials and tribulations in keeping a very old car operating on a very long journey—something the driverless car of the future is unlikely to encounter.