Strange But True Tales Of Car Collecting

These bizarre true stories of collectors and their cars is "a whole lot of fun" (The Virginian Pilot). Have you heard of the fellow who squirrelled away dozens of Chevelles, Camaros, and other classic muscle cars in semi-trailers? How about the president of Shakespeare fishing rods, who sold thirty Bugattis for a mere $85,000? What about the English nobleman who cut up and buried his Ferrari hoard in an elaborate insurance scam? Or how about the Duesenberg abandoned in a Manhattan parking garage for decades only to be uncovered by Jay Leno? Most car collectors exhibit a healthy enthusiasm for their hobby by digging into their favorite marques, chasing parts, swapping stories, and generally living the car-guy lifestyle. Some, however, step over that fine line between enthusiasm and obsession—and that's where these legendary car-collector stories come from. In Strange but True Tales of Car Collecting, Keith Martin and the staff of Sports Car Market Magazine recount the wildest, most eccentric, over-the-top stories of collectors and their collections. "This likable book serves as a ‚ÄòRipley's Believe It or Not!' for car obsessives." —The New York Times

BARN FIND! There are no two more exciting words for car collectors the world over! And there's an incredible hunt going on for valuable cars that were at one time forgotten, abandoned, or cast aside, but which are now regarded as valuable and historical treasures. Author Wallace Wyss, a Motor Trend veteran, recounts stories that are almost beyond belief. Here are a few examples: a pre-war Mercedes 540K that was simply abandoned by a German baroness at a Connecticut resort and later sold for over $11 million, the rubber-bodied Cobra that Ford built to assuage the ego of their top design exec, the jet-powered Fiat prototype that an American fell in love with and spent almost $1 million to make into a running driving car, and the Corvette that Carroll Shelby and pals had bodied in Italy as part of a plan to create Italian-bodied Corvettes-- a plan that failed after three cars were made. One thing's certain--once you've poured through these inspiring stories, and absorbed the tips in the final chapter, you will know more about how barn finds are unearthed and how you yourself can become a successful barn finder!

"The automotive world is filled with crazy stories, mysteries, myths, rumors, and legends. This book compiles them all, from subjects such as racing, manufacturing, crime, pop culture, and mechanical, explains their origins and where the truth lies"--

The Story Behind Smokey Yunick's Boss Mustang is just one of 50 entertaining true stories from the collector car world. Smokey was racing's ultimate trickster. At one race the NASCAR sanction boys noted 16 infractions. With gas tank removed after the inspection, he grinned. "Make that 17," he said and drove away, having plumbed the roll bar for additional gas storage. Although not the story of the Boss 302 herein, these are the kind of anecdotes that make this book a fun read and more than just facts about barn-finds. Book #3 in this incredible new collection of automotive 'barn finds and beyond' stories include... A persistent Porsche mechanic who asked each 904 owner if their car would be for sale after a race. He paid only $7,000 to one agreeable owner and the car recently sold for over a million dollars... Celebrities like Steve McQueen, who bought a Jaguar XK-SS, originally created for the track but turned into a street car by the factory, now worth $10 million!... A photographer who always wondered why his Mercedes gullwing was a little different. He sold it for under $8,000 only to find out decades later that the chassis was from a Le Mans winner in '52. A luckier later owner rebodied it, probably worth $20 million today.

It’s every car-guy’s fantasy—to casually peer into a long-forgotten garage or barn or warehouse and find the car he has searched for his whole life. Corvette in the Barn is a collection of true, often amazing, stories and essays about car collectors and enthusiasts who have discovered unusual and desirable cars, forgotten in all manner of locations from barns, to old-school junkyards, to farmer’s fields. These are the stories that fuel the dreams of car collectors everywhere. See Tom Cotter, author of Motorbooks “In the Barn” series, interviewed by Jay Leno on JayLenosGarage.com: http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/jays-book-club-the-hemi-in-the-barn/1237422/

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.

Junkyard offers the only known photographic documentation of car collector Rudi Klein’s famed stockpile of distraught—but rare and valuable—vehicles from Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati, and more. In 1967, Rudi Klein began quietly buying up wrecked, damaged, and worn-out high-end European cars under the business moniker “Foreign Auto Wrecking.” Over time, he amassed a stunning collection of treasures. Among the stash is a one-of-one 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K built for pre-war Mercedes racer Rudolf Caracciola. No one is precisely sure what other prizes rest behind the yard’s not-open-to-the-public gates. Some 20 years ago, and after much negotiation, photographer Dieter Rebmann and author Roland Lowisch were permitted rare entrée to the salvage yard’s grounds to document its residents.This record of Klein’s collection is nothing short of amazing for any classic and collector car enthusiast. Sadly, Rudi passed away in 2001, but the collection remains under the care of his sons, who operate it as elusively as their father, maintaining its decades-long air of mystery and desirability.

The NextGen Guide to Car Collecting is a one-stop, detailed guide to emerging collector cars from the 1970s to today for both new and experienced collectors.