Vehicles hidden away..

[Rootes75]

I took the opportunity with petrol prices now below a pound a litre to take our 37 Hillman limousine out in the sunshine and fill the tank. 

When I got back to the yard a chap I know who usually works there stopped for a chat whilst locking the gates up.

He mentioned a chap he used to work for locally who has a Morris Quad gun tractor tucked away in his shed, he has owned it for many many years and had a crane fitted on the back to be used in their garage.

Its now hidden away behind lots of classic cars and alike and will probably never be sold on to be restored.

Just made me wonder for a while how many vehicles must be tucked away in sheds up and down the country that will never be sold on or restored etc.

Anyone else come across similar stories?

[attleej]

They are called "barn finds"!

 

John

[Rootes75]

I think true barn finds are when people dont know they are there and then find them. I mean more about people who have things tucked away with no intention to do much with them, there must be lots of intances like that around.

[2ndArmourMad]

Yes totally agree, I know of several vehicles some military others not, that are just sitting and will so say never be sold. 

[XS650]

There must be many thousands  , particularly motorbikes as they are so easy to store.

I live in a small town 15k pop. and I bet there are many surprising old vehicles tucked away just in my town  . You occasionally hear about the odd one.  This must be even more prevalent in rural areas where people tend to have land and big sheds or barns.

Many  middle aged / old men  I know still have the bike(s) of their youth mouldering in the garage, of course this means mainly 60s- 80s  stuff these days. 

Digressing slightly I wonder as time marches on and WW2 becomes ancient history  will  many want a Bedford OY or Morris Quad  for instance .  I can see Jeeps and Shermans remaining popular but not sure about the more mundane.

Edited June 1, 2020 by XS650

[jenkinov]

I visited the United States shortly after the 150the anniversary of Gettysburg And was amazed to hear the thousands that had participated and watched ..there I is potential for ww2 're enactment and vehicle preservation to gain an equivalent foothold.

I personally have tried to attend  remembrance events and noted that for the last 20 or so years numbers have increased steadily to the extent that for the 100th anniversary of WW1  events  it was hard to get near the cenotaph.

 

 

[Rootes75]

In the same sort of way, do you notice a lack of pre-war cars and trucks at shows these days? When I started out being interested as a teenager there used to be rows and rows of cars from the 1930's, now as time has gone on the trend is for cars more from the 70's/80's at our local shows.

I also notice around our area that there is a lack of wartime British made vehicles anyway, it always makes it nicer to see them because of that.

I know of quite a few vehicles tucked away in the vicinity of our village, very few will ever be seen or restored.

[REME 245]

When I first joined the MVT in the late 70's it was the american vehicles that were relatively rare and people would restore them from wrecks.  Then during the 1980's the flood gates opened with all the MAP supplied vehicles being released from the NATO armies and we were flooded with huge quanities of American vehicles of all descriptions.  Many British war-time vehicles have alse been exported to the continent or the states.

Edited June 1, 2020 by REME 245

[XS650]

40 minutes ago, Rootes75 said:

In the same sort of way, do you notice a lack of pre-war cars and trucks at shows these days? When I started out being interested as a teenager there used to be rows and rows of cars from the 1930's, now as time has gone on the trend is for cars more from the 70's/80's at our local shows.

I also notice around our area that there is a lack of wartime British made vehicles anyway, it always makes it nicer to see them because of that.

I know of quite a few vehicles tucked away in the vicinity of our village, very few will ever be seen or restored.

Yes very much so and 'Flat Tanker' bikes. Suppose it is natural progression , people want to have or restore the cars of their youth so everything shuffles on a decade or so as people leave this mortal coil. ' Was it ever thus'.

Watching the entertaining ' Bangers and Cash 'TV series about Classic Car Auctioneers Mathewson 's Derek the auctioneer says their is very limited demand for pre-war cars now.

Makes me smile when the classic vehicle fraternity say we have no youth coming through, If they mean teens and twenties very few will be interested . When I was young in 70s  I wanted the latest wizz bang and all the classic clubs were mainly  ancient 50 plus  people as it is today. As  long as you have the new middle aged  still coming through  whats the problem.

Edited June 1, 2020 by XS650

[Rootes75]

We enjoy watching Bangers and Cash, just to see what's about these days.

I would consider myself to be fairly young (early 40's) and I have always been interested in pre-war vehicles. My first was a 1937 Ford 10 that I bought when I was 17 and I still have it in the shed.

I very much like British wartime vehicles but don't get me wrong US trucks of the period also interest me.

[Zero-Five-Two]

On a sad note for us restorers and enthusiasts, a good many of these vehicles tucked away in sheds and barns never get to be restored.

The old fella who owned them dies, and his next of kin get to sort out his estate. They have no interest Grandad's old car/bike/MV and just want rid of it. A quick phonecall to the local scrapman and 2 days later it's been shredded to become the next generation of coke cans. No body even notices it's gone 😪!

[Rootes75]

Agreed, I have heard about and witnessed this sort of thing before.

Rare vehicles too that people deem to far gone to be restored or simply just easier to weigh in when a property is being cleared.

[67burwood]

I think most people start out with good intentions, they have a fantasy idea in their head that they are going to restore a classic vehicle and save it from being scrapped but after buying the vehicle and taking it to pieces the shine wears off and reality sets in, it can become very overwhelming when someone realises the huge amount of work that can be required, most commonly  “ Land Rover unfinished project  “ luckily quite a few of these usually get sold on but lots don’t and end up rotted out and only good for a few spares.

[Rootes75]

The 'unfinished project' is a common one on ebay and the like, many do get sold on to good homes.

It is those that are hidden away and are let go too far that I think about, so many times people take on something too big or too complicated and then just park it away and it gets forgotten about.

[Zero-Five-Two]

There's also a few cowboys out there too.  They've bought a motor, robbed all the good bits and are now offering the rest as "part restored" or "good project"  Always with a nice sob story about loss of storage or something

[67burwood]

This is one of those forgotten vehicles

 

I bought this in 2014, the chap I bought it from was the one who actually saved it, from what I remember he was a neighbouring farmer to the original owner who had let it fall to pieces, from what I was told the original owner purchased this dodge along with 2 others and a couple of jimmys many years ago, he dismantled the other 2 dodges and the jimmys, cut up the chassis’s for scrap and was going to keep the rest as spares, he didn’t store anything inside and all the spares were left to rot, the chap I bought it from said he had asked the farmer for years to sell him the dodge and what was left of the spares but he wasn’t interested, eventually after a good few years it was rescued, unfortunately most of the spares were so rotten from sitting in a field most was just scrap.

[Rootes75]

My Father served his apprenticeship in a garage in the early 1960's, they had a Dodge of this type converted for their recovery truck.

[67burwood]

1944 Dodge WC51 , demobbed in 1947, purchased by a farmer who had a bespoke coach built cab Fitted, the workmanship was superb but too rotten to save, even came with its original buff logbook. 

[Rootes75]

So what happened to it?

[67burwood]

Give me a minute so I can make up some excuses 😂

[67burwood]

Well.....

it was realistically to far gone to do anything with, it had sat in a field for so long that both rear combat rims had rotted so badly there was only 3/4 of them left and there quite a solid wheel rim unlike Jeep ones but as it had its original logbook from 1947 I couldn’t bear to think it would be scrapped. I stripped it, repaired the chassis, rebuild the suspension and brakes, done untold hours of welding to the cab, painted, the cab and chassis, replace the wheels and tyres and then just run out of money, unfortunately I had to sell it as it had become such a money pit, a chap from up north bought it and finished the restoration. 

[Rootes75]

You sound like you like to tackle tough jobs!

I like the thought of saving vehicles that otherwise would be left to rot and be too far gone.

I have an early post-war ERF lorry sat outside our shed. Nothing left of the cab (ali skins over ash frame etc) but there is enough left of it for me to see the importance of saving such a rare lorry and at least preserving it for the next generation.

[67burwood]

13 minutes ago, Rootes75 said:

I have an early post-war ERF lorry sat outside our shed. Nothing left of the cab (ali skins over ash frame etc) but there is enough left of it for me to see the importance of saving such a rare lorry and at least preserving it for the next generation.

Absolutely, there all labours of love, someone’s got to save them and most of the people that do are on this forum 

[AmmoMan]

Last year I was buying some parts from a mate and he showed me his storage, on his own he's managed to fill a huge barn with vehicles bought from European auctions many decades ago. All he wants is to finish one half track. Don't ask me for location details as I won't divulge. Needless to say I felt like Indiana Jones rummaging around through inches of dust.

Just amazing, photo shows half of what's in there....and only a few miles outside London

 

 

[67burwood]

Just buying my euro millionaires ticket now. 🤪