Barn Find Shelby Story Must Read!!

[daltondavid]

It was twenty years ago I was at a Bike shop in South Jersey called "Nick's." you may have seen him and the business on an episode of American Pickers. I had an F250 with a "Carroll Shelby Motors" front license plate on it. and as one of the mechanics walked by, he took notice of the plate. He looked at me and asked, if I was in to Shelbys? I said absolutely. he replied, "You should give my brother a call, he has one sitting in his garage." I quickly got his brothers number from him. I called him that evening. He was leary of the cold call and asked how I got his number. I told him the story. Silence on the other end. I started talking fast about my 68 GT500. it was then that he started talking and revealed to me that he had a 69 GT500 Convertible and it had been sitting since 1975 in a garage. I asked if he would be interested in selling? he was not. but after a few phone calls he eventually agreed to show me the car. He was located almost 2 hours away. I hooked up my car trailer and filled a bag with Cash and went up to the address he gave me. it was a run down area of Staten Island New York. we said our hello's and he opened up the garage. there I saw a Gulf stream Aqua 69 GT500 Convertible. all original paint. roughly 30,000 miles on the odometer. white top and Interior. he had sold the 428 Cobra Jet Engine to a guy with a 68 GT500 from Pa. as he had a 427 he intended to put in the car. and just had not gotten around to finishing the job. I looked the car over extensively. and then I threw the bag at him. as he caught it, he asked me "what's in here?" I replied, "CASH!" to my surprise, he threw it right back at me! "let me tell you something. I have an ex wife, a girlfriend, 3 kids and this Shelby. If I sell this car, before long I won't have the money or the car!" as bummed out as I was, I learned an interesting fact of life. he hit me with reality. then he asked how much was in the bag. I told him and he said he was glad he did not know the answer while he was holding the bag! but he admired my efforts and said if he ever changed his mind, he would be in touch. my 6 year old son and I climbed back in the truck and headed home. we got to see an amazing car in the wild and we would pursue this car every year. I would call the owner and talk about the car. he was still planning to get around to it. and I would talk about what cars were in my life. it became an annual call. I even located the original engine for the car!  in the last few years, I was going thru a tough divorce. a major life distraction. it was around Christmas that my son (now 25) got on me to Call the guy about the Convertible. I finally got around to calling him about two weeks ago. He said, "man you are going to want to kill me. I sold the car 3 weeks ago. a friend of mines son remembered me driving the car when he was a little kid and he started pestering mem and I needed money for my business..." he sold the car for the exact amount I had offered him 20 years ago! when I called my son with the bad news that the car, we had fantasized about restoring one day had slipped away, he yelled some choice words and would not speak to me for three days. so, by now you are wondering, "Why would I tell such a bummer of a story?" and I told the story to inspire each and every one of you who "Knows where a car or Bike or cool truck is sitting" to "get off your Ass and go after it!" I spent twenty years talking to a guy who swore I was first in line every time we spoke. and somebody showed up in the meantime and made off with a Shelby that should have been mine. now make those calls. show up in person and knock on those doors. let's hear some success stories as I am still licking my wounds over this loss.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

"I sold the car 3 weeks ago. a friend of mines son remembered me driving the car when he was a little kid."

To you it was a barn find - to the kid it's a memory and part of his life. Tell your son not to be mad he'll have your car someday.

When our daughter was 5 she loved riding around in our little Mini Estate with the push button start on the floor. It was her job to start the car. When I sold it she didn't speak to me for a week. The guy I sold it to crashed it hard enough to bend the A pillar. He came by one day. Our daughter answered the door - slammed it in his face and yelled "dad it's that guy that crashed the mini". He was reluctant to come in. When my wife got her 04Tbird she gave her RHD Mini to our daughter - she likes it but it's not "her" wagon with the Union Jack on the roof.

[BGlover67]

That kid was Vern Estes in disguise.   

[owenkelley]

I had a funny story trying to buy a '67 GT500 over forty years ago. I had been talking to the owner for a couple years and he told me I would be the first person he would call if he decided to sell it. A couple years go by, and I mention it to a friend of mine who was looking for a Mustang at the time. He went and talked to the guy and ended up buying it, telling the seller that I had just bought a '66 Mustang fastback and wasn't in the position to purchase another car at that time, which was true. The car needed to be restored, so he spent the next five years getting things done as he could afford to, but then his wife had a couple kids and he decided finishing the project was not in the cards. By that time I had found the GT500 that we still own to this day, which was a nice car that didn't need to be restored, so things worked out better for me anyway. My friend sold his car to another buddy of ours who finished the restoration and eventually sold the car. It's now in the LeMay collection in Tacoma Washington.

[daltondavid]

That kid was Vern Estes in disguise.   

lol

[wcampbell]

Probably a dealer looking to move it on in a week for 10% more...happens every day of the week too. I've had the same scenario play out with me as well so I can relate. In my scenario I needed 2-3 days to obtain liquid cash and was on a cruise in the middle of the Atlantic with no cell coverage. During this time a dealer showed up once he got word with a bag of cash. Even though I was promised 1st right for years the owner couldn't resist what was in front of him at that moment. I eventually got a call by the owner apologizing and explaining he would understand why I'd never want to talk to him again. I took the high road and maintained the relationship until he passed about 2 years later. I hope you fall into the next one!

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Probably a dealer looking to move it on in a week for 10% more...

The guy who only makes !0% on the deal won't survive long. When I was looking for a Model A dealers were snapping them up from the kids who inherited them for $8-12 grand and flipping them for 20-25.

[daltondavid]

I am anxiously awaiting a redemption post. someone who took my story to heart and followed up on a lead (old or new) and scores!

[CharlesTurner]

I was able to buy a '66 carryover last summer from a guy I've known 20 or so years.  We were acquaintances through the vintage-mustang online forum going back to probably the late 90's.  Got to meet him in person a few times at SAAC conventions and other car shows/events over the years.  He bought the carryover in the 90's, stripped it and had it completely painted, brought it back home and never assembled it.  He built the motor/trans and rear assembly and had sent me pics of the engine way back, maybe early 2000's (I still have them!).  Don't remember coming out and saying I'd be interested if he ever wanted to sell it, but I must have expressed interest at least once or twice.  About 5 or so years back, we were exchanging texts and out of the blue he told me flat out that the car was not for sale.  I got the point and never brought it up again.       

Fast forward to this past summer, he was looking for a correct radiator for the Shelby and asked if I could help, told him I'd look around.  A few days later he messaged that if someone made him an offer on the car, he'd consider selling.  I called him shortly after, he told me what he was looking to get for it and 2 weeks later I loaded the car and parts up and it was at my house.  I didn't maintain the friendship thinking I might be able to get the car, he was just one of my car buddies that we'd chat or text once in a while.  I think he must have felt the same way and was happy for me to get the car.  Plus, I think he took some comfort in knowing if I got it, it would be put back together nice.

Not the most exciting story, but sometimes just being a friend to someone can have unexpected/unintended outcomes.

[shelbymann1970]

69 Mach1  original paint  Ford drag team car(R code). It sat next to a house across from my friends house growing up(early to mid 70s). A guy on the next street from when I gre up bought it after his 69 SCJ Mach1 was totaled. I chased that car for a decade in when the owner moved 3 times (once behind a funeral home so people always knocking on the door). Each time he was selling then after looking at the car he backed out(factory worker at GM with a wife and 3 kids). He had my number but ended up selling it to a guy I kinda knew. Chased it from that guy for years wanting to buy it then he sells it to another guy...Funny in that the car was a black jade car and I ended up selling a black Jade DP 69 to the guy's brother so they both ended up with Black jade R-code Mach1s.
I chased a 68 GT500 that the owner said he would never sell. He repainted the car(white car) installed KR blue stripes and never fixed the rust hole in the rear quarter and with the black steel wheels looked like a beater. notes left on the car every time he took it to the store.  Lived on the same street as the other guy mentioned who I tried to buy the BJ car from. The guy had a cammer Maverick and a Cammer F-100 tractor pulling truck also. He said the Gt500 survived the divorce and he would never sell it as he bought it right out of 'Nam. Well a guy I knew from HS ended up buying it for a ridiculous low price many years later. Sometimes they are not meant to be.