The Most Painful Barn Find In History

Hagerty produces this series. LOVE IT! Until now

Okay, first, this is not a barn find story about boats! But hold on, it has a twist. And hit me close to home. No, really close to home.. Like next door painful. Right across the creek from me is an insane piece of property. I have lusted after it since moving here. Mainly because of the boathouse and two huge barns. Its all there.

ugh

I have known its not really been lived in for a while, and I have spoken to the owner about 4 years ago regarding the property. Ugh.. One of those, na, not interested things. So.. Now I see this… Just watch and feel my pain. Jimmy and I want to just scream.

So. Ya never know whats next door? Now if you don’t mind, I need to go throw up.. UGH..

25 replies
  1. Matt
    Matt says:

    Oh, yes. But just finished a 1 year restoration on our house. UGH.. But we now love our house. Its perfect. Huge barn, huge enough.. Boathouse and two docks. But its still driving me crazy. Took a week to just watch the entire video. Actually the cars are egh to me? I have had just about all of them in some form and miss nothing. Its the property thats a bit nuts to me.

  2. Troy in ANE
    Troy in ANE says:

    Dang!

    That is an interesting find, and the property would be AMAZING!

    Took me to the end of the video before I noticed the hat on the narrator / investigator. Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Yup, from your back yard to my back yard.

  3. Jim Staib
    Jim Staib says:

    Spilled my coffee when I started to watch it! Looked up the ford dealer. There is an “E” in Asheville. All the good stuff is gone. Not a lot of prices listed. Rust free porches in VA that close to salt water. Who’d a thunk it??

  4. Frank@Falmouth
    Frank@Falmouth says:

    All that cool stuff right under your nose all that time! I still havent kicked the car craze, in addition to the dozen woodies …
    Not too far from me, here in Falmouth VA.. I dont know if I could handle that walk thru… I can handle watching it now as Im crashing on a work project, but good god!

  5. Mike D
    Mike D says:

    Reminds me that I need to get busy advertising my boats for sale so that my kids don’t have to go through a similar chore. I can’t imagine the headaches associated with getting rid of all these cars and property.

  6. Carrie
    Carrie says:

    The most painful barn find for me was in Louisiana in 2010, assisting a surveyor after Katrina. The surveyor was a friend of mine & fellow vintage / oddball car nut. The property surveyed had acres of land dotted with barns, lean-tos, & shipping containers full of similar Porsches, VWs, and just cool stuff.

    There may have been 50 cars there, assorted vintage Porsches (356’s, early 911’s, some raced-prepped, some not), Jaguars (including at least two e-types), Volkswagens, an old Citroen, a Kelmark GT kit car. Cool, and a bunch of eccentric stuff.

    There may have been 10 914’s, we stopped counting. a VW thing, beetles and buses galore, a Maserati. A few old bikes, too.

    Worst part coming…

    All of it flooded, and all of it having been abandoned and partially in the elements for at least a decade before the flooding. In Louisiana, even without the hurricane damage, a decade in the elements is a long time.

    I had some contacts with Porsche club people & eventually verified that the stash of cars was not unknown, but sadly most of it had been determined to be beyond hope even before it sat underwater.

    For me, that was the most painful barn find ever.

  7. Kentucky Wonder
    Kentucky Wonder says:

    When I sent Matt the link to that video a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize it would cause such pain. Sorry, Matt, to bring up a sore topic. On a different note, I remember having a Matchbox or Hot Wheels car just like that station wagon. It had two plastic dogs sticking their heads out the back window.

  8. Jimmy
    Jimmy says:

    The episode where they find the C1 Corvette was located on lake Hartwell right across I-85 from Harbor Light Marina about 15 min. from me.

  9. Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P )
    Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P ) says:

    DAMN!!! I am still on overload. The man loved his European cars. Did I see a boat with a cabin on it in one of the doorways? The 4 speed in the woody wagon with a stock shifter? Never saw one of those. I am not much of a Euro car fan. Did the VW thing when I was young. I still thought the cars were pretty neat. My sympathies to you Matt.

  10. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    blow me away! Unreal and right under our noses….the first barn was the best IMHO. I must have known the guy that stashed these, being car nuts both from Richmond. In fact the Mercedes 219 that is featured at the very end of the vid could be one that I owned…and gave away about 10 years ago…along with my custom built 1972 220 Diesel….leather, power windows, four speed…no power steering…waited months to have it made….then gave it to a Mercedes nut that talked the talk.
    What was the boat on the trailer in there…maybe a cape dory?
    Great post Matt! John in Va.

    • Troy in ANE
      Troy in ANE says:

      John:

      I am not sure what it is, but does not look like a Cape Dory to me, at least not the ones that were built a Robinhood Marina.

  11. Berlin Büro
    Berlin Büro says:

    Are we allowed to curse here? I don’t mean like “shit,” I mean some witchcraft here. How on earth?! Why reedville?! Theres more Porsches there than the entire Northumberland county. Great.

  12. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    When I watched this a month ago I thought surely Matt Smith knows about this?? Beautiful location but yours is not chopped liver. Tom’s got a real tough job there with the Hag rollin’ large with a woody/stick he snaked away from a find while on the job and getting paid for it, I assume. Throw me in that briar patch. Guess I’ll just fade back into the shadows of anonymity and continue living the dream, or more like living in a dream world.

  13. tom
    tom says:

    Nothing more boring than euro sports cars.Coolest car in the video is the 428 wagon. You’re right about the buildings,great space.No doubt they’ll be filled with someone elses junk soon enough.

  14. Dane
    Dane says:

    The Country Squire is very cool. The 428 was only offered in the wagon with an automatic. This car is the only 67 wagon built with a 428 and a 4 speed. More than a special order it had be approved by upper management. It also has bucket seats and a console.

  15. Matt
    Matt says:

    In a related note, this story broke every record for us. over 35,000 Views. WHAT THE HELL? Who? What? 35,000 in one day. The average is around 4000, and 20,000 was our record.

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