Some amazing old vehicles

…found in a Texas barn:

http://www.wimp.com/prewar-cars/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=video/

How come I never get lucky like that?

Sweet story here http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/scrambler_finds_its_way_home_485156476.html

“I called Steve Jantz because I was looking to find out a little history on the car,” Skaflen said. “He told me he was just a kid when the car was at their dealership and they only had one of them. I thought to myself, he needs to have his car back.”

Jantz drove to West Fargo with his wife Wendy to meet Skaflen and matched his $9,000 offer. Jantz said he plans on spending the next three to four months and thousands of dollars restoring the former red, white and blue beauty.

“Right now, it looks like it’s headed to the (scrap) heap,” said Jantz, whose father Alfred Jantz Sr., opened Jantz Motors in 1946. “It’s going to look original and brand new, actually better than new.”

“When you dismantle it, every nut and bolt is redone,” Jantz said. “I’ll probably spend more than the vehicle will be worth, but this is something I’ll love doing. There are only a few SC/Ramblers for sale. None will be quite like this one.”

Based on registration records, there are roughly 350 SC/Ramblers remaining from the 1,512 built. The vehicle had a base price of $2,998. It was fitted with a 390-cubic inch, V8 engine with 315 horsepower at 4,600 RPM, capable of rocketing 0-60 mph in 6.3 seconds and posting one-quarter-mile times in the low-14s.

The vehicle was equipped with a Hurst Performance package with rolled up rear quarter panels, modified front fender wells and “A-scheme” paint with white and red stripes.

Jantz said the Scrambler was in “pretty rough shape” and undrivable when he purchased it this summer. That’s not how he remembered the vehicle when it sat briefly on his father’s lot.

“I was just a kid,” Jantz said. “We were pretty proud of it. We parked it right underneath the sign.”

Those barn find cars are going to bring some serious money.

I’ve got a story about one of those S/C Ramblers. Back in 1970 a guy I knew was a lot man at the AMC dealer here in town. Unknown to the dealer this guy would sometimes snitch the keys to a cool used car like a Mach 1 or Chevelle and use it over the weekend.

One weekend he dropped by a mutual friend’s house in a new S/C Rambler and asked him if he wanted to go tooling around in it for the evening. The mutual friend had no idea the car had been “borrowed” from the dealer lot and was told the dealer allowed him to use it. Unfortunately, the dealer came by the lot for some reason and found the car missing so he called the police.

Instead of pulling over the guy decided to run for it. It took local cops and the state patrol almost 50 miles over 2 counties to run him down at speeds over a 100 and eventually a road block across the state line near Caldwell, KS got them stopped.

The mutual friend who was along for the ride got 5 years in prison (out in 2…) and the lot man who instigated it got off the hook. At the time some judges were offering those convicted an option; go to jail or enlist in the military. He chose the Army and that ended that.

How hard was it going to be for the cops to spot a brilliantly colored red/white/blue Rambler once it was reported missing…

Youthful exuberance… :smiley:

Incidentally, did anyone else notice the mistake made by the guy being interviewed in that video on the barn finds?

When discussing the REO, he says that “Oldsmobile” made the car after he sold out his original company and couldn’t use his name on the new car company.
Ummmm…No.
The man in question was Ransom E. OLDS, and his first car was named “Oldsmobile”.
This guy apparently thought that Mr. Olds’ own name was “Oldsmobile”.

The only “barn find” that I’ve been associated with was when a friend of mine found a Cushman Silver Eagle scooter and needed help getting it out of the barn. The owner’s son had left it there when he left for Vietnam. He never came back. My friend restored it and now rides it a few times a year. It was one of the last models made in 1965 I believe.

Yes @VDCdriver, I dd notice the Olds gaff. I wondered if he was stupid, ignorant, or just mis-read a cue card.

I am well aware of the REO story, and the REO Speedwagon. (No, not the band.) I overhauled the F-head engine for a 1926 Speedwagon fire truck about 40 years ago. I’ve also read the book Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors which delves into the the history of GM and how men named Olds, Buick, Nash, Chrysler. and of course Durant, were part of GM’s early years. Racecar driver Louis Chevrolet actually only played a minor roll, giving his name to the car.

There were numerous errors in the video clip, that clip should have been scraped and redone.

That 1932 Cadillac 370B Victoria Convertible went to auction last summer, bidding stopped at $225,000, the reserve was not meet.

I was going to say it should just be cleaned up and polished. Restoring it would destroy it but looking at the peeling paint, it needs a new paint job, but leave the rest alone.

The usual saw is that it is original only once, and restoration should only be done as a last resort.