Three Old Friends: A "Barn Find," Sort Of

In the car hobby the term "barn find" and its cousin "garage find" are important terms that have probably lead to as many adventures as misadventures. These terms, while self explanatory to car hobbyists, mean quite literally that restoration projects or grist for the hot rod mill is sometimes found waiting in barns or garages. An Episode of "Rides" the TV show on TLC in 2006 was devoted to a Dusenburg Jay Leno found in a garage near Burbank, Ca. The trucks in this painting were an odd sort of barn find. Let me explain.

Near my home in Watsonville, Ca. is Ca. Hwy. 129. Known primarily as "129" this road runs through one end of town and connects Ca. Hwy. 1 and US 101.

During my time here I have traveled Hwy. 129 almost daily on my way to and from various jobs. I have come to know most of the curves bumps and landmarks quite well. As this is largely an agricultural area there are many farm fields and related structures throughout the area.

One of the landmarks used to be a large barn that seemed to be in an advanced state of disrepair. Many portions of the outer walls were missing and glimpses of the contents were visible. But glimpses were all I could catch for several years.

The winter of 2005-06 was quite a rainy season. This turned the surrounding ridge a brilliant palette of greens and browns. It also softened the ground in many areas. Along with the rain came some stronger than average winds. One particular storm brought winds strong enough to blow one of these large barns over.

It remained a large pile of barn wood and rubble for several weeks. Later that spring, it seemed to happen almost overnight, the pile of roof boards and barn wood walls disappeared. Among the artifacts remaining were three farm trucks. They were of different makes and vintages but they all had been painted in a matching red and black livery.

One among them originally struck my imagination because it looked like a Ford of 1930's vintage. The truck appeared remarkably complete right down to the mechanical brakes. It had emblems indicating V-8 power and the engine seemed intact through the rusted faded hood louvers. I thought of the countless hot rods that have been crafted from trucks from that era. For weeks on end I drove past these three old friends. I began to wonder how long they would stay there. Many times I reminded myself to grab a camera so I could capture a photograph before someone grabbed them up. I thought someone surely would, they seemed to be if such good shape from what I could see. Thoughts of a hot rod hauler re born from this old truck, a "numbers matching" resto-mod hot rod, wow what a project!

One Sunday I finished work very early, before noon in fact and was passing by what by now I came to call my old friends. The sun was up and I had some time to spare, inspired I raced home and returned with a camera.

While I was there, perhaps because I was there two other fellows stopped to get a closer look as well. We spoke for a while and agreed that any of them would make very cool hot rods. There are other buildings on the same property that survived the wind. In fact several people were living in the house and there were some smaller buildings further back and they were occupied as well. Among the small group now gathered was an older fellow and the guys that I had been talking with went and talked with him. They had a lively conversation in Spanish. When the younger men returned for one last look they told me some of their conversation. The older fellow had worked on this farm for many years. He recalled a day back in the 60's when the owners or perhaps managers of the farm backed all three trucks into the barn and left them to rest. They were all running when they were backed in but they never worked again.

Some weeks later during the early summer of 2006 two of the old friends were gone. The 30's Ford remained though. I thought for sure he'd have been the first to go. He's been moved now, closer to the working driveway but he's still there. I hope all three old friends find good homes and I'm very glad I got their photographs while they were still together.

As of October 2006 I have nearly completed paintings of the Dodge and the Chevrolet. I have a sketch of all three I'm going to develop into a third work and I plan to do a portrait of the "Duce". As I've come to call the Ford, as time allows.