Tom Cotter - The Cobra in the Barn: Great Stories of Automotive Archaeology

Great Stories of Automotive Archaeology

TOM COTTER
FOREWORD BY PETER EGAN

Dedication

To the Skiebe sistersMom and Aunt Kikifrom whom
I inherited my car genes, and of course my friend X,
with whom I first went searching for old cars. R.I.P.

The author wishes to thank the following individuals for their assistance, patience, kindness, and support with this book: Kris Palmer, Lee Klancher, Peter Egan, Ken Gross, April Marie Drum, Pat Cotter, Brian Cotter, Leigh Dorrington, and everyone who submitted a barn-find story, whether it was used or not.

If you helped in some way and I have omitted your name, please know that I am grateful.

Finding a desirable, old, abandoned car in a half-forgotten barnits one of the most potent dreams in the automotive world. Notice here that I used the word desirable.

Unfortunately, used car lots, farm fields, and barns are filled with cars that no one cared about very much when they were new, and time hasnt added a gilt of value and glamour to their ordinariness. As my old friend Allan Girdler once said, An old six-cylinder Cranbrook doesnt get better looking, faster, or more valuable, just because its worn out and parked in the weeds.

Or maybe it does. If you passed your drivers test in that Cranbrook, or drove it to the prom with your high school sweetheart, it might possess a peculiar value and magical quality elusive to others. With most old cars, beauty is in the eye of the once-teenage beholder who is now grown up and has money to spend.

But when most people dream about barn cars, they usually see visions of MGTCs, Bugatti Type 35Bs, finned Caddys, Jag XK120s, Packard Twin Sixes, Cobras, and so oncars loved and admired when they were new, and still sought after today. Real classics, covered with pigeon droppings and straw, slumbering behind the Ford 8N tractor in that far corner of the barn where only a few stray beams of light fall on the dusty curve of the rear fender.

A romantic vision, to be sure.

But what, exactly, is so great about finding those legendary old cars in barns, rather than buying one thats polished, tuned, and ready to go at the classic car auction, or in the hands of an appreciative owner?

Part of it, I think, is the allure of the bargain. We hope (somewhat amorally) that the cars very neglect is a sign of addle-brained detachment on the part of the owner, reflecting a provincial, behind-the-times unawareness of the cars current market value.

My husband left this little blue French car in the horse barn just before he ran off with that fan-dancer from Omaha. I just want it out of here. That sort of thing.

Unfortunately, my own experience has been that people who know absolutely nothing about cars tend to overvalue the tired old iron sitting in their barns and garages. (Fifty dollars! Are you kidding? These rusty old Fiats are getting rare!) In most cases, youre much more likely to get a fair and realistic price from someone who knows exactly what the car is worth.

The real bargain factor, of course, lies in the cars neglect. Cant afford a freshly restored Series 1 E-Type roadster? Maybe you can find one in a barn somewhere that needs work. The low purchase price is merely the foot in the door that allows youafter years of knuckle-busting restoration workto own a classic you couldnt afford to buy outright. Ive used this logic in buying at least a dozen carsnever mind that they all ended up costing me a lot more than the nicest example on Earth, had I simply paid the going rate.

But to look too closely at all these economic factors is to miss the whole point of finding a car in a barn and dragging it home. The idea is not so much to score a bargain, but to find a favorite old car and bring it back to life. To free up the brakes, make the wheels turn, crank the engine, and hear combustion; to let the car roll out into the sunlight again and do what it was supposed to do, which is carry happy, mechanically mesmerized people down a scenic country road.

Finding that car in a barn and making it run again are as close as most car buffs will ever get to God, as depicted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel passing the spark of life to Adam. Or maybe a more appropriate and less grandiose image comes from stories by the Brothers Grimm, in which the earnest suitor passes many difficult tests and eventually kisses the sleeping princess, which brings her back to life.

Either way, its hard to imagine a more romantic and compelling path to car ownership.

I would have to say that Tom Cotter, of all the people Ive worked and traveled with, is the most qualified to chronicle that romance and compulsion.

Tom lives, thinks, reads, and breathes old cars more deeply than anyone I know. He collects, searches, restores, judges at concours events, and goes far out of his way to help friends (such as yours truly) find the old cars theyre looking for. He loves the hunt, and hes also a fast and dedicated racer of vintage sports cars.

A few years ago, I flew out to the San Francisco Bay area, met Tom at the airport, and helped him drive his newly purchased, very original red 1964 289 Cobra across the United States, all the way back to his home in North Carolina. The trip took us about a week, and we never even tried to put the top up. It was a good thing, too, because we later discovered the top had disintegrated in the trunk, from heat and old age.

Im sorry to say this car didnt actually come out of a barnit lived in the neat three-car garage of its knowledgeable and sympathetic ownerbut it hadnt been driven much in recent years and it needed a little roadside wrenching to make the trip. Nothing disastrous, mind you, just the stuff of good adventure.

The trip was filled with great memories, but my favorite moment came when we were cruising through a small town on the plains of eastern Colorado.

As we drove through the center of this little burg, Toms head swiveled slowly back and forth like a radar dish, sweeping over the houses, fences, backyards, and buildings. He suddenly turned to me, grinning, with a strange, maniacal gleam in his eye.

Dont you wish, he said, that you had X-ray vision so you could spot all the neat old cars that are probably hidden away in these small-town garages and old barns?

Of course I did. Ive had that very same thought a thousand times. We all have, even if weve never put it in words.

Well, Tom Cotter has finally put it in wordsand pictures. And hes exactly the right guy for the job.

Peter Egan is a longtime automotive and motorcycle journalist. He has written his column, Side Glances, for Road & Track magazine since 1983. He is also an editor at large for Cycle World magazine.

When Pat Huntley called to tell me her husband Stan had died, the news wasnt totally unexpected. He had been fighting colon cancer for a while and I knew he was nearing the end of his battle.

Yet one of Pats words of comfort hit me hard. Just know that Stan was so at peace with who the Sprite went to, she said.

I knew she was talking about me.

Just six months earlier, I had purchased Stans beloved Austin-Healey Sprite Le Mans prototype coupe race car. Before that day, he had taken care of it for nearly thirty years in his Portland, Oregon, garage. So after he was diagnosed, I was lucky enough to be chosen as the famous race cars next caretaker.