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

More Great Stories of
Automotive Archaeology

TOM COTTER
FOREWORD BY KEITH MARTIN
Publisher Sports Car Market and Corvette Market magazines

I dedicate this book to all the enthusiasts
who have purchased my previous In the Barn books.
If you keep reading, Ill keep writing!

These books are the product of so many people. Ill attempt to thank them below:

Lee Klancher has been my editor for every book Ive written. Thanks, Lee, and I hope it continues. Also, the folks at Motorbooks who treat me like family: Zack Miller, Darwin Holstrom, Nichole Schiele, and the rest of the staff, thanks.

Two friends have been involved in each In the Barn book: Ken Gross and Jay Leno. The fact that I even know you guys is an honor, but realizing you are actually contributors to my projects is quite humbling. In fact it was Jay who suggested I keep using the In the Barn name in my future books after Cobra was published. He convinced me that the name had a brand value that I should not drop.

And Im thrilled that my old pal Randy Leffingwell, who I worked beside 25 years ago, contributed the great Corvette Z06 roadster story. Thank you, Randy.

And to everyone who contributed a lead, a story, or photographs to The Corvette In the Barn, thank you; I couldnt have done this book without you. In no particular order, a big thank you to: Bill McKinnon, Harold Pace, Steve Katzman, Geoff Hacker, Guy Dirkin, Corey Petersen, George Prentice, Bill Connell, Andy Saunders, Vince Leto, Dave Redman, Jim Kane, Daniel Strohl, Edd Ellison, Jeff Trask, Jim & Sandra McNeil, Jamie del Valle, Scott Mason, Earl Pfeifer, Kay Hottendorff, Ard op de Weegh, Arnoud op de Weegh, Don Isley, Keith Isley, Jack Walter, Alan Sangiacomo, Chris Unger, Mike Wales, Joe Troilo, Don Prudhomme, Donnie Gould, Jim Taylor, Mike Goodman, John Lee, Karl Kirchner, Jim & Elyse Barrett, George Alderman, Paul Alderman, Erich Bollman, Scott Smith, Gerry Christensen, Wolfgang Blaube, Kevin Mackay, Rob Cotter, Cliff Bieder, Mark Haas, Mark Savory, Neil Rashba, and Alan Poster.

By Keith Martin,
Publisher of Sports Car Market
and Corvette Market

For some, driving to the grocery store is all about the destination and loading up the family car with bread, eggs, milk, and other necessities. For Tom Cotter, going to the store is just an excuse to look for cars.

In fact, I would guess that Tom has found more circuitous ways to get anywhere than anyone else on earth. Like a big-game tracker, hes always on the lookout for that elusive bit of chrome that can be seen through a partially open garage door or a tantalizing shape under a decrepit car cover.

With The Corvette in the Barn, Tom has turned his attention to that most iconic of American cars. Since 1953, more than one million Corvettes have been produced, which also means that there are unfound, undiscovered Corvettes lurking nearly everywhere.

In my day job as publisher of Sports Car Market and Corvette Market magazines, we analyze the prices that collectible carsparticularly Corvettesmake when they are brought to public auction. We also look at restoration and preservation trends; 10 years ago a perfectly restored car would have been worth more than one that was original and in good shape. Today that equation has been reversed, with collectors realizing that you can restore a car many times, but its only original once. So original cars, especially freshly discovered ones, are in high demand.

Which makes Toms book even more timely. As with his earlier barn-find books, he has compiled tantalizing and true tales based on firsthand experiences from automotive spelunkers. Inside this book are the kinds of stories we all like to hear about cars that have been lost and found. How they went from decades in a locked garage to becoming someones newly freshened pride and joy. How their values went from so little that they were pushed into a corner to gather dust to becoming worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The most delicious finds are those of vintage pre-1984 Corvettes, which have minimal electronic systems and are relatively easy to bring back to life. The best barn find of all would be a Corvette that had some verifiable racing history, which still had some very special factory-installed competition bits, such as an oversized fuel tank or big brakes.

But every Corvette is special, especially when compared with run-of-the-mill family sedans. Every new Corvette was purchased with the expectation that it would change a life, that it could provide thrills and chills to the new owner. Owning a Corvette set the owner apart from the crowd and made the statement that this person favored stylish performance.

Which, in the end, is why there are still Corvettes out there to be found. Even the most meager, low-horsepower Corvette has a degree of desirability, which makes it worth hunting, acquiring, and trailering home.

Like all of Cotters barn-find books, this book has inspired me to drive around my neighborhood a little more carefully, seeing if that is really a Corvette poking out from under that ragged piece of canvas behind the big oak tree down the block. And when my wife reads this introduction, shell know why it always seems to take me an hour longer to drive to the grocery store when I go alone than it does when we are together.

Im surprised at how characters from one book of mine become a part of another.

When I started to write this book, I was just finishing a biography about Dean Jeffries, the great California customizer. I became intrigued with the man and the cars he built. As soon as the book was completed, I found the owners of two great Dean Jeffries creationsthe spectacular Porsche 356 Four-Cam Carrera he customized, and the Green Hornets Black Beauty, which appeared weekly on television. These cars were both nearing completion as this book was going to press, so both are featured inside.

I am also writing a biography on Hall-of-Fame drag racer, TV Tommy Ivo. Ive been intrigued with Ivo since I was a kid, and writing his biography is a real thrill. And because Ive been hanging around drag strips as I conduct interviewsincluding the Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield (better known as the Cacklefest)I uncovered a few barn-find stories about drag cars. These are the cars I grew up admiring while I was reading Hot Rod magazine instead of doing my homework.

I also enjoyed reading Rod & Custom, where the column Vintage Tin was my favorite in the magazine. Years later, being much older but obviously no wiser, I reconnected with barn-find cars in the British magazines Thoroughbred & Classic Cars, Classic & Sports Car, and Octane.

The truth is that I love all kinds of carsbrass era, classics, imports, hot rods, sports cars, race cars, muscle cars, drag carsyou name it. I hope you do too. In fact, Ive found that the human-interest story is always more important than the type of car discovered.