Barn Find Hunter | Lincoln Continental with Elvis Presley Connection - Ep. 2

- I bet there are, I bet there are 20, oh, there are more. Oh my God. Oh, look at this, an El Camino, a Studebaker, a Packard, a Packard, it looks like a truck. I'm Tom Cotter, the first car I found was 12 years old. Now I'm 61 years old and I still

find

cars. And in this series you will see that there are still many cars left. I've been dreaming since I was probably 12 years old about

find

ing a car like this. (soft blues music) I used to stay at a hotel just a half mile from here when I was on business in Northern California and in the morning I like to run.

So I was running down this street called Pope Street in Saint Helena, California and I would see these old cars lying around and I would see other things in the background. I said there must be old things here. I have to meet this boy. So you have a rancher here. - I cut off the top once. (laughing) - Really? - And when I cut it, I cut it two and a half centimeters and it was too much so I picked it up again. - How did it go? Did you save the pieces? - About an inch and a half.

Yes. - Now, would you sell something like this? - Oh yeah. - Would you do it? - I would have to do it. I don't think I can fix it. - This is a 1954 Ford and it is a four-door station wagon called the Country Sedan. It has a 312 overhead valve V8, which was Ford's first overhead valve V8 after the Flathead era. It has three speeds with overdrive. And this car is so complete, even the hubcaps, the trim, the spare tire, the jack, the air filter still has the decal. You don't find cars as complete as this one anymore.

It doesn't happen anymore. I would say this car, you know, is probably worth $2,000, $2,500 as is. And restored, these can cost between $20 and $25,000 today. So if you were handy at home, you could buy something like this, fix it up, and make money if you were to sell it. All very interesting things here. (upbeat music) - A car full of guys drove up there and blew up the engine. It was a $75 purchase. -That's Russ when he was just a young man. There's a lot going on there. - Those are all the fuel injectors. - This is a 1972 Jaguar and the four-door version would have been an XJ6.

This is known as the XJ12 because instead of a six-cylinder there is a 12-cylinder and this is an XJ12C. And the XJ12C is called that because it is a coupe. Interestingly, this car has a four-door roof with two doors. Then they took the doors, stretched them, and then closed them from behind. It's basically a four-door roof with two doors. Much space. Big door, lots of room to get in and out, but it's a really weird car. This is a '65 Chevy El Camino 327. Impeccable and solid car that can be used daily. Good thing. (upbeat music) - And at the bottom of the block there is a mold.

The casting number is the number one on the block that I got. - The first Chevy V8? - Yes, eh, well, it's the first casting. - Turns out Russ Aves is one of the original California hot rodders. He's lived here since '65. He has a 12-cylinder Jaguar. He has a '57 Ford Ranchero with a 500 cubic inch Cadillac. All this is for sale. Russ said, "I'm not going to do that. "I might as well let someone else have the fun." There's a 1954 Ford Country Sedan pickup truck back there that's so complete that they don't come around like that anymore.

You don't find cars with four hubcaps, with a jack in the back, with a spare tire. It's a three-speed V8 with overdrive, which was Ford's first overhead valve engine in 1954. And you know what? He said, "Look, I'd take it." $500 for it, but I'd really like $3,000." It's worth restoring; these days, very rare cars and trucks are very desirable. (upbeat music) When we arrived in Northern California yesterday, we didn't really know who to talk and we just talked to a car guy, who put us in touch with a car guy, who put us in touch with a car guy and said, "Have you talked to Ricky Hall?

No, we don't know Ricky?" .So we called Ricky and he told us to come over. So here we are in American Canyon, California, and Ricky is an old Ford who likes '32s and he's going to show us what he has in his yard. This looks too cool. Is it a four cylinder? - Four cylinders. It's an authentic truck from the beginning of '32. - Man. - The serial number shows that it was manufactured, I believe, in early February. - From 32, seriously? - There is no rib on the roof cover, the roof right here. - Ah OK.

Single pull handles, has the old style gas gauge. - It's a Model B. Now look at that, wow. Well, that's great. This is also a 32. '32 four door. - Yes, I bought this truck last weekend. It was in Lincoln, California. - Last weekend. Did you find this a week ago? - It was complete. I started tearing it up this week. - Obviously there are still cars like this. How rare is it to find a '32 these days, 2016? - It's getting pretty difficult. Especially one that is intact. -So Ricky just found this car and he didn't have to look at farms or ask people.

This car was on Craigslist and he got it a week ago. The fact that you can still find a car like this, I mean, anyone could have bought it and this guy was lucky enough to buy a '32 Ford sedan that has basically never been touched. It's not a hot rod. It is not a restored car. It's just an old car. Just amazing, I mean, kids would give anything for this, all over the country, every day. This is a Lincoln Zephyr and it has 12 cylinders. So if you look at some of the other cars that Ricky has, they are Ford Flathead V8s.

Well, this is a Ford V12 Flathead. Basically, the eight cylinders were extended to 12 cylinders. And they were soft and silent. An old man once told me that you could take a nickel and balance it on the air filter and it would stay there. That's how smooth those engines were. Now, I wasn't planning on seeing motorcycles here, but I've never seen a Sunbeam motorcycle. Is that British? - It is made by BSA. - Wow, what year is that? - 1947. I got it at an estate sale in Berkeley. - How is? - How is. In fact I had to change the gas tank.

It was rotten. I bought it just to resell. - Man. - So now it's something that's waiting for time to pass. - Oh man. So this is a '32 Ford, three-window coupe. If we look at this condition. I've been dreaming since I was probably 12 years old about finding a car like this, in this condition. I used to read Rod and Custom magazine and there was a section called Vintage Tin. And they showed it to these guys in California and they found these things in the desert and they dragged them away. And I was an East Coast kid and I dreamed of coming to California because the women were beautiful, there was surfing, there was Coors beer. and old cars.

And it only took me 50 years to get here. Wow. (upbeat blues music) Napa Valley is probably some of the most expensive and desirable real estate in the United States, if not the world. And you wouldn't imagine there are huge collections of old cars hidden in the Napa Valley. Real estate is too expensive. But we talked to a guy who told us about Rod, who lives in Napa, and we drove here. Well, something is going on here because I see a Trabant, which is an East German car. I see an old Cadillac under a shed. A Javelin on a trailer, an old Cadillac on a ramp truck, a Cadillac ambulance.

I can't believe I'm in Napa Valley. This looks like Kansas. (upbeat music) Now, Trabant was an East German car, tell me how the body was made. - It is a composition of cotton and recycled paper. (laughs) - So these cars have a history? - Oh, every car has a story. - And do you know them? - Yes, I do. - Oh man. (upbeat music) - This was purchased new by the Washington DC Department of Justice and assigned to Southern California during the Reagan administration. It's a bulletproof Cadillac limousine. - Oh really. - Well, you see what happens when they do bullet testing, they have reinforced concrete that they pour on the doors and, of course, that causes the rust to rust from the inside out.

Look at the windows... - Look at this. One, two, like three panes of glass, or one piece of plexiglass, two panes of glass glued together. And these windows can't be lowered because the doors are full of concrete. How much does this car weigh then? - About 9,000 pounds, extremely heavy. (upbeat blues music) - I'm going to identify what this car is, don't tell me. - I'll give you 20 guesses, you'll probably still be wrong. - Alright. Now I'm pretty good at this. I would say an Italian. - It is Italian. - It's an Italia, Intermeccanica Italia. - I'm going to get screwed! - I'm good at this. - You're fine, you're fine. - So this had a Ford V8?

Some had Chevys, but did Ford have V8s? - Yes. - Look at that. (blues music) - I was after this Mark II only because I thought it was good enough to purchase. White Lincoln with red interior. Air conditioned car, there weren't many with air conditioning options so this is the Mark II with all the options. I give him the money, he gives me the title, a 95 year old guy who is selling his cars and retiring, he is a pharmacist and he tells his son, who is over 70 years old, "Go get the photo there" because Rod He's going to I want to see this photo." He pulls out the photo of him, Elvis Presley and the Lincoln and says, "Have fun with the car, Elvis." Well, now we know that Elvis had a white Mark II with red interior, auto air conditioning.

But we also know that there is one in Elvis Presley's museum that they say was his car - Maybe not - Maybe not - This is the Holy Grail Look, there's a photo here and a photo here that are no longer there The notes in. the back. It says "1956 Continental", 1977. I assume it was on display at Rod's house here in Napa Valley, where some of the most expensive and desirable real estate in the United States is sold. bottles of Cabernet for hundreds of dollars just five miles from here. But hidden in little corners like this, even in a place like Napa Valley, are great cars.

Happy hunting.