GMTV
You’ll find a 1990 Chevy 1500 454 SS, Corvette ZR1, 1979 Stingray, Ford SVT Lightning, Indy 500 pace cars, and even a Porsche C4S.
Oftentimes, a barn find refers to a single vehicle of historical relevance found lurking in storage, usually forgotten for many decades. Sometimes though, it refers to a whole collection of desirable metal, as was the case with this mega haul from Birmingham, Alabama.
Shared by car seller GiveMeTheVin.com (GMTV), the barn find consisted of 23 vehicles, many of which have low or even delivery mileage on the clock. The collection belonged to the late Earl Trammell, an Alabama auto business figure and avid car collector who passed away last year. Trammel’s ex-wife Patricia then came to own the collection, before selling it on to GMTV.
The 1990 Chevy 1500 454 SS is the headliner of the collection, with its brawny big block V8 in a pickup chassis. The classic muscle truck was barely driven, with just 19 miles on the clock. There’s also a 1990 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 with just 25 miles on it, while the 1988 35th Anniversary Corvette and 1979 Stingray Coupe have just 19 miles and 46 miles, respectively. There are a handful of other Corvettes included in the collection, too, with the 1963 Coupe Deville and the 1998 Convertible Indy Pace Car model being the earliest and latest. Most of the others are 1970s coupe models.
The low mileage on many of the cars isn’t an accident. Trammel saw his collection as a way to store his wealth, according to GMTV, given his distrust of “Wall Street and the banking system.” Realistically, cars are fussy investments that can require a lot of upkeep, but sometimes you can come out ahead of more traditional investments like hedge funds if you’re very lucky.
“These cars started accumulating through Earl Trammel’s love for cars,” said John Hollander, Trammel’s brother-in-law, noting his long career as a car and body man in Alabama. “He was in business in two separate shops in Birmingham and started collecting cars at an early age. These cars need to be out where people can see them so I finally talked my sister into selling the entire inventory.”
Trammel’s collection also features a few other manufacturers, too. The 1987 Buick Grand National stands as perhaps the coolest American V6 car ever built. Trammel also purchased a 1996 Porsche C4S, leaving it behind with only 600 miles on the clock. Like the Corvettes, it’s a car common enough to raise questions about its value as an investment. Other highlights include the 1973 Lincoln Continental Mark IV and a 1956 Chevrolet 210 sedan.
GMTV plans to display the collection at auction in spring 2024. That gives you plenty of time to start saving your pennies if you’ve spotted something you simply need to have. There’s nothing here you couldn’t reasonably find somewhere else, but if you’re a stickler for low mileage and weird stories, this auction could be just what you’re looking for. Just prepare yourself for a serious overhaul job, given that most of these cars probably haven’t run in decades.
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This article was first published on TheDrive.