Show us YOUR barn find!

I find all this talk about 'barn find' cars is exciting. I've been saying for a while now that at some point these stories have got to stop and that we must be running out of cars to find, but I must admit I hear about cars that I'd consider 'barn find' status on a regular basis, sometimes 2 or 3 a week (rare and low milage to boot)! It really amazes me at what is still out there to find. So it got me to thinking, let's have a thread for the barn find cars - let's see what you've found.

I'll kick it off. My latest 'barn-find' acquisition is an almost-factory-fresh '65 1500S Notchback (with the optional high-comp motor) special order in Black, completely as new in every way (still has the cardboard CKD slip in the aircleaner sleeve), all books, hazet tools and spare keys still in the little black velvet pouch! After 20yrs undriven and hidden off the road, it's now club-registered with it's original plates (originally a Toowoomba purchase when new, hence 'P' issue number plates in 1965) and drives like new - just passed the 30k mile mark. These pictures were taken after a wash before it was driven home for the first time.







Although I can't claim to have actually 'found' this next one, I'm pleased to say that it's taking up space in my garage, and believe it or not, I have since met the dealer that sold it when new out of Dubbo, and know the mechanic that changed the camshaft at 30k miles in 1980. This one's an unrestored '54. The car now has just under 37k miles on the clock. I reckon this also counts as a bit of a 'find'.



So come on, what have you found? One-owner, low milage? A rare exotic? I reckon there'll be quite a few interesting ones to add here, so get posting!

you lucky lucky man !

WOW !!!!!!!
Amazing score !!
I can't believe how good it looks after just a wash, Enjoy.
Noddy. 🙄

slam them both.

slam the notch, chop the beetle😂

You're not serious?!... I hope.. (This is why I can never sell these cars!!). C'mon guys, what else has been found out there? Let's see some more cars!

that notch is amazing Rohan! so clean and crisp looking!!!

and that '54 isnt bad either 😀

cool man, does a paddock find count?.. 😂

I have a buss liek that just up the road from me but the guy wont part with it (instead he leans corrorgated iron up against it.

warb wrote:

I love your truck warb. 👍

shame about the owner 😂

This was my Barn Find many years ago..... Genuine Meyers Manx....... 😂



And now it looks like this....

.

now thats the mother of all barn finds above, wish i had that barn🙂

vwtyp2 takes the cake 😀

My bet not Oz....

well done that type 3 is amazing and factory black cooool

Am I allowed to ask what you paid for the Notch??? Just to make it hurt a little more...

The Notch is simply stunning, and I did I mention I hate you 😀

Never got to keep or even see mine - but my mate had a mate that rang me and said his mate was sick and needed to get rid of his stuff

It was a shed full of an Ascort he had pulld to pieces.
I managed to get a set of P11's for the help i gave him but i believe it is finally being restored

I believe this is the car

Closest i have ever got to a barn find - stock standard '76 (with exception to the wheels) - paid $700 for it. Was stored in a shed for 5 years in gympie.

Nice find with that Notch S. Look after it as there aren't too many OZ built S cars left on the road.

I guess all I can claim of an actual barn find is that I picked up this German assembled 1500S Notch from Eddie Lang at Barn...awartha just over the border in Victoria about 9 years back. Only a couple of hands full of them made it to Australia and now less than a hand full left. Had 31,000 miles on it but sadly bad maintenance clapped the engine. Very little rust anywhere and came complete except the engine was the standard 7.8:1 comp rather than the high comp. Most were changed to this under warranty to stop over heating probs in OZ (that info from VW mechanics of the day).

DH

here is somthing I stumblled across in july of last year😁

and when we dragged her into the sun,for the first time in 20 odd years😎

on the truck back to my place........about 500mtrs🙄

This is from the mid '90's

noice dave, is that the 23 that was cut up?..

warb wrote:noice dave, is that the 23 that was cut up?..

Yes, the only survivor from that lot is the white Oval, I still have it, and it still looks the same.

11CAB - great to see that buggy finished after all these years!

phatratpat - That's gotta be right up there with the best of them! Has that smile worn off yet?

vwombat - Thanks to some VW enthusiast (geez!) many, many years ago, the old guy knew what he had and what it was really worth. Suffice to say that I did my part in boosting the Red Book value for type 3s in this country! I had to have it - no question.

nope !every time I look at her I start grinning all over again😁...........now get back to work.I got me some bits to buy !!!👍

56 oval.
It was found in a shed at a wrecking yard a few years back. Apart from the surface rust, there is no major structual or bubble rust in it. complete with correct number engine and gearbox. Engine still runs, has the original interior.

Never found one myself but when at Uni late 80s early 90s and not yet an owner or value smart of the various VWs I did tell VWCOOL about a split window Beetle just outside Wodonga Victoria. It was in the shed nearly completely covered in hay bails, been there since it broke down, along with his FX ute in the other shed. My gf's father ended up taking the FX ute and restoring it.

And some of those photos are just rude 😂 only wish I was that lucky or even knew what a split window Beetle was 20 years ago.

Geeez almost forgot why I was posting, where is the shot of the Notch taken, is it outer suburbs of Brissy as I drove past and what I thought was a black Notch caught my eye and I think that is me in the black CX-7 at the lights 😂

I think its still sitting around some where in the Newcastle area
I didnt need another vw.

Hey GTMac, I heard of a split beetle out in country Vic 3 or 4 years ago - I think it was surrounded by hay on a property - was a one owner - story was that the old German owner's father brought it out with him when he came to Australia and never parted with it. I believe that it was kept for this guy's nephew/s that never came for it. Not sure what happened with this car in the end, but was a complete, driving, one-family-owned split beetle, and rust free at that. A friend of mine was enquiring about it at the time (often!) but it seemed that the disinterested nephew/s won that battle - never heard about it again - I think it was a '50. The pictures of the black notch were taken outside the workshop at Mick Motors on Brisbane's northside, where I work. It was pretty dusty when found, and I thought I'd impress more pulling up at home in a SHINY black car! Fresh 6v battery, oil, fuel and fuel lines were all that was necessary for this one after 20yrs of sitting - quite remarkable.

I love hearing about these sorts of finds, and I still can't get over the amount of original low-milage (20k-50k mile) examples that seem to still be out there waiting to be found - these are certainly the nicest cars to drive in my opinion, and are the cars that interest me the most personally. There was a nice birch green '62 beetle at the Gold Coast show last year - very original (repainted exterior) - does anyone know this car? Without knowing for sure, it presented as a car I missed out on a couple of years ago from Warwick - as described one-owner with 31k miles on the clock and was one of the first batch of 100 Aussie cars made at Clayton (missed it by 10 mins - I drove from Brisbane to purchase AND the owner was expecting me...argh! not happy about that one. What made it worse was that it left town in the opposite direction so I never even saw it on the road!).

Another good offer I had personally some years ago was a collection of 25 Country Buggies - all complete rust-free country cars. The only catch was that I had to buy all 25 in one hit, and the logistics of transporting (from way out in in the sticks - WAY OUT) and housing this number of cars made it impossible for me to even think about. Please don't ask me for the details on this one as I no longer have the seller's information - I know, I'm still kicking myself over that one.. but they weren't really as 'cool' then as they are now, so please understand.. Just like the rare fixed-high-roof '58 camper I could've had with rego for $2000, that was around the same time.. but I already had too many cars! Lesson - ALWAYS have space for the next car! What else is out there? Keep 'em coming!

my mate found this one out in the staicks
Told me about it but a couldnt get the owners son do sel it
Obviously some one else managed - anyone recognise it??

There were 2 beetles as well
They are prbably still there

Rohan, Domed pistons(high comp)was only available on the IMPORTED 1500s, exactly like the unit Dallas owns. ALL aussie built 1500s's were just a standard 1500N motor with twin carbs , same dizzy with larger vacuum can to compensate for the twin carbs. Other than that, it is an aussie 1500N with an "s" bagde and a chrome strip down the side. Imported type 3's were vastly different as they were not built from the old parts bins, had more exotic interiors other than the standard aussie red, brown and black, and were painted properly. Nice find though, you don't come across low mileage cars for the right money everyday.

For what i would kill to find an old buss hidden away in a barn somewhere🥲

Dyno, I understand what you are saying, and in most cases this would be true, but as stated my black notch was a special factory order with this motor and colour (as discussed with the original owner's son who knew all the details of it's purchase - well up in his 70's himself!) which I think makes it just that little bit more special - it does have the high comp motor with the 'M' code tag on the top of the crank case, something that the 1500N motors don't have - I have a perfectly original one-owner 1500N Deluxe notch also.

Rohan, any chance of a pic of the M code tag for that engine? In the re-build of my motor with a NOS case I misplaced the tag and would like to add it on again just for that bit of originality. May even put the NOS 8.5:1 pistons back in!!! Just need the rings. One more H.P than the 1600 engine you know!! 🙅

DH

1500S, sure that shouldn't be a problem. Little touches like that really finish the job nicely. I haven't got that car stored at my place at the moment so give me a few days and I'll try and get over to it and get a photo for you. I hope you can find your original tag though - keep looking!

Been looking since 2002 for it! Too many metal shavings around my workshop to find little bits like that now. The car was apart from late 1999 untill around Dec 2001 which was interferred with 8 weeks OS with another filthy hobby so a couple of things seemed to lose their way. Would you believe that this car started in 1995 with a NOS pushbutton switch and the search for the right car took another 4 years to find and that was only by accident. There was another one in a paddock at Young, NSW but I couldn't lock the owner into a time frame to see if it was worth getting. Wonder if it is still there? A guy called Marco (I think was his name) and for a while he had the VW workshop at Canberra (well a suburb anyway).

DH

PM sent with my email so the pic can be a good size.

Was told of a 68 kombi on a property so went to check it out,unfortantly it is a little to far gone,this is as close i have got to a barn find???

poor baby

Checking this out later in the week 😎

One owner, full books, parked for 15-20 years.

Offers?

GTMac wrote:Never found one myself but when at Uni late 80s early 90s and not yet an owner or value smart of the various VWs I did tell VWCOOL about a split window Beetle just outside Wodonga Victoria. It was in the shed nearly completely covered in hay bails, been there since it broke down, along with his FX ute in the other shed. My gf's father ended up taking the FX ute and restoring it.

yeah I remember you coming to Uni and telling me that... wanna do a road trip?!

PartyHatCentral wrote:Dyno, I understand what you are saying, and in most cases this would be true, but as stated my black notch was a special factory order with this motor and colour (as discussed with the original owner's son who knew all the details of it's purchase - well up in his 70's himself!) which I think makes it just that little bit more special - it does have the high comp motor with the 'M' code tag on the top of the crank case, something that the 1500N motors don't have - I have a perfectly original one-owner 1500N Deluxe notch also.

Hi there, what does the "m" code tag say? and do you have an engine number? Any close up pics of the engine, distributor and tag?

Hi

Not as rare as some of these cars but this is how I picked up my 1303 project after it was stored in a shed from 1985 until 2003.

I knew about it the whole time and was in the right place at the right time when the owner sold it to V Force and they gave me the rolling shell.

It has almost no rust and an uncracked dash.

Steve

gotta love those dealers..

i found a 54 single cab

well at least the hinges havn't rusted up, nice score, I think.

a mate found my 56 in mt beauty victoria we have preserved its original patina but everything mechanical was replaced in a 9 day rebuild by me and a couple of close mates

the old boy

now

well this is my find out the other side of marulen in a shed , about 14 klm's from anything he fired up after 2 turnes and was driven onto the trailer but he has spat 1 motor out due to a rag caught in the fan.and now a valve doing things that they are not made for

heres my 82 GT cruiser barn find
it was ridin 2 times then sheded

this is what i found in melbourne years ago

found this in far north queensland

where in far north qld was this bus?

Nice pics rexy... looks much the same except all the rust removed and new metal in, but have kept all the original paint, just the underside restored...

recent pics... it didnt have the front bar when i found it

another

Rexy, would love to see more pics...

Here's another barny i found...

Was exciting times...

Couldnt keep all of them...

Got this bus off the same farm...

Sold it to a mate, will be on the road soon...

CAFFINEPUSHERMAN wrote:the old boy

freakin oorsum find dude!...........man i'd love to get my hands on sumthing like that, throw on the fuchs' and stuff the five speed + 1776 up the back and CRRRUUIZZZZZZZZ.........so jealous!

the kombi from far north qld was in ravenshoe, i welded all the windows back up, lowered it and drove it for a bit before selling it

Byron bus the ute is looking good, dont have many more pics of it but have a few more of other splits i found over the years i will post

Made our Christmas when my dad got a call from an old time acquaintance looking to get rid of the beetle he had on his farm...
Turned out to be this beauty!
It is damn solid with books. Zenith Blue originally purchased on 27/3/1968 by an R McLlenland of Waverly then sold to a Wayne Smith of Glenfield. Serviced at Provincial Motors then sold into Mannum South Australia then onto our mate. It was driven it to the shed and covered up 12 years ago. Pics dont do it justice - with a wash and sproose up it will make an awesome rat/oldskool.

Mine was more of a "old garage" find
It hadent been started for close to 10 years but started straight away when i jumped in

Found this last year, was stored in this shed for 26 years, it is now registered and I ride it offen, great scoot.
Rode it to Canberra a couple of weekends ago for the Italian Day, cruises along suprisingly well for a 40 year old scooter.

Sorry its not a VW!! 🤪

this is mine, was found in melb. in a shed early 2001.
had been locked away since the 80's. the old guy who owned it, rode it from mildura to melbourne, his wife told him to put it away before he hurt himself, so he did..

now its mine. it had 14,000 original miles when i got it. we cleaned her up, replaced some cables and rubbers, new tyres and away we went..

this is her outside my cafe

Pity i dont have photos, a few years back i happened to bump into a factory somewhere in the dark industrial parts of Altona. Some old German guy had a whole factory full of classic vee dubs. I cant say if i could even remember how to get there, but i do recall spinning out at how many cars he had just sitting there waiting for some love.

Im thinking of going for a little drive one of these days to see if i can remember where it was... will be an interesting adventure.