Leaving Redding, CA, I felt that I had had rather enough of volcanos and deserts for the time being, and so headed for the coast.  I followed the Trinity River through a gorgeous winding valley.

And even had that most California of experiences, being stopped for clearing of a landslide.

As I drove through Weaverville, however, my eye was caught by this Ranchero for sale on the side of the road.  I actually drove past it, but then decided to loop back for another look because I needed a break from driving anyway.  It was a bit rough for my skill level, but it would be great to see this brought back to life.

Looking further up the drive, I was interested still further by this station wagon.  It’s a two door Chevy Plaza, and I actually don’t know how common these were, but this had an unusual feel to it for me.  Once again, imagine this tank fixed up and back on the road.

At this point I was approached by Barbara, who owns the lot that the cars are on, we fell into conversation, and I ended up spending the rest of the morning with her, talking and looking over the cars.  Hers is an interesting story, and I’d like to share it with you.  Barbara has lost her brother, her son, and most recently her father, and has been left alone to deal with this place where her father ran his business and collected cars.  He was a panel and fender man, but seems to have had eclectic taste and picked up anything that was of interest.

Barbara has only a rough idea of what cars she now owns, and what their value might be.  But worse still, she’s become almost a prisoner on the property, since thieves come most nights to steal car parts, and she has to stay inside just to be safe.  If she leaves the property for a day, whole cars disappear, and the police seem unable to help.  She’d like to be able to liquidate the property and be out from under this burden, but isn’t sure how to do that, and has been stolen from by several local people she’s asked for help.  She has sale signs on some of the cars, but has done no other advertising.

I took quite a few pictures of the cars she has, and am trying to get them in front of some people on the internet that are interested in these types of “barn find” vehicles that need restoration.    I’ve had some interest, and hope to be able to help her sell some of the cars or at least get some advice on their value.  If anyone reading this can provide guidance or would like to make Barbara a fair offer for a car, please get in touch with me and I’ll give you her contact information.  I only took pictures of the ones that seemed to me to have some value, but unfortunately these are well outside of my experience or expertise, so I could quite easily have missed something interesting.  She has about 200 cars there, and to me it looked like there might be some gems hidden among a lot of scrap metal — I’ve included a few pictures here, but have many more.

This old Hudson has some awesome lines..

One of my internet contacts tells me that this Pontiac Ventura hatchback must be 1973 or 1974, the only two years they made hatchbacks, and he also loves the huge bumpers.

Many of the cars in the back of the property have been stacked, probably destroying their value, but there may still be good parts available.

This old Mercedes, as well as several other cars, are in the best shape, and will run with only a little bit of work and a new battery.

Barbara also has all of her father’s shop equipment for sale, including large lathes, tuning machines, tire balancers, a car hoist, drill presses, etc.  There’s also a barn stacked with just engines and there are hub caps and parts scattered everywhere.

Again, if anyone is interested in these cars, parts, or equipment, please get in touch with me — I also have more pictures of her stock.  It would be great to see Barbara able to get out from under this burden, and live a more normal and safer life.  I’m so glad that the Ranchero caught my eye and I went back for a closer look…