(upbeat rock music)
- Well, added another state
to the Barn Find Hunter list.
We're in Bozeman, Montana.
It's fabulous out there.
Mountains, clouds, sun,
rain, hail, tornadoes,
warm weather, cold weather,
all like within an hour.
It's amazing.
I was here two years ago for a car event
and visited my friends
Dan and Martha Case.
(laughs) And they gave me
directions to their house,
and I said, "Oh my God!
There's a guy around the corner
"with a whole yard full of cars!"
So, I went and knocked on the door,
told the guy who I was.
I said, "I'm gonna come back here
"and shoot a Barn Find Hunter
episode in the near future.
"So, let's put this conversation on hold.
"I don't wanna see your cars,
"I wanna see them when we
come back with a camera team."
So here we are, driving there right now.
Can't wait to see what he's got.
(upbeat guitar music)
(car door opening)
- Thanks for keeping everything in place.
I told you, "Don't
straighten everything out."
And you didn't touch a thing.
- Not a thing.
- So, Marty has the most
eclectic collection of cars
that I've seen in a long time.
But I haven't seen anything more
than what we see right here.
So I asked Marty if we could walk around,
and he could just tell me the stories
of interesting cars.
Because right here I'm looking at
a Sunbeam, right?
- Mm hmm
- A Comet convertible,
a Cadillac convertible,
a 327 Impala wagon, a Jaguar XJ6,
and then a field of stuff over there.
I love it, I love it, I love it.
- I've never met a car I didn't like.
(laughing)
- [Tom] And this is your collection.
You don't buy and sell.
- [Marty] No, this is just a hobby.
They didn't give me any
toys when I was a kid,
so I collect cars now.
(upbeat guitar music)
- So here, right up my alley, an MG 1100
- [Marty] Yes, that's right.
- [Tom] So, vintage plates.
Do you drive this car?
- [Marty] This car is drivable, yes.
- [Tom] Does this have a hydro suspension?
- [Marty] It does.
That's why it's sitting so low.
- [Tom] So these cars didn't have
traditional shock absorbers.
They had a hydropneumatic suspension,
which is a continuous
circuit around the car
of hydraulics that keep it up in the air.
And if that pipe breaks,
the car goes down.
- [Marty] The fellow that had it before me
autocrossed it and so he has it lowered
as much as it reasonably could be lowered
and still drivable.
- [Tom] A Honda 600?
- [Marty] Yes.
- [Tom] From Oklahoma.
How did--
- [Marty] That's where I bought that car,
and I haven't run it for years,
but I have several of these.
The coupe, they made the sedan
and the coupe '68 to '72,
and this is a coupe.
I just have a soft spot in
my heart for those cars.
My first real car, I guess you'd
say, that I bought in 1972,
was a yellow one of these.
It's over in the shed now.
- You have it!
- I have it still, and
whenever I have a chance,
if I can pick one of these up, I will.
Suzuki Jeeps that you don't see anymore
I've put a Datsun engine into that one.
- [Tom} Did You Really?
- [Marty] Yes.
- [Tom] A Datsun what? 1200?
- [Marty] A Datsun 1200.
- [Tom] 1200 have a V210 or a 1200 engine?
- [Marty] Right.
- No kidding.
Now, that panel delivery we
just walked by and ignored,
what's the story of that?
- [Marty] I just ended up with that.
My wife kinda likes the
looks of that thing,
so I sort of promised her that someday
I'd put a Jaguar six engine into that.
Would that be sacrilegious?
- No, I love it!
- Would that be okay?
- Cause you'd take out a straight six,
put in a straight six.
- Yeah.
- You know, and right
now, I gotta tell ya,
the look of that truck
with that paint job,
that's where the whole
hot rod world is going,
to that look.
- [Tom] Oh, rotary pickups.
Wow, man, I haven't seen
one of these in 20 years.
(cheerful country music)
- Now here's a car that
doesn't get a lot of,
I don't know.
Fans, publicity, it's an
Ambassador Custom Nash.
Now, I happen to love the style of this.
Very art deco, huge car,
powered by a Nash engine,
which I believe had seven main bearings,
a straight six cylinder overhead valve,
that actually powered a Le Mans
car that didn't win Le Mans,
but it did really well.
Seven main bearing, it
was in a Nash-Healey.
The seats could all be
folded down into a bed,
so you could take this car camping.
You fold the front seat
backs down and there you go,
or the ultimate driving
car for teenagers, I guess.
- [Marty] (laughs)
- So, Mini Cooper.
So these cars came with
850cc engines, 998, 1071,
1275, and 1300 cc's.
Over the course from 1959
to the last cars that were
produced, probably in the 2000s.
And it was supposed to be an 80/20 car.
The 80/20 is, it's a 10 foot long car.
80% of it, from here
to here, was passenger,
and 20% of it was engine.
So therefore, the engine
was put in sideways,
transverse, and it
powered the front wheels.
And so, the front end,
the engine was up here,
these wheels powered the car,
it steered the car, the major
braking was done in the front,
so really these cars handled amazingly.
The back went where the front was pointed,
and so they were called flying shoe boxes.
And if you've ever watched on YouTube,
some of the races from Goodwood, England,
you'll see these racing
against 427 Ford Galaxies.
What the Ford lacks in handling
it makes up on the straightaways,
but these guys, if there's a
lot of turns, can beat a Ford.
So, very interesting.
Now, I saw something over
here that got my attention.
This chassis.
So this is an early Ford chassis,
and the thing that intrigues
me, I would have walked by
if it didn't have these heads probably.
But it's a flathead Ford V8.
It's got Offenhauser high-compression
finned aluminum heads.
They were a racing accessory.
It's got an aluminum
intake manifold as well,
but that's a Ford item.
If it had dual carbs, or
three carbs, or four carbs,
it would have been a racing piece.
Oh, the key is still in
the ignition, look at that.
I wonder if it starts.
I'm gonna tell Marty what year this is.
Okay. (clears throat)
With those wheels, it can
only be '36, '37, '38 or '39.
Is this the original motor
or has this been changed?
- [Marty] That I don't know
but I don't think it's been changed.
But that's not your giveaway.
- [Tom] Well--
- [Marty] Should I give you a hint?
- [Tom] No.
- [Marty] No.
- [Tom] The serial number's right here,
and if I knew my stuff
I'd be able to identify the serial number.
- [Marty] No, no.
- [Tom] Let's see.
- [Marty] Your hint is more obvious.
- [Tom] Is that a truck transmission?
- [Marty] It is.
- [Tom] Is that a truck frame?
- [Marty] It is.
- [Tom] Okay, so we've
narrowed it down to that,
- [Marty] Pickup.
- [Tom] 'cause it's got these
reinforcing rods up here.
I'm saying '37.
- [Marty] May I give him a hint?
- (laughs)
- [Marty] I'm gonna give
you a hint. (taps metal)
- [Tom] (laughs) A '39.
- [Marty] Right.
- [Tom] And you know what he pointed at?
The hydraulic brakes.
You know what?
I've been away from these cars too long.
- [Marty] That's okay.
- Hydraulic brakes.
First year for Ford
hydraulic brakes was 1939.
'38 and prior were mechanical brakes
with rods and levers and springs.
All right, I have to look
at that wagon over here too.
We just dragged a '62 Ford Country sedan
out of a yard in Midland, Texas.
- [Marty] This has had a tough
life, but a very long life.
- [Tom] What motor's in there?
- [Marty] 352.
- [Tom] So was this a driver,
did you ever drive it?
- [Marty] I drove it a lot actually.
- [Tom] Did you really?
- [Marty] I did.
When I really left home,
the folks didn't want it
cluttering up around the house,
so I took it down to the creek bottom
and it suffered badly down there but--
- [Tom] Hah!
- [Marty] It's crowding
300,000 miles on that car.
- [Tom] You had this when you were a kid?
- [Marty] I got it when it
had about 180,000 on it,
and I drove it all over the country.
- [Tom] So it's an old friend.
- It is.
I can't just let that go to the crusher,
I have to do something with that.
- [Tom] Yup, yup, yup
- [Marty] Yeah.
- So we just made a deal with Marty.
It's windy, you can
probably hear it on the mic,
even though I changed this shirt,
the collar didn't straighten it out much.
I think rain is in our future,
so we're gonna come back tomorrow morning.
Hopefully it'll be sunny and
maybe a little more still,
and we'll do round two of
Marty's cool yard here,
so stay tuned.
(upbeat rock music)
- Yes, we're back at Marty's house.
It's relatively clear skies,
sun's out, no rain, and no wind.
So you can hear me
probably a lot better now
than you could yesterday.
So let's pick up where we left off.
Oh, there they are back there.
(speaking in background)
- Oh, look, they got that
Model A truck running.
Do you believe that?
(laughs)
Yesterday, on the other side of the barn,
there was a Model A stake bed truck,
and I said, "Does this run?"
I'm asking, like, quizzically.
"Oh, yeah.
"I use it to haul around a big
barrel of water for plants."
Okay, maybe 10 years ago.
Well, here we come to Marty's house today,
and the truck's driving.
Amazing.
(engine whirring)
- [Marty] Oh my God.
- [Tom] It's purring like a kitten!
(engine drowns out voices speaking)
- [Marty] You guys were
looking at it yesterday
like, "Yeah, yeah, it'll never run."
- [Tom] (laughs)
- [Marty] That's the way
a lot of the things are
around here.
(vehicle door opening)
(engine humming)
(engine whirring)
(intense country music)
- [Tom] Always in these
programs, people say,
"Oh, you concentrated on that,
but you didn't talk about--"
There's gonna be lots of cars here
we're not gonna have time to talk about,
I have to let you know up front.
(intense country music)
- But, okay, here's a
clean looking Karmann Ghia,
and I saw a couple other ones you have.
Rust spots on these cars
are the areas you can't see,
the battery box, under the hood.
Is it pretty clean?
- [Marty] You know what?
I just drove it across the street
and parked it here and this is it.
- [Tom] Well that could
be a real nice car.
That could be buffed up.
- [Marty] It's pretty straight.
- [Tom] I'm looking at
the bumpers on that--
- [Marty] The bumper, she
backed in, or somebody hit her,
I don't know, but the
bumper is creased there.
But, really, you see a lot of
'em a lot worse than that one.
- Man.
So yesterday, Marty told me
he's building this train track.
They're one foot apa--one foot apart?
- [Marty] One foot between the rails.
- And he's building a
locomotive so he can ride
back and forth from his house to his shop.
And you know, you hear, "Oh, sure, yeah.
"You're building a locomotive. Right."
Well, here's a locomotive.
So, tell me, did you build that tank,
or you started out with a tank?
- [Marty] I had a friend
build that for me.
That's actually a code boiler,
but the wheels, frame, tender,
all this has been built.
I made the patterns for the
wheels and the cylinders.
- And you--
- Casted.
- Cast your own wheels.
- Right.
- [Tom] So you made your
own little leaf spring here?
- [Marty] Yes.
- [Tom] So, is this
copied off of something?
- [Marty] It's copied off a--
This is called a consolidation
engine 2-8-0 arrangement
that was very commonly used
on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.
- [Tom] If you get this
done, I wanna know about it,
'cause I want a ride.
So, in the shed here, what
do we have, a Fiat 600.
- [Marty] And you're gonna
ask me what year it is.
I don't know.
- [Tom] Yeah.
- [Marty] Help me out.
Would it be about a '59?
- [Tom] I was gonna say, probably a '59.
It looks very solid.
- [Marty] I think so.
- [Tom] And look at this paint.
Holy mackerel.
I'm glad you have this in
the building. (clears throat)
- [Marty] Yes. I am too.
- [Tom] 31,000 miles.
So if you look inside these doorjambs,
original paint looks brand new.
Door panels, this thing could
be cleaned up real nice.
Look how clean this is.
- [Marty] I think I'm gonna
put a set of Honda pistons
and rods into the Fiat engine.
- [Tom] I don't know what
they use for a transaxle,
Fiat, or put the Volkswagen one in.
- [Marty] Well, find out and let me know.
- [Tom] (chuckles) So look
how original this car is.
Not only is the original paint in here,
the engine compartment, so clean,
here's the original decal.
"Do not remove fuel
pump and repellent line
"unless outlet pipe on tank
first has been removed."
Wow.
- [Marty] (chuckles) You
can never be too careful.
- [Tom] This is a neat car.
(trunk shutting)
(speaking in background)
- [Tom] A Stanley.
A Stanley steamer, holy mackerel.
Wow.
Jay Leno would freak out over this.
It's a Phaeton, I guess.
(metal clanking)
Four door convertible.
So look at that engine.
(metal clanking)
- [Tom] I'm not quite sure how these work.
Is this a condenser?
- [Marty] That is the boiler.
- [Tom] The boiler, okay.
- The radiator--
they made this to look
like a conventional car.
The radiator, per se, is the condenser,
and the engine is slung under the body
and hooked to the rear axle.
- [Tom] How many cylinders is that?
- Two.
- [Tom] Two cylinders.
- Two-cylinder double-acting.
- [Tom] Have you driven this?
- I have.
- [Tom] And those fenders--
I mean, you gotta do this to
one of the Mazdas out there.
So thin, this is thick.
- [Marty] It is thick,
and I believe that those fenders are steel
but the body's aluminum.
- [Tom] Really.
- [Marty] I believe so.
(knocking)
- [Tom] Yeah, that definitely--wow.
So how long has this been parked here?
- [Marty] I ran this about six years ago.
That's a sliding door back behind it
that I take it out through.
- [Tom] So these never die.
I mean, they can always
be brought back, right?
- [Marty] Absolutely
- Yeah.
- [Marty] Yeah.
- [Tom] Steam Automobile Club
of America, Incorporated.
- If we wanna get technical about it,
this would have been a steam vehicle car,
steam vehicle bought from Stanley.
I'm not sure what year,
but just in the last few years
of the Stanley production.
And this would be a steam vehicle car,
and it had a Stanley engine put in it
when the steam vehicle engine failed.
The boiler was incomplete at the time.
One of the first things he
said was, "How old are you?"
And I told him my age and he said,
"Aw, you're young enough,
you'll get that boiler fixed."
- [Tom] (laughs)
- Anyway.
- [Tom] And you got it fixed?
- Oh, yeah. That's the
boiler that's in it now.
- [Tom] Now, to see
these run down the road
is just a miracle, it's wonderful.
This body seems in amazing shape.
- [Marty] It's in very original condition.
[Tom] Man.
[Marty] I took the doors off just 'cause
it's so much easier to climb in and out,
and giving rides and so forth,
when we drive it around here.
- So there was a gap here
between the running board
and the fender originally, no?
- [Marty] Yes, there
should be one on each side.
It allows you to get into the burner.
- [Tom] So you can see
the motor back here,
two-cylinder, and those are the rods
that power it to the rear end.
Well, this is the engine.
Actually, the engine's right
there, you can't quite see it,
and it's powering these rods.
The pistons are powering these rods
that are in turn turning the rear end,
the ring and pinion gear,
to power the car to go down the road.
The fuel tank's in the back,
so there's kerosene on one
side and gasoline on the other.
- Marty, could this be original paint?
- [Marty] Well, I certainly think it is.
- [Tom] That's an amazing car.
(upbeat guitar music)
- [Tom] That's a T?
- [Marty] That is proudly the
oldest thing on the place.
It does not have provision
for an electric starter,
so you know your T's.
Would that place it 1915 or earlier?
- [Tom] I'm thinking '15, '16.
So, crank start only.
Neat car, man.
- You're in touch with your environment
when you're driving one of those.
- My butt sat in one of
those seats for 15 days.
We drove it across the United States.
- That would be quite a trip.
- [Tom] The car we drove was a '26,
I think it had one gauge.
Just the ammeter gauge.
This doesn't seem to have any gauges, hmm.
Model T also had one
door, so the problem is,
when the driver has to go to the bathroom,
the passenger has to get out
and the driver has to go to the bathroom.
Which I experienced many
times over that 15-day trip.
(car door shutting)
- Huh, neat car.
How long has that been
sitting under the roof here?
- [Marty] About 20 years.
More than that, yeah.
- [Tom] Well thank God
it's under the roof,
that's neat.
This is a car that I
really relate to, a BMW.
This 1600 or 2002?
- [Marty] 2002.
- [Tom] So it's got the
hubcap and the trim ring,
so it's a real old one.
- It is.
My dad bought this brand new,
we waited in Minneapolis.
It was the first shipment.
There were three 2002s
that came into the country
on the boat.
And 2 of them stayed in New York
and this one went to Minneapolis,
where my dad took delivery of it.
- It's got 90,000 miles.
- [Marty] That would be original.
- Four-speed, a big old
steering wheel. (closes door)
So it's got a dented left fender,
but otherwise how's the body on it?
- [Marty] Not too bad.
- So this has got the early rims.
Doesn't have any slots or anything,
just a steel rim, 13 inch.
It sounds like it could be the third one
in the United States.
Prior to this, they had 1600s,
and it was big news when
they came out with the 2002.
You're a two-liter car.
This is a real early one,
she's got round taillights,
small bumpers, it's got
wheels with no slots in 'em.
And that one doesn't have the hubcap,
but the one in the front has
a hubcap and a trim ring,
which you don't see very often
'cause most people who have cars like this
have put Panna supports
on 'em or something.
But that's an original
wheel hubcap and trim ring.
The interior looks amazingly sound.
No rips in the seats.
Real clean.
Says 90,000 miles.
You can see the little four-speed
pattern on the dashboard.
It had a big, kind of a
cumbersome steering wheel,
but I'm not seeing rust
in any of the places
that BMWs have rust:
Behind the rear wheel, over
the top, the fender lip
down here in the doorjamb.
(shuts car door) Okay, here we go.
(opens door) This is that door clunk.
This is a 51 year old car.
Here we have a Nash,
last on the road.
'94.
25 years ago.
Look at the paint on the dash, the gauges,
26,000 miles on the
odometer, steering wheel,
the chrome, clock.
What a neat car.
(shuts car door) Would you
like to see this car run?
I would love to see this car run.
Marty's just offered something that--
I can't tell you how happy I am.
- [Marty] I made a claim
that I hope I can live up to.
- Or you (murmurs)--
- I said we can have this
running this afternoon,
and I believe, because I parked it here--
Unless the gods are
really turned against me,
I don't see a problem.
- So, BMW, a Nash, a Ford
flathead engine, and a Honda 600.
That's gotta be the most
eclectic lineup we've ever seen.
- [Marty] Well, we'll put them on the list
for this afternoon.
- [Tom] So this is intriguing.
NSU.
NSU convertible.
What kind of motor's in this?
- [Marty] That's a rotary.
A Wankel engine.
- [Tom] So weren't they the first company
to get the patent to build them into cars?
- [Marty] I believe they were.
- [Tom] So it's a rear-engine rotary.
Last driven in Oregon in 1979.
It's pretty straight body, too.
- [Marty] I imagine if that
rotary were running right
it would perform pretty well.
- [Tom] NSU Spider. Hmm.
- [Marty] And, I'm embarrassed,
I'm not even sure what year it is.
- [Tom] Well--
- [Marty] I'd have to check the title.
- We've been doing this
Barn Find Hunting stuff
for four years now.
That's the first NSU we've found,
and probably in my life, it's
the first NSU I've found.
- Really?
- Yeah, I mean you see them at a show
and they're all cleaned up.
Oh my God look at this.
- [Marty] Guy gets tired just
looking at it, doesn't he?
(intense guitar music)
- You know, there's dozens of cars,
but this one jumps out at me,
because this was my era.
This is a Mazda RX-3,
which was a rotary engine,
and it's the SP model.
So this one had a rear spoiler,
somehow I think it had a front spoiler,
though this one doesn't have it.
It's got these boy racer graphics,
it had trim rings you could buy
and really race right from the showroom.
This is a neat car.
This is one that I could see restoring.
This is a Datsun 1200.
It was the baby brother to the Datsun 510.
The 510 had a 1600 engine
with an overhead cam engine,
this was a pushrod 1200 engine,
so in racing, this would run in D Sedan,
and the Datsun 510 would run in B Sedan.
But they were economical
cars, they were cheap to buy,
this was probably $1900.
Got good gas mileage,
they lasted a long time.
(upbeat rock music)
- [Tom] We've seen the
meat of your collection
without touching every single car.
- [Marty] I think you have.
- But now, part two is, that Nash wagon.
- [Marty] Okay--
- (laughs)
- How do you want to work that?
Do you wanna film it being pulled out--
- Yeah
- And then leave me with an
hour or two to get it running?
- Just an hour or two?
- Well, that's my guess but...
- Yeah, we'd like to
film it being pulled out.
(chains rattling)
(heavy rock music)
- [Tom] Look at this.
(shuffles papers) Let's
see what year it is.
(shuffles paper) 1951.
Green Nash Rambler station wagon.
Washburn Ash Motors Company.
That thing's been on
there since the 50s, man!
Look at the condition
of this little tailgate.
(knocks on metal)
This is a no-brainer to
get this car mechanically--
brakes, electrical,
maybe rebuild the motor,
and just clean the heck out of it.
Man.
(upbeat rock music)
(air hose popping)
[Tom] Do a DNA search on these
and we'll see who smoked these cigarettes.
(door closing)
(metal clicking)
(talking in background)
- [Tom] Look how simple this is.
This is the windshield wiper motor
that goes to a cable system with pulleys.
This one goes to the passenger's side,
there's another one that
goes to the driver's side,
flipped back and forth,
all operated by this,
kind of a push-me pull-you system.
(can hissing)
(coughing)
- [Marty] Okay.
(engine turning)
(can hissing)
- [Marty] Try again.
(engine turning)
- So we have the car turning
over, it turns over nicely.
I think we have a spark.
There's a fuel delivery
problem, we don't have--
(metal clanking)
- Ether, so we're using
carburetor cleaner.
But we're going out to
get some ether right now
and some fresh fuel.
So we're gonna come back
either later today or tomorrow
and Martin said this car
will be running by then.
(engine revving)
- [Boy] Well, of course, when I left--
(laughing)
- [Tom] What'd you do?
- We just--what did we do?
We filed the points.
We filed the points and
put in a six-volt battery
and gave it some juice and it went.
So (mumbles) is making sure
we're getting good fuel.
You know, from the tank, and
getting ready to drive it.
- [Tom] You wanna do it one more time?
- (laughs) I don't know.
- [Boy] I smell some
exhaust, was it running?
- Yeah
- [Boy] Oh yeah, okay, I'll go.
(engine cranking)
(engine whirring)
(engine revving)
(cheerful music)
(engine cranking)
- [Tom] Oh, man.
Holy mackerel!
(engine whirring)
- [Marty] Pretty sweet.
(engine whirring)
- This is my favorite
car of this whole lot,
- (laughs)
- And so they pulled it out with a tractor
and it's running right now.
This engine's running right now.
The oil pressure's 40,
temperature's exactly in
the center on the gauge,
it's perfect.
This is (knocks on door) a great car,
and you can see the body's
starting to buff down a little
just to show that this car
could, and hopefully will,
after we leave, look like that.
While you guys were futzing
around over there and before,
I went around and looked
at all the cars you've got
and counted up the cylinders you've got.
- Really?
- Imagine what this
guy's cylinder count is?
(laughs)
- So, the big number is 842
cylinders on this property,
and I counted your tractors.
I think I might have
missed a push mower or two,
they had some push mowers
back there which we (mumbles).
You have 842 cylinders on the property.
That includes trucks, that bulldozer.
And an amazing thing about that is
that you have 34 Mazdas
which, have no cylinders,
that equals 68 rotors.
You have an NSU rotary
which is one cylinder
which is 69 rotors,
and you have a steam
car, a Stanley steamer.
So, nobody on the face of this earth
has that many cylinders and
rotors and steam powered cars.
- (laughs)
- So thanks for letting
us be a part of your life.
- It's been a pleasure.
- To you and--
- [Boy] Yeah, yeah and to me,
- Nico
- And Andrea, who is
in there making dinner
and I'm holding you guys up.
It's been an amazing couple of days.
- Thank you.
(relaxing country music)
(engine whirring)
