The latest episode of Barn Find Hunter isn’t technically a barn find – but you probably won’t mind.
That’s because this week Tom Cotter is visiting the Lane Motor Museum in Tennessee, and proprietor Jeff Lane has one of the most diverse collections of unusual cars you’re ever likely to see.
There are more than 500 vehicles in the collection altogether, and only a fraction of those are ever on display in the museum at any one time – but Cotter gets a guided tour of the museum’s basement, where the madness really becomes apparent.
Lane shows Cotter a collection of vehicles built by a now defunct US company called Martin, for instance – all three identifiable by their large, three-bolt disc-type wheels, and unusual semi-streamliner styling. In the wooden-bodied Stationete from the 1950s, you can even wind down the front window.
The Errikson bubble car with its riveted aluminium bodywork – and not in large sections, but scrap-sized pieces – is similarly odd, and the three-wheeled Hoffman later in the video even stranger, with a front track wider than its wheelbase is long.
More conventional but no less appealing are Lane’s Panhard single-seater, a two-stroke DKW and his Citroën 2CV with no body (so you can see all the mechanicals moving), while a coal-powered Traction Avant (really) also makes an appearance.
And from some of the smallest land vehicles, Lane also has something absolutely enormous – an old Vietnam War military lander with a Detroit Diesel engine for each of its four wheels. Perhaps obviously, this one isn’t parked inside the museum…
You can get distracted just by the cars in the background of most shots, so it might need a couple of watches to fully absorb. And if you’d like a taste of what some of the cars are like to drive, read about Lane’s Tatra T87 and Reliant Regal.
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I disagree with your “barn find” description and I “do mind” as it is an American term not English therefore making it misleading.
To go with the correct statement of “found in a warehouse” is not only true but accurate. In journalism accuracy is key as I was taught from the start. Let’s keep it English shall we? There is far too much American influence in our English language as it is.
Thanks for the comment DR. The video series itself is called Barn Find Hunter which is why we used the phrase at all, and the series is from our US colleagues, hence the title. This episode just happens not to be a barn find, but hopefully you found the collection interesting regardless.
It’s a supreme luxury to see what’s in a place before deciding to gleefully avoid it. Thank you.
Contrary to what I see others writing I found the Collection fascinating . Tom Cotter is great . I just wish he had spent more time with that collection which deserved it. He passed over some fantastic cars which were deserving of much more interest. Other than that I would agree with one of the other correspondents who noted the Americanisms in the English. Probably cannot be helped but our language is so rich and beautiful it is a pity to see it deformed with these mannerisms.-