The Barn Find (Paperback)

A Barn Find is a term used in the classic car industry to denote an unrestored automobile of variable age but usually very old and usually very classic and sometimes very rare. They take their name from the old barns, carriage houses, old warehouses and the like where they are found after decades of forgetfulness. Located in various states of preservation they range from totally rusted out by a leaking roof, crushed by fallen timbers and good only for a few parts at most, to ones that have been kept dry and covered for decades with their worst faults being cracked leathers, tarnished chrome or brass and cracked paint. To find an especially rare one in restorable condition is the ultimate dream of every car restorer, amateur as well as professional. Meet the 1925 Isotta-Fraschini Type 8A, an Italian made limousine that hasn't been on the road for sixty years when it was considered by many to be more elegant than the Rolls Royce of the time. Meet Carl Gniewek, a man in his thirties, a man who likes to gamble at the local bar, a man who repairs and restores cars for a living and a man who has just stumbled on one of the rarest of all barn finds. His gamble on it may have enormous returns but his life gets complicated by a locked trunk with a broken off key. Meet Aldrich Barrington Acwellen the Fourth, current owner of the barn find who just wants it out of his barn and off his estate. It is holding up a remodeling project intended to further his political career in his bid for Attorney General of Pennsylvania. Meet Sandy Acwellen, Aldrich's twenty five year old trophy wife who appreciates the barn find much more than her husband does. Her degree in Fine Art leads her to admire the classic car as rolling sculpture and develop a deep affinity for its mascot, Triomphe. Carl does not yet know it, but he now has more problems than opening a trunk jammed with a rusty broken off key and more to restore than just the Isotta.