The Barn Finds Of MCACN 2024 Unearthed Some well-hidden Gems

2024 marks the 15^th edition of the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, which is just a stone’s throw away from Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Every year the show, commonly referred to as MCACN, serves up a batch of newly restored American muscle, along with some unrestored vehicles, and the arguably most popular recurring display, the Barn Finds & Hidden Gems gathering. The person responsible for bringing this part of the show to life very year is Ryan Brutt, the man behind the YouTube channel Auto Archaeology. Every year he pulls rabbits out of the hat with cars that have not been on anyone’s radar for years or even decades. This year there were some exceptionally rare vehicles on display. We’ve put together a gallery to give you a flavor of the caliber of cars that are still out there waiting to be found. 

The guys from Mopars 5150 showed up with what is arguably the most elusive unicorn in the Mopar world, a real 1971 Hemi ‘Cuda. This car was recently found on Facebook Marketplace where it was listed. The seller is from Texas and owned the car since 1985. It still wears its original FE5 Rallye Red paint and billboard stripe, along with a non numbers-matching factory replacement Hemi block that they believe was installed very early in the car’s life.

There were 652 ‘Cudas made in 1970 equipped with the 440 Six-Barrel option. This number covers both automatic and 4-speed optioned cars. Kyle Shay’s 1970 ‘Cuda started out as a V-code car, which denotes that engine combination; however, at some point in its life the 440 gave way to a 426 Hemi. Originally equipped with an automatic, it now has a four-speed and 4.10:1 Dana rear, as it appears to have been possibly built with some drag racing in mind. It sat on a car trailer outside for decades until it was pulled from its spot prior to the MCACN show.

This 1963 Corvette Z06 currently owned by Scott Andrews is a testament to the idea that they are still out there. There were 199 Z06 Corvettes made that year, and of those, 63 were produced with a 36-gallon tank. Corvettes so equipped are today known as “Big Tank” cars and are highly desirable. This one was ordered by Scott Briley, who was a sales manager at a dealership in California for the sole purpose of racing. Never driven on the street, it was raced in SCCA events by him until 1967, at which point it was sold to another individual who raced it until 1970. A catastrophic engine failure that year forced the car to be parked, and it was placed in a storage trailer for 54 years. A few weeks ago, it was purchased and had its first showing at the MCACN show. The new owner plans to restore it to its original race spec and go vintage racing with it.

In the Mopar world the combination of a 426 Hemi and a droptop always go hand in hand with a low production number. This 1968 Dodge Coronet R/T Hemi convertible owned by Dave Hunter checks off both of those boxes. It is 1-of-3 produced that year and while its rusty shell looks rather sad, this car once wore Silver Metallic paint, a black convertible top, and a Burgundy Metallic vinyl interior.

Martin Metz made his sophomore return to the barn finds section this year with another American Motors product. This year it was a 1971 Hornet SC/360 that he found parked behind an auto repair shop in Hillsborough, NJ. He found the car, 1-of-306 produced with a four-speed while chasing AMC parts on Craigslist. A spun bearing was the culprit that forced the car to be parked in the 1980s and it sat parked until 2023. Martin did enough to get the car to a point that it was drivable, which involved building a replacement 360 that was then mated to the original gearbox.

In the second half of 1970 Dodge offered FM3 Panther Pink as an optional color as part of their High Impact color catalog. An eye-searing pink was not well received at the time, so it is rare to find a car today that was originally optioned with it. This 1970 Dodge Coronet 440, originally exported to Canada when new, is currently owned by Evan Edwards and is still wearing its highly faded original pink color. It was originally powered by a 318-cu.in. small-block, which no longer resides in its empty engine bay.

The Excalibur was originally commissioned by Studebaker in the early 1960s and was heavily inspired by the Mercedes SSK roadsters of the 1920s. As the car evolved, the Studebaker drivetrain gave way to Chevrolet hardware and this 1973 Excalibur III, owned by George Damolaris, is an example that was fitted with a big-block Chevy. These cars were quite popular with the Hollywood elite and this specific one was initially owned by Priscilla Presley.

This 1972 Chevrolet “Heavy Chevy” Chevelle, currently owned by Ed and Kim Fischer, was wrecked within the first year of its initial purchase and only has 8,279 miles on the odometer. As a result of its severe front-end damage, it landed in a tow yard where it sat for 51 years. Ed and Kim have been trying to buy this car for decades and were finally able to do so when the owner passed away. Their goal is to have it restored and unveiled at the MCACN show once completed.

Michael and Rachel Johnson have owned their 1969 Mercury Cyclone 428 Super Cobra Jet Drag Pack car for 13 years. They found out about the car in a newspaper ad, which stated that it had some front-end damage. The second owner apparently inflicted that damage because of some road rage directed towards law enforcement, which forced him to park the car back in 1988. Over the years he gathered parts to repair the damage and when the Johnsons purchased the car they continued with that process. Their goal is to fully restore the car and bring it back to the MCACN show once it is complete.

This 1978 Pontiac Trans Am Special Gold Edition is owned by Joel Evans. RPO Y88 was a one-year-only option that was only offered for order for a few months between November 1977 and February 1978. Known as the Special Gold Edition, Y88 drew on the popularity of the black-and-gold trim adorned Trans Am models offered in 1977 and 1978. Those were quite popular because of the Smokey and The Bandit movie, and this edition borrowed all the design cues from those cars and inverted them, with the body sprayed in Solar Gold metallic paint against black graphics. The gold theme was heavily carried throughout the car. This F-body has aged gracefully and is regularly used by Joel during the summer months.

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