Dan from DD Speed Shop answered a $100 Facebook Marketplace ad for T-bucket headers and ended up with the biggest barn find of his life, even though another buyer snapped up the headers before he could.
The seller’s late father had left a barn packed to the door for decades, and Dan sealed the deal in the three hours his partner, Danielle, spent at the dentist getting a root canal.
A Missed $100 Listing Led To A Barn Packed To The Door
The headers sold before Dan could grab them, but a few days later the seller spotted the Nomad in Dan’s Facebook profile picture and asked if he liked them. His late father had parked two Chevrolet Nomads in a barn around 30 years earlier and never got back to them.
The son spent the summer clearing the barn, and his invite finally came while Dan was dropping his partner Danielle off at the dentist. Dan drove straight over and bought three cars before her appointment wrapped up.
Dan says the channel had nothing to do with landing this barn find, since he’d never met the seller before. The family’s only condition was that the kids get to watch the cars come back together.
This Barn Find Hid Two Tri-Five Nomads And A Real SS 396 Ragtop
The star of the haul is a 1957 Chevrolet Nomad, the two-door Bel Air wagon Dan has always wanted. Just 6,103 were built for 1957, the final year of an original run that totaled 22,375 cars over three years.
A 1956 Nomad came along too, one of 7,886 built that year, even if Dan admits he’s not a ‘56 guy. Nomads made up less than 5% of Chevy’s wagon production, which helps explain why they’re now the most collectible Tri-Five models.
The third car is a 1967 Chevelle convertible with a big-block hood, a four-speed shifter hole, and its pedals still fitted. Its cowl tag is missing, but the VIN starts with 138, Chevy’s code for a genuine SS 396 that year. That makes it one of roughly 3,300 SS 396 convertibles built for 1967.
None of the three barn finds has an engine or transmission, and the Chevelle’s frame got crusty from sitting in grass. Dan reckons the body is solid enough to patch underneath and leave alone.
A Box Of Trim Saved The Projects
Missing trim was Dan’s biggest worry, since he’d already paid $150 per piece for the hockey-stick trim on his own Nomad. One of the extra boxes the seller threw in held most of what the cars needed, including wagon, door, and window trim, spears, and headliner bows. Dan figures that box alone is worth around $3,500.
The barn find also came stuffed with brand-new upholstery, factory Nomad cables, and labeled boxes of parts. Dan even got the father’s old aviation company sign for free after learning the family planned to toss it.
Someone offered to buy the Chevelle as soon as it reached the shop, but the money wasn’t enough. Dan is now asking viewers which cars to keep or sell, and reminding them that barn finds aren’t just for the big names.