World’s MOST Unusual Cars EVER made, Found In One Warehouse | Barn Find Hunter

It's fun. A two-stroke, isn't it? Yeah. Well, I was worried about you going off into the darkness there. No, I know where I'm going, though. I've been around there a few times. I bet. In the world of auto museums, there are generic museums, and they seem to all have a 55 Thunderbird and a Studebaker Avante and maybe a Model T. We've all seen those museums before, but in this museum, which is Jeff Lane's museum, he's got a niche for collecting the most unusual cars. Thanks for having us here. Sure. Our niche is unique and different, cars that people typically haven't seen. I think people call me, a lot of times, the King of Weird, which I think is a good badge. I think that's a good thing, yeah. Well, what Jeff has allowed us to do, because we're insiders in this barn find world, we're going to visit the basement collection. Lead the way, man. All right. Let's do it. Because we have 550 cars in the collection, and we can only display about 125 at a time, we rotate about 60 cars, 60 to 70 per year. Well, would you show us some cars that, to you, are significant, like one-off, or ... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, let's wander down here. Now, is that a Mini Mini? Yeah. That's like a two-third scale Mini. Jeez. Yeah. Somebody in England decided it's got like a Briggs & Stratton engine in it. Jeez. Yep. Wow. And then we have, over here, a Shorten Mini. Oh, look at that. Yeah. Jeez. Yeah. Plum Mini. Oh, now we're in the blue section. So one of the interesting cars here is this Martin Aerodynamic. So there was a guy that lived on Long Island that was a patent attorney. His name was James Martin, and he wanted to build cars, sell the idea to a company, and they were going to manufacture it, and he was going to get royalties. So he did three cars, and we have all three of them. So this was a Streamliner, you know, one door on this side, kind of like an airplane. Aluminum? Engine in the back. It's aluminum with a wood frame. What a beautiful style. Yeah. Yep. Even the back window's got a nice look to it, the curve around. So the motor's in the back. The motor's in the back. What kind of motor is it? Continental, four-cylinder, flathead. Now, where do you find a car like this? You know, we actually bought this on eBay. Ha! Jeez. Yeah, years ago. This was at, there was a museum in Stone Mountain, Georgia, called the Stone Mountain Car Museum, and this was on eBay. This is a race car? This is a Panhard. Panhard? Like a Formula Ford-type Panhard. Three lugs. Yep. Two cylinders. Air-cooled. No, four-stroke. Four-stroke. Yep. And was that a class of racing? So there was a class of racing for this car, I think, in Canada. So this Skoda is very interesting because this came, there was a couple that lived in Czechoslovakia, they moved to Chicago and started a bakery, and they loved Skoda, which is a Czech car manufacturer, still around, actually owned by Volkswagen. So when they moved to Chicago, they bought two of the exact same cars. Now this was the wife's car. So when they passed away about five or six years ago, their kids said, what are we going to do with these pieces of junk? So this car is totally original, except of course, you know, we changed the tires, we've done some brake work. I think it has, can you see the Speedo? Yeah. I think it's got like 2,500 miles on it. 2,497. Yeah, 2,497. So you're saying this interior is original? Yeah, yeah. Holy mackerel. Because you can see how little they drove it. And obviously they kept it in a garage. The original paint, solid body, less than 2,500 miles. That's amazing. Yeah. Wow. And the traction of Vant here is very interesting, because this is a, what they call Gasolgine. So during World War II, most of the public could not get gasoline at any price. So there was a company called Gasolgine that you would take your car there, and they would convert it to run on coal. That's what this is? And that's what this is. So you put the coal in here, and you start it on fire, and it produces a methane gas, which comes down through this tube, and then through the front. This was a tube to cool it off somewhat. This was a big, huge filter to filter out hopefully a lot of the charcoal pieces, particulates. It's got a stock motor in here. And it runs on a stock motor. Yep. Wow. Did it run efficiently? So there were a lot of disadvantages. One, it took 20 minutes for it to get enough methane to get going, right? You lost one third of the power, and it would only run about 30 minutes before you had to restock it. But the biggest problem was, it was very dangerous. Because if the gas got too hot in here before it got into the motor, it would explode. Like I said, they did about 5,000 conversions. After the war, everybody took them off. Because they really, I mean, it was better than nothing, but not that great. So it's rare that a few of them... That this still existed. Hmm. Cool. And I know collection would be complete without a Model T. Model T, yeah. Yep. This is another original car. A DKW. Yep. The interior is original. I mean, again, we put tires on it. But this has got 36,000 miles on it. So it's got... Two-door, hardtop, very pretty. Fender skirts, very nice. So it's a three-cylinder, two-stroke, front-wheel drive. So DKW was... So Audi, Wander, Horsch, and DKW were the four rings. It was kind of the European General Motors. So DKW was the bottom brand, and then Wander and Horsch were the luxury brands, and Audi was kind of in the middle. Of course, we know Audi still survived, but everybody else disappeared. So the other two Martins, this is the last car that he did. It was called the Stationette, right? And again on Long Island. Yeah, 1950. So his theory with this one was... This is a crazy theory, right? It's really a work of art, but it's absolutely a horrible car. It has one band brake in the back, right? No shock absorbers. And again, now it's 1950. Like in 28, you'd be like, okay, that's not so bad, right? But now we're way ahead of that. So his theory with this car was they were going to make all the wood pieces in a factory, right? And they were going to put them in a kit, and they were going to send them to all these airports around the country, because he was convinced that all the airplane mechanics at all these little airports were sitting around half the time doing nothing, right? And then they were going to put the cars together, and that's how they were going to manufacture them. It is a beautiful piece of work. But it's a beautiful... Yeah, yep. But I have to admire the guy. He never gave up. He never... He didn't. But you know, he did a curved dash. You know, it's got... This was like a city car, so the seats flip down when you sit on it, but it's kind of a neat thing. When you get up, they pop up out of the way. Again, the motor is... Is an Austin four-cylinder. Really? Mm-hmm. Four-cylinder. Which, what kind of gearbox? So this is funny. It's called a Martin Magnetic Magic Gearbox. It's not. It's a Harley-Davidson. So there's a chain that drives to that Harley gearbox, and then the chain that drives the back wheel. This was his city car from 1930. 50 and 30, and look how similar they look. And this is interesting because this is the only car I know where the windshield rolls up and down. Hmm. I mean, so he didn't vary too far in 20 years. From this to that, no. But this was aluminum skin and a wood frame. He was big on these steel disc wheels. He was big on... And the three lugs. Yep. Mm-hmm. Now this little bubble aluminum car here, what is this? So this is an Ericsson. This was built in Dayton, Ohio. The Dymaxion is rear engine, front wheel drive, rear steer. This is like a one-of-one? Yep. One-of-one. Guy named Ericsson, and he built this. So it's a Jeep motor. Drives the front wheels. I believe, you know, that's a Ford steering wheel, right? Oh, yeah. And this right here is, I'm sure, a seat out of something. Yeah. But the interesting thing about this car is instead of using big sheets, and, you know, I can't remember the number of pieces in this car, but we went around and tried to count. Wow. It was like 370 pieces that he riveted together. So if he worked in an aircraft factory, maybe he like took a little piece off the floor every day. And that's what we're thinking. What great stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is really interesting, because this is a French, I don't know what you want to call it, but there was a French gentleman that he loved to ride a motorcycle and scooters, right? And his wife wanted a little more comfort. So he built this, right? So there's like a cockpit up here for her to ride, and he sits on the back. And he's... So the whole front steers? Just the wheels. Oh, I get it. Just the wheels. Yep. And a little rag top here. Is this a scooter that he converted, or did he build this? We don't know, but it sure looks like he just took this scooter and built the front. Yeah. Now that vehicle out there blows my mind, the size of that. So that's our largest vehicle. Man. Yep. We bought that on eBay. So it's got four engines, four Detroit diesels, one that runs each wheel. Man. Yeah. And it was made for the Vietnam era for like a freighter that wanted to unload cargo, but there was no port. All right. I'm six foot three, and I can't even reach the top of this tire. Remember when you were a kid? I don't know about you, but me, when I heard about a four-wheel drive vehicle, I thought there was a motor at each wheel. Well, this one actually has a motor at each wheel. It's kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. I finally found the car that I dreamed about when I was seven. As a kid, yeah. And so how did you get this here? So it came... It was in Florida. It came up the Mississippi River, and then they brought it up the Cumberland River to Nashville. They picked it up with a crane, and then we drove it from there through downtown to here one night. It's 14 feet wide, it's 62 feet long, and it weighs 200,000 pounds empty, 28 miles an hour is the top speed. Does it float? It does float. Yeah, yeah. It's amphibious. Yeah, there's propellers in the back. What a vehicle. Yeah. Geez. Yeah. So this is the air-cooled room, isn't it? Generally, we put mostly air-cooled cars in here. Oh, look at this. A double front DeChevaux. This is a replica, but they actually built one of these in the 50s. So in southern rural France, at night, the fire department would patrol rural roads with a traction avant. Sometimes the roads are so narrow, they'd have to back up for a mile or more to find a place wide enough to turn around. So they're like... They had a workshop. They said, why not take a 2CV, cut it in half, because 2CV is front wheel drive, front engine, and make a car that'll go... So this has two engines? It has two engines. So you can drive it either way. And they used it for 20 years. That's unbelievable. Yeah. Yep. I love it. Yeah. That's great. So this is a 2CV without the body on it. Oh, yeah. Which, you know, the thing about a lot of cars, if you want to see the engineering and the architecture, right, of the suspension and the chassis, and a 2CV's really different because there's one tube in the middle, and the swing arms, right, front and back, both go into the tube or the spring. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And with the body on it, you can't see any of that. You know, we had them make one without the body on it. And this is a driving chassis? Yeah. I actually drive this to lunch on a nice day. So if you look at it, it's got a traditional kind of a gearbox lever coming out of the top of the gearbox, but to hook that, it's got a little homemade universal joint here, and this comes through the dashboard. Wow. And they did that because they wanted, if you were going to be three wide, there's nothing on the floor to be in your way. So this car and this car and the red car we saw a moment ago, they were designed, if I'm not mistaken, so that you could drive across a farm field, a plowed field with a basket of eggs on the front seat, and they wouldn't, they wouldn't break. Right. The original car was 375 CCs and eight horsepower. And so this is how soft, right, the suspension is. And that, I saw the shock, it's right on the, it's horizontally mounted? Yeah, it's right in the tube here. And what is this little bubble here? So this is a Hoffman. In the fifties in Europe, you know, when things were pretty austere, people that were handy built their own car. And this guy's name was Hoffman. He built this one. Yeah, aluminum. It steers in the back. You know, at 20 foot, this goes 25, and at 20, it's terrifying. Because look, look how, look how small the wheelbase is. The wheels. You just touch that wheel and it does a dramatic thing. Yes. Yep. It's got a larger track, front track, than it has wheelbase. Bizarre. A horrible car. And it, you know, it's pretty big actually, but look, look how difficult it is to get in and out of. Man. I mean, the wheel well's in the way, the steering wheel's in the way. Okay. But he made it in his basement probably, right? He made it in his basement. Yep. And again, one of one. Yep. One of one. Jeez. You know, let's talk about King Midget for a minute. Okay. Because, you know, people have seen them, but they don't really know what they are. So give us a thumbnail history on a King Midget. So King Midget was a company in Ohio in the late forties, and their first cars looked like little baby race cars, right? And they made King Midgets up until, I think, like 1972. I used to see their ads like in popular science magazine. Right. And most of them were Briggs and Stratton. I don't remember the horsepower. I think 10, 10 horse. Just a, just a lawnmower engine. Just a lawnmower engine. And the vibration on these things, it's, you know, single cylinder, you know, 10 horse, right? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And they are, I believe they're two speed. So top speed about 40 miles an hour. And this was a street legal car. Street legal car. And you know, they, they, I don't know the volume, but they actually sold quite a few cars. Wow. You know, it's not like a hundred or 200. I think throughout their lifetime, like thousands, thousands. Great stuff, man. Well, this concludes our back room tour of the Lane Automotive Museum. I want to thank Jeff Lane for meeting us here early. I love the place. Thanks so much for doing this. Thanks for coming out. If you're in Nashville, you got to visit this place. Happy hunting. If I took away all your cars and I said you could have one back, what would it be? Have to be my MGTF. I built as a kid. Right. From the very beginning. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. That's kind of what I wanted to hear you say. Thanks.