Skip to main content

Alabama ‘barn find’ reveals 23 barely driven Chevy Corvettes, Ford Mustangs, and more

Just one of these cars would be a great find

Historic Barn Find - Full Story Behind the Car Collector Holy Grail - GMTV Garage Ep. 1

While you may not recognize the name Earl Trammel right now, by the end of this article, if you are a true car enthusiast, it will feel like you’ve known him your whole life. You see, although Trammel was a true car fanatic. He used his success as an Alabaman businessman to fund his passion for collecting cars. As we’ve seen recently with a stable full of Ferraris, sometimes these collections just end up lost in time, which is how you can end up with a 1998 Chevy Corvette Indy 500 Pace Car Edition with just 23 miles on it or a 1990 Corvette ZR-1 whose interior is still wrapped in plastic. And those are just two of the twenty-three cars found in this horsepower-laden time capsule.

Alabama barn find Chevrolet Corvettes
Alabama barn find Chevy Corvettes The John Clay Wolfe Show / GiveMeTheVin.com

Stingrays and SVTs and muscle trucks, oh my!

This unbelievable find came to light after Mr. Trammel passed away. His ex-wife, trying to settle the estate, contacted GiveMeTheVin.com to offload the collection. The company’s founder, John Clay Wolfe, and his business partner, John Piece, detail the revelatory experience on The John Clay Wolfe Show’s YouTube channel, “It was in a tiny little barn in Alabama that looks ridiculous, like you’d never expect there were a million dollars worth of cars in there.” Although his website specializes in buying and selling cars, he dubbed Earl Trammel’s collection “…by far the biggest find of my career.”

Trammel favored Chevrolet’s flagship sports car, which accounts for nine of the 23 total cars in the collection. Aside from the two already mentioned, there is also a 1988 35th Anniversary C4 with just 25 miles on the odometer, a 1997 C5 with 100 miles, a 1979 Stingray with 41 miles, and a 1971 Stingray, which is the oldest Vette in the collection, with just 1,600 miles. In case you were curious, a 1974 Stingray is the most heavily driven of any car in the Vette group, with 30,000 miles on it, which averages out to about 612 miles per year.

Although this assembly of dream machines seems to be Chevy-centric, plenty of other cars can be equally drooled over by non-Bowtie fans. For the Blue Oval fans, a 1965 Mustang convertible sits in good company with its great-great-grandchild, a 2003 SVT Mustang Cobra with 4,900 miles on it, while a 1999 SVT F-150 Lightning pickup truck with a ridiculous 46 miles on its odometer rounds out team Ford. Other highlights include a cult-classic 1987 Buick Grand National with 13,800 miles, a stunning bright red 2001 Pontiac TransAm WS6 with a mere 247 miles, a 1973 Lincoln Continental Mark IV, and a 1996 Porsche 911 C4S. There are also a few non-Covette Chevrolets in the mix: a 1956 Chevy 210 Sedan, a 1968 Camaro SS, a more modern 2010 Camaro SS with only 47 miles, a 1966 C10 pickup, and a 1990 Chevy 454 SS pickup truck with a showroom-level 19 miles to its name.

A 1998 Corvette Indy Pace Car Edition and 1990 454SS have a combined 42 miles total

Wolfe says that his team will spend the next few months bringing each of these extraordinary treasures back to life but admits, “They don’t need too much.” The plan is to put them up for auction when they are all cleaned up, which will undoubtedly bring in a lottery-winning level of cash like so many other poster cars have to date. But Wolfe, like any true car fanatic, already seems to be having second thoughts, saying, “I don’t want to sell them, so I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

It’s a problem many of us wouldn’t mind having, and it is all thanks to one man who had the money, resources, and, most importantly, the obsession to go after his dream car(s). His digital obituary says of Earl, “He was a part of so many people’s lives he as Dad, Grandad, Unc, Paw Paw, Pop, King Wormy, and Papa Smurf.” After learning about his life-long love affair with some of the coolest cars of the last 75 years, we would also like to add “kindred spirit” to that list because even though we never met him, one look at his choice of cars and it’s as if we’ve been friends forever.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Lou Ruggieri
A lifelong lover of cars, Lou contributes to Motor Trend, Hot Cars, Auto & Truck Connection, and the PowerAutoMedia Group.
Get this Milwaukee tire inflator while it’s 59% off for Black Friday
Someone using a Milwaukee M18 Inflator on Van

Black Friday deals are underway, and there are a lot of great savings you can land on life-saving equipment you might not have bought otherwise. One of those deals is on the Milwaukee M18 tire inflator, which you can currently get on the cheap at Amazon. It’s one of the best Milwaukee Black Friday deals you’ll find, in fact, as it’s marked down from its regular price of $310 to a Black Friday sale price of just $139. That’s a savings of $171, which is pretty substantial even for Black Friday. Free shipping is included with a purchase.

Why You Should Buy the Milwaukee M18 Tire Inflator
Whether you are working on mastering the trail or simply want to keep your vehicles ship-shape throughout the year, a tire inflator makes a worthy investment. Milwaukee has been making electric tools for nearly 100 years, and all of that experience can be found in the Milwaukee M18 tire inflator. It delivers fast, accurate inflation and it has the portability to go anywhere with you. The high efficiency motor is rated to deliver max PSI of 150, which allows it to top-off 33-inch light truck tires in under one minute. The Milwaukee M18 tire inflator is optimized for passenger, light truck, and other medium-duty tires.

Read more
Get a Lamborghini Countach for $17 (with one big catch)
A Lego Lamborghini Countach with associated driver in front of its box.

You may have laughed at us when we asserted that Lego is worth more than gold, but now we're the ones driving Lamborghinis. Lego Lamborghinis, that is. As we combed through the nearly 300 Lego Black Friday deals, we knew we had to emphasize this one a bit more. Right now, you can get the Lego Lamborghini Countach for 15% off, bringing it down to $17. It'll make a great stocking stuffer, gift to your nephews or cousins, or a great addition to your own adult Lego collection. Just tap the button below and you'll find yourself at the page to buy it.

Why you should buy the Lego Lamborghini Countach
There are two reason why you might want to get this product. The first is the highly-renowned brand. This is a Lamborghini after all. And not just any Lamborghini, but a Lamborghini Countach, famed for being 1989's fastest car. If you know someone that's about 34 right now, this can be an awesome memento of how much you care for them or a bit of well-wishing for their speedy route to success. Sports car enthusiasts that always wanted a chance to drive the one that got away are equally good recipients.

Read more
Hyundai and Amazon team up for online car sales (and no, you can’t get your car via Prime)
Hyundai and Amazon just made it super easy to buy a new car
2024 Hyundai Ioniq 6 parked outside.

If you shop on Amazon for guitar strings, luggage, and electronics, how do you feel about buying your next car on the mega e-commerce platform? At the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show, Amazon and Hyundai Motor Company jointly announced an online sales collaboration beginning in 2024. Other car brands come later, but Hyundai will be the first brand you can buy on Amazon.

The new strategic partnership has three facets: online vehicle sales, cloud services, and integrating Alexa in future Hyundais. Amazon will begin online sales of Hyundai models on Amazon.com. Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be Hyundai's preferred provider of cloud services for the vehicle manufacturer's digital transformation. The two companies will work together to integrate Alexa voice response into Hyundai's driver infotainment and vehicle management system.
Find my car
Amazon's new partnership with Hyundai doesn't cut out auto dealerships. Dealers will be able to list on Amazon vehicles currently available for purchase.

Read more