This book is dedicated to Dean Jeffries, the smartest man I’ve ever met.
These barn-find books are fun to read, but hard to write. I try to keep track of all who helped in the production, but sometimes I leave someone out. A big thanks to Mark Henderson, a barn-finder and storyteller who rolled up his sleeves and wrote a couple of excellent stories. Also to Somer Hooker, the Vincent motorcycle connoisseur, who has contributed a number of stories over the years—thank you, Somer. And my local sports car friend Mitch Goldstein, former MBI editor Wes Eisenschenk, Larry Trepel for his cool cartoon, John Barron for his prize-winning Apollo story, and Pieter Ryckaert. Thanks to my friend and Long Island native Adam White, who turned me on to the cool Jaguar story.
And thanks to my friend Woody Woodruff, who helps me with everything!
Thanks to my editors at Motorbooks International—Zack Miller and Jordan Wiklund—who continue to indulge me in my barn-find passion. Also thanks to Motorbooks’ Marketing Manager Nichole Schiele.
Regarding the cover photography, thanks to my neighbor Lura Lauer and Carlos Lopez, both talented UNCC photography students who shot the photo for this front cover—guys, it’s gorgeous. Also, Kevin Neild and Bob Lauer, who helped push the Jaguar around during the photo session. Also thanks to Kevin Brown, who loaned me his barn to shoot the photo, and to Travis Freezel, my department head at Belmont Abbey College, who introduced me to his neighbor’s barn. And to Franziska Long for loaning me the E-Type.
And finally, thanks to my long-suffering wife, who allows her life to be dictated by my automotive passions.
When picking up your new barn-find, bring a real camera!
After six barn-find books, I see an uncomfortable trend developing. Many people take beautiful glamor photos of their cars when they are fully restored, but few barn-finders take high-quality photos when their find is unearthed.
The publisher requires high-resolution images of 300 dpi and above for prints to be used in these books, and often, the as-found photos are much lower quality than that. When retrieving your new project, remember to bring along a real camera—not just a cell phone camera—so you can take high-quality images of your car from the start.
You’ll be in much better shape if you’d like to submit it for a future book, and the before-and-after shots will be that much better on your garage wall.
Thanks,
Tom