The $13 Chrysler Hemi

A few years ago, I was driving down a road in northern Nevada (don't ask me why) looking for the address of a friend. This was before I was aware of Mapquest and Google text, so I was pretty much screwed. Down one of the many deadends I hit on those dusty, bumpy roads, I noticed an old house with a big gray barn/shed thing next to it that was nearly as big as the house. One of the doors was open to that barn about half way, and in it I cought a flash of old chrome in a familiar shape. Naturally, my caraholic instincts kick in, and I hit the brakes and pull over to investigate.
As I walk up the dirt driveway that was at least 50 feet long, the adrenaline of the chase kicks in of what I think it may be. I get to the door, and slowly creak it open, revealing a stunning, completely original (from the outside) 1941 Ford Standard Coupe. It had boxes and old lawn mowers and suitcases all around it, and the license plate indicates that it was last registered in 1964. As I walk on my toes trying to get around the side to look into the thing, I hear, "Is that you Ed?" At this point, I freak out due to the fact that the part of town I was in seemed to have gun racks in the windows of every single pickup. I stand up straight and say "oh, sorry I was just driving by and couldn't help noticing your beautiful old Ford!" The old woman that had confronted me was easily in her 90's. With a big smile, she proceeded to tell me that this was her husbands car, the one he bought new in '41, loved it, and put a few thousand miles on it before he was drafted. When he did come back, he had 'caught a wierd bug at sea' as the old lady put it. In the mid 1950's, he decided to pull out the original flathead V8,(which was lying on a crate about ten feet away from the car), and install what he called an elephant motor. She had no idea why he called it that. When she said that, I nearly fainted. I asked politely if I could open the hood, and she said go right ahead. Staring back at me was a 1953 Chrysler 331ci Hemi with 4 Stromberg 97's. Just sitting there. Apparently his brother had bought a new Chrysler in '53 outright, and proceeded to crash it 3 months later. He parted out the car, and the man managed to score the 3,000 mile hemi. After putting about 51,000 miles on the old Ford causing hell and going through 20 or so '41 3-speeds, unfortunately the man died in '64 of a real bug aquired when he was at sea, that had been eating at him. So there the car sat until 2005. Amazingly, I was the first to ask about the old car in the 40 years the woman had been living there alone. She asked why I liked the black-laquer hunk of metal so much, and I told her I had quite a passion for old hot rods. There is nothing like the designs of the early to mid 1900's. She asked me how much money I had in my pocket. Oh crap. Is this is where she robs me? With shaking hands, I reach into my back pocket and pull out $13. She says "give me those bills, and the car is yours. I'm tired of it sitting here." After I had three heart attacks and picked my jaw up off the floor, I drove back to Utah, completely forgot to tell my friend I was't coming, got a u-haul and a truck, and picked up the car a day later.

These are the kind of stories I want to hear. Anyone have any cars in barn stories?