Hunting "Car Treasure" along I-90
Pictures by Jack Lawford
Anyone who has visited this site or known owner Jack Lawford for any length of time knows that he is a hopeless Car Junkie and that the mere smell of a car can cause him to veer off of the highway in search of treasure. The trip to St. Paul for "Back to the Fifties" was rather uneventful as we just had our nose to the steering wheel bent on getting there, but on the way home was a different story. Our travel timetable was slightly different than usual which meant that we were stopping in different towns than in past years and it's IMPOSSIBLE to merely stop for gas or food, we have to scour the town for car treasure. This trip we have decided that Montana is the perfect vacation spot for a rodder, not only is the scenery just awesome, but there are old cars EVERYWHERE…. just waiting to be discovered. Jack found lots and met some really great car guys too…..
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First Stop - Miles City Montana…… When we arrived in Miles City we still had a few hours of daylight so Jack was taking the long way to the hotel room (imagine that) when he came across this field of dreams. There was no one home, but he talked to a neighbor who said that this guy does sell cars sometimes……
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And that area code rodders… is 406. This is just the beginning of a ton of well preserved cars… Montana gets a lot of snow, but the cars here don't seem to rot like they do in the East… But hang on…. There's more…... |
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As we pulled away from this abandoned building we came across a sign that drew Jack like a moth to the flame "Salvage Yard"…. And we were off….. Jack met a really nice guy named Doug at Auto Dismantlers, Inc…. He led us over to another yard he has where he just happens to have….. A '55 Chev he wants to sell…. It's been in the shop for 20 years…. Just waiting…. |
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Doug says that he'll sell this car for $4000 and you can reach him at 406-234-4024… he has a "parts car" to go along with it and this looks like a real good deal…
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The next morning we made it a whole 100 miles before the glint of a windshield and the smell of tin caused us to veer off the road in Lockwood, MT. No one was here either, but Jack found someone at a shop around the corner who gave us the phone number of Reggie who owns these cars… 406-591-3301… Lockwood is near Billings.
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And the other Scenery is beautiful, too! | ||
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The next "find" was a shop that happened to be next to the off ramp when getting off for gas in Belgrade, MT which is near Bozeman. When Jack spotted the old cars behind the shop he had to stop in, that's where he found a real surprise. In a pretty unassuming shop, Jack found about 10 great looking cars being worked on by Jim Wehren. Jack said it looked like this young rodder was doing a fantastic job and had some really nice looking cars in his shop.
Jim gave him the quick tour and we were on our way. We kept Jims number so we can stop again next time we're going through Montana. It's I-90 Autobody in Belgrade, if you're in the area stop in and see Jim, he's got some great projects in process and was a super guy too! You can reach Jim at 406-388-7802
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This is the great part of traveling our country - we get to meet many neat people at the shows when we exhibit, but we also meet many really great rodders just by stopping in along the road. These are the unsung heroes and the backbone of our hobby.
So now we're REALLY back on the road right …….well almost……. This time we're just outside Bozeman on Hwy 191 and the truck suddenly begins to veer off the road onto a side road…...
 Across an irrigation ditch…. And…. |
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Sorry guys… no name or phone number for these jewels….. No one home!
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With time running out we really did hit the road again and as we went through the Henrys Lake region of Eastern Idaho we were treated to this spectacular view of wildflowers and fly fishing. Very nice scenery, maybe not as nice as cars in a field, but close! |
We talked to so many people in Minnesota this year who mentioned Jacks "finds" while traveling and who told us how much they were enjoyed, that we have spawned a new idea. We're starting a "Fields of Dreams and Barn Cars" page and are asking you to send in your "finds" around the country. We all know of areas where these treasures exist and if you can send us your photo - with or without the actual location - we'll put them on our new page. Or if you have a lot of pictures, we'll do an article similar to our "Hiding in the Woods of Maine" a few years back. Send your contributions to [email protected] and put "Field and Barn Cars" in the subject line. We're looking forward to seeing lots of treasure from our friends!
