An unassuming craftsman, legendary car builder Dean Jeffries has always preferred to let his creations speak for themselves. This book provides a rare, close-up look at the man, and the life, behind the Mantaray, the Monkeemobile, the Green Hornet’s Black Beauty, and James Bond’s moon buggy, among countless others.

 

Drawing on extensive interviews with Jeffries, bestselling Motorbooks author Tom Cotter gives readers the inside story on how, with little more than determination, raw talent, and a high school education, Jeffries became such an extraordinary figure in the automotive world. Cotter details the multiple careers Jeffries mastered at once, from custom painting and pinstriping to metal shaping and design. The book offers Jeffries’ own account of the circumstances behind the famous TV and movie cars that followed, as well as the relationships he enjoyed with personalities as varied as A. J. Foyt, Steve McQueen, James Dean, Bruce Lee, Parnelli Jones, and Elvis Presley.  Cotter also chronicles Jeffries’ work on well-known hot rods, sports cars, and Indy racers—including the 21 starting cars Jeffries painted in a single Indianapolis 500. Featuring more than 200 images from Jeffries’ own archive, here finally is a book that truly brings to life the man behind the legend.

 

Reviews:
“Tom Cotter's sequel to last year's best-selling The Cobra in the Barn relays one great tale after another, with players unearthing rare cars to die for. The treasures include an armored Mercedes-Benz Aktion P command car discovered in pieces in Russia, a desirable Dodge Daytona Hemi virtually abandoned behind bushes in a guy's yard, a bushel of Bugattis in a barn, the ‘Divorcee Cobra,’ and a GTO owned by a mobster. These are great stories about great cars.” - Edmunds.com

“The book is highly entertaining, often exciting and should hold universal appeal for all car enthusiasts.” - Hemmings Muscle Machines

About the book:
It's every car lovers fantasy: the perfectly preserved classic automobile discovered under a blanket in some great-grannys garage. And as Tom Cotter showed us in The Cobra in the Barn, it's a fantasy that can come true. Cotters' adventures in automotive archaeology continue in The Hemi in the Barn, with more than forty new stories of amazing finds and automotive resurrections. Avid collectors big and small recall the thrills of the hunt, the tips and hunches followed, clues pursued, the heart-stopping payoff. There's the forgotten Duesenberg--the only unrestored one around--that Jay Leno found in a Burbank garage. There's another 1931 model Dusenberg Leno found in a parking garage in New York City that was parked in 1933 and was never moved. There's a Plymouth Superbird found buried in a hedge out of sight in Alabama. There's the rescue of the first 1955 Corvette ever built. There's the find of legendary race builder Smokey Yunick's Boss 302 Trans-Am car. And there's the story of the original Cobra Daytona Coupe built by Peter Brock and sold to Phil Spectre--a story that somehow involves a chauffeur's daughter setting herself and her rabbits on fire. As entertaining as these tales are--and some are truly corkers--they're also full of tantalizing hints and suggestions for readers setting off on their own adventures in automotive archaeology. 

Chapter 1: Exotic Destinations
Chapter 2: The Find Next Door
Chapter 3: Rare Finds
Chapter 4: Stranger Than Fiction
Chapter 5: The Luck of the Car Hunters
Chapter 6: Family Jewels
Chapter 7: Playboys, Princesses, and Spies
Appendix: Top 20 Barn-Finding Tips

It’s every motorcyclist’s dream.  A friend or acquaintance says, “You know, there’s an old bike that’s been sitting in this garage for years.”  The hunt is on.  And rather than the usual worthless Hondazukimaha pile of hopeless oxidation, at the back of that barn you find a genuine classic, the motorcycle collector’s dream.

 

The Vincent in the Barn tells forty such stories--tales of motorcycle hunting dreams come true.  From Ducatis in basements to Vincents abandoned in sheds, Harleys in barns to Brit bikes moldering behind urban garages, these are the stories that fuel every motorcyclist’s fantasies.  The only difference?  They’re true.