It’s amazing what can be unearthed in tiny North Pole, Alaska.
Barn Find Hunter is a fascinating show to watch, especially when Tom Cotter unearths a trove of rare cars which have essentially been all but forgotten. This certainly is true in this episode of the show, where a Mazda RX-4 and some pretty cool Broncos are discovered in America’s last frontier, Alaska.
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Tom makes friends with Robbie, who says he’s been collecting old cars and restoring them since he was young. Now an old man, Robbie has amassed a huge personal junkyard on his wooded property with many classic rides people would pay dearly to own.
Robbie’s collection is truly eclectic, confirming his claim that he just buys whatever old cars he runs across, without any preferences whatsoever. Tom discovers everything from a ’62 Ford 390 Convertible, a couple of Edsels, a Ranch Wagon, a Mercury Cyclone, and a few old Buick Rivieras, to name just a few. It’s almost too many cars for Tom to really process as he hunts them down amidst the trees. One of the highlights are three old Broncos Robbie said he bought from one guy.
Speaking of Ford Broncos, Tom goes on to visit a guy who owns five classic Broncos. Two of three stored in his yard have the frame and body separated, and the other had been rolled. Unfortunately, one of the three is being used as a parts vehicle, but the other two are being slowly restored. The other two Broncos were stored in the man’s house, showing that he has a deep love of the SUVs.
Finally, Tom tracked down a 1974 Mazda RX-4 with a rotary engine, which are considered by many Japanese car enthusiasts to be a holy grail. Bonnie, the car’s owner, bought it brand new and has held onto it for all these years. Left in a grove of trees without moving for 20 years, the owner’s husband apparently put diesel fuel in the tank because he didn’t like how it would outrun his cars.
This episode just goes to show that even in a small Alaska town with a tiny population there are some interesting cars with fascinating backstories.
Source: Hagerty
