And it’s going to a good home…
If you’re like most gearheads, you dream of one day coming across an amazing barn find car. While we call them barn finds, these diamonds in the rough are often in other buildings, including garages. That’s where Jerry Battaglia found this 1955 Chevy Bel Air, just sitting in a garage he drove past.
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A lot of people would have just admired the car and kept on driving. But Jerry is a driven man and he’s savvy, so he decided to see if the Tri Five was for sale. Pulling into the driveway, he asked a man there is the car was available. That’s a pretty gutsy move since in some areas you might be picking buckshot out of yourself and your car for weeks after.
The gamble paid off for Battaglia because the man answered that it was in fact for sale. However, it wasn’t so simple. Negotiations for the sale lasted 3 hours. A lot of people would’ve just given up once buying the car became difficult. Others would’ve just been forceful and blown up the negotiations quickly. Being aggressive but not overbearing in these types of situations is key and it takes considerable skill.
Battaglia learned the ’55 Chevy had been sitting in the garage since 1978. Since this video was taken in 2021, that means it sat there for 43 years. Even better, this 6-cylinder car only had 71,000 miles on the clock. Anyone could get excited about such a find.
For Battaglia, this is his first 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. Being such an American icon, these are fun cars to own but few today have had the privilege.
As you’ll see in the video, loading this classic car onto the trailer isn’t as straightforward as you might hope. But this is by far not the most difficult barn find extraction we’ve ever seen. After all, they could get the trailer right up to the garage door and the car rolls, so there’s that. Check it out for yourself.
