Barn Find February with The Late Brake Show
February 17, 2023
We’re no strangers to a good barn find here at Car & Classic. If you’ve been keeping up to date with our magazine and YouTube channel you’ll know that we love a classic redemption song and we have an abundance of content on the subject for you to enjoy. From articles on what to look for when resurrecting a barn find and our ever-popular Project Profile series, to our videos, including our very own Rover 827 restoration series, if it’s an old car and it’s been found in a barn, or a bush, or a garage then we’re all over it. It makes sense, then, that we should get involved with The Late Brake Show for Barn Find February.
For those of you that don’t have your oil-stained finger on the classic car world pulse The Late Brake Show is motoring journalist, TV presenter, creative content maker and self-proclaimed “CarPervert” Jonny Smith’s excellent YouTube channel that runs the gamut when it comes to entertaining automotive content. This isn’t the first time we’ve joined forces with Jonny either. Some say Car & Classic and Mr Smith go together like peaches and cream or Batman and Robin (we’ll let you decide who’s who) and we have collaborated on numerous projects in the past. There was the rustiest of rusty Jaguars and the forgotten Ford Transit videos and we’ve done a deep dive into what makes the man tick for a Ten Questions feature in the magazine too. Our mutual appreciation for all things automotive meant that we had to get involved with The Late Brake Show and we are proud to sponsor the Barn Find February series of videos this month.
Jonny has a slew of superb barn find vids on the channel which you should all go and binge watch immediately but this particular batch of four finds begins with the excavation of an incredibly rare Mitsubishi Colt Sapporo. Stashed in a garage since ’93 this scarce Japanese rear-wheel drive coupé hasn’t moved since being parked up after requiring a little MOT work. Jonny sheds some light (quite literally after pulling it out of its tomb) on the car’s history and attempts to get it started once more. Will it run? Well, we don’t want to spoil anything for you so you’ll have to go and check out the video to see for yourself. All we can say is it’s a great episode and a fitting start to Barn Find February.
The second and latest video features a classic BMW E24 6 Series that hasn’t been driven in 22 years. Fitted with the M-Sport bodykit it certainly looks the part but if it doesn’t run then it’s just a rather large and pretty door stop. Again, you’ll have to watch the video for yourself to find out if this legendary ’80s German coupé will ever see the road again but either way it’s a fantastic way to spend half an hour with a cuppa and a Bourbon (other makes of biscuit are available).
It’s a cracking series and the love for this type of content is clear to see – you just have to look at the numbers. From the sheer amount of views and likes that these kinds of videos garner it’s patently obvious that you lot, like us, absolutely love them. Our Rover 827 restoration videos are amongst the most popular on our own channel too. There’s just something fundamentally exciting about discovering these forgotten classics, hearing their stories and trying to bring them back to life, giving them another shot at glory. It’s the love for the underdog, the joy of triumphant salvation, the satisfaction of a successful second chance that is an inherently rewarding tale in any form, the fact that these are all classic cars is just the icing on the cake.
So, if you have some spare time between tinkering with your own projects then give The Late Brake Show a look. With two more barn find videos coming this month there’s a lot to enjoy and don’t forget about the Car & Classic channel too. Between us there should be something for every classic car fan out there and we’re just glad that we can be a part of this wonderful community and give something back to those of you that make it what it is.
