Treasure chest of muscle cars – 40 found in barn in Canada

It’s being described as one of the greatest barn finds ever – a collection of 40 American muscle cars on a dairy farm in Canada. Among them are three Ford GTs, six Chevrolet Corvettes, and a number of Ford Mustangs and Thunderbirds. One of the Ford GTs, a rare 2006 Heritage Edition, has only 17km on the clock. It had been trucked to the farm in provincial Alberta and never driven.

All 40 were discovered by Alberta builder and noted Canadian Mustang collector Lawayne Musselwhite (above), who has restored Mustangs since he was a teenager and has eight Shelby Mustangs in his garage. “Give me a Mustang in a box and I’ll tell you where every screw goes,” he says. The story of the find was written by Vancouver PR consultant and classic car fan Alyn Edwards and published on website Driving. As Musselwhite tells Edwards, the farmer was wealthy and bought cars as an investment, but later health issues forced the sale of 40 of them. They are still 10 cars in the farmer’s collection. Musselwhite and his motorcycle dealer friend Darren Boychuk bought all 40 for $C1.1 million. The Heritage Edition Ford GT sports cars have sold for up to $C700,000. The others trade for half that. “This car is brand new, never been driven, is still in the wrapper and has all the factory window stickers,” says Musselwhite. One of the four Plymouth Prowlers is the “limousine edition” and is virtually a new car. Among the six Corvettes, two are 2007 roadsters. Musselwhite and Boychuk are selling most of the 40 vehicles but hope to put some cars aside for themselves — possibly a pair of Ford GT’s, a Prowler or two, and a red 2007 Shelby GT500 convertible.

Musselwhite already owns one of the most impressive Shelby collections in North America. The first one he bought was a rare 1965 Shelby, number 47 out of only 519 built. But his second 1965 Shelby, build number 242, is the jewel. It was bought in January 1966 by California drag racer Jerry Mendes, who souped it up and won US National Hot Rod Association records with it. But he retired it with the arrival of the big block Shelby in 1967 and it remained on blocks for 48 years until Musselwhite bought it. Edwards says it is likely to be the lowest mileage and rarest early Shelby in existence, showing just 6452 miles on

the clock. Musselwhite and wife Marilyn own other Shelbys, such as their matching red and blue 1968 GT500 convertibles (there were only 402 made) and a rare 1968 Shelby GT350 fastback – one of 224 sold as Hertz “rent a racers” on which a reputed $C277,000 was spent on restoration. Here are the 40 cars: Ford 1979 Mustang GT Pace Car; 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe; 1990 Mustang GT Convertible; 1990 Thunderbird; 1990 Thunderbird S:?1994 Thunderbird S Coupe; 1996 Lincoln Mark 8; 1997 F-150 Flairside; 1998 Lincoln Mark 8 LSC; 2000 F-150 Harley-Davidson; 2000 Lincoln LS; 2001 Mustang GT Bullitt; 2005 Mustang; 2006 Ford GT; 2006 Ford GT; 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition; 2007 Shelby GT500 Convertible; 2008 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson; 2008 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson; 2008 Ford F-350 Harley-Davidson; 2010 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson; 2010 Ford Raptor; 2012 Mustang GT/CS Chrysler 1999 Plymouth Prowler; 2000 Plymouth Prowler; 2001 Plymouth Prowler; 2001 Plymouth Prowler; 2006 Chrysler 300 SRT-8; 2008 Dodge Charger SRT-8; 2010 Dodge Ram 1500 General Motors 2001 Chevrolet Corvette; 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Targa; 2002 Camaro Z/28 SS; 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06; 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible; 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible; 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible; 2008 Pontiac Solstice Convertible