Everyone dreams of a barn find! The moment when you haul open a creaking door, push aside the cobwebs and dust off a forgotten automotive icon that then goes on to auction, restored or unrestored and sells for millions. We can but dream!!
Until not long ago it was common for barn-find vehicles to be subjected to a nut and bolt restoration often lasting a number of years and returning them to better than new condition. The current trend is to subject barn-finds to a sympathetic restoration, as in some cases a full restoration can lower the vehicles value.
When just two years old, a 1969 Ferrari 330 GTS Spyder suffered an engine fire and was dry-stored in a garage for 44 years. When it sold at auction for €2.1 million, this price was higher than a fully restored example of the same car, sold the previous year.
Closer to home when the Foy family from Mohill, Co Leitrim were clearing out their Father’s workshop prior to the sale of the family home they unearthed a 1979 Ford 4000 Preforce. The 55 hp 3.3L 3-cyl diesel tractor was in several pieces and showed the patina of a hard life. For over 70 years Jim Foy & Sons – Precision Engineering operated from a steel workshop in Treanmore, Co Leitrim. The workshop was divided into linear sections, each with a specific purpose. Nearest the house was the turf shed, with a removable wall to allow unloading of the turf trailer, then the tractor and equipment storage. Alongside this was the workshop containing two large belt driven lathes; one for wood and the other for steel. There was an upright drill and a forge. At the far end of the workshop was the byre for the family milk cow.
As a precision engineer all type of work was undertaken; from crankshafts for Emerald Star Cruisers to all sorts of wood-turning for the Lough Rynn Castle Estate and steel-work for farmers on the lathe. When there was a job to be done, Jim built a machine to do it. When he had to cut steel rings to fit to wooden stakes for Herons Marquees, Jim built the world’s most unusual hacksaw. The only motor he had was single phase which made the blade move too quickly, so he fitted a car gearbox which allowed a selection of forward gears from 1 – 4 with reverse as well.
In later years Jim was very well known for the service and repair of chainsaws and lawnmowers. In the early days, there was a small lathe located against the rear wall of the workshop which was powered by a neighbour on a bicycle with the rear wheel connected by a belt to the lathe. It was hard work for the cyclist with only one gear!
The earliest memory of Seamus Foy (63) was off his Father fitting steel rims to cart-wheels. He would have the steel rim bent to shape on the big machines in Quinns Yard in Mohill and drill a hole for a large rivet into the overlapping ends of the steel rim. A circle of turf was laid on the ground and lit and then steel rim was set down to heat and expand. When the hot rim was fitted, it was immediately doused in water to contract the steel and ensure a fit ‘as tight as tuppence’.
Over the course o a few weeks’ family members began the mammoth clear out. Several trailers of scrap were collected, and skips were also filled. Over a final long weekend each of the 11 brothers and sisters and some of their husbands, wives and children lent a helping hand as well. Everyone took a memento from the workshop; from hand-tools, to pocket watches, to weather vanes, railway morse-code signallers, upright drills and a forge.
Over 300,000 Ford 4000 Preforce were built between 1965 and 1975 and standard equipment included a tachometer, oil-pressure warning light, generator warning light. They also had a water temperature gauge, headlights, tail lights and instrument panel lights. In addition it had a deluxe seat, vertical exhaust, swinging draw-bar, fenders and a tool box.
The 4000 Preforce was given a sympathetic restoration and is now for sale. Will it make millions?
