The Hemi's on the Farm: Part One, Cats and Shoebox Chevys

I was told a story, about a magical place out in Iowa, a place full of rare Mopars. I was told, “It is definitely worth the trip”. So one Friday after work I drove to the middle of Iowa to see if the stories I had heard was true. Things did not go 100% to plan, but it is it was absolutely worth the trip.



The 5 hour drive there was grueling, especially after work. The closest, largest town near the mythical location had a very nice hotel. I stayed there over night that way I could get a jump on finding the place Saturday. The next morning on my way through town, I discovered the local park had old Milwaukee Road diesel locomotive and train cars. That was surprising to see early in the morning!







Making my way roughly to the location where the cars were suppose to be. I discovered a farm that had a 70 Dodge Coronet R/T sitting outside in their yard. I went and knocked at the door, unfortunately nobody was home except for some newborn kittens that had decided to climb up me, until their mom called them for breakfast.





Heading to the nearest town, I discovered a 70  Dodge Superbee and a Ford Thunderbird in an old gas station. With no information on who owned the cars or such, I went across the street for breakfast. The nice people in the diner and local auto parts store said that they didn't know the guy with the gas station, but the owner if the local RV Dealership was a car guy and that he would be around later.







So I spent a few hours driving around the Iowa countryside finding other barn finds. Including a C3 Corvette Convertible, an El Camino and some old trucks.







Getting back to the small town, the owner of the RV Dealership had gotten back and he was more then happy to show what cars he had hiding in the basement. There was nothing really rare, just a bunch of cool cars. A Formula Fiero, a 1964 Oldsmobile 442 with a Corvette 427 stuffed in it. Two Chevrolet Impalas tucked in the corner. Some very nice cruisers. There was also a 59 I believe El Camino and a little electric car. At this point I had no idea I had accidentally turned off automatic focus, and all the pictures were coming out fuzzy in low light.















The owner said that he had some friends down the street that I should go visit, that they were very nice people and that they had some really cool cars, including a newer Sublime Green Charger Daytona. So we meandered over to their home and I was not disappointed, the Charger was Sublime Green, as was their His and Hers Shoebox Chevrolet's. Their whole garage was setup like the ultimate Car Den. All the scale models they had of Shoebox Chevy's were painted to match. They even had a parade float with a variety of scale models from 1/64 all the way to the original 1/1, all painted the same. It was definitely nice to see that the husband and wife both were so deeply ingrained in the car culture and still happily married!









Time was running short, as I had to get back to Davenport, IA for a Car Cruise, so I wished my new friends well and headed back to the Farm where the cars were sitting, hoping that the owner had returned.

Next Blog: The 69 Hemi Charger 500 in the Tractor Shed! 

The original  Hot Rod  Magazine Article: Big Hemi Adventure