@@barpatron At that age he doesn't have to be busy. Clearly show he is not somebody who cares to impress anyone. He is showing his passion just because he saw a valuable effort from some people. If a person like you go there I am sure he would say "get the F out "
He has the knowledge but he has the capabilities to ruin beautiful rare cars. I hate guys like him that let cars like these sit and rot. He loves the idea of owning them but he doesn't love them enough to keep them in good order.
Guy seems cool. Problem is the state of the economies in these little towns. You'll have the old well off guys in dying towns. Money not flowing like it used to... Weird thing to see they have stuff like this. A guy in kankakee has a bunch of gassers and other hot rods just sitting.
@@Theorbit10 he keeps them all parked indoors they are not parked out in the weather he may not be restoring them but they are not deteriorating he is keeping those cars so that they are worth restoring
@Kingy B those cars are parked indoors and well-preserved if you're looking for something to restore I'm sure you'll turn to rust before you do anything anyway
Absolutely the best automotive series on TH-cam or anywhere else. It is so refreshing to listen and learn to such a knowledgeable host who obvious loves automobiles.
Sure is! And as an european myself Tom showed me how vast the american car market is. So many models, so many brands and weird creations both pre and post war.
falconater68 only due to knowing too much about cars I feel. He has to much knowledge about cars in his head I feel he mixes things up from time to time
Probably one of my favorite guys that Tom has met. Knowledgeable, accommodating, just an all around cool guy with a sweet collection. I feel like I could knock back a 6 pack with him on a Sunday and just shoot the breeze all day long.
Seriously ! They wander into SO many dark and scary places , there MUST be some kinda portable light the crew can bring with--we shouldn't have to see a car filmed lit by a cell phone.c'mon Hagerty get it together !
An astute observation. The gentleman is a good friend of mine and you are correct, he was a reporter and newscaster on local radio and TV for several years.
Back in '76 when I was in High School, I used to get my hair cut by a guy named Terry that owned his own barber shop in Torrance, CA. Terry drove a Mangusta to his shop every once in while...oh the memories...
Robert, i imagine you will be reading the praise from the hagerty crowd in these comments. You deserve it fella. Props to you for owning cars from such a varied background. Your workshop tour made my day, have to say though if i heard those 6 twin choke webers bark to life on the quad cam v12 Lamborghini that would have made my year!!
From Germany: Thank you Tom Cotter it was a great Video with very Nice Cars .I love the Series. The best 30 Minutes of the Day. Thank you Hagerty. Ihr seid die Besten. Grüße aus Hamburg !!!!!!
Tom is a walking enceclopedia on anything to do with cars, but this old guy is also a wealth of information! Great to see those two lovable guys enjoying themselves.
Great episode. Love the fact that you kept everything real. Capturing Robert smoking multiple smokes in his own shop and not editing those moments out (in such a politically correct world) captures the real "feel" of what barn hunting might be. You meet some of the most fascinating owners, in the most fascinating places, with the most fascinating collections. Tom, Hagerty - Stellar work! Hands down, one of the best productions on the Tube. -A
Prime example of never judge a book by its cover: most people wouldn’t even think he’d have a car at all - let alone millions worth of the most sought after classics ..
**You seriously believe any of this 'created bullshit' as 'real?'** (this is a 'show' and they are all **ACTING** as-if' this is real'...) It's disturbing you would be so easily deceived.
Lol, I'm just glad I kept my initial thoughts to myself... Lesson learned, and I'm in awe. Awesome collection of unrelated cars, all connected by a passionate car guy in the perfect setting. A classic, unrestored American car dealership. Wow!
so sad what you are jealous of what he has. I bet your so poor you cant even have a normal car and you look at people by the cover. in the end you are earth trash. @@gerrynightingale9045
Respect from the UK - what a thoroughly fantastic bloke, with a collection to die for. Also one of the few places on TH-cam where all the comments are complimentary and not a cesspool of hate!
Thats why these videos are so important. I wish some of these can be brought back to life. Harry Metcalf and J Leno really love their Espada's. In face Harry is currently re building his engine and documenting it on youtube!
I would be happy simply assisting Robert in working on his fabulous collection! What a dream collection, within a dreamy old dealership! Not my first time seeing this episode & hopefully not my last time neither! HOW DO I VOLUNTEER MY TIME & ASSISTANCE TO ROBERT? I have been wrenching for 30 years & wow, What a wealth of jems!!!!! Dude us Ruch in life, experience, knowledge, & know how! My hats off to Robert!!!
AMAZING stuff !! As an Englishman, its great to see so many UK cars made it across the Atlantic and are stored, loved and complete. Tragic that they never see the light of day, but lets hope videos like this encourage people to dust them off and get all these wonderful cars back on the roads. Fantastic
Wow This building is about 1 mile from my home. I have been aware of this location but had no idea of what was in it. Being old i remember when it was a working dealership. Thanks for the video.
@Andy Williams Rock island Illinois. When I was much younger I was always fascinated by it. Have drove by it many times but thought it was just full of junk. Had no idea of what was inside.
The De Tomaso Mangusta was very much a hand-built car. The early cars were, as mentioned here, incredibly difficult cars to drive as the handling was all over the place, but it was far from the only supercar from the period to have those issues, the much-loved and now massively valuable Lamborghini Muira really didn't handle well at all and suffered from horrific aero lift at around 120 mph which would see it just understeer straight off the road into the scenery due to their being effectively no weight on the front wheels to allow them to have traction on the road surface. The Mangusta was extensively developed over its production life and the last of the line were pretty much as good to drive as the early Pantera that replaced it but the reputation stuck making it a hard sell and the fact that it really wasn't designed for "mass" production sealed its fate. Early Mangustas are incredibly rare now, out of the 50-or-so built (the number is uncertain as road car production figures are mixed up with those of competition variants so the number of road cars may have only been in the 30s) and the difficult handling has led to a lot being destroyed as has a typically Italian ability to rust and low values for a very long period meaning that potentially restorable cars were broken up, so survivors of the early road cars may well be in single figures, most of which have very low mileages on them as a lot of people that had them drove them once, scared the living daylights out of themselves and never drove them again. They were also notoriously unreliable as, although hand-built, they weren't necessarily built with the greatest of care for quality and quality control seems to have been virtually non-existent so it was far from unknown for cars to be delivered with major problems. Surprisingly, the Mangusta was a very successful competition car although a lack of backing meant it never really featured at the higher levels that made other vehicles, like the GT40 so famous. One problem with the Mangusta that never really was fixed was a lack of cooling, you really needed to be maintaining speeds of 30-40 mph to keep the engine properly cool and sitting in traffic with the engine running was an absolute no-no as they would easily heat up enough to destroy the very strong Ford V8 engine. The name Mangusta means mongoose in Spanish...
gosportjamie what ? Competition Mangusta? There may have been 2 or 3 privateers. These are grand touring cars always were. There was actually 401 (or 402) built. The 50 you think you refer to is the number of late US bound cars with the 2 pop-up headlamps. Cooling, same as most Italian cars from the 50s & 60s. Fans were not shrouded. Add a little water wetter and drive it all day long at (and above the speed limit) I did.
@@norac1244 Although it isn't widely known, Alejandro De Tomaso was an exponent of the philosophy of competition improving the breed. As you say, Mangustas were raced by privateers with limited success, but there were also factory-developed competition cars that were raced with a decent amount of success. This tends to get missed as most of them were raced in South America, and not much attention was paid to racing there at the time. The competition cars were the inception of a lot of the improvements that were made to the later production cars, the company didn't have a lot of money for prototyping and development testing so trying ideas on the race cars was an alternative method, and De Tomaso were far from the only company to do so. I stand by my figures for the early, single headlight cars, the figure comes from a marque historian who has been involved with the cars pretty much from day one...
gosportjamie sorry the early cars had 4 headlights. I have read many books on DeTomaso. Even one written by a ghost writer where the author put all the racing stats in the last chapters. I would be very interested to see / read about SouthAmerican DeTomaso.
Fun to read the stories and information surrounding the Mangusta, and I love what you both and Tom and Robert share about them. I always thought the Mangusta had 351's like the Pantera, not the 289/302's. Anyway - "function follows form" - yeah, always loved their phenomenal lines with the crazy gullwing rear covers, but as you say, I've read of owners who sold theirs promptly after experiencing very disturbing nose lift. Some say the source of the handling problems were largely the "center beam" or "backbone" chassis, like the Lotus Elan and DeLorean.. But the nose lift was all aerodynamics. The ZF 5-speed was shared with the Ford GT40 and the Maserati Bora. Despite thermoswitched fans, the Bora is likewise easier to keep cool the faster you go. Too bad Tom and Robert didn't spend more time on the Espada, another exotic from the same era - and Lamborghini's most successful car of its time with just over 1,200 sold - a sales figure not surpassed until the Countach came along. The choice of Mangusta as the name of a snake killer, is said to have stemmed from De Tomaso having a nasty fall out with Caroll Shelby who pulled out of a partnership to build an Italian follow-on to Shelby's Cobra... Cheers.
The name Mangusta has a nice and true explanation: Mangusta means Mongoose and is the only animal that can eat a Cobra snake. You know Cobra, as in Shelby Cobra. This is why Alejandro de Tomaso gave this car the Mangusta name.
Valentin Manus not the version that was produced, the Prototipo was suppose ta have a recast aluminium version of the 289, dry sump, fuel injection and was quoted to have 570hp in 1965. No small block cobra could have stopped that. The name was given in jest as this car was tested as the Shelby Mk5. Instead Ford went with what is known today as the Pantera.
OMG that old dealership is in Rock Island IL right behind Ace Muffler clinic in off of 4 street This is my home town for 40 years I never new that cars still in the building
As always the best show ever made,could still be longer . The owner of this collection is so cool . The type of guy most would take 1 look and dismiss as poor. I hope someone in his family has the sense to quit their job and help him . I would be in my glory to just clean them cars up and make a display museum as the cars sit now. Then fix each one back to running driving . The building alone is cool enough to be a museum . Thanks Robert for showing us your toys .
I know Robert well. He is a true gentleman and has a passion for his cars. While they may all be in some sort of disrepair, they're all special to him. Great episode Tom!
What a fantastic episode, great cars in a cool building and a passionate owner! and I love these longer episodes, just wish the 240z got abit more love especially as I have one myself :)
I know this building, and always thought it’d make a cool classic car dealership. Every time I drive by it I always hope I see someone there so I can go inside
That '57 Facel Vega should have a driveshaft 'E' brake on the Torqueflite (or Powerflite) trans. No Park until '62. Some folks pull that E brake on while mobile and do damage.
I'm just as intrigued by the building as the cars. wow. I found out more about it and it was a pretty cool showroom, Cars could even be displayed on the roof between the front and back wing. It apparently also had a gasoline service station - imagine if the pumps were still there. Would love to restore a place like that.
🤯 what Buick building. I would kill for that!not literally but I love vintage buildings and my favorite brand is Buick if I hit the lotto I would definitely buy this building super cool collection and the Espada it's my favorite Lamborghini ever. When are we getting some merch I would love to buy a shirt one day
That wonderful old building helped to preserve those cars better than an old barn. Judging by the size of it, it was a busy old Buick dealership back in the day. Had some great Art Deco features you rarely see nowadays.
You’re the perfect host for videos like this. You’re knowledgeable, polite, real, respectful, and you don’t overdo things. You also manage to find some amazing collections and pleasant owners with interesting stories. Jay Leno could learn a lot from you. Kudos!
@@carl_marks1626 That's what I'm saying. Its so sad to hear some one talk about the love for cars and then we see them under covers that haven't been touched for years. That's not what I would call love.
@@mmill6505 As you get older, your dreams and intentions move farther away. I had dreams of retiring at 55 and working on cars. In your 50s, your body starts breaking down. When I was younger, I could work in the garage for 12 hours without a problem, now after 2 hours, my back is aching and I have to rest. I had a 54 Corvette kit car sitting in the garage for 10 years and only got the chance to work on it for 1 month to install 84 Corvette suspension, 350 sbc tri-power, T5 tranny. I sold it a couple of years back realizing that I would never be able to finish it. What used to take a day, now takes a week. That's life.
I'll chime in and stick up for my friend Robert. Some of the cars are projects that won't be finished, but a number of them are cars that he bought in good running and driving condition (Mangusta, Espada, E-type, Imperial, Sprite, Crosleys) Unfortunately, they haven't been driven in a long time and will need substantial refreshing, but they are not mostly "project cars."
@@scottjohnson9853 "haven't been driven in a long time and will need substantial refreshing" That would make them mostly "project cars." If they are not running and driving them what would you call them?
The Building looks just like a Matchbox garage a kid next door to me had. it even had a ramp to drive up to the top. So you could drive your matchbox or Dinky Cars in and get them servced or trade them in. at 19:05 is a pretty significant thing, a Wolseley OHC cam engine ,based on designs seized after WW1 from Hispano Suiza with a shaft driven Camshaft. . I couldn't tell if it was a six or a four ,either way they are pretty cool for an English design. and at 30:09 a Austin Westminster A109 .Similar engine to the MGC but totally different . BTW BMW also used the BW T 35 trans as did Ford UK for a while .Nice simple trans which was pretty common once.
Tom Cotter does a fantastic job. I've watched many of his videos. He has a vast knowledge of exotic cars and at the same time he expresses the wonderment of a kid when he unveils one of his barn finds. I've often wondered why he doesn't have his own reality TV series. His show is far superior to the car shows currently aired. He deserves a reality TV Emmy Award.
If the registration number show on the Frogeye Sprite is correct then it's a 1958 car that was originally painted Speedwell Blue, the pale blue so much associated with these cars. The information suggests that the car either hasn't been in the US for particularly long, or that it was originally exported before the UK registration system recorded UK market cars being exported. Nonetheless it was a UK market car though not necessarily right-hand drive originally as a lot were sold to US service personnel who bought them as left-hand drive cars ready to take home with them when their service in the UK ended. It could also be that the car has been rebuilt in left-hand drive form though that isn't a particularly easy conversion on a Frogeye...
i think that plate is just a front plate made up and stuck on that car, yac 740 is quite a "famous" reg no in sprite circles, and since in most states the front plate is not mandatory people put a period correct uk plate on british cars jay leno does it. that sprite could be yac740 but i doubt it.
What an amazing video....two wonderful gentleman with a knowledge about automobile history - that is beyond comprehension- walk us through a fortress of dreams. BIG THANK YOU...MUCH APPRECIATED!
Lots of people are happy when people show up and want to buy their stuff thats being laying around for years. But others might shoot you. A find like this is worth the gamble.
Always love it when I see a new episode is up and I am LOVING the introduction of these long episodes! I'm consistently blown away by Tom's knowledge of cars and one of the best presenters as well. Many kudos to Tom and the team and can't wait for the next one!
Commenting on a youtube video trying to belittle somebody because of their collection says more about your mental condition than theirs. Plus, if it werent for hoarders this video series wouldnt exist so why are you watching it exactly?
This my second time watching this episode. The most unassuming fella with an articulation around cars to behold. I'd love to know his story. What a collection!
A amazing video,the building needs to be restored as well as the cars. The building is a piece of American automotive history. I remember buildings like that as a kid,all but memories now because they are all torn down. Man what an episode. Thanks.
The steel disc wheels with hubcaps were standard equipment on the MGB (before the rostyles) and MGC. Painted or chrome wire wheels were extra-cost options, and pretty expensive ones when they were new, especially the chrome units. The automatic gearbox was a very expensive option on those and now incredibly rare as an awful lot of the automatic cars were converted back to manual gearboxes as a cheap way to afford one of these cars, as well as the B. The automatic cars were a long way from desirable for a very long time and could be next-to-impossible to sell as used vehicles so they were very cheap indeed. Now, whilst still often seen as somewhat of a poor relation, factory automatic cars are at least similarly desired to the manual cars due to their rarity though it's fair to say that an automatic MGC is far from fast and rather heavy on fuel, and an automatic MGB is decidedly pedestrian...
I have two MGCs. My understanding is all of the MGCs imported to the USA had wire wheels. The disk wheel cars you see in the US were Canadian imports, or imported from Germany or another right hand drive European country.
@@ericl452 You may be correct for the US market though I'm not certain as the MGB was certainly sold in the US with the standard steel wheels and hubcaps so it would seem unlikely that the MGC wouldn't. It is, perhaps, more likely that, with the US being a wealthier market, more people could afford to order what was a fairly expensive vehicle with "appearance" options such as the wire wheels...
The early MGBs in the US market definitely came with disk wheels. You typically find them in 1962 to 1965 vehicles. They became less common after that. By 1968 when the MGC was sold, almost all MGBs were sold with wire wheels. On a side note, the MGB disk wheels and MGC disk wheels are physically different. The MGB wheels were 14x4.5 and the MGC wheels were 15x5. This difference in dimensions applied to both disk and wire wheels.
@@ericl452 I knew the MGC wheels were physically larger than those on the MGB. I can only imagine that the C, with its much heavier engine would be close to impossible to drive on the smaller, MGB-spec wheels and tyres. They do already have a reputation for being more than a little nose-heavy with the big Austin C-series cast iron 6-pot in the front...
I've watched all the barn find hunter episodes and loved them all but this one is my favourite. That art deco building is amazing and this fella has some incredible cars inside, I wonder how many people pass by that place without a second thought... I would love to see this place get tidied up and organised properly, it would make an amazing workshop/time capsule. If it was mine I would live in it!
@@johnbacon2038 It is a sad tale. The Industrial revolution started in the UK after all. They had a *huge* head start. Most of it has to do with how the British car industry was post WW2. Same with the Italian to be honest. Most car manufacturers were small, independant manufacturers making a few hundred cars a year in glorified sheds, not industrialized, mass producing behemoths with millions in development like in Detroit.
Now I am very impressed. This is one fine gentleman here sharing his collection and his knowledge with the world. An exquisite car guy reminiscent of a long gone generation. Saddens me to think that his kind are dying off. Thank you Sir.
- "You have time today ?"
-"Sir, you brought this crew with you, I've got till the end of the week !"
What a legend ! Amazing man, amazing collection.
That was very altruistic of him to do that. Good man!
He's a good guy
@@barpatron Haaaah! I was thinking the same thing... the guy looks like he just woke up from a ten year nap.
@@barpatron At that age he doesn't have to be busy. Clearly show he is not somebody who cares to impress anyone. He is showing his passion just because he saw a valuable effort from some people. If a person like you go there I am sure he would say "get the F out "
@@iam1ina1000000 It would be great to have a 20 year nap... just not to see the growing up ignorant generation.
31 minutes of video, it just gets better and better
yes indeed !!!!!
This guy is eccentricly cool. A good, knowledgable bloke.
He has the knowledge but he has the capabilities to ruin beautiful rare cars. I hate guys like him that let cars like these sit and rot. He loves the idea of owning them but he doesn't love them enough to keep them in good order.
Kingy B have some f I get respect aholes
Guy seems cool. Problem is the state of the economies in these little towns. You'll have the old well off guys in dying towns. Money not flowing like it used to...
Weird thing to see they have stuff like this. A guy in kankakee has a bunch of gassers and other hot rods just sitting.
@@Theorbit10 he keeps them all parked indoors they are not parked out in the weather he may not be restoring them but they are not deteriorating he is keeping those cars so that they are worth restoring
@Kingy B those cars are parked indoors and well-preserved if you're looking for something to restore I'm sure you'll turn to rust before you do anything anyway
Absolutely the best automotive series on TH-cam or anywhere else. It is so refreshing to listen and learn to such a knowledgeable host who obvious loves automobiles.
Sure is! And as an european myself Tom showed me how vast the american car market is. So many models, so many brands and weird creations both pre and post war.
He is wrong a lot. Just putting that out there.
falconater68 only due to knowing too much about cars I feel. He has to much knowledge about cars in his head I feel he mixes things up from time to time
Shawn Clark Ever Seen That Guy Lou Constable ...HES A HACK.. Tom is the real McCoy
Lou's a good guy. It's just that his knowledge of cars isn't nearly as vast as his love of cars & the stories behind them.
This is by far my favorite episode. How is this guys collection not on the top 10?? Unbelievably beautiful collection!
A remarkable collection owned by a remarkable gentleman housed in a remarkably wonderful Art-Deco dealership building...
My hats off to Hagerty & a man who reminds us to never judge a book by its cover!
This is the first time the building is as cool as the cars!
Jake, yeah! And the first time I actually figured out where the building is!!
Johnny the Boy, still at the wreck...Stoned again . He's never going to learn.
I want to restore that building!!
Toe cutter Rules ! Lol
@@lionele6183 It is Awesome ! Truly deserves to be restored.
Probably one of my favorite guys that Tom has met. Knowledgeable, accommodating, just an all around cool guy with a sweet collection. I feel like I could knock back a 6 pack with him on a Sunday and just shoot the breeze all day long.
Give the audio & video team a raise immediately!
Adam Mullings And buy them a light.
Seriously ! They wander into SO many dark and scary places , there MUST be some kinda portable light the crew can bring with--we shouldn't have to see a car filmed lit by a cell phone.c'mon Hagerty get it together !
That gentleman has a lovely voice, very radio worthy. He seems very nice as well. Great video
An astute observation. The gentleman is a good friend of mine and you are correct, he was a reporter and newscaster on local radio and TV for several years.
@@scottjohnson9853 Thank you sir.
@@scottjohnson9853 I was wondering how he made his money
Nice collection! You guys produce some great videos! Thank you!
Our pleasure! Thanks for watching!
And thank you to Robert the kind guest!
Wow,that's quite the collection, hope he staying busy working on them.
M.
Back in '76 when I was in High School, I used to get my hair cut by a guy named Terry that owned his own barber shop in Torrance, CA. Terry drove a Mangusta to his shop every once in while...oh the memories...
Robert, i imagine you will be reading the praise from the hagerty crowd in these comments. You deserve it fella. Props to you for owning cars from such a varied background. Your workshop tour made my day, have to say though if i heard those 6 twin choke webers bark to life on the quad cam v12 Lamborghini that would have made my year!!
That car will never run under his ownership. Just sit and rot! Sad
Love these longer episodes. Another set of killer cars
Tom, this is the best episode ever!!! It would be great to help Robert finish some of those and get them running.
The old guy was really cool, respect.
TheBadBone23 I am so glad people are not making fun of this man because he is older and a little bit off the grid. He is cool as hell.
And very kind letting a camera crew enter his private garage of treasures.
Geez Tom. About the time I'm thinking one your older videos could never be outdone, you come up with this. Amazing. And thank you!
That guy is so humble. A true car guy...awesome episode
This series just gets better and better. Thanks Tom!
Two car guys that can trade knowledge for hours probably and would never get tired .
I can say it a million times I wish these videos were hours long I would watch them.
From Germany: Thank you Tom Cotter it was a great Video with very Nice Cars .I love the Series. The best 30 Minutes of the Day. Thank you Hagerty. Ihr seid die Besten. Grüße aus Hamburg !!!!!!
Truly one of the best, most entertaining of all vintage car shows. Love it.
What a fantastic collection owned by an absolute gentleman. Great video guys.
Tom is a walking enceclopedia on anything to do with cars, but this old guy is also a wealth of information! Great to see those two lovable guys enjoying themselves.
Great episode. Love the fact that you kept everything real. Capturing Robert smoking multiple smokes in his own shop and not editing those moments out (in such a politically correct world) captures the real "feel" of what barn hunting might be. You meet some of the most fascinating owners, in the most fascinating places, with the most fascinating collections.
Tom, Hagerty - Stellar work! Hands down, one of the best productions on the Tube.
-A
Driven by this building nearly my whole life and had no idea there was such a cool collection in there.
Respect to this collection and that guys, from france. Very nice cars.
Robert has such an amazing knowledge...!!! I believe I shall see this episode dozens of times...
Prime example of never judge a book by its cover: most people wouldn’t even think he’d have a car at all - let alone millions worth of the most sought after classics ..
**You seriously believe any of this 'created bullshit' as 'real?'** (this is a 'show' and they are all **ACTING** as-if' this is real'...) It's disturbing you would be so easily deceived.
Lol, I'm just glad I kept my initial thoughts to myself... Lesson learned, and I'm in awe. Awesome collection of unrelated cars, all connected by a passionate car guy in the perfect setting. A classic, unrestored American car dealership. Wow!
Gerry Nightingale tbh i do believe it ya. You wouldn’t happen to be one of them flat earthers?
I was just wondering millions of dollars in automobiles
so sad what you are jealous of what he has. I bet your so poor you cant even have a normal car and you look at people by the cover. in the end you are earth trash. @@gerrynightingale9045
Respect from the UK - what a thoroughly fantastic bloke, with a collection to die for.
Also one of the few places on TH-cam where all the comments are complimentary and not a cesspool of hate!
Sadly, when these old timers pass on no one will know anything about any of these cars. Love the building!
They will now.
Thats why these videos are so important. I wish some of these can be brought back to life. Harry Metcalf and J Leno really love their Espada's. In face Harry is currently re building his engine and documenting it on youtube!
I would be happy simply assisting Robert in working on his fabulous collection! What a dream collection, within a dreamy old dealership! Not my first time seeing this episode & hopefully not my last time neither! HOW DO I VOLUNTEER MY TIME & ASSISTANCE TO ROBERT? I have been wrenching for 30 years & wow, What a wealth of jems!!!!! Dude us Ruch in life, experience, knowledge, & know how! My hats off to Robert!!!
Awesome collection, great gentleman owner, and fantastic video. Thanks
AMAZING stuff !! As an Englishman, its great to see so many UK cars made it across the Atlantic and are stored, loved and complete. Tragic that they never see the light of day, but lets hope videos like this encourage people to dust them off and get all these wonderful cars back on the roads. Fantastic
Tim - Thank you for being a fan!
Wow This building is about 1 mile from my home. I have been aware of this location but had no idea of what was in it. Being old i remember when it was a working dealership. Thanks for the video.
@Andy Williams Rock island Illinois. When I was much younger I was always fascinated by it. Have drove by it many times but thought it was just full of junk. Had no idea of what was inside.
Robert is an incredible guy with an incredible collection of cars. Thanks for finding and sharing.
The De Tomaso Mangusta was very much a hand-built car. The early cars were, as mentioned here, incredibly difficult cars to drive as the handling was all over the place, but it was far from the only supercar from the period to have those issues, the much-loved and now massively valuable Lamborghini Muira really didn't handle well at all and suffered from horrific aero lift at around 120 mph which would see it just understeer straight off the road into the scenery due to their being effectively no weight on the front wheels to allow them to have traction on the road surface. The Mangusta was extensively developed over its production life and the last of the line were pretty much as good to drive as the early Pantera that replaced it but the reputation stuck making it a hard sell and the fact that it really wasn't designed for "mass" production sealed its fate. Early Mangustas are incredibly rare now, out of the 50-or-so built (the number is uncertain as road car production figures are mixed up with those of competition variants so the number of road cars may have only been in the 30s) and the difficult handling has led to a lot being destroyed as has a typically Italian ability to rust and low values for a very long period meaning that potentially restorable cars were broken up, so survivors of the early road cars may well be in single figures, most of which have very low mileages on them as a lot of people that had them drove them once, scared the living daylights out of themselves and never drove them again. They were also notoriously unreliable as, although hand-built, they weren't necessarily built with the greatest of care for quality and quality control seems to have been virtually non-existent so it was far from unknown for cars to be delivered with major problems. Surprisingly, the Mangusta was a very successful competition car although a lack of backing meant it never really featured at the higher levels that made other vehicles, like the GT40 so famous. One problem with the Mangusta that never really was fixed was a lack of cooling, you really needed to be maintaining speeds of 30-40 mph to keep the engine properly cool and sitting in traffic with the engine running was an absolute no-no as they would easily heat up enough to destroy the very strong Ford V8 engine. The name Mangusta means mongoose in Spanish...
gosportjamie what ? Competition Mangusta? There may have been 2 or 3 privateers. These are grand touring cars always were. There was actually 401 (or 402) built. The 50 you think you refer to is the number of late US bound cars with the 2 pop-up headlamps. Cooling, same as most Italian cars from the 50s & 60s. Fans were not shrouded. Add a little water wetter and drive it all day long at (and above the speed limit) I did.
@@norac1244 Although it isn't widely known, Alejandro De Tomaso was an exponent of the philosophy of competition improving the breed. As you say, Mangustas were raced by privateers with limited success, but there were also factory-developed competition cars that were raced with a decent amount of success. This tends to get missed as most of them were raced in South America, and not much attention was paid to racing there at the time. The competition cars were the inception of a lot of the improvements that were made to the later production cars, the company didn't have a lot of money for prototyping and development testing so trying ideas on the race cars was an alternative method, and De Tomaso were far from the only company to do so. I stand by my figures for the early, single headlight cars, the figure comes from a marque historian who has been involved with the cars pretty much from day one...
gosportjamie sorry the early cars had 4 headlights. I have read many books on DeTomaso. Even one written by a ghost writer where the author put all the racing stats in the last chapters. I would be very interested to see / read about SouthAmerican DeTomaso.
Fun to read the stories and information surrounding the Mangusta, and I love what you both and Tom and Robert share about them. I always thought the Mangusta had 351's like the Pantera, not the 289/302's. Anyway - "function follows form" - yeah, always loved their phenomenal lines with the crazy gullwing rear covers, but as you say, I've read of owners who sold theirs promptly after experiencing very disturbing nose lift. Some say the source of the handling problems were largely the "center beam" or "backbone" chassis, like the Lotus Elan and DeLorean.. But the nose lift was all aerodynamics. The ZF 5-speed was shared with the Ford GT40 and the Maserati Bora. Despite thermoswitched fans, the Bora is likewise easier to keep cool the faster you go. Too bad Tom and Robert didn't spend more time on the Espada, another exotic from the same era - and Lamborghini's most successful car of its time with just over 1,200 sold - a sales figure not surpassed until the Countach came along. The choice of Mangusta as the name of a snake killer, is said to have stemmed from De Tomaso having a nasty fall out with Caroll Shelby who pulled out of a partnership to build an Italian follow-on to Shelby's Cobra... Cheers.
You meet some of the nicest people who collect cars . Thanks for your time and efforts to bring us these Gems
The name Mangusta has a nice and true explanation: Mangusta means Mongoose and is the only animal that can eat a Cobra snake. You know Cobra, as in Shelby Cobra. This is why Alejandro de Tomaso gave this car the Mangusta name.
still there was no way for a Mangusta to eat an Ac Cobra on the track .....
Valentin Manus not the version that was produced, the Prototipo was suppose ta have a recast aluminium version of the 289, dry sump, fuel injection and was quoted to have 570hp in 1965. No small block cobra could have stopped that. The name was given in jest as this car was tested as the Shelby Mk5. Instead Ford went with what is known today as the Pantera.
Robert..........what a guy! And the building is a gem as well as his cars.
I love this show, 30 minutes goes by like 3. I could watch all day.
Wow, what a great collection and on top of that, owner has great knowledge as well.... Loved the video and the all the cars....
Great video Tom. I hope you never stop finding cars to show us.
You had me at Mangusta.
You had me at De.
Never seen it in that color, Spectacular!
Arvind Raman, Bill drives a Silver one in Kill Bill Vol. 2.
Hahahaha.... You had me at De
Charlie B, HEY! Watcha you mouth!!!
Tom carry a flashlight with at all times !!!😀 Thanks for doing what you do!
yep good call.
OMG that old dealership is in Rock Island IL right behind Ace Muffler clinic in off of 4 street This is my home town for 40 years I never new that cars still in the building
pretty cool its still there!
As always the best show ever made,could still be longer . The owner of this collection is so cool . The type of guy most would take 1 look and dismiss as poor. I hope someone in his family has the sense to quit their job and help him . I would be in my glory to just clean them cars up and make a display museum as the cars sit now. Then fix each one back to running driving . The building alone is cool enough to be a museum . Thanks Robert for showing us your toys .
Excellent find, particularly love the Bug Eyed Sprite.
In the UK I think they're more commonly known as a frog-eye. :)
Even the engine is collectible.
I know Robert well. He is a true gentleman and has a passion for his cars. While they may all be in some sort of disrepair, they're all special to him. Great episode Tom!
What a fantastic episode, great cars in a cool building and a passionate owner! and I love these longer episodes, just wish the 240z got abit more love especially as I have one myself :)
I know this building, and always thought it’d make a cool classic car dealership. Every time I drive by it I always hope I see someone there so I can go inside
That '57 Facel Vega should have a driveshaft 'E' brake on the Torqueflite (or Powerflite) trans. No Park until '62. Some folks pull that E brake on while mobile and do damage.
In my opinion, one of the best chapters you have filmed. Amazing building, amazing cars and stuff. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!!!
Francisco, it's our pleasure. Thank you for watching!
I'm just as intrigued by the building as the cars. wow. I found out more about it and it was a pretty cool showroom, Cars could even be displayed on the roof between the front and back wing. It apparently also had a gasoline service station - imagine if the pumps were still there. Would love to restore a place like that.
where is this place?
@@LIFE_in_118_SCALE Rock island, IL on 4' street
Love the cars, especially the e-type and the Lambo. Great old art deco building too, one of Tom's best shows.
Great video specially when the owner smoking with low profile...def barn find
Keep em coming Tom we can't get enough.Incredible find of cars,a cool 'ol dealership and Roberts knowledge of these vehicles is incredible.
🤯 what Buick building. I would kill for that!not literally but I love vintage buildings and my favorite brand is Buick if I hit the lotto I would definitely buy this building super cool collection and the Espada it's my favorite Lamborghini ever. When are we getting some merch I would love to buy a shirt one day
703 CRUIZ'N I taught the same thing! If I would win lotto I would definetly buy this place!
703 CRUIZ'N, you’d want to move the building though...not in a good part of town.
@@mattkaustickomments 👍
That wonderful old building helped to preserve those cars better than an old barn. Judging by the size of it, it was a busy old Buick dealership back in the day. Had some great Art Deco features you rarely see nowadays.
@@carl_marks1626 yes it did! My dream is to one day be able to build a garage in my property or my home with that vintage look
Thank you Robert for sharing your passion with us all.
Wow just fantastic! Best 30min spent all week! Keep up the good work! Cheers
Thanks so much Mr C, for your wonderful videos...
I'm speechless… I would gladly sleep in a small corner and daycome clean those cars for free… WOW !
You’re the perfect host for videos like this. You’re knowledgeable, polite, real, respectful, and you don’t overdo things. You also manage to find some amazing collections and pleasant owners with interesting stories. Jay Leno could learn a lot from you. Kudos!
Robert has a very nice indoor junk/parts yard. I say that with respect because most of his cars are projects that he will never finish.
Sadly none of them will get finished. The rest of the place was just crammed with boxes and boxes of junk that’s been accumulated over the years.
@@carl_marks1626 That's what I'm saying. Its so sad to hear some one talk about the love for cars and then we see them under covers that haven't been touched for years. That's not what I would call love.
@@mmill6505 As you get older, your dreams and intentions move farther away. I had dreams of retiring at 55 and working on cars. In your 50s, your body starts breaking down. When I was younger, I could work in the garage for 12 hours without a problem, now after 2 hours, my back is aching and I have to rest. I had a 54 Corvette kit car sitting in the garage for 10 years and only got the chance to work on it for 1 month to install 84 Corvette suspension, 350 sbc tri-power, T5 tranny. I sold it a couple of years back realizing that I would never be able to finish it. What used to take a day, now takes a week. That's life.
I'll chime in and stick up for my friend Robert. Some of the cars are projects that won't be finished, but a number of them are cars that he bought in good running and driving condition (Mangusta, Espada, E-type, Imperial, Sprite, Crosleys) Unfortunately, they haven't been driven in a long time and will need substantial refreshing, but they are not mostly "project cars."
@@scottjohnson9853 "haven't been driven in a long time and will need substantial refreshing" That would make them mostly "project cars."
If they are not running and driving them what would you call them?
1
The Espada is the Lamborghini that i love the most - Very Rare Italian masterpiece ,especially the design !!! Great Find once again guys . U rock
The Building looks just like a Matchbox garage a kid next door to me had. it even had a ramp to drive up to the top. So you could drive your matchbox or Dinky Cars in and get them servced or trade them in. at 19:05 is a pretty significant thing, a Wolseley OHC cam engine ,based on designs seized after WW1 from Hispano Suiza with a shaft driven Camshaft. . I couldn't tell if it was a six or a four ,either way they are pretty cool for an English design. and at 30:09 a Austin Westminster A109 .Similar engine to the MGC but totally different . BTW BMW also used the BW T 35 trans as did Ford UK for a while .Nice simple trans which was pretty common once.
Tom Cotter does a fantastic job. I've watched many of his videos. He has a vast knowledge of exotic cars and at the same time he expresses the wonderment of a kid when he unveils one of his barn finds.
I've often wondered why he doesn't have his own reality TV series. His show is far superior to the car shows currently aired. He deserves a reality TV Emmy Award.
If the registration number show on the Frogeye Sprite is correct then it's a 1958 car that was originally painted Speedwell Blue, the pale blue so much associated with these cars. The information suggests that the car either hasn't been in the US for particularly long, or that it was originally exported before the UK registration system recorded UK market cars being exported. Nonetheless it was a UK market car though not necessarily right-hand drive originally as a lot were sold to US service personnel who bought them as left-hand drive cars ready to take home with them when their service in the UK ended. It could also be that the car has been rebuilt in left-hand drive form though that isn't a particularly easy conversion on a Frogeye...
i think that plate is just a front plate made up and stuck on that car, yac 740 is quite a "famous" reg no in sprite circles, and since in most states the front plate is not mandatory people put a period correct uk plate on british cars jay leno does it.
that sprite could be yac740 but i doubt it.
What an amazing video....two wonderful gentleman with a knowledge about automobile history - that is beyond comprehension- walk us through a fortress of dreams. BIG THANK YOU...MUCH APPRECIATED!
Thank you for the kind words!
Wow nice collection
The detomaso mangusta is such a striking car. I absolutely love this double window design.
I wish this video was 12 hours long
I wish it was 12 days long! Awesome!
Like everybody else watching this, it is the sheer love of cars, and the depth of detailed knowledge that is so absorbing.
"I would stop my car and peek in the windows, which I do a lot" makes it sound very, very bad. Lol
Peeping Tom is what came to my mind.
Lots of people are happy when people show up and want to buy their stuff thats being laying around for years. But others might shoot you. A find like this is worth the gamble.
Always love it when I see a new episode is up and I am LOVING the introduction of these long episodes! I'm consistently blown away by Tom's knowledge of cars and one of the best presenters as well. Many kudos to Tom and the team and can't wait for the next one!
With the engine in would probably be 40”
Yeah engine and two passengers should do it.
2 passengers in the gt40 would drop an inch. So its a 39.
Great building, great cars, great owner. And of course, great Tom Cotter as usual.
Just when you think you have seen it all Tom pulls another rabbit from his hat👍
Awesome guy and collection. His Espada is a gem and in a rare color and super original condition. Wow, what a find!
That's my line 1:00 !
Thank you for bringing us along on these great adventures! I enjoy every video.
Ryan
What a cool building & collection! I know where it is and the owner’s name.
This is another amazing video. Every episode is our chance to go to school. Can't thank you enough. Thanks , Craig
It kind of depressing to see so many cars that could be restored and just sitting there and not being used.
Very. The condition of the cars says a lot about the mental condition of the owner.
@@IaintTheHerb Go and buy them off him then or shut up.
I don't mind project cars sitting inside in the safe and dry building than rotting away under trees.
Commenting on a youtube video trying to belittle somebody because of their collection says more about your mental condition than theirs. Plus, if it werent for hoarders this video series wouldnt exist so why are you watching it exactly?
@@lmryan7520 touche' sir
This my second time watching this episode. The most unassuming fella with an articulation around cars to behold. I'd love to know his story. What a collection!
That place needs a manager. He should hire me.
A little straightening up would go a long way.
Wow, this Monsieur Robert is a nice, cool and so knowlegeable man ! Sprite/Toyota : "Beaucoup fast !" Love it ! Thanks guys !
The whole video I kept thinking "I need to meet this man."
A amazing video,the building needs to be restored as well as the cars. The building is a piece of American automotive history. I remember buildings like that as a kid,all but memories now because they are all torn down. Man what an episode. Thanks.
The steel disc wheels with hubcaps were standard equipment on the MGB (before the rostyles) and MGC. Painted or chrome wire wheels were extra-cost options, and pretty expensive ones when they were new, especially the chrome units. The automatic gearbox was a very expensive option on those and now incredibly rare as an awful lot of the automatic cars were converted back to manual gearboxes as a cheap way to afford one of these cars, as well as the B. The automatic cars were a long way from desirable for a very long time and could be next-to-impossible to sell as used vehicles so they were very cheap indeed. Now, whilst still often seen as somewhat of a poor relation, factory automatic cars are at least similarly desired to the manual cars due to their rarity though it's fair to say that an automatic MGC is far from fast and rather heavy on fuel, and an automatic MGB is decidedly pedestrian...
I have two MGCs. My understanding is all of the MGCs imported to the USA had wire wheels. The disk wheel cars you see in the US were Canadian imports, or imported from Germany or another right hand drive European country.
@@ericl452 You may be correct for the US market though I'm not certain as the MGB was certainly sold in the US with the standard steel wheels and hubcaps so it would seem unlikely that the MGC wouldn't. It is, perhaps, more likely that, with the US being a wealthier market, more people could afford to order what was a fairly expensive vehicle with "appearance" options such as the wire wheels...
The early MGBs in the US market definitely came with disk wheels. You typically find them in 1962 to 1965 vehicles. They became less common after that. By 1968 when the MGC was sold, almost all MGBs were sold with wire wheels. On a side note, the MGB disk wheels and MGC disk wheels are physically different. The MGB wheels were 14x4.5 and the MGC wheels were 15x5. This difference in dimensions applied to both disk and wire wheels.
@@ericl452 I knew the MGC wheels were physically larger than those on the MGB. I can only imagine that the C, with its much heavier engine would be close to impossible to drive on the smaller, MGB-spec wheels and tyres. They do already have a reputation for being more than a little nose-heavy with the big Austin C-series cast iron 6-pot in the front...
I've watched all the barn find hunter episodes and loved them all but this one is my favourite. That art deco building is amazing and this fella has some incredible cars inside, I wonder how many people pass by that place without a second thought... I would love to see this place get tidied up and organised properly, it would make an amazing workshop/time capsule. If it was mine I would live in it!
I would sell half of them and make the rest run perfectly..
Watched this twice - back to back. mesmerizing. 😍
“Italian car with British electrical”
That explains why Espadas have bad wiring
Yes the country that cracked the Enigma code with the worlds first electronic computer!
@@johnbacon2038 It is a sad tale. The Industrial revolution started in the UK after all. They had a *huge* head start. Most of it has to do with how the British car industry was post WW2. Same with the Italian to be honest. Most car manufacturers were small, independant manufacturers making a few hundred cars a year in glorified sheds, not industrialized, mass producing behemoths with millions in development like in Detroit.
This episode has it all, a great owner, a great collection and the coolest place to store them. Awesome video.
really nice italians (we) were the best
Mario is gonna beat your ass
Ehh compa. Bei tempi
One of the best car channels on TH-cam, hands down. I can't get enough of this stuff.
Sell 3/4 of those cars, clean up the place, and make the remaining 1/4 perfect.
Now I am very impressed. This is one fine gentleman here sharing his collection and his knowledge with the world. An exquisite car guy reminiscent of a long gone generation. Saddens me to think that his kind are dying off. Thank you Sir.