50 Shades of Rust: Barn Finds You Wish You'd Discovered Hardcover – September 15, 2014

Hey car collectors! Rust is in! You have to read this book!50 Shades of Rust by Tom Cotter is not just another car book. It is exquisitely done. The cover, design, pictures and overall layout are very impressive and the color coordination with the varying shades of rust is masterful. It sounds strange, I know, but it is the kind of book you would want to display in a more prominent location than a bookshelf, so others can enjoy it cover as well as its contents.Informative as well as entertaining, 50 Shades of Rust exudes the author's deep passion for the collector car hobby as wells his great sense of humor. As I proceeded through one fascinating barn find after another, I actually learned to appreciate the artistic qualities of rust! Automotive archaeology, the author's newly coined term to describe the discovery of rare automotive finds, is a very appropriate term. Some of the finds are serendipitous, others are well-planned over a period of time. All of them came about because the car collector is inspired by the "chase". Also, there is something exhilarating about the "conquest". The actual discovery, whether it is a long abandoned classic buried under garage paraphernalia or a rusty old dinosaur hidden behind an old tractor in a farmer's barn, has the capacity to ignite the passion of anyone interested in the classic car hobby.I guarantee you will love reading this book as much as I did.

He seemed to like it.

This book should be retitled "Advances Even Pay Well for C+ Work"I've purchased all the "...in the Barn" books Tom Cotter has written. Enjoyed them immensely. "50 Shades of Rust" is not his finest work, far from it. While an assembly of Barn Stories, they aren't well written nor even well edited, some stories seem to stop mid-way through their retelling. There are some messy typos which further confirm this. An obvious sign that the publisher was rushing to get it to market. A few of the stories were previously used in Tom's other books. Very weak.Overall, its got a great title, a great cover photo, and a forward by Wayne Carini, but the book itself seems to have been "phoned in" to capture our dollars for a fascinating subject. Too bad Tom put his name to this one, its not worthy.

Take a look around and you find yourself wondering what automotive treasures lurk out in abandoned barns. Ninety some stories here tell you here that the age of treasure hunting is not over. Unfortunately , some finds in this book do not result in a running vehicle, and some others that run will not be restored. Still, every story has at least two photos, most in color. Even a casual enthusiast should enjoy this book.

Excellent pictorial content.

Good book but as this was for someone who is not the biggest reader, a few more photographs of before and after the cars were found/fixed would have been a bonus. Otherwise, an entertaining and well done book.

Another good book by Tom Cotter. This one is mostly pictures.

Brief tales about cars told by their owners. Very much like the tales my buddies and I tell when we're together. Easy, entertaining read for car guys.

Purchased for father-in-law -loves it

seem to have missed the english side of the history

they are not nearly as informative or involving as they might be.I love stories of barn finds, and I pursue barn finds myself. But this book (and all the other barn find books I have read so far) fall short of providing the right amount of details.As far as I understood, this is simply a collection of stories that have been published on one or more magazines, with strict contrains on the length of each text. This means that each story is covered by 1 or 2 pictures of the car "as found" (often of mediocre quality), and 1 or 2 pictures of the car in current state.Frankly, I struggle to believe that the owners just took 1 or 2 pictures of the car when they have found it. Myself, when I chase an unloved old car, or a barnfind, take dozens of pictures starting from the first moment I see it, then many more upon collection and hundreds during my ownership. And I think that most classic car owners in their right mind do the same.I understand that only a couple photos may have been published on the magazine, but a book is supposed to provide more details and data than a magazine. So why not collect more pictures of each car, and maybe more detailds about the history of the vehicle (if possible) about the restoration and current use, rather than copy & paste from the author's archive?This would mean more work for the author, of course, but would also mean more titles available, hence more books to be sold.

I have read all of the Tom Cotter books. this one leaves me disappointed. This book does not go into any detail at all as to how these cars came back to life after being discovered. Just a quick two or three page summary with a few pictures. I prefer a more in depth story.

One of a series of books about barn-finds, this one is full of fun and interest. Well illustrated, it makes the reader shut his or her eyes and imagine making a find of his or her own. It's nice to know that they are still out there!