Exotic cars exhumed from farm hut.
Lethbridge dairy farm hid auto treasures
By his own description, Lawayne Musselwhite is a lucky guy. A lifelong car nut, he bought, sold and restored early Mustangs from the age of 16.
“Give me a Mustang in a box and I’ll tell you where every screw goes,” he says.
Lucky, yes. There was the lottery win in 2010, and then another win: a brand new 2014 Shelby GT500 with 662 pounding ponies under the hood, won with a $50 ticket.
The homebuilder from Fort Saskatchewan has one of the most impressive Shelby collections in the country — eight of them.
But things got even better for Musselwhite when he recently discovered what is arguably Canada’s ultimate barn find — 40 current and future collectible vehicles stored in a Quonset hut at a Lethbridge dairy farm.
As Musselwhite explains it, the wealthy farm owner went to his local Ford dealer with $1 million to spend, and asked a salesman to buy cars that would go up in value starting in 1999.
Left inside the dirt-floor storage were rows of exotic sports cars, low production factory muscle cars and Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson pickups. All new with low mileage, some still wore window stickers.
“It was disgusting the way they were left, covered in dust, overrun with mice and parked on dirt,” Musselwhite says.
Musselwhite and friend Darren Boychuk jumped at the chance to buy all 40 vehicles for $1.1 million. Boychuk’s E & S Motorcycles in Fort Saskatchewan now looks like an exotic car sales lot with rows of Corvettes, other exotics and pickup trucks.
But Boychuk’s shop at home holds the real crown jewels from the barn find — four Plymouth Prowlers and three Ford GTs. One of the rare lightweight, rear-engine 2006 Ford GTs — with 10.8 miles on it — is one of only 400 Heritage Edition models offered for sale.
Heritage Edition Ford GT sports cars have sold for up to $700,000. 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,” Musselwhite enthuses.
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 already owns one of the most impressive Shelby collections in the country. The first one he bought was a rare 1965 Shelby, number 47 of only 519 built, that came from Edmonton. His second 1965 Shelby — owned first by well-known California drag racer Jerry Mendes — took the two top awards at the Shelby American Automotive Club show in Fontana, California.
Musselwhite and business partner Boychuk are selling most of the 40 vehicles. They hope to put some aside for themselves — a pair of Ford GTs and a red 2007 Shelby GT500 convertible.
Musselwhite also is partnering with internationally known Shelby restorer Jeff Yergovich of R & A Motorsports to build a dealership named Shelby Canadian Inc. in Fort Saskatchewan to refit Ford cars with Shelby performance packages.