‘Humans crave narrative’: Why are barn finds so captivating?

Blame it on social media’s constantly evolving algorithm, but barn finds seem to be rising in popularity over the past couple of years.

Personally speaking, the late-night scrolls on TikTok on Instagram always lead me down a rabbit hole of watching content creators find hidden gems that have been left abandoned in mainly rural areas.

RELATED: ‘Really odd’: Internet scrambles to identify abandoned mystery car

Now, I’m not saying all the videos are true. We all know how easy it can be for these creators to fake a video either through AI or hidden production, but one thing’s for certain: car barn finds are so compelling for a wide array of audiences.

But why exactly do they draw the attention of not only car enthusiasts but also the general public? According to Dr Max von Sabler, a clinical psychologist at Melbourne-based MVS Psychology, it’s human nature to find hidden car barn finds so compelling.

“The appeal of a barn find is probably rooted in the powerful combination of scarcity and discovery. The human brain is wired to respond strongly to novelty and rarity,” Dr von Sabler told Drive.

“Finding a vehicle hidden away for decades likely activates the same reward pathways involved in treasure hunting or unearthing a rare artifact. It can fulfil deep psychological needs for mastery, meaning and connection,” he explained.

For Daniel and Jayden King, an Adelaide-based father and son duo behind the One More Flip YouTube channel, collecting vintage and classic cars was a way to bond and share the passion for motoring from one generation to the next.

What started as a $500 project to find, restore and flip old vehicles to put the funds towards 16-year-old Jayden’s dream car of a Mazda MX-5 led the pair to film their most viral video yet, a barn find in an unspecified location in South Australia.

The video, which was posted in May 2024, has since accumulated over 1115,000 views on the social media platform.

Forty-four-year-old Daniel said the barn in the viral video was filled with an estimated 500 cars that were covered in dust and hidden away behind a collection of old clothes, boxes and everything you can imagine.

Speaking to Drive, the Adelaide father said the fascination with barn finds could be because “it feels like unwrapping a present at Christmas”.

“You don’t know what’s behind the wrapping, so I think that’s almost more exciting than receiving the gift itself. So, when you do discover a barn find, where these cars are encapsulated and frozen in time [it’s a pretty special feeling],” Daniel explained.

Beyond the restoration process of finding old vehicles, Dr von Sabler said barn finds also have an underlying “storytelling element”.

“People feel part of the car’s history, as though they are rescuing and preserving a piece of cultural heritage. For some, it’s also a form of escapism that provides focus and purpose outside of daily stressors,” he told Drive.

Additionally, nostalgia plays an important role in our affinity for cars tucked away for years. As Dr von Sabler explained, “In psychology, nostalgia can potentially enhance well-being by strengthening identity and creating a sense of continuity between past and present”.

“Classic cars often evoke memories (real or imagined) of a time perceived as many different things; it could be simpler or more authentic, and barn finds are a literal, tactile way to ‘bring the past back to life’.

“For all of us, we are storytellers and humans crave narrative – it’s captured in culture, in social life, and in who we are as individuals. A classic car is a way to express that human tendency,” Dr von Sabler told Drive.

Daniel King echoed a similar statement when he said, “[when it comes to barn finds] you might be able to build a connection with the owner as well as the cars, and you understand why they’re there, it’s just historic”.

“I think people that do collect these cars have great intentions of doing something with them, but they just end up sitting there for 20 or 30 years, and then the collection gets out of control,” he added.

While you might hesitate at spending your hard-earned money on a big chunk of rusted metal, Aaron Lofts, an auctioneer from Melbourne-based Slattery Auctions, said “Barn find auctions and sales really defy logic”.

“A lot of the time, these cars are run down, in need of refurbishment and restoration. But the prices that are achieved sometimes beggar belief. This is because of the specifications of that particular car, but other times it’s about the mystery, and having something that is unusual and different to what everybody else has,” Lofts told Drive.

While AI and social media have made it easy to fake hidden barn finds in 2025, the auctioneer said it has been an issue within the enthusiast community for decades.

“True barn finds will always draw a crowd and premium prices. The trouble is, particularly in Australia, when the muscle car boom hit in the early 2000s, enthusiasts and sellers discovered that you could sell cars for sometimes 50 per cent above the expected prices because they were ‘barn finds’,” Lofts explained.

“Crafty sellers started designing barn finds, adding dust, flat tyres, and staging discovery, to bump up their returns and their sale prices,” he told Drive.

We’d like to hear from you. Have you had any experiences with finding hidden car gems in barns across the world? Let us know in the comments below.

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