History is just one of those things that has a strange way of repeating itself. It’s no less true for our automotive heritage, and so the traditions that are connected with the rides we love are ones that we are reluctant to part with.

Just a few years back, a colleague from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles had talked about the cherished, 1st-gen Vette that had belonged to his father since new. The ’59 C1 turned out to be a premium-optioned car, but even with a fuelie 283 and correct 4-speed intact, the Corvette classic somehow became a garaged relic that wouldn’t see the light of day for some 30 years. The gentleman who owned the C1 eventually passed, and so the car was never restored.

Such is a similar story out of Knoxville, Tennessee, and in spite of the fact that our featured ’57 Chevy wagon carries with it a bitter-sweet story, we find that it makes for a very cool barn find. The story behind our featured shoebox is that it was preserved by a Knoxville local to be restored by his son, who sadly passed just a few years back. Since then, both this ’57 wagon and a ’46 Willys Jeep have been stashed in a car port, wearing 1982 plates from the state of Tennessee.

The current owner of the cool, Bowtie wagon has indicated that the car is not a Nomad, but was fortunate enough to be packaged with the era’s higher-output 283, a raised-compression variant of Chevy’s early small-block with a 4-barrel intake option. The wagon’s original owner felt that his family didn’t share his enthusiasm for the ’57 shoebox and the early Jeep, so he decided to sell both vehicles to someone who could restore and appreciate them.

All of us have had cars and trucks in our lives that have held a special place in our walks through the world; which car or truck from your past or current collection do you think is the most resto-worthy?!