Comments on: Huge classic car find in barn in Portugal

Huge classic car find in barn in Portugal

MegoSteve — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:53:10 -0800

Imagine you live in Portugal and you're moving into a lovely farm house on a large swath of land. The place has been empty for 15 years! While exploring your new property you find a large barn in the trees. The door is padlocked shut and its all rusted solid. so you grind the padlock open... [more inside]

By: MegoSteve

MegoSteve — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:53:21 -0800

The story of this phenomenal barn find has been flying around auto enthusiast message boards for a few weeks, but nothing has been confirmed, so it could be a hoax. It sure seems too good to be true, but regardless, it is an amazing series of photos rare European cars found in one place. As a (non-car) collector, I'd like to believe that this kind of find can still happen.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:00:14 -0800

Holy fucking Christ on a ten-meter pole. That's very cool. Very, very cool.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:01:36 -0800

Wow.

By: gnomesb

gnomesb — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:02:23 -0800

I have a friend who would have kittens over this...

By: synaesthetichaze

synaesthetichaze — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:03:02 -0800

Cool post... apropos of nothing, we are Harrisburg-York-Lancaster Conurbation buddies! Yeah!

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:03:34 -0800

*fap fap fap*

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:03:44 -0800

Wow pretty much sums it up. What a find, I'm not that big on cars but if I found a stash like that in my new house I'd say the DIY would be taking a back seat while I hoked around my new playground!

By: matthewr

matthewr — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:03:56 -0800

Wow.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:07:31 -0800

With everyone saying wow I'll go on record as being disappointed. I was expecting a creepy decrepit red wooden barn in the woods, with mysterious creepy things inside, skeletons, piles of Nazi gold...

By: eriko

eriko — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:09:15 -0800

If it's a fake, somebody put a bizarre amount of effort into it -- how the fuck do you fake years of dust like that. I'm not a car fan, and I find myself agree with Mr_C_D. What a thing to find -- even if the story isn't exactly true.

By: Liosliath

Liosliath — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:13:09 -0800

Is there more backstory on this? That's not exactly a cheap barn (I was also expecting a crumbling wooden structure), have the cars VINs (if they have them) been checked, who did the land belong to, etc... We had a find like this, but it was a guy who collected 50s-70s Pontiacs - unfortunately, he kept them all in a field, so most of them had rotten rusty frames.

By: Brian B.

Brian B. — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:17:57 -0800

I imagined a stash of wine before I opened the link. Maybe there's some in the trunks of the cars.

By: nekton

nekton — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:17:58 -0800

My Dad is a car collector, and he has a barn-full of old cars plus two garages and a "storage area". I sent him this link. I imagine he'll have something interesting to say about it.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:22:40 -0800

There's a famous similar story of a rich miser in New England somewhere that would buy rare cars and just hide them in a barn, for fears that the IRS would find out if he ever drove them. IIRC, it was discovered in about 1997 or so and the contents of a single barn were worth several million dollars.

By: docpops

docpops — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:29:24 -0800

So, from a collector's standpoint, and a mechanical one, would these count as 'well-preserved'? Or is the coating of dust a sign of deeper trouble from the humidity, etc?

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:34:57 -0800

Wow! 1. The barn looks very modern, maybe 30-40 years old. Almost certainly post-WWII. Maybe younger, since it isn't all covered in moss. 2. There is quite a range of cars in there. It looks like most of them are from the '50s to '70s, but there may be some old pre-war cars in there too. 3. Perhaps it was a rich guy who dabbled in Formula racing a bit, but ultimately stuck to sports cars. Note that we see a Porsche 356, but not a 550. This guy obviously prefered quantity over quality. 4. Lots of cars are packed into a small space, but they really aren't setup for long term storage. Note how the tires are deflated and the cars are resting on their wheels. A more careful collector would have blocked the cars up. 5. I'm guessing the owner was an eccentric individual, without much staff. A professional mechanic probably would have stored the cars off their wheels, and would have gotten the word out about the collection after the owner died. 6. The owner probably passed away without heirs, or the heirs couldn't be bothered to care about dad's old car collection. 7. There is definitely something creepy about this collection. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm reminded of those photos of piles of shoes near Nazi concentration camps. 8. The owner may have just been a packrat. He bought a new car every year, and parked the old one off in the barn. This can't have been the first barn though. The barn seems much younger than some of the cars it contains.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:37:09 -0800

I wonder if this collection predates The Carnation Revolution or not. Oh, if I could only read the dates on these newspapers. Y'know, having MiguelCardoso still around would be very useful right about know. Also, some of these seem pretty dilapidated.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:47:41 -0800

Aww, maaaan... how come stuff like this never happens to me?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:48:36 -0800

I mean, just living in Portugal. Never mind the barn fulla cars.

By: bhouston

bhouston — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:59:08 -0800

I bet the pictures are real, just the back story isn't. I doubt someone would sell a property with a large building on it without ever opening the building to see what is inside.

By: pjern

pjern — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:59:26 -0800

Maybe this is why we haven't heard from Miguel in a while... he's cleaning all the dust off his new collection :)

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:08:11 -0800

This is an amazing find and it's very hard to believe it's a hoax... the pictures are extremely convincing.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:12:39 -0800

I would like to know more about the backstory. I'm into vintage VWs and the "barn find" is sort of a standard urban legend among car folks. It does happen but more often it's one of those friend of a friend sort of things. The documented ones that I've read about are usually one or two cars tucked away in a barn by an old man who got too old to take care of them and found when the family wants to sell the place. But like b1tr0t said, this had to have been some very rich but crazy old man. Who would go to the trouble of finding and buying some serious antique sports cars and then just parking them in a barn? I'm sort of torn between feeling wonder at all those cool cars and anger at who bought them and then just left them there to rot.

By: teece

teece — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:15:25 -0800

I bet the pictures are real, just the back story isn't. I doubt someone would sell a property with a large building on it without ever opening the building to see what is inside. That's kind of what I was thinking. This barn is far too valuable and far too obvious to have not been mentioned in the sale of this property. Unless this involves dictators or something shady or whatnot, I can't imagine this barn going unnoticed, pre-sale. I can imagine an executor of an estate finding this, but not someone that bought the land.

By: jet_silver

jet_silver — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:17:01 -0800

docpops, the bodyshells -alone- are a staggering find. A few of the Lancias - like the Flaminia Zagato - are exceedingly well-known for body rot and the ones shown in the pictures will be begged for. Same with the Alfa 1900 Superleggera . Unless the collector was careful, none of these cars will start if they've really been sitting for fifteen years. The seals will be shot, the pistons probably seized in their bores, carburetors full of muck and there will be electrical problems to keep an army of mechanics busy for years. The way you 'recover' these cars is to take them apart piece by piece and do what amounts to a total restoration. That said, a complete and straight Lancia Flaminia coupé will probably go, as it sits in the bottom rank, third column, for around 50k US. Someone who knows old German cars will be able to answer about the Porsche 356. Those are IMO the most lustworthy machines there.

By: zorro astor

zorro astor — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:18:01 -0800

I find it highly dubious that someone would buy a large piece of property with a large barnlike structure on it and not even have a look inside before buying.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:19:14 -0800

So, from a collector's standpoint, and a mechanical one, would these count as 'well-preserved'? Some yes, some no. The hardest thing in restoring any of these is going to be the fact that the spare parts are going to be nearly impossible to find. A lot of those car makers don't even exist any more. And some, like , these Formula 1 racers, are one-offs. Additionally, HOLY FUCKING SHIT-ASS PISS-FUCK CHRIST!

By: waitingtoderail

waitingtoderail — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:21:41 -0800

Man, I'll take that nice little Datsun Z. That's all I want, is that too much to ask?

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:22:01 -0800

Meh. It's obviously just a forgotten Doomsday Vault, constructed to safeguard the world's car design from catastrophe.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:24:28 -0800

All is dust. Memento mori. You can't take it with you. Rosebud.

By: adamgreenfield

adamgreenfield — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:30:18 -0800

*fap fap fap* pretty much sums it up for me.

By: jamesonandwater

jamesonandwater — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:31:26 -0800

I know nthing about cars and have never owned one - but even I think that's fairly cool! Having said that, that's not a "large barn in the trees." If I saw it I'd describe it as a warehouse, and it sure ain't hidden.

By: wendell

wendell — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:37:15 -0800

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this, but could this be what's been keeping Miguel Cardoso too busy for MetaFilter?

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:45:11 -0800

Wendell, if it was a wine cellar you might be on to something.

By: words1

words1 — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:45:53 -0800

I once rented a one-bedroom apartment and discovered after I moved in that what I thought was a closet was a stairway to a second floor with two more bedrooms, which I then rented to roommates. Maybe somebody told the buyer that the barn was empty. Seems possible to me.

By: growabrain

growabrain — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:46:44 -0800

Background below

By: furtive

furtive — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:48:32 -0800

I'd love to write "WASH ME" on one of those.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:50:59 -0800

Speckled Hens all around, then!

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:57:05 -0800

Hah. There's a mid-70's Bug in there that looks just like mine from the back. Not interesting enough to get a comment in the caption though.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:58:25 -0800

From Growbrain's link: I read about this in the portuguese newspapers the other day. It belonged to a wealthy doctor here in Portugal and he passed away and nobody knew about his collection. /Applies to Portugese medical school

By: maryh

maryh — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 18:11:18 -0800

I'm glad I read the comments here before clicking on the link. I was sure this was going to be about chopped-up delivery boys.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 18:35:13 -0800

Damn, the original Lotus Super 7 series IV would fetch a packet. I'm pretty sure they didn't make many; that was about the time they decided to drop it and pass production off to Caterham, who quickly reverted to the earlier design.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 18:39:35 -0800

Hm, maybe not. Asking price for those looks like it's only about £10K.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:24:27 -0800

None of the cars is outrageously valuable, though they're all of interest to collectors. The "formula" cars look like Formula Fords or maybe Formula 3, nothing to sneeze at but not F1 stuff. They're all interesting and show an eclectic taste. Most collectors have a "theme" whether it's all Italian (or all Alfa) or sports cars of the 50's or...you name it. This guy seemed to value nothing more than originality, perhaps. Most of the cars seem pretty much as they left the factory which is extremely valuable in and of itself. For example, the Mini Coopers are very hard to find in original condition as most have been extensively boy-racered. The auction attending public has an inordinate fascination with barn-find cars, so there is some value in that. I'd guess $500,000 for the lot unless there is something truly unusual in there. I'd say 80% of the cars there are rare but pedestrian, and while there are, for example, people who would enjoy owning a 4-door Oldsmobile from the early 70's or a fintail Mercedes, they still aren't going to pay you much for it. But yes, fap fap fap.

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:54:05 -0800

So how many people did the previous owner kill before hiding their cars?

By: pineapple

pineapple — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:56:27 -0800

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this, but could this be what's been keeping Miguel Cardoso too busy for MetaFilter? Wendell, someone did.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:00:28 -0800

I bet the pictures are real, just the back story isn't. I doubt someone would sell a property with a large building on it without ever opening the building to see what is inside. Actually, this happens quite often with rural properties, especially if no one has been living there for some time. The assumption being that old outbuildings contain, if anything, junk- if you (the seller) don't open the doors and find out what it is, you don't have to deal with it.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:05:51 -0800

Wendell, if it was a wine cellar you might be on to something. Like that of wine collector Park B. Smith?

By: bob sarabia

bob sarabia — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:07:36 -0800

yes pineapple. thats the joke :)

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:53:23 -0800

Open door, drop jaw, release bowels...

By: wendell

wendell — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:56:19 -0800

I wish to formally apologize for essentially 'double-posting' solopsist's joke about Miguel. I honestly searched the thead but did not find M.C.'s name previously invoked. Must be a flaw in my browser or my eyes. To put it simply, I'm sorry I did it and regret any discomfort it may have caused other MeFites. If this is not an adequate apology, I will call myself out in MeTa, but, honestly, this evening I don't feel quite up to doing an entertaining flameout (sorry, languagehat). So let me just say I'M SORRY. Or, in the words of the late John "Denver" Deutschendorf Jr.: I'm sorry for the way things are in China I'm sorry things ain't what they used to be But more than anything else I'm sorry for myself

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:18:06 -0800

rich people suck. That is all.

By: mendel

mendel — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:30:12 -0800

Particularly odd: The doors weren't locked shut, they were welded shut.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:41:12 -0800

Mr. Padraigin is weeping.

By: Relay

Relay — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 22:27:29 -0800

Yeah, this story has been around on car blogs for a couple of weeks now (I recall). There's some interesting stuff there to be sure, but it's actually all fairly pedestrian stuff, fairly run of the mill Lancias and what not. Nice cars to be sure, but it's not like it's a barn full of Ferraris and old Auto Unions. But still nice. BTW, someone up above mentioned the Series 4 Lotus 7 ... I know of a guy in Honolulu that is STILL trying to get rid of the one he bought in the80s.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 23:05:11 -0800

Amazing story. Finding treasure is an exciting subject. Related: Peter Max left 36 Corvettes in the dust in a Brooklyn basement.

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 00:08:08 -0800

Motor Trend Classic's Barn Finds — readers send in their stories and photos.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 01:34:10 -0800

Whoever found this did indeed hit the jackpot, assuming the owner didn't know what he had. I have found a few cars, but nothing really worth jumping up and down about. My experience has been that if someone stashes a car away they actually have an inflated idea of what it's worth that is not borne out by reality. NADA guidebooks and television auctions only reinforce their beliefs. Try to explain to someone that, yes, a few genuine Cooper S Minis do indeed sell for a lot of money, but, no, your rusty bog-standard 850 with hydrospastic suspension isn't one of them...

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:34:15 -0800

What, the gull-wing? Pshaw. I'd rather have the DB5.

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 06:01:42 -0800

I had a motorcycle problem when I was a little younger (it's a problem that 2 kids has only kind of cured) and I used to hunt every warehouse I could in hopes in hopes in hopes... never really anything came of it... In my teens, a friend had a house with 'dependencies' (outbuildings), of many various sizes. One, about twice the size of your average out-house, had a stuffed fish: A six foot long gold-fish-like looking stuffed fish, standing on end, and glistening in taxidermied splendor whenever you opened the door. I only got to open that door twice, and still don't quite believe it. There are few things more seductive than old, locked, sheds...

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 07:57:58 -0800

UbuRoivas: "Meh. It's obviously just a forgotten Doomsday Vault, constructed to safeguard the world's car design from catastrophe." Exactly. Which explains why it's been opened now.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 08:09:34 -0800

This is like an old-fashioned parlor game: The door is padlocked shut and its all rusted solid. so you grind the padlock open... I was expecting a creepy decrepit red wooden barn in the woods, with mysterious creepy things inside, skeletons, piles of Nazi gold... posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:07 PM EST on February 18 I imagined a stash of wine before I opened the link. posted by Brian B. at 7:17 PM EST I was sure this was going to be about chopped-up delivery boys. posted by maryh at 9:11 PM EST I was imagining a stash of lost art, Renaissance masterpieces stolen from churches long ago.

By: JJ86

JJ86 — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:47:23 -0800

I smell an internet hoax. The website is extremely unconvincing especially in that it has no story. Portugal is not that backwards that a real estate agent or owner would not open a huge concrete block garage to see what was in there. I do not dispute that a Portuguese farm with a garage filled with antique autos was photographed. That much seems obvious.

By: pineapple

pineapple — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 12:44:57 -0800

thats the joke :) bob sarabia, thanks ever so... I just went into MeTa to search for some backstory on "the joke," and got an extensive primer on MeFi history. My eyes, they are wide open.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:10:14 -0800

zorro astor: I find it highly dubious that someone would buy a large piece of property with a large barnlike structure on it and not even have a look inside before buying. Exactly. This wasn't some tiny picturesque little red building on the back 40. This was a massive, concrete, gulag worthy, looming monument to abattoirs throughout history. I think a peek might have been in order before a buyer wrote a check. I smell shenanigans on the back story, but it certainly does look like a bunch of old cars in in a concrete bunker somewhere.

By: Lord Kinbote

Lord Kinbote — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:12:48 -0800

Another possibility: All these cars were stolen? That would explain why the barn was welded shut. Perhaps they were stolen and the head of the crime ring was killed or jailed or died, before he could unload them all? I realize there are a lot of cars here, but perhaps he overestimated his market, or he stole them all over Europe?

By: pcameron

pcameron — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:50:03 -0800

Did anyone else notice the tow truck parked in front of the barn?

By: joecacti

joecacti — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 09:02:55 -0800

My uncle has a country place That no one knows about He says it used to be a farm Before the Motor Law And on Sundays I elude the eyes And hop the Turbine Freight To far outside the Wire Where my white-haired uncle waits

By: pcameron

pcameron — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:05:18 -0800

Hope the keys are in the barn too.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:19:31 -0800

UbuRoivas: "Meh. It's obviously just a forgotten Doomsday Vault, constructed to safeguard the world's car design from catastrophe." koeselitz: Exactly. Which explains why it's been opened now. Absolutely true. The clear pinnacle of design was in Wolfsburg, 1966. Everything since then has been steep downhill slide.