10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

There's nothing many petrolheads would like more than to find a cool, classic motor hidden away in a barn. From time to time, some absolutely incredible cars show up under bails of hay and layers of moss. Here are some of our favourite finds...
10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

2 E30 BMW M3s, Ford RS200, Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II

10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

This isn’t so much a barn find, rather a chance encounter that lead to one man taking ownership of two delivery mileage BMW E30 M3s, an unregistered Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II, and a thousand-mile Ford RS200.

The original owner had put the enviable collection together as an investment for his kids, but after chatting to a chap at the 2009 Silverstone grand prix, he decided to sell up. Four rare, sought-after, pristine cars.

1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Coupe

10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

Only 17 of these Bugattis were ever made, with this particular car seemingly dropping off the face of the Earth more than 50 years ago. It turns out that it was owned by a former US army medic by the name of Dr. Harold Carr, who had locked the car in his garage and left it alone.

After his death in 2007, his family came across the Bugatti - which they apparently didn’t even know he owned - and decided to sell it. The car fetched £3m ($4.5m) at auction.

Remote video URL

This whopping collection was uncovered in 2014. An entrepreneur named Roger Baillon amassed a collection of around 200 cars before his business went into financial difficulties. He sold around half of his collection, then stored the remaining half in a barn in rural France. There they stayed until his death, when his estate came across the collection, and called in experts to value it.

Of the 100 cars, approximately 40 were unsalvageable, leaving 60 rare, classic cars worth about £10m ($14.5m).

Lamborghini-built BMW M1 Procar

10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

Not only did this lucky petrolhead stumble across a rare car, they stumbled across an incredibly rare race car with actual pedigree. It’s one of the very early M1s, which were built by Lamborghini before BMW took control of the project, and was later converted to motorsport-spec for the wicked Procar BMW M1 Championship.

Road-going equivalents have gone for £400,000 ($280k), so it’s likely the private sale went well into the six figures, even with the car in such a state.

Remote video URL

This Ferrari Dino 246 GTS was allegedly the victim of insurance fraud. The owner had decided he needed to cash a cheque on it, and hired a couple of guys to steal it so he could claim the insurance. They would cut it up and sell it for parts, and he’d give them a cut of the income.

The story goes that they fell in love with the car, so buried it with the apparent intention of getting it back. For whatever reason, they never did get it back, and the car was found and restored.

1969 Dodge Daytona

10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

To give you an idea of the pedigree of this Dodge Daytona, you only have to look at the auction estimate. Despite its disgusting condition, it was expected to go for around £124,000 ($180k). It was one of only 503 produced, and had a “matching numbers 440 CI engine.”

1963 Jaguar E-Type

10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

One of the best things about a classic car is that it probably has an interesting story behind it, and that’s particularly true of this Jaguar E-Type that was recently found in the UK. It was originally owned by Ivor Arbiter, founder of Drum City and Sound City in London, and an important figure in the history of The Beatles.

After he sold the car, it was driven hard by its multiple owners, before ending up as a race car. When its clutch gave out, it was locked in a garage, before being moved to a garden to rot. Its wonderfully well documented, with its original log book and its last MOT certificate from 1968 provided with the sale.

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

Most ‘barn finds’ come about when cars are hidden away, and someone stumbles across them. Incredibly, with this Ferrari 250GTO, the owner left it out on his lawn with the intention of restoring it. Local residents were aware of it, and many Ferrari enthusiasts spent years trying to persuade the owner to get rid, but he stubbornly refused. For 14 years it sat awaiting restoration, before the owner finally relented.

1964 Shelby Daytona

10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

Only six Daytona Coupes were ever built, and for a long time it was believed that only five had survived. That is until a woman set herself on fire in 2001. Inside her locked garage was the long lost sixth car, which had been owned by her father and passed down to her. It was looked over and restored to its former glory, and is now valued in excess of £2.8m ($4m).

3 Citroen 2CV Prototypes

Image via citroenet.org.uk
Image via citroenet.org.uk

It might be easy to mock the Citroen 2CV, but there’s no denying it has an important place in automotive history. Its development was well underway as the Second World War began, and fearing its technology might fall into the wrong hands, Citroen decided to get rid of the prototypes. Most were destroyed, with only two known to exist.

In 1995, an additional three prototypes were uncovered in France. Apparently Citroen had ordered them to be destroyed in the 50s, but some engineers decided to hide them away to protect them, and they remained hidden for nearly half a century.

Sponsored Posts

Comments

Anonymous

I love the daytona

05/05/2016 - 17:41 |
2 | 1
ADHD Focus

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Same, first American car to beat Ferrari in LeMons.

05/05/2016 - 18:54 |
1 | 0
ADHD Focus

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Wait, the Dodge or the Shelby? I was thinking of the Shelby.

05/05/2016 - 20:40 |
3 | 0
Anonymous

Dat 250 GTO tho!

05/05/2016 - 17:42 |
2 | 0
EaZy

I imagine the hapines of a guy who founds 10milon worth of cars on his backyard. Manwhile here I am being happy that I hit a trash bin with a ball of paper 5 meters away. That’s just sad.

05/05/2016 - 17:47 |
57 | 2
Dzonny the e36 maniaq

In reply to by EaZy

I found a VW Passat headlight in my barn, does it count?

05/05/2016 - 20:12 |
20 | 0
Anonymous

Me whilst reading the 1964 Shelby Daytona story;

05/05/2016 - 17:57 |
233 | 1
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I was thinking: how that was related to the car ??

05/05/2016 - 18:07 |
16 | 0
RWD FTW

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Yeah, probably inappropriate. I just had to.

05/05/2016 - 21:50 |
128 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I told her not to listen to my mix tape. I told her.

05/06/2016 - 12:31 |
9 | 0
Jakob

Do lake finds count as well? Bugatti Type 22 that sunk in 1937 salvaged from a lake.

05/05/2016 - 18:02 |
109 | 2
[Flux]

In reply to by Jakob

“Will it run?” is the question LOL

05/05/2016 - 20:34 |
32 | 1
Anonymous

In reply to by Jakob

Note to self: bugatti’s dont swim

05/06/2016 - 00:29 |
18 | 0
Dalton Reck

In reply to by Jakob

Craigslist be like: “Mint condition with a few scratches and dings, but expected with the age of this beauty.”

05/06/2016 - 01:19 |
15 | 0
Turbo80s

In reply to by Jakob

Did a low flying pelican cause this one to enter the lake too?

05/06/2016 - 06:58 |
3 | 0
Dayton Sander

In reply to by Jakob

Enter your comment…

05/06/2016 - 07:03 |
0 | 0
Steve Buscemi

[DELETED]

05/05/2016 - 18:13 |
1 | 0

those were parts of “60 cars worth £10m” skip to 2:27

05/05/2016 - 18:19 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

How can you possibly leave a motherf*ing 250GTO in your backyard like that? D:

05/05/2016 - 19:39 |
5 | 0
Ayoub L.W

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

you’d think the law would have something to say about it by now..!!

05/06/2016 - 03:33 |
0 | 0
Stubaru

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I know, but think about the ones that arent salvageable

05/06/2016 - 12:35 |
0 | 0
Robert Homann

Forza Horizon intensifies…

05/05/2016 - 19:44 |
30 | 0

(waiting for car to be restored intensifies)

05/05/2016 - 22:09 |
9 | 1
Comfused Miata

“For 14 years it sat awaiting restoration, before the owner finally relented.”
It’s a 250 gto, not a f*cking lawn ornament.
How could the owner be so stupid…

05/05/2016 - 19:47 |
25 | 2

apparently not that stupid, he owned a 250GTO.

05/05/2016 - 21:52 |
33 | 0

If I was him I would sell it. There would be enough money to build a good house.

05/06/2016 - 01:52 |
3 | 0
Anonymous

This is seriously turning into Pornhub! Cant take it… gtg

05/05/2016 - 20:17 |
3 | 1