10 Of The Coolest Barn Finds Ever Seen

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.