A recently retired New York man wanted to use his retirement funds wisely, decided to buy a home and a few acres in Portugal ..
The modest farmhouse had been vacant for 15 years; the owner and wife both had died, and there were no heirs.
The estate was being sold to pay back taxes. There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut. No one wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the barn, and it wasn't complimentary to the property anyway.... so, no one made an offer on the place.
The New York gentleman bought it as is, paying just over half of the property's worth; moved in, and set about to access the barn... curiosity was killing him.
So, he and his wife bought a generator and a couple of grinders... and cut thru the welds.
What was in the barn...?
The Barn.
The doors were welded shut, but a grinder took care of that.
alien8 ·
A warehouse full of vintage high performance cars!!!
Aston Martin?
Opel GT, Lotus Elan FHC, Lotus Super Seven Series IV, Lotus Elan DHC
Alfa Giulietta, Lotus Europa, another Lotus Elan FHC, Matra Djet?
XXX-1.8T ·
repost.
welcome to 2008
alien8 ·
Lancia Flaminia Coupé
Abarth 1300 Scorpione
American (inspired) design
Interior of Alfa Romeo
alien8 ·
XXX-1.8T wrote:repost.
welcome to 2008
Simpsons did it.
Joel ·
bring out yer dead 😂
it wasnt a barn find
the cars all belong to an old bloke who used to own a dealership and collected them all over a long period of time
he just hired a photographer to document and photograph his collection
alien8 ·
Joel wrote:bring out yer dead 😂
Ok Ok , so I'll stop now.🥲
Joel ·
hehe its all good
i think every car forum in the world gets atleast one repost of the "barnfind" story each year
ive actually got a copy of the full inventory list somewhere
Gringo_54_oval ·
stuff it keep em coming dude.this is a dream for some people here.
im gonna look in the trading post to see if there are any barns for sale that have welded shut doors🤓
XXX-1.8T ·
OT but Gringo i sent u a PM 🙂
alien8 ·
Ok I'll finish my camp fire story. Sit back people, roll another and let the legend of the "greatest barn find ever" continue.
Where was I, Oh yes [insert fade out here]
BMW V8, Formula racers, Chryslers, Mercedes, Austin A30.
Formula racers, Chryslers, Mercedes, Austin A30.
Total value of all vehicles… over 35 Million!
The man and his wife had full title to the complete lot of vehicles.
They're having a great retirement!
-cut and paste proudly brought to you by my totally skilled right hand.Pat Pend.
alien8 ·
and no Vw's.
What a loser!
Ok Iam done.
Phil74Camper ·
This 'barn' and the cars therein were not a 'lost' car collection and it was no lucky 'barn find'. These cars were the Malmerspach Collection, a segment of the famous collection that once belonged to the Schlumpf brothers. They had spent 20 years accumulating the collection, but had gone out of business in 1977 and the French Government had confiscated their entire collection. Most of them were restored and put on display in the new French National Motor Museum in Mulhouse. The rest, unrestored, were the Malmerspach cars and they were put into storage. The Malmerspach cars were eventually legally handed over to Mrs Arlette Schlumpf, widow of Fritz Schlumpf, in 1999 after a long legal battle. Mrs Schlumpf died in 2008, and her family sold the cars to American collector Peter Mullin. The photos taken at this time, when the storage shed was opened for the first time since 1977, are the ones above.
More shots, and the story of this collection (with a list of the cars) can be found at: