Real Life Hidden Treasures

Top automotive barn finds in recent history 

The Baillon Collection

The single most outstanding barn find of our time was arguably the Baillon collection. It was assembled by one Roger Baillon, head of a French transport company, who put them in a series of sheds on his property in western France in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, and left them there for the decades since. The collection included Bugattis, Ferraris, Maseratis, Hispano-Suizas, and more, in various states of disrepair.

The Baillon collection was found just a couple of years ago and consigned to French auction house Artcurial, which sold dozens of them early last year. Most notable were the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider that sold for a record $18.5 million, a '56 Maserati A6G that went for $2.2 million, and a '49 Talbot-Lago T26 that fetched $1.9 million – all well above their pre-sale estimates and contributing to an overall take of $28.5 million.

Rusty Germans in South Central LA

This last barn find wasn't found in a barn at all. Like the “condo-find” Ferrari, this one was right in the heart of the city, and included a staggering array of European machinery – mostly from Germany.

In the scrap yard out back behind Porche (sic) Foreign Auto on South Alameda Street in Los Angeles, Town & Country magazine discovered, in various states of repair, dozens of Porsche 911s, a handful of Lamborghini Miuras, a rare Horch roadster once owned by Eva Braun, and most notably, a rather unique Mercedes. The 500K of 1935 vintage was built specially for Benz's legendary Silver Arrow grand prix racer Rudolf Caracciola, and was estimated to be worth eight figures.

Complete list (AutoBlog.com)