Thread: Someone hit the Jackpot!

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I just got this email from a friend. Not sure to the validity of the story, but wow!
The Barn...


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
complime ntary 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 &nbs p;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.





A warehouse full of vintage high performance cars!!!





Aston &n! bsp;Mart in?




Opel &a mp;nbs p;GT, Lotus Elan FHC, Lotus Super Seven Series IV, Lotus Elan DHC.









Porsche 356, Austin Healey Sprite MkII, Volvo PV 544, Ford Y?






Giulietta Sprint, Giulia Sprint Speciale (SS), Nash Metropolitan.





Alfa Giulietta, Lotus Europa, another Lotus Elan FHC, Matra Djet?






Lancia Flaminia Coupe


&n bsp;





Abarth 1300 Scorpione






American (inspired) design






Interior of Alfa Romeo






Lancia Flaminia Coupe, Peugeot 504 cabriolet & 404 cabriolet.









Mini, Alfa 1900 Super Sprint, Balilla.






Fiat Topolino II, Triumph TR4, Peugeot 202.








BMW V8, Formula racers, Chryslers, Mercedes, Austin A30.






Formula racers, Chryslers, Mercedes, Austin A30.

Amazing

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!

Well I researched this a little and here is the real scoop. Still a fantastic collection of cars!
Old Cars Weekly just tracked down the story behind the story, and the real explanation is almost as good as the hoax. What we are actually seeing in those pictures is the collection of an automobile dealer who over the years has added many vehicles that caught his fancy. He just drove them to the barn and parked them there, presumably waiting until he decided what to do with the lot of them next. About a year ago he sent in a photographer to document the collection, and those pics are the ones circulating the internet, helping to create and sustain this myth. So now you know the truth behind the Great Portugal Barn Find, and you all can stop sending us tips to cover it.

I’ve seen this picture a few times, and there are some nice cars. Looks like a good job of Valet parking that went array!! It would be nice too see them all cleaned up sitting outside.

Richard

Yeah i too have seen these before, but what a cool set of cars! There is a few i would like too have.

hoax!..at some point in this sale there was a woman involved in the sale, and theres no way in hell (no disrespect to the ladies) that one or more of them wouldnt have checked out the barn , no way , no how , wouldnt happen!! oh and i heard this barn was in michigan...

This was thoroughly debunked on snopes.com. It is BS .............

Kitz

I mostly posted this, because I was amazed at all the great looking cars(granted under a pile of dust). What a collection. Doesn't matter how they came to be, just Wow! I figured it had to be a hoax, but the cars are a nice collection, despite this! Would be better than the lotto, but worse in that with most lotto winners, they are bankrupt in a year, with this collection to fix, I'd be bankrupt instantly, because it would be too hard to part with one of them!
I grew up working on those gulietta's. My Dad use to go to Italy once a year on buisness, and usually bought 5-10 used exotic Italian sports cars to be imported thru Texas, and then sold them from his home in Northern California. It was cool as a kid, because they were so different from everything we saw every day. Even better as a teenager, because we got to drive them every now and then!

Here's the scoop on snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/barnfind.asp

I agree it is an awesome collection; too awesome to just blow off. The owner opened it up to be photographed for whatever reason.

Kitz

Thanks Kitz
there was a link here of the cars id'd in the photos. WoW!
http://www.sportscarmarket.com/portugesebarnfind.pdf

Story has been floating around at least 2 years....................