Barn finds

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December 2, 2007 -- Every auto enthusiast fantasizes about discovering a long-lost old car that's languishing in storage and awaiting a rescuer. Regardless of where they've been stashed away, hidden vintage cars are popularly known as "barn finds." Nothing beats unearthing a buried automotive treasure.

Despite losses to wartime scrap drives and decades of relentless bounty hunters, persistent enthusiasts still uncover scintillating barn finds. Tom Cotter has written a couple of popular books about his adventures, The Cobra in the Barn: Great Stories of Automotive Archaeology and The Hemi in the Barn: More Great Stories of Automotive Archaeology.

And they're still out there. The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance has even taken to displaying rusty, dusty barn finds in its Preservation Class, which has become a prime attraction.

The Legend of the Barn Find

Tantalizing tales of barn finds have been circulating for as long as people have been collecting old cars. Enthusiasts still talk about Barney Pollard, a mysterious 1950s-era Chicago collector who amassed hundreds of old crocks from the teens and '20s. He removed front bumpers, drained fluids and then stored them vertically so he could cram still more cars in his warehouses. When he died, his collection was sold and the cars dispersed.

Alexander K. Miller, an eccentric miser, and his wife Imogene, owned some 50 rare cars, primarily Stutzes (his nickname was "Stutzee"), along with stacks of parts. The Millers moved to Vermont and began filling barns and garages with many once-fine cars. A.K. and his wife lived frugally, dressed in ragged clothing, had no central heat, paid no taxes, bought old cars and parts as cheaply as they could and eventually secreted nearly $1 million in gold and silver bullion, coins and valuables on their property. In 1996 Sotheby's auctioned off the Miller estate.

Tales from the Crypt

The Saratoga Automobile Museum, in Saratoga Springs, New York, is presenting 15 extraordinary barn finds, ranging from antiques to muscle cars, in an exhibit that has been extended through January 2008.

One of the most unusual cars at Saratoga is a one-of-a-kind 1940 Coachcraft Mercury Speedster, owned by Derby Ahlstone of Ventura, California. When he was just 12 years old, Derby and his car-savvy dad visited Jim Brucker's "Cars of the Stars." They spotted the Speedster, which had been custom-built for an aspiring Hollywood actor. Rusty, accident-damaged and missing parts, it seemed beyond restoration — but not to Derby, who begged his parents to let him buy it for $1,200, his entire savings. His parents garaged the car for 20 years until Derby had enough money to restore it. Like new again, the Coachcraft Speedster won its class at the Amelia Island concours this year.

Nicola Bulgari owns more than 200 automobiles and loaned his 1937 Packard Model 120-C Convertible Sedan to the exhibit. The dusty Packard, presented at Saratoga in "as-found" condition, had been stored in a dilapidated Pennsylvania building since 1969. "Parts were lying all over it," recalls Keith Flickinger, Bulgari's restorer. "It even had the cigarette lighter in place, along with its last license plates."

Got the Bug?

At a Christie's auction last June, Dennis Nicotra was the high bidder for a sleek 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante Coupe. Left to rot in a garage in Pound Ridge, New York, for 45 years, the highly original and very rare Bug was given a sympathetic mechanical refurbishing by Bugatti expert Scott Sargent and off it went to the Preservation Class at Pebble Beach just two months after having been roused from its long slumber.

Visitors at Saratoga can examine a one-of-a-kind 1934 Ford custom speedster originally built for Edsel B. Ford. After Ford's passing in 1943, this car found its way from Michigan to California and then to Florida, where it disappeared. On a hunch, Bill Warner, founder of the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, called a telephone listing with the same name as the car's last known owner. To his surprise, the Speedster was tucked away in a nearby garage in Deland, Florida. In January it's scheduled to be sold at the RM Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the price is expected to top seven figures.

Bruce Meyer loaned his 1951 So-Cal Speed Shop Lakester to the Saratoga exhibition. Built with an aerodynamic body made from the extended-range fuel tank for a P-38 Lightning fighter plane, it had set a speed record of 198 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Hauled from the rafters of a warehouse crammed with rare parts and then carefully restored, this lakester is a testimonial to the inventiveness of early hot-rodders.

Gone but not forgotten

Roger Morrison's handsome, unrestored Rolls-Royce Springfield Phantom I is a Hibbard & Darrin-bodied convertible sedan that had been Marlene Dietrich's "Welcome to Hollywood" gift from producer Josef von Sternberg. This opulent car co-starred with Dietrich and Gregory Peck in the film classic, Morocco.

Bruce McCaw's 1953 Ferrari 375MM Vignale Sypder began its life as the winner of the 1953 Nürburgring 1,000 Kilometers. After competing in the 1954 La Carrera Panamericana, the Mexican road race where it was driven by Phil Hill and Richie Ginther, it was finally purchased by lumberman and amateur racer Lou Brero. After Brero's death in 1957 during a sports car race in Hawaii, the powerful racecar was hidden away in a padlocked tractor-trailer in Arcata, California, for nearly 50 years.

Joseph Figoni and Ovidio Falaschi, renowned Paris-based carrossiers throughout the classic era, were noted for swoopy coachwork, especially on Delahaye and Delage chassis. At the 1936 Paris Salon, F&F presented a marvelous Delahaye Type 135 M Roadster, its design a derivative of a fanciful sketch by noted French motoring artist Geo Ham. Just 11 Salon de Paris roadsters were built, and this long-wheelbase model was ordered by a Monsieur Fould of Oran and delivered to him in Algeria. Discovered in a remote farmyard in the Algerian mountains in 1992, it was virtually complete and purchased for the sum of just 60 British pounds! Possibly the all-time barn-find bargain, it's owned by the Robert and Margie Petersen Trust.

Recent discoveries

Other great cars on display in Saratoga include an unrestored 1937 Horch Model 853 Cabriolet A imported by an American GI after the war, then sold to a New York enthusiast who decided he didn't like the car and tucked it away for 50 years.

Following leads that many considered cold trails, television's Jay Leno tracked down the sinister-looking Walker-LaGrande Duesenberg J coupe built for Josiah K. Lilly to a garage on Long Island, New York. Leno also managed to discover a Duesenberg J sedan that had been left in a New York City parking structure in the 1930s and became an urban legend among car collectors. After paying a storage bill, Leno rescued the dusty Duesie.

Keep looking

"They're still out there," says Leno, who doggedly pursues every lead he hears and has enjoyed great success. Leno's barn finds include yet another Duesenberg, a rare 1927 Model X snatched from a Burbank garage where it had been secluded since 1947. Leno also traced a supercharged 1928 Bugatti Type 38A with a one-of-a-kind roadster body by Walter P. Murphy to a lock-up garage in Southern California.

If you're hoping for a barn find of your own, Bill Warner has some good advice: "Never, ever pass on a rumor," he says. "I missed the rolling chassis and engine of a 1937 Alfa Romeo 6C2300, disguised under a custom 1950s Studebaker body, because I didn't hop on the deal right away."

Sleeping Beauties - Top 10 Great Barn Finds

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Discovered in the 1970s by 12-year-old Derby Ahlstone, this 1940 Coachcraft Mercury
was garaged by his parents for 20 years before he could restore it.

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Rusty and dusty, this 1937 Packard 120-C Convertible Sedan
is slated for an expensive frame-off restoration.

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This 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante
had been left to rot in a garage in Pound Ridge, New York, for 45 years.

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Originally built for Edsel B. Ford,
this 1934 Ford custom speedster was recently discovered in a garage in Florida.

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Decrepit and missing key pieces, this record-setting 1951 So-Cal Speed Shop Lakester
was locked away by a Californian who hoarded racecars and engines.

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This majestic Rolls-Royce Phantom I Hibbard & Darrin-bodied convertible sedan
had been a gift to actress Marlene Dietrich, and then lay unrestored for decades.