Page 1 of 1

Cars found in barn

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:40 pm
by Dogwatcher
I know, I know, it's an old email, been doing the circuit for years, but I love it.
It's fantastic - so I figured I'd put it up here.
Thanks for sending it on to me Booney.

I truly hope, for the romance of this story, that it is actually true:

A New York man retired. He wanted to use his retirement money wisely, so it would last, and 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 house was sold to pay taxes. There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut. Nobody wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the barn, and it wasn't complimentary to the property anyway... so, nobody made an offer on
the place.

The New York guy bought it at just over half of the property's worth, moved in, and set out to tear into 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!

Image

The barn

Image

The doors were welded shut, but an angle grinder took care of that.

Image

Fiat Cabriolet (1200 or 1500), Ford Cortina MKII, Mercedes Benz 180/190.

Image

Aston Martin

Image

Opel GT, Lotus Elan FHC, Lotus Super Seven Series IV, Lotus Elan DHC.

Image

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

Image

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

Image

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

Image

Image

Lancia Flaminia Coup.

Image

Abarth 1300 Scorpione.

Image

Lancia Flaminia Coup, Peugeot 504 cabriolet & 404 cabriolet.

Image

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

Image

Fiat Topolino II, Triumph TR4, Peugeot 202.

Image

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

VALUED AT $35 MILLION DOLLARS.
THIS IS A TRUE STORY. THE MAN AND HIS WIFE HAD FULL CLAIM TO THE LOT.

THEY HAD A GREAT RETIREMENT.

Re: Cars found in barn

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:49 pm
by A Mum
I have never seen this email :shock:

That's seriously amazing.

Who needs a lottery ticket...lol.

O:)

Re: Cars found in barn

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 3:47 pm
by Iron Fist
Ive never seen this before either
absolutely amazing though!
someone is surely kicking themselves!

Re: Cars found in barn

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 3:52 pm
by LMA
A day or two work just shifting them.

Reminds me of The Castle

Ay Steve, Can you move the Camira? I need to get the Torana out to get to the Commodore.
Sure thing Dad, but I'll have to get the keys to the Cortina if I'm gunna move that Camira.
Alright mate, just watch the boat.

Re: Cars found in barn

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 3:59 pm
by Dogwatcher
Well Booney, our hope that this story is indeed true has been kyboshed.

Here:

http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/index.htm

Since I put up these pictures here at the beginning of February 2007, the story of the Portugese barn full of classic and not-so-classic cars seems to have taken on a life of its own. The interwebs have been abuzz with theories and somebody has even gone to the trouble of making up a story about it. Classic car lovers, treasure hunters and auction houses have all somehow contacted intuh.net in an effort to find out more. In order to stem the flow of e-mails and even telephone calls: here's all I know.
At the end of January 2007, I stumbled upon a Portugese web forum with a thread that contained a large number of pictures of old cars left in a barn, somewhere in Portugal. The picture files themselves were hosted on the web site of a Portugese classic car dealer, but were taken down after only a few days. I thought it would be a shame not to have them online, so I rescued them from my browser cache and put them up here, on intuh.net.

For all those who have been eagerly sending round e-mails about 'a New York man' having bought 'a piece of land in Portugal' for 'next to nothing', that happened to have this treasure-filled barn on it: I'm pretty much convinced that's an urban myth.
A much more credible story can be found here.

Cheers,
E.
September 18, 2007

Re: Cars found in barn

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 4:05 pm
by Booney
Dont you know a good story when you see one.? ;)

Re: Cars found in barn

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 4:52 pm
by the big bang
as ol' uncle chop chop says......

"Don't let the truth get in the way of a good yarn!"