These barn finds were at least as special as those in Dordrecht

According to Nico Aaldering, who made the discovery in Dordrecht and is now offering the cars for auction, the barn find of 230 old cars is the largest in the world. He may not be, but the hidden collection of old-timers is certainly special. News media at home and abroad are tumbling over each other to make it clear how important this find is. The cars are worth millions, says one. Tens of millions, says the other. Whether that is really the case, we will know in about four weeks, when the online auction has ended.

Barnfind, barn find, sortie de grange, Scheunenfund, Ladefund …

Sortie de grange in French, Scheunenfund in German, Ladefund in Danish, barnfind in English. The term barn find is sometimes interpreted loosely. Sometimes an old-timer is offered as a barn find if only because the owner has let it gather dust in the garage for a few years. The dreamed barn find is a collection of cars – but it can also be a single car – that has really been forgotten. In many cases, the owner is someone who is very private and who has secretly collected all those cars. The collection in Dordrecht also deserves this qualification. But over the years there have been more, seven of which we introduce to you here.

1 Baillon, France (2014)

In 2014, almost a hundred classic cars from top brands were found in an old castle in the north of France: Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza, Delahaye, Ferrari, Delage, Maserati … they were lined up in rows. The collection had been brought together by businessman Roger Baillon, who had wanted to start a museum with it. The family only found out about the existence of the collection after his death. Top piece was the Ferrari 250 GT California Spider that had belonged to actor Alain Delon. Artcurial auctioned the cars during the Rétromobile in Paris for a total amount of €50 million; Delon’s Ferrari alone brought in €16 million. For enthusiasts: the classic magazine Classic Driver has published a photo book about this collection.

2 AK Miller, Vermont, USA (1996)

In the American state of Vermont, the couple Alexander and Imogene Miller lived secluded from the world on a large farm. Alexander died in 1993 and his wife in 1996. They had no children. Alexander always had a great fondness for the Stutz brand and had bought several over the course of his life. When the large barns on their vast farm opened, 35 cars of that make appeared, with years from 1913 to 1934. There were also fifteen other pre-war cars. The auction at Christie’s attracted thousands of viewers and raised two million dollars. Many of the classic cars found then were later restored and are still cherished by their owners today.

3 Lambrecht Chevrolet, Nebraska, USA (2013)

In the small town of Pierce, Nebraska, the Lambrechts ran the local Chevrolet dealership. In 1996, when they were both already in their 80s, they called it a day and the company closed its doors. Only in 2013 did the couple decide with a heavy heart to sell the inventory. Over the years, they had kept several new Chevrolets as well as trade-in cars. Those cars were in the business premises and on the farm that the family owned. Veilinghuis Vanderbrink Auctions discovered that it concerned a total of more than five hundred passenger cars and pick-ups. At least fifty of them were practically new and had less than 50 miles on the clock. The entire stock was auctioned in a weekend; reportedly attracted tens of thousands of visitors.

4 ‘Somewhere in Portugal’ (2014)

Initially, there was some confusion in the Dutch news media about a large barn find in 2014. Were those Dutch license plates on those hundreds of dusty cars? No, they were Portuguese plates, which look very similar. The story goes that an American who wanted to build a country house in Portugal would have bought an abandoned piece of land with a steel shed on it. When he opened the shed, he found a treasure of almost two hundred classic cars. But that story turned out to be false. It was much simpler: the warehouse was owned by a car dealer who commissioned a photographer to photograph the cars. Then, in 2007, they were briefly featured on a Portuguese forum. Around 2014, those photos suddenly appeared on social media. But then they were already seven years old.

5 Renault Collection, Denmark (2016)

The Danish enthusiast Anker Krarup thought it was enough in 2016 and offered his entire collection of classic Renaults for sale on the island of Funen. In addition to sixty cars, the collection also includes an enormous amount of parts, including long rows of fenders and doors for all possible Renault models. Krarup had bought his first car in 1968, a used Renault 4CV. He liked it so much that a Renault came later, a Dauphine. Only Krarup never traded in his old cars. Well, and if you keep that up long enough, you will automatically get an impressive collection. Auction house Campen Auktioner put the collection under the hammer. Unfortunately, we were unable to determine the yield.

6 Tottenham, London, England (2022)

In the summer of 2021, a British collector decided to to sell his collection of 174 cars. Strictly speaking, this was not a barn find, but it looked like it: all the cars in the huge shed were covered in a thick layer of dust and bird droppings. The collection contained many Mercedes and Volkswagens, but also other brands. The emphasis was on models from the 1970s and 1980s. The cars were to be sold via Ebay, but due to the enormous interest from home and abroad, this all went very smoothly. In addition, there were cars that were incorrectly described or that the correct license plates were not hung on the cars. And some copies simply had no papers. On social media, would-be buyers complained bitterly about the seller’s shady dealings. In the end, the massive collection appears to have raised just £1.4 million, just over £8,000 per car.

7 Pierre Heron Collection, France (2022)

In 1948, the young Pierre Héron visited the Paris Motor Show for the first time. There he became so impressed by the great French brands that he later decided to start collecting them. Among other things, he managed to bring together all the body styles of the Talbot T26, and he also built up the largest collections of Grégoires in the world. In total, his collection consisted of about thirty cars. But at a certain point, Héron lost interest and left them to fend for themselves. Because he kept to himself, his family only found out about the existence of the collection after his death. In two barns were dozens of cars, all of the great French brands of yesteryear: Salmson, Delahaye, Gregoire, Talbot. There was only one non-French car, a Hispano-Suiza. The cars were sold by auction house Artcurial last year.