Feature: Finders Keepers
December 1, 2007
A one-off 1934 Ford Custom Speedster, originally built for Edsel Ford, found its way from Michigan to California, and then to Florida, before it disappeared. On a hunch, Bill Warner, chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, contacted the car’s former owner by dialing a telephone listing with the same name. To his surprise, Warner learned it was tucked in a garage in nearby Deland, Fla. When offered the chance to buy, Warner didn’t hesitate—Edsel’s Custom Speedster was his that afternoon.
At the 1936 Paris Salon, Figoni et Falaschi presented a marvelous Delahaye Type 135 roadster with fully enclosed front fenders, impossibly low, integrally mounted headlamps, a rakish split windscreen and a 3-carburetor, 3.5-liter 6-cylinder engine. Figoni et Falaschi fitted just 11 Delahaye chassis—both short- and long-wheelbase—with the voluptuous body. One Monsieur Fould of Oran, Algeria, ordered the long-wheelbase model displayed at Saratoga. The car disappeared in the 1950s, only to be found four decades later on a farm in the remote Algerian mountains. Virtually complete, it lacked only its aluminum decklid. Its lucky buyer completed the purchase for £60 ($120, at current exchange rates)—possibly the ultimate barn-find bargain. The multi-million dollar Delahaye is now owned by the Robert and Margie Petersen Trust.
Other exhibits at Saratoga include: a remarkably preserved 1934 Lincoln KB seven-passenger touring car, once owned by John Rockefeller Prentice, John D. Rockefeller’s grandson, and now in the collection of Mark Smith; a 1939 Ford Woodie owned by Tom Cotter—formerly his father’s car, it was lost for years and found in Puerto Rico; a 1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, built for a countess, owned by an eccentric Vermont collector and stored in a barn for half a century; an unrestored 1937 Horch Model 53A Cabriolet imported by an American GI after the war, sold to a New York enthusiast who decided he didn’t like the car, and stored it for 50 years; and a completely original 1968 GTO Ram Air II convertible, the only example ordered with virtually every option available that year—left in a home garage when its owner moved, it was given away decades later when he declined to pay storage charges.
Savvy collectors love the chance to discover a barn find. James Melton, a famous opera singer in the 1950s, amassed a large car collection, which he displayed in his Hypoluxo, Fla., museum. Melton never missed the opportunity to find an old car, even announcing on his radio broadcasts that he sought antiques and mailing postcards to postmasters in small towns to ask if they had seen anything unusual. To close a sale, Melton even complied with unorthodox terms. When he found a 1909 Pierce-Arrow, the owner said Melton could have the car for a song.
"There was one condition," Melton wrote, "he wanted me to sing ‘The World is Waiting for the Sunrise’ while he accompanied me on the piano. I went for the deal, and we had our two-man concert in his parlor. I pulled out all the stops. I rattled the windows for him. The neighbors knew there was a tenor in the house, all right. While he was waiting for the sunrise, I was waiting for the Pierce."
Following leads that some considered cold trails, Tonight Show host Jay Leno found the mysterious, one-off, Walker-LaGrande Duesenberg J coupe built for Josiah K. Lilly, in a Long Island garage. Leno also managed to free a Duesenberg J sedan that had been abandoned in a New York City parking structure in the 1930s—it came with a huge storage bill. Leno’s barn finds include yet another Duesenberg, a rare 1927 Model X, snatched from a Burbank, Calif., garage where it had been secluded since 1947. That car will remain largely as it was found. Jay also traced a supercharged 1928 Bugatti Type 38A, with a one-of-a-kind, custom roadster body by Walter P. Murphy to a lock-up garage in Orange County, Calif. "They’re still out there," says Leno, who pursues every promising lead, with a smile. "Careful I don’t beat you to them."
Saratoga Automobile Museum, 518.587.1935, www.saratogaautomuseum.org
Bill Warner’s Rules for Barn Finds
• Be knowledgeable and get excited about what you find—it may not be the car of your dreams, but remember that you can work your way to your goal through other interesting cars.
• Don’t rush a restoration. Instead use your network to study the car, and determine if you want to restore or sell. The restoration process is like skydiving. Once you start, you have only one option: pull the ripcord or—in this case—write the checks. You’re least likely to make a mistake if you do your homework up front.
• Enjoy the project and remember that you make your profit when you buy, not when you sell. I’ve made money, lost money and broken even on various cars over the years, but today’s high restoration costs leave little margin for error.
• Never—never—pass up a rumor. I missed the rolling chassis and engine of a 1937 Alfa Romeo 6C2300 MM (carrying a custom 1950s Studebaker body) because I didn’t hop on the deal right away.
• Don’t walk away because you fancy yourself a wheeler-dealer. In 1977, I lost a sure deal on a Porsche RS60 Spyder because I wanted a better price—I offered $12,500 and the seller wanted $13,500. I’ve kicked myself every day since.
Bill Warner is Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Reprinted and adapted with permission from Tom Cotter’s book: The Hemi in the Barn.
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