Feature: Finders Keepers
December 1, 2007
Countless important cars simply vanished in the 20th century. Whether lost during the confusion of World War II, sent unceremoniously to a junkyard or mothballed in a garage, they intrigue collectors who dream of discovering a vintage Ferrari or Hispano-Suiza in the rough. Since so many dilapidated classics have been found in rural barns—often placed for storage and promptly forgotten—any car unearthed in an unexpected locale has come to be termed a "barn find".
For most collectors, the thrill of the hunt rivals the enjoyment of writing a check and taking a car home, and tales of lucky finds and bargain prices abound. Wallace A. Bird, for instance, kept his fine collection—which included a pair of Bugattis and a Duesenberg Model J roadster—in a round brick building on his Long Island property. When a plane crash claimed Bird’s life, his wife hoped he might somehow return and continued to maintain his cars. When she passed away in the 1960s, they went on the market. Jacques Tunick, a Connecticut enthusiast, snapped up the Duesenberg for a paltry $10,000; Henry Austin Clark bought one of the Bugattis, a Type 43 Grand Sport, for just $2,800.
Inspired by Tom Cotter’s best-selling book, The Cobra in the Barn: Great Stories of Automotive Archaeology, and heralding the launch of his second book, The Hemi in the Barn, the Saratoga Automobile Museum, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is holding an exhibition of 14 extraordinary barn finds. Some have been restored or preserved, but a few remain dusty and rusty—in their as-found condition. The Barn Finds exhibit opened in July; and though scheduled to end in November, popular demand will keep it open through January 2008. From hot rods to sports cars and classics, the cars on display all have stories collectors love to hear.
Bruce Meyer rescued the 1951 SO-CAL Speed Shop Lakester—which set a speed record of 198 mph at Bonneville—from decades in dead storage. Worn and decrepit, missing key pieces, the "belly tanker" (so named because it was fashioned from the gas tank of a P-38 fighter jet) had been squirreled away by a California man who hoarded racecars and engines. Meyer persuaded the owner to let the car go and hauled it from the rafters of a warehouse crammed full of rare parts. He then had the car restored to its specification when raced by Alex Xydias and the SO-CAL team.
Roger Morrison owns the unrestored Rolls-Royce Phantom I with a showbiz provenance. Paramount Studios director, Josef von Sternberg, presented the convertible sedan as a gift to Marlene Dietrich when she arrived in Hollywood. The opulent car, bodied by Hibbard & Darrin, later co-starred with Dietrich and Gary Cooper in the film Morocco; a clip from that movie enhances the Saratoga display.
A 1953 Ferrari 375MM once raced by Phil Hill and owned by Lou Brero comes from Bruce McCaw’s collection. After competing in the Carrera Panamericana road race with drivers Phil Hill and Richie Ginther, and later at other venues by drivers like Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, this powerful racecar was padlocked in a tractor-trailer for nearly 50 years before being exhumed and restored.
Another rarity is the one-of-a-kind 1940 Coachcraft Mercury Speedster, owned by Derby Ahlstone of Ventura, Calif. When he was just 12 years old, Ahlstone and his car-savvy dad visited Jim Brucker’s "Cars of the Stars" warehouse. 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 Ahlstone, who begged his parents to let him buy it for $1,200, his entire savings. His parents stored the car for 20 years until Ahlstone, by then married and with a family, undertook a restoration that garnered the Coachcraft Speedster a first-place finish in its class at Amelia Island last January.
Nicola Bulgari, who owns more than 200 automobiles, loaned his 1937 Packard Model 120-C to the Saratoga show in as-found condition—the convertible sedan had been stored in a run-down Pennsylvania building since 1969. "Parts were lying all over it," says Bulgari’s restorer Keith Flickinger. "It even had the cigarette lighter in place, along with its last license plates. The top is ripped, and it’s fallen in, but it’s all here, ready for restoration when this exhibit ends."
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