CARHUNTER : FRENCH BARN, MAYBE FARM HOUSE FIND-CRAZY!

Yes there have been many recent discoveries of large groups of cars all but forgotten.

This one reported elsewhere sparked my interest for a few reasons and I decided to compile as much as possible about it.

Roger Baillon ran a very successful transport company in France until the late 70's

Fortune found through developing a special lorry (truck to us yanks) for liquid chemical transport, it was a monopoly for years!

Besides saving his old trucks, in the 1950's he started to collect some very rare cars and had planned to assemble them in a museum for the world to enjoy which would have included a train ride to the location.

Some made it inside,but most of the 60 rare cars were sentenced to life fighting the elements of nature for almost 4 decades on Baillon's West of France estate! Actually there were over 100 at one time with close to half sold off before this rediscovery!

Artcurial was enlisted to catalogue and auction off the collection

A Talbot-Lago T26 once owned by Egyptian King Farouk

Bugatti type 57

Talbot T26 Record Coupe by Jacques Saoutchik

SOLD $843,000

1951 Delahaye 235

Hispano Suiza H6B Cabriolet

I am big Facel fan and this is a pretty rare 4 door Facel Vega Excellence

With no "B" pillar this was a common view as the car would enter a spirited turn when the doors might pop open! SOLD $210,322 for a 59, but a 60 was also and listed sold for $157,000?

I was reading the results from the auction and it appears photos that emerged from numerous sources were very narrow- There was a Facel Vega HK and even a 68 Plymouth Cuda S 340 sold for $40,523, There was a 56 Crown Victoria,unsold and a 1936 Horch 853 that did not sell!

http://www.artcurial.com/en/asp/results.asp

I am getting cross eyed trying to sort it all out so you would have to look at the results on the link just above.
Watch this neat video below.

The 1961 Ferrari thought to have been lost by collectors who attempt to register all the known surviving very rare cars of certain marques! The 250 GT California Special was inside and used as a bookshelf was the big winner at 18.5 million yes that much!

The 1956 Maserati A6G Gran Sport Frua stablemate grabbed 2.2 million!

Over 52 Million (all figures in EURO's, ..about $53 million USD ) was final tally with one car sold prior to the auction.

In actuality it appears not one car found here could be called common with most of them being extremely rare, a few one of ones as we say!

Ferrari, Maserati,Panhard,Talbot-Lago,Facel,Bugatti,Delage,Delahaye,Delage and Hispano-Suiza just are not Chevy's or Renault's in any circles anyplace in the world!

Many makeshift sheds and carports all over the estate hid the treasures for decades!

After much searching I got beyond the general press release photos

The auction viewing varied from a well lit parking garage (?) to spooky ghostly lit surreal settings.

An little more access from these photos to many other cars that went across the auction block, but still quite a few never materialized anywhere on the internet?

As you can see some of these catalogue shots reveal how rough some cars were!

A Packard

Innocenti below

A little Sanford, bigger than life because of an editing glitch.

We all are guilty of letting projects become dormant and sometimes life slips past us quickly.

I will never understand, especially when the funding is available how so many cars could be allowed to become so neglected?

I have a rule of thumb that I constantly preach "if you have a car project that has been sitting for more than 2 years it is time to get rid of it" If however time and funding allows only minimal time and you have actual done SOMETHING then keep going!

You know who you are and if you keep telling me about this fantastic car you have owned for 20 years, I suggest you make it a planter for the center piece of your garden!