[Steve&Tracy]

This car collection found almost by accident in a barn.

"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 NY guy bought it at just over half of the property's worth; moved in, and set about to tear in to the barn - curiosity was killing him. So, he and his wife bought a generator and a couple of grinders... and cut thru the welds."

There are some pictures of the collection here

[FishyDave]

This car collection found almost by accident in a barn.

"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 NY guy bought it at just over half of the property's worth; moved in, and set about to tear in to the barn - curiosity was killing him. So, he and his wife bought a generator and a couple of grinders... and cut thru the welds."

There are some pictures of the collection here

The pictures are real, but the description is somewhat fanciful.

The true story is on Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/barnfind.asp

Though I do like the original story better

[chatterdog]

WOW must be worth a small fortune. most dont look in bad nick, bet the car manufacturers would want some of the older models that might not be around now. Wonder who they will belong to. It just might not be the new owner if the local gov thinks they will make money and they were the ones selling the property.


now read the story on snopes. still like the cars though

[Brassneck]

As sad as i am, when were away anywhere near an old property or farm i always try to find out whats lurking in barns, as long as i have permission obviously, just to see if i can find an old gem of a car somewhere.

[FishyDave]

As sad as i am, when were away anywhere near an old property or farm i always try to find out whats lurking in barns, as long as i have permission obviously, just to see if i can find an old gem of a car somewhere.

You might just enjoy this site then, if you didn't already know about it: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk

Basically it's people who go mooching around places that they really shouldn't and taking photos. Here's a tour of the Rover Longbridge plant after it shut down. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=9749

There's another one somewhere that explores the defunct hydro-electric plant behind Niagra Falls, but I think that was on a different site and I can't find the link

Edit: Found it - it was on there after all. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5921

[Green Squirrel]

I well remember during RAF days rehabilitating a WW2 airfield in Wales that had been 'locked' for about 12 years! There was an old hangar and that was well and truly locked with huge chains and padlocks AND no keys.

Rumours had it that it contained 'Spitfire Spares' as the airfield had been used by the Polish Airforce in exile and they were equipped with the beautiful machine!!

So we mechanics were duly commissioned by the CO to cut the doors open, it took the best part of a week because the whole sliding assembly had also rusted solid (Wales does get a little rain).

Finally the great moment arrived and we started to open the huge doors sufficiently for the CO to squeeze in where armed with a torch we were able to see over his shoulder where there stood an amazing collection of ................................................................... coal!

[Maurice]

Click on the index -- and read this..

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: its an urban myth.

[Brassneck]

Basically it's people who go mooching around places that they really shouldn't and taking photos. Here's a tour of the Rover Longbridge plant after it shut down. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=9749

Thanks Dave.
Ive bookmarked that site and will join it today.

Ive seen the Longbridge plant photos before, and it really saddens me to see the site, and especially all those cars still sitting there that will probably end up crushed.
What a waste, in every sense of the word.

[Green Squirrel]

The cars at Longbridge were taken away by their new owners NAC and form the backbone of their revival of a greatly reduced Longbridge and the production of MG cars in China.

In case you have not seen it production of the MGTF LE500 will kick off the new MG and the cars should be in showrooms of the new dealer network by the end of the year.

[mike]

Can't help wondering if many of them have been stolen, why else would they be left to rot behind welded up dooors? Several of the cars have what appear to be Dutch registration plates from around the 1960's - 70's period.

[Green Squirrel]

Keith

That is the old style Portuguese plates.

[mike]

oh, ok, never been there but they do look similar to the dutch