The French "Barn Find" Sold at Auction For $18 Million

The French “Barn Find” Sold at Auction For $18 Million

May 4, 2015

collection-baillon-toutes-les-voitures-01-673x327 — Photo: Artcurial

Heres a follow up to a story we did in January. In an old barn in the back of a french farm some of the worlds rarest cars sat mostly unprotected from the elements for more than 50 years. Slowly they deteriorated, rust taking over where the once glistening paint shown new. Tires, engines, interiors all falling slowly to pieces as the world forgot about them. Its a crying shame really. Every time one of these stories comes up, I always shake my head. Why would an owner of such rare and wonderful cars sit on them instead of fix or selling them? It makes no sense.

Fortunately, albeit a bit too late, these cars, 60 in all, that were “discovered” last year finally found new homes at auction.

The classic cars once belonged to Roger Baillon, who owned a transport company and hoped to one day open his own automotive museum. The vehicles are from Bugatti, Maserati, Renault, Talbot Lago and more.Baillon ran into some financial troubles that forced him to sell half his collection in the late 1970s. The rest he kept hidden in makeshift shelters around his estate in France. Baillon died a decade ago and his son Jacques inherited the collection.

Baillon died a decade ago and according to Artcurial, they said his son, Jacques Baillon, who had inherited the cars, didn’t realize their value. He died last year, and his children decided to cash in on their grandfather’s decomposing legacy and sell the cars through the Artcurial auction house.

Earlier this year, the collection hit the block and when the day was over, it fetched a total of $30 million dollars. See some of the amazing cars in the gallery.

artcurial-collection-baillo — Two of the high bidding cars, found sitting under stacks of newspapers. Photo: Artcurial

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