This was sent to me by good friend Doug Hackney (he of “Doug’s Reading List” fame).

Before we get to the actual email — and I hope you’ll click through to take a look at the astonishing images — let me say this:
Circa 1980-1983 when I was managing Parts for Imports, we had a demolished early Jag back in the weeds by the bay behind the building — a car that originally had a wood frame that had now rotted away — and people often came by and offered thousands and thousands of dollars for what was left of it. (Which was very little.) One of the owners, Tom, told me he was holding out for real value. At the time, I thought he was nuts. Now I know better. There was a big piece in the LA Times magazine a few weeks ago about restorers of rare cars; many of the models shown in these photos are worth hundreds of thousands each, no matter any decay or disrepair.

On Jul 3, 2007, at 10:12 AM, Douglas Hackney wrote:

I did some searching on this. I couldn’t find anything on scopes.com, so that was promising. I finally found a blog with an entry from a guy who claims to have: “Read about this in the Portuguese newspapers the other day. It belonged to a wealthy doctor here in Portugal and he passed away and nobody knew about his collection.” The blog post was from March 2007. So, no evidence of an urban legend and at least a tenuous thread that it may be legit.

If legit, it’s the ultimate dream of every car guy who ever lived, at least the ones who grew up reading Road & Track.

The collection looks more like that of a wealthy, mildly eccentric doctor than a mob hot car transfer/storage facility or even a speculator’s investment portfolio who was betting on rising prices for specific examples. I think it’s too eclectic, with too much duplication and too many oddball, low value cars peppered into the mass of rare models to be the work of a professional collector.

But whatever it is, the link below is worth checking out.

Be well,

Doug

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Barn Find in Portugal

How would you like to have bought this property?

Imagine you’re going to live in Portugal.

You find a lovely farmhouse set on a decent plot of land.

The place has been empty for 15 years…

While exploring your new property you find a large barn.
The door is padlocked and welded shut and it’s all rusted solid.
So you grind the padlock and the welds off and………

Click here to see.

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