A recently retired New York man wanted to use his retirement funds wisely, so he 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 estate was being sold to pay back taxes. There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut.
No one wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the barn, and it wasn't complimentary to the property anyway... so, no one made an offer on the place.
The New York gentleman bought it as is, (paying just over half of the property's worth); moved in, and set about to access the barn... curiosity was killing him!
So, he and his wife bought a generator and a couple of grinders... and cut through the welds.
What was in the barn...?
WOW! About 14 million times better than winning the lottery!
ReplyDeleteBluesers - you're right!
ReplyDeleteThere must be at least 130 cars in that barn, and some classics too!
I was stunned when I saw all this only this morning!
Wow! Lucky fellow. Only problem is, now that everyone knows what's in there he will have to weld the doors shut again!
ReplyDeleteGrunmpers - you're right! I reckon there's about £1m plus in there...
ReplyDeleteJust a thought, I wonder if the petrol tanks are full or even have a bit in them... (130 x say 10 litres = 1,300 litres or 290 odd gals at a fiver...worth more than my car that is...
Also, I didn't know you owned the
A40...what, all the way from Oxford to Abergavenny?
WOW!
ReplyDeleteThat's like dying and going to heaven.
Soooo many nice cars to do some work on.
Lake, you're right!
ReplyDeleteI'm just finishing a book which has a final few chapters in a place just like that...
I'd love to get my hands on them as well - especially the open sports job...
It always amazed me when these kind of things happen. I get Classic Car magazine and there's a similar story (on a much smaller scale) in the latest edition - a repair shop which closed years back when the owner died. Upon the recent death of his widow the building was opened to reveal numerous classics, including two Rolls Royces. How does someone end up just leaving two Rollers to decay in a shed?!
ReplyDeleteScrobs: That 1955 light blue A40 Devon was my first car and the one I learned to drive in. It had just had a new engine put in when I bought it in 1960 for £75, so really a great bargain. It never gave me a moment's trouble and always started first time (something rather unusual in those days). The only minor problem was a weak shock absorber on the front so the car bucked and jumped about like a bronco pony on a rough road - great fun. You still see the odd one running around these days looking as good as new, so there are folks who appreciate a decent bit of engineering when they see it.
ReplyDeletePS: In accordance with the wishes of the Great Helmsman, the A40 will become a toll road throughout its entire length with effect from noon next Tuesday. I get to keep 50% of the takings and the rest gets lost in an "election fund" (or something).
scroblene i thought that was great...i could just imagine it...had discussed it with a friend a while back...he picked his cars...i picked mine and we were happy...momentarily
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLMFAO!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo,sometimes curiosity doesn't KILL the cat.
I would have bought the barn, too.
Fleeters - you're right, how could anyone just forget them!
ReplyDeleteApparently, in a big garage in Canterbury, when they rebuilt the sheds after the war, they needed to fill in all the old inspection pits.
So what dod you do - you get everything you can lay your hands (or bulldozer) on, and shove it all in to make up the levels!
And what also went in? Yup, loads of pre-war car parts, engines, bodies, chassis etc, and they're still there, waiting to be exhumed and presumably sold at a huge profit...!
Grumpers, The A40 was a magnificent car! I'm glad you had one for so long - about that time, I was running about in a Riley
ReplyDelete1.5, which had a similar pedigree!
£75 was the norm for these cars, and it went like a rocket!
Re the A40 road toll, I've installed the cameras, and engaged the automatic wallet retrieval operating machinery. We should be in the clear by Thursday...see you at the usual place to split the readies...
Daisy, I spent much of yesterday at the Kent show, and there were lots of old cars, lovingly restored, and much admired by yours truly!
ReplyDeleteBeing of sound mind, I now assume that in days of yore, after a trip with a new girlfriend in such small cars, you really had to get married almost instantly, as you were almost sitting on top of each other - which is an interesting position to be in at 30mph...
Ubers, welcome..., why someone didn't just get a ladder and look in through the window is beyond me!
ReplyDeleteI found out yesterday, that there is one car in the collection which is probably worth more than all the rest!!!
...worth more than all the rest???
ReplyDeleteThat must be my lovely A40 then. I wondered what happened to it!!
We overtook an A40 on the M25 yesterday! Fabulous....the chap driving it looked as old as the car...
ReplyDeleteDear Grandad,
ReplyDeleteThe Antonov A-40 Krylya Tanka? That was some first car.
I've just bought a cellar in Florence. In the middle of the floor is a large, circular, brick-edged area.
ReplyDelete'What's that?'
'That's a buto (sp?)'
'What's that?'
'Where you buttare things.'
Buttare - to throw away.
The palazzo was built in 1568.
Gulp.
Lucien - Regrettably no, not the Antonov, just the plain good old Austin with the lovely large "A" bonnet ornament.
ReplyDeleteGo here for a nice pic. Mine was slight blue.
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/my_car_austindevon.htm
oops.... light blue
ReplyDeleteO/T;
ReplyDeleteHG: How did your lettuce soup from 2 posts down turn out? Hope Mr HG was suitably impressed with your culinary expertise! And has now recovered from his acrobatics?
GG Lettuce soup is delicious, served tepid, which is good when it's hot. Bit of a cheat in having quite a lot of other ingredients that belong in more familiar soups, but very pretty to look at, and distinctively lettuce-like. Superb at using up the lettuce glut.
ReplyDeleteRegret to report that Mr HG took up his spoon sadly, (soup for lunch?) and accepted that knives and forks are for the able-bodied. At the provincial hospital they x-rayed him again and said he is mending well and only another 2 months to go. 'Should I come back?' 'No, when it stops hurting, you are better.'
There are lots of poppies going to seed in the fields and hedgerows. Might there be something more interesting to be cooked-up from them?
Well!
ReplyDeleteStone me!
The moment my back's turned, this post has unearthed a hole in Florence, spotted a rare car in Surrey and created a lettuce menu to stun an ox!
This has given me an idea for the next post of course...
HG: (Begging our host's pardon, of course!) Glad to hear the recipe was OK. Now you know what to do with all your surplus veggies. Hope himself gets better quickly.
ReplyDeleteRe poppy seeds, I like them on top of those lovley crispy rolls you can find in any good baker's shop. I saw a Mythbusters prog one where one of the guys ate 4 of those rolls for his breakfast and then took a drugs test. Sure enough he proved positive on the cop's breathalyser/blood test for whatever it is they make out of poppy seeds. So be warned don't eat and drive, you'll get points on your license for eating breakfast... [Now who's putting nasty ideas into Mr Brown's head?? Perhaps you can add this suggestion to one of your next bad idea efforts]
A friend of mine was emigrating from America to Canada. She had to have a drugs test. She paid for a private drugs test before the official one and tested positive for opiates, all because of poppy seed bagels. She stopped eating them and was fine on the day.
ReplyDeleteCrikey!
ReplyDeleteOMG it's a fortune!
ReplyDeletewhere did you see this, Scrobs? What's happened, is there a list? Has he sold them?
Poppy seed opiates? Must get some bagels.