Another barn find

[crash]

Is it worth $12.million? I know my dad has a a far number of old cars on the farm, but none worth this much - well not yet any way, I can only hope.
Will Bugatti 'barn find' fetch $12 million? (http://www.leaderpost.com/cars/Will+Bugatti+barn+find+fetch+million/1172721/story.html)

[Bigbjorn]

Well, it is a Bugatti, and a Type 57 Atlante. Only a handful made and few survived until today. It is supposedly complete, original and in good condition, needing only cosmetic restoration. Most surviving Bugatti contain lots of replica and adapted parts. One was even advertised at a Pommy auction sale a while ago as "believed to contain some original Bugatti parts".

Unlees your dad has bought carefully and kept them under roof in clean dry storage, then I doubt if he has anything of much value, being familiar with farm hoards, having picked over quite a few in my nearly fifty years involvement with vintage, veteran, and collector cars. Mass produced family cars of no technical merit and without a verifiable competition history have no great value even when expensively restored to a standard the makers never intended and could not have achieved.

I often come across collectors/restorers who are offering their pride and joy for sale at a stratospheric figure who all sing from the same sheet of music. "It cost me $20,000 ($25,000, $30,000, pick a number) to restore and I want to get my money back". They get demoralised after a year or two of no takers particularly when they ask knowledgeable hobbyists what they should be asking and are told, "Not $37,000, but $7,000 is pretty much on the mark".

[VladTepes]

Magic.

I was just watching a show on the history of Bugatti the other day and one of these was in it (they did a rally in Italy, capped off with a concours d'elegance in Venice ! ) Good to see a car like this driven !

[Psimpson7]

Truly amazing cars

[mcrover]

When I was about 14 I was introduced to farmer out near Kyabram in Vic who asked if I liked cars.

He got a very quick Shot yeah and hetook me out to see not 1 but 2 XY GTs.

1 in red with the black stripes with the 4 speed and the other a green one with black stripes with an auto, apparently 1 of very few GT spec autos that ford built.

The story went that his dad had bought the red GT on retirement but because of poor eysight couldnt drive it and his aging wife wanted an auto so the manual went on blocks for when his sons became responsable enough to drive it and he got the dealer to get him the auto.

Im not sure if the auto was done on the line or changed at the dealer but I know it is the only one I have ever seen.

They werre sold in the 90's but I have no idea what the got for them, just that they should have hunmg onto them for a few years more I think:D

Ive always dreamt about dragging an pot of gold (so to speak) out of a shed but it just doesnt happen in Oz, not enough crazy rich people :D

One of Mums cousins bought a house because there was an old Merc in the chook shed that was staying there.

He pulled it out, spent a month digging the Chook poo out and then retored it.

Nice car but just a standard Merc, early 60's model, but he loves it and so he should, he put a lot of work into it and I doubt he would ever consider the thought of selling it.