Some guy's have all the luck!!

[Guest]

http://www.rangaranginc.com/Barn.htm

[JohnG]

Was that you, John??? Did you and El Guapo move out
of Seattle???

[Dan Leavens]

John had caught this a little while ago and as the story goes, this guy was the third or possibly fourth person to look at the property. Apparently with the size of the barn and that the door was welded shut the other people didn't want to buy it?? If it's true, this guy bought a great collection of classics. Great to see you back on the site and hope all is well.

[Guest]

Sorry guys, I hate to spoil a great story but I did a quick search and found this at

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/barn-cars.shtml

While the photographs are genuine, the text in the email explaining their origin is untrue. There was no retired New Yorker who came across an incredible, and totally unexpected, windfall when he broke open the welded doors of an old barn on his newly acquired Portuguese property. Instead, there is a more mundane, but much more believable explanation.

Journalist Tom Cotter researched the story and finally identified the photographer as Manuel Menezes Morais. Morais was contracted to take photographs of the cars by their owner. Due to the wishes of the owner, Morais was unable to reveal exact details of the barn's location or the owner's name, but he did give Tom Cotter some general information about the origin of the vehicle collection. In an article about the cars for Sports Car Market Magazine, Tom Cotter notes:

The owner of the cars was a car dealer in the 1970s and 1980s, and decided to save the more interesting cars that came through his doors. When the barn was full, he padlocked and "soldered" the doors shut. (Perhaps welding was too permanent.)

Web sites varied on the number of cars: 58, 100, and 180 were speculated. According to Morais, there are 180 cars in the barn.

Cotter's research indicates that the cars are probably located in an area near Lisbon, in Portugal.

Thus, it seems that the "retired New Yorker" cover story is no more than a fictional embellishment. The story may have evolved out of an earlier description of the photographs that simply asked recipients to imagine what it would be like to acquire a piece of land and then subsequently discover a treasure trove of old cars hidden in a barn on the property:

[tbird430]

Well I don't think that guy was too bright.....

There isn't a SINGLE THUNDERBIRD in the whole building/barn!!


Hahaha!!
-Jon

[Anders]

But I saw a Volvo PV ( 144 )
Just behind the Porsche 356.

[Dan Leavens]

Anders not to mention what looks like an MG beside it

[Anders]

At first glance it looks like the tresure we all dreaming about, but a 2:nd thought tells me that I am happy not to have a few hundered cars to restore.
I love my Ruth She is the only I need.

[Guest]

Anders, I found another Volvo at this link that has a bunch of pictures. Do you know what year of volvo this might be?

www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa70.htm

[Anders]

It´s a Volvo 444, in Sweden this model as well as the 544 ( same bodytype, but a lot of updates like 1 piece windscreen ) was called Volvo PV.
I´m not an expert by any means, so I´m not 100% sure, but the bumper and the grill tells me it is from the mid ´50.