You've just gotta see this !!!!

[Deleted User]

The word is that a fellow in Portugal recently bought a farm on a plot of land that had been abandoned for 15 years or so, after the previous owner had long since passed away. While exploring the property they found a large barn that was locked up tight with a rusty padlock. After a bit of brute force they got the lock off and opened the doors revealing a mind-blowing collection of vintage cars !!



While quite dusty on the outside, most of the cars turned out to be in amazingly good condition !! One wonders if there's an Italia in there ?? I see a Nash or Hudson metropolitan for sure !



What a lucky Dude !!! I'd rather find something like this than win the lottery !!



I'll post more pictures as I get them, --- they're difficult to get, but I'll keep picking away at it. This is just toooo cool to leave alone!! I want to know what every car in there is !!



silverone

[Deleted User]

Another angle.

[Deleted User]

Nice collection. Probably worth 20 times what he paid for the farm.

[Deleted User]

Why, oh, why does it always happen to somebody else? Hudson Dave.

Jon B

Yeah, but I understand that when the new owner couldn't find the keys, he called in a local junk man...



(just kidding, LOL!)

Unknown

I saw this same story on another site. I wonder what the rest of the story is?



There was a junk man in MN who kept a huge collection in sealed buildings. He went as far as walling off the cars inside with no doors. The collection included '53 Corvettes and all sorts of other valuable cars. His heirs sold the stuff off at auction a few years ago. It was covered in OCW.



My boss, when I was in high school, was a DeSoto dealer and kept all of the DeSoto trade-ins. His son went out of business in '98 and I managed to get a 55 convertible and a 56 2 door hardtop from the basement. The rest of the cars scattered.



It makes you wonder.:rolleyes:



Have a nice day

Steve

[Deleted User]

Maybe a lot of cars that have dissapeared over the last fifty years or so have just been found ( as in stolen )!!



It'll be interesting when they start running the serial numbers on this lot.



silverone

[Deleted User]

If you look past the blur... you will see there are quite a few US vehicles in the mix... this would make me wonder as to WHERE the barn really is...

note in the picture above... 60s plymouth and 67 or 8 Olds, 50s chevy 4door and is the lower left a 32 or 33 Ford Vicky?

[Deleted User]

Yes, there are quite a few US cars in the mix. Could that white car facing forward be a '54 Hudson ?



Just dreaming

---

silverone

SamJ

silverone wrote:

Yes, there are quite a few US cars in the mix. Could that white car facing forward be a '54 Hudson ?



Just dreaming

---

silverone

Possibly a Jet, more likely an Opel, which was similar...:cool:

[Deleted User]

Well, apparently the doors were welded shut, -- not padlocked as the story goes. I've found a picture of the welded doors that I'll post here shortly.



Here's another inside shot.



silverone

[Deleted User]

Thanks Rick, you saved me a lot of struggling with trying to get each photo down to a postable size ! For some reason I couldn't open the photos on the original site, so wound up searching all over the net for one or two at a time.



Since I didn't find the link you did, it would have taken me a week to dig all this up !!



Does anyone recognize the twenties vintage American roadster ?



silverone

Aaron D. IL

When I croak that's what my tomb is going to look like, full of cars for hudson meets in the afterlife. LOL jk ........... I once saw a similar story on a reclusive rich guy who had saved a ton of Stutz's . When they found his place for estate sale the auction was hailed as "The opening of King Stutz's Tomb" hahah

Unknown

Does anyone recognize the twenties vintage American roadster ?



silverone[/QUOTE]



This one is a 31 Chrysler. A friend of mine in FL has one. It is a thing of beauty!



http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa12.htm





Steve

hudsontech

Then there was the trove uncovered in, what - Detroit. Guy had cars standing on their front ends in order get more in the buildings. It was found after he died.

So, guys, get out on those old two lane highways and start checking the larger towns for old Hudson distributorships. Who knows - there just might be a 2 or 3 story building out there chock full of NOS parts left by the owner who locked the doors the day Hudson merged with Nash.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

PS Any volunteers to go over and wash all those cars!!!!! hehehehe

[Deleted User]

Apparently there was 180 cars in there. Too bad the Guy listing them didn't seem to have much use for American cars, dismissing them as "barges" !!

Hopefully, someone will take an interest in the "foreign" element (to them) and list them accurately as well.



All that bird poop is going to be hell on the paint jobs, but it looks like the Guy just saved anything he could get his hands on, and didn't really focus on the high value collector stuff, so I suppose not all will be someday restored.



Then again, what do I know about the European stuff. Maybe there's the equivalent of an Italia, or a Hemi Cuda, or a "Duesey", in there looking at them from a European collectors' point of view.



The American stuff might go real "cheap" then when the auction day comes !



silverone

[Deleted User]

This has been the subject of many forums. There are several American cars in there - 1964 Fury, '70 Cutlass, at least two '47 Chevys, a '39 Plymouth, a '41 Chevy, the '31 Chrysler, what might be a '39 Hudson (hard to tell from the angle), a Crosley, and at least a couple of others.



To some that think this is all "euro-trash", think again! This is a treasure trove of post-war Lancias, Fiats, Minis, at least one Messerschmitt, and a couple of quirky little Eastern European commie cars, too!



Don't underestimate the value of the American cars over there, either! When I was stationed in northern Germany in the early '90s, my wife and I were the only Americans in an American car club. In that club were three Corvettes, a '72 Trans-Am. a '56 Chrysler New Yorker with a 354 Hemi, a couple of mid-Sixties wagons, several mid-'70s cars, and a '59 Chevy pickup, along with our '85 Dodge D-150 and a couple of other '80s cars. They were all quite knowledgeable and savvy on American cars. Look through a European magazine geared towards American cars and you'll see they don't sell cheap!

SamJ

66patric: I concur. Just two anecdotes: a couple of years ago I was in London on a Sunday when 2 happy couples drove by in a '57 Chrysler ragtop...pink and white yet! Also, in Japan I was way out in the country in a small town with very narrow roads when a green and white 4-door Edsel came up behind us. Older American cars are valued all over the world.:cool:

JP

Last summer I spent a nice sunny afternoon talking in a café with a German (village firefighter) and his pals who were taking a break from cruising around in a beautiful red and black 1954 Buick Century 2-door hardtop. Yes, gas was $5.50 a gallon.



A few years ago, I saw a guy driving a Cord Sportsman (not a replica) around in the Hannover (Germany) area. The only other one I had ever seen was in the ACD museum in Indiana. Incredible!



Many Europeans like classic American cars, as others have reported here, and with the strict inspection regulations for automobile condition there, if they are on the road, the cars tend to be very nice examples.



I did not find any Hudsons listed, but folks can take a look at what is probably the best-known German site for auto sales. It is easy to use and even if you don’t read German, there are pictures and prices. Gebrauchtwagen = used cars, Marke = Make, EZ = select year range, and check “Nur Anzeigen mit Bild” --“only ads with pictures.”



Have fun figuring out what that dusty, but amazing inventory is worth.





http://www.autoscout24.de/



JP

Aaron D. IL

I recently sold my good running '46 Dodge D-24 Custom sedan to Finland. It was a good original example and apparently no Americans wanted it bad enough to restore it. The New owner tell me that there is actually quite a car scene in the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark... American car had a good reputation before WW2 but after the war few were imported again until europe started to recover around the early '60's. He also showed me some car magazines that look exactly like ours except of course in other languages. This guy paid double the cost of the car to have it shipped over there. Look out guys, globalization has hit our hobby. The market for old American cars is now potentiall world-wide. I was a little disapointed that no Americans wanted to restore the car but I'm happy that it got a good home and if he can take better care of it that anyone here can or will, more power to him!. Americans just have too much stuff I guess. If they ever outlaw driving old cars here I'll go to a country where they haven't LOL I guess we should be glad there are such people that have been packrats enough that these cars are still around.

Unknown

I have a friend who lives in Norway and he usually imports & sells a couple American cars each year.

[Deleted User]

I've no idea what car this dash is in, but it looks American, and in mint condition. The leather padding appears flawless, and the whole interior surprisingly clean given the exterior condition of the cars.



Must have had good windows to keep the dust out.

Unknown

Early to mid-fifties Pontiac is my guess. Maybe 53-55. Looks like an indian in the steering wheel.

[Deleted User]

You're probably right hudsondad. I think I see a pontiac front end in this picture.

[Deleted User]

Note that Pontiac was built either in Europe (GM built these in Belgium and Spain), or could've been a US or Canadian-built car built for the Continental market - note the metric speedo that goes to 160 km/h.

SamJ

66patrick66 wrote:

Note that Pontiac was built either in Europe (GM built these in Belgium and Spain), or could've been a US or Canadian-built car built for the Continental market - note the metric speedo that goes to 160 km/h.

Right. It's worth remembering that American cars were assembled and sold new all over the world. GM and Ford have had huge operations in Europe and South America since before WW II. Chrysler produces trucks in Argentina, for example, and the Kaiser was produced in South America long after it was no longer sold here. Hudsons were assembled and sold in Canada (many for export to foreign markets because of favorable trade relations), England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Current Hudson owners in Iceland, Sweden, (there are a lot of Hudsons in Sweden), Norway, Belgium, France, Germany and other countries own cars that were purchased new from local dealers. Club Member Mason Olivier of France (who owns Italia #10008, among other Hudsons) recently sent a photo of a French Hudson dealership which I ran in WTN. Many Hudson products produced outside the US have interesting variations. So not all American cars overseas were purchased from U.S. collectors. :cool:

Sarah Young

SamJ wrote:

.....Many Hudson products produced outside the US have interesting variations. So not all American cars overseas were purchased from U.S. collectors. :cool:

If you look closely at the inside of the Jet in this picture, you can see the steering wheel on the other side of the car. I believe this is from South America?



http://hudsonjet.net/Fanus.html

SuperDave

silverone wrote:

I've no idea what car this dash is in, but it looks American, and in mint condition. The leather padding appears flawless, and the whole interior surprisingly clean given the exterior condition of the cars.



Must have had good windows to keep the dust out.

This dash looks like a mid to late fifties Cadillac. I had a 56 Conv. along time ago and it sure looks familiar.

[Deleted User]

Well its not the Pontiac shown in the pic above as the Pontiac has a split windshield the pic of the interior is of a car with solid windshield.

[Deleted User]

Very observant '51 !! I had to save the picture to desktop and then blow it up to full screen to pick that out.



Amazing what you see when you do that with some of these pics. Can't see that other Pontiac though.

[Deleted User]

Most of the license plates are from Portugal. There are a coupleof Dutch tags and at least one Brit tag. The cars are located in Portugal. Sarah, you probably mean South Africa, NOT South America. The places in South America that were/are RHD are the former British Empire countries (Belize and the former British Guyana), along with Bermuda. Nearly everywhere else in the Western Hemisphere is Left hand drive, like in the US. The European Continent is likewise Left hand drive. Great Britain & Ireland are the only countries in Europe that are RHD. Most RHD countries are former members of the British Empire, like India, Australia, New Zealand, and nations like Burma, Japan, South Africa, and such.