We all love a good barn find. Unearthing a car that has been hidden away for years, possibly decades, is something truly special. It becomes even more so if said vehicle is a rare breed and one seldom seen on the road.
Such finds can then fetch big money at auction. Even if their overall condition is somewhat poor, some barn finds really can go for very high prices.
This list contains 13 of those barn finds and what makes them so special. Their high value is the only factor required for them to make this list.
Bullitt Mustang Stunt Car
Bullitt is regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time. Part of its appeal is the epic chase scene that takes place through the streets of San Francisco, with an iconic example of the Ford Mustang taking part in this scene. Two were used in filming, a hero car and a stunt car, but it was widely believed the stunt version was lost.
However, the Mustang reappeared in a Mexican junkyard, and restorer Ralph Garcia made it resemble the equally famous Eleanor Mustang from Gone in 60 Seconds. Its identity as the stunt car was later confirmed, and the Mustang is now undergoing a complete restoration.
Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe
We all know about the Shelby Cobra, but there was an even rarer Cobra Daytona Coupe version produced. Shelby made just six of these coupes, with the first, SCX2287, disappearing in the 1970s.
However, the sports car would not remain lost forever. It was found in 2001 in private storage before it became embroiled in a legal battle over its ownership. The car would ultimately sell for around $4 million to the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia.
Bugatti Type 57S Atalante
Bugatti is synonymous with luxury and performance. The Type 57S Atalante perfectly symbolizes this, and its rarity makes it incredibly valuable. In 2007, a UK-based collector discovered one gathering dust in a garage.
As it was one of just 17 ever made, its value was high. In 2009, the car sold for $4.53 million at auction. It belonged to Dr. Harold Carr, who parked it in the garage in the 1950s and simply left it where it stood.
Bullit Mustang Hero Car
The stunt Mustang used in the Bullit film might not have had the easiest of lives. But the second, hero car, had a much better life post-film than than its sibling did. Mustang fan Robert Kiernan bought the car in 1974, and Steve McQueen himself twice tried to buy it but was rebutted.
The Mustang sat in a garage from 1980 onwards after a breakdown before Kiernan’s son inherited it over 30 years ago and set about restoring it. Ford decided to step in and help with the restoration and displayed the car next to the new Mustang Bullit at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show.
Cuban Garden Mercedes-Benz 300SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL is one of the all-time great sports cars. It’s a gorgeous machine with gull-wing doors, and one of the rarest and most incredible ones was found on the island of Cuba. Its existence was nothing short of remarkable.
Micahel Ware tracked the car down in 2005. It later disappeared, and it was found again sitting under a banana tree. The vehicle remains in Cuba and is allegedly under restoration by its owner.
Ferrari 250 GT California Spider
The Ferrari 250 is already one of the world’s most sought-after classic cars. But the 250 GT California Spider takes it to another level. One of these rare convertibles was found hiding in a French barn in 2014.
The car was chassis #2935, and it had sat parked in the barn for decades. As a result, it was covered in a thick layer of dust covering its gorgeous body before it went to auction. Despite its condition, the Ferrari sold for a staggering $18.5 million.
1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS
The Ferrari Dino 246 GTS is one of the rarest of all sports cars. So much so that if one becomes the subject of a barn find, it becomes the subject of a lot of attention. This is what happened when one was found in a barn in the 1970s.
The Dinosaur was found in someone’s backyard in the United Kingdom, and thankfully, its condition wasn’t as bad as it may appear. Since it was found, the remarkable Dinosaur has been through a full restoration, making it one of the most famous rags-to-riches stories in the automotive world.
1968 Lamborghini Miura P400
A 1968 Lamborghini Miura was the subject of a remarkable barn find in a French barn in 2019. In 2019, a huge collection of classic cars was found in a French barn, with 81 cars ultimately recovered from the site. The Miura was a matching-numbers V12 example with just over 47,000 miles on the clock.
The car later went to auction, with much of the bidding taking place online. The Miura was sold to a Swiss buyer on the telephone for a remarkable $658,000, highlighting its popularity.
French Barn Collection
The 81-car collection, which included the Lamborghini Miura, deserves an entry of its own. The collection was found spread around several fields and buildings, with rubbish and brambles covering many of the cars, which used to belong to a compulsive buyer named Herny Ruggieri.
Ruggieri barely used the cars in his collection, with each one missing a vital component to prevent their sale or theft. While the Miura was the standout, other vehicles included a 1953 Porsche 356 Pre-A, with the whole collection miraculously unearthed in 2018.
Alabama Barn Dodge Charger Daytona
Car restorer Charlie Lyons visited Glenwood in Alabama, attempting to buy a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle. Instead, the classic car enthusiast came across an exceptionally rare 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, one of just 503 examples the American manufacturer built.
The Charger Daytona had been with the same owner since 1974, and the numbers-matching example would eventually go up for auction in 2016. Mecum was chosen to sell the car, and it sold for $90,000, which was half of its estimated value.
Brandenburg Barn Porsche 901
Porsche was forced to change the name of its new sports car from 901 to 911 in the 1960s due to a copyright complaint by Peugeot. However, the German manufacturer still managed to build 82 examples with the 901 name in 1964, with none officially sold to the public. In fact, they are so rare that even the Porsche factory doesn’t have one.
Incredibly, Porsche found a 901 in a barn in Brandenburg, which turned out to be chassis 300.057, and it was in a poor state. Porsche, however, pulled out all the stops to save the car, eventually paying over $100,000 for the 901.
Ferrari Daytona In Japan
Italian manufacturer Ferrari built just five aluminum-bodied 365GTB/4 Daytonas for the race track and even less for road use. Ferrari built just one for the road, and after being sold to a Bologna car dealer in 1969, it eventually found its way to Japan.
The car had previously been in the hands of Luciano Conti, founder and publisher of Autosprint and a close friend of Enzo Ferrari. It only resurfaced in 2017, with local collector Makota Takai hiding it in his garage for over 40 years.
Belgian Bugatti Trio
What’s better than finding one Bugatti? Finding three of them, of course! Matthieu Lamoure and Pierre Novikoff would find just that a few years ago, entering a garage in Belgium and removing all sorts of sandbags and crates to find three Bugattis plus a 1920s Citroen.
The cars used to belong to Dutch Sculptor and Bugatti fan August Thomassen. However, they had sat dormant since the 1960s, spending over 60 years hidden from view. The standout in the collection was a Type 57 Bugatti Cabriolet with Graber coachwork for its body. The collection was sold off in 2019, with the Type 57 selling for over $500,000. A 1919 Bugatti Type 40 fetched over $200,000, as did the final car, a Type 49 limousine.
