Being agriculturally inclined to build barns in the country, we don’t expect barn finds to turn up in the middle of a high-turnover metropolis. Yet that’s been happening more regularly of late, and writer Michael Mraz has found another example in South Central, Los Angeles: a one-of-one Mercedes-Benz 1935 Caracciola 500K built especially for Silver Arrows race driver Rudolph Caraccioloa. It is pictured above in better days, after having been restored and displayed on the lawn at the Pebble Beach concours in the late 1970s.

What’s amazing about the Caracciola 500K, and tragic for car lovers, is that it has a good deal of company: in a piece called “Wheels of Fortune” in the February issue of Town & Country magazine, Mraz found scaffolds full of vintage metal in awful condition, rusting outside in a parts yard called Porche Foreign Auto. They include:

…a pair of one-off prewar Maybachs; one of two Iso Grifo Spyders (designed and engineered by Giotto Bizzarrini, who also has the Ferrari 250 GTO on his résumé); one of 29 alloy-bodied Mercedes Gullwings…; a couple of BMW 502s and 507s; a half-dozen or so Lamborghini Miuras, with their mighty V12 engines; and the last surviving example of the seven Horch 855 Spezial Roadsters ever built, a specimen once owned by Eva Braun that was for a time on loan to the Audi Museum in Germany. (Audi was founded by August Horch.) Parked one on top of the other are dozens upon dozens of Porsche Carrera carcasses….

Porche Foreign Auto was started in 1967 by a German butcher named Rudi Klein, who bought the Caracciola 500K after it was shown at Pebble in 1978. He took it to a Mercedes show in Newport Beach in 1980, and when it wouldn’t start he loaded it on a trailer and took it home. It hasn’t been seen since, outside of the parts yard.

Klein passed away, and his salvage yard is overseen by his sons, who won’t let any gawkers into to view the cars. Even Mraz was denied entry. But he spoke to folks who have seen the collection, and one said that there are vehicles people have sought for decades and thought had been destroyed. The head of the Mercedes Classic Center in Irvine believes the Caracciola 500K could be worth more than the 1937 540K Spezial Roadster that was auctioned for nearly million at last year’s RM Auctions at Pebble. But we might never know.

Town & Country doesn’t have a proper website, so pick up the magazine to read the piece and see what the automotive world is missing. There’s a sample of it in the attached gallery, but be warned, it’s not pleasant to see.

One-off Mercedes 550K barn find discovered in South Central, LA salvage yard originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While rummaging through the wares on offer at an estate sale, Bobby Goins, a “picker” in Grand Blanc, Michigan, found the car pictured above: a 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Ghia Cabriolet. Hidden under a tarp and lots of detritus in a garage, once it was revealed Goins discovered that the car was almost completely intact. The only thing missing was the engine, and that was found in Wisconsin not long after the discovery of the car.

Without a serial number, it’s difficult to place this car exactly, even though the 212 Inter was only made for three years. It came early in Ferrari’s move to production cars, but was one of the most numerous models with the widest variety of bodystyles – no less than eight coachbuilders contributed designs and variations on those designs. For instance, this one has a Ghia grille used on another body, but a different hood treatment. No matter, it’s been rescued from oblivion and sold to a good home: it was bought by a Ferrari collector for just 0,000.

Follow the jump to see local news footage of Goins’ discovery.

Continue reading Barn Find: 1952 Ferrari 212 Ghia Cabriolet found collecting dust

Barn Find: 1952 Ferrari 212 Ghia Cabriolet found collecting dust originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The world is filled with curious questions. Why are we here? Why do we hate tomatoes but love ketchup? Why do Americans love crossovers? Why are there 150 brand-new 1997 Dodge Neon models with zero miles on the odometer up for sale in Singapore? That last one is particularly perplexing. Arete Trading Pte Ltd. has somehow managed to get its hands on a small flotilla of pristine Neon models and is currently in the process of parceling them out for the lowly sum of ,350 each. That means, if you had 2,500 laying around, you could live the dream of driving a brand-new 14-year-old car every day for 150 days straight.

Or at least you could once you had the necessary vehicle systems straightened out. We’re guessing that each of these Neons could use some fuel and brake system work in order to be even quasi viable. Still, as the good people at Motor Authority point out, get enough friends together and you could have one hell of a one-make race. Check out the sale here.

150 brand-new 1997 Chrysler Neons is the ultimate barn find originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some collectors wait years for something like this to turn up: a pristine, original 1963 Shelby Cobra. Chassis number CSX 2080 has been sitting untouched since 1981, and has had only two owners in its history. And now it’s going up for auction.

The headline consignment for the Collector Cars of Fort Lauderdale event held by the newly rechristened Auctions America by RM, this Cobra could very well be the find of the new year. Its body and interior are in remarkable condition for a car this age, and the original factory powertrain recently underwent a complete overhaul – kind of a necessity for a car that’s been sitting still for nearly thirty years.

Pre-sale estimates place it around 5,000 (give or take a quarter-k), joined by such early consignments as a ’32 Duesenberg, a 1969 Shelby GT500 Fastback and a 2005 Ford GT. The event takes place at the Broward County Convention Center on March 3-5, but you can scope out the details in the press release after the jump, along with the photos in the gallery below, right now.

[Source: Auctions America by RM]

Continue reading Shelby Cobra barn find up for auction in Fort Lauderdale

Shelby Cobra barn find up for auction in Fort Lauderdale originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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