A barn find is a classic car, aircraft or motorcycle that has been rediscovered after being stored, often in derelict condition. The term comes from their tendency to be found in places such as barns, sheds, carports and outbuildings where they have been stored for many years. The term usually applies to vehicles that are rare and valuable, and which are consequently of great interest to collectors and enthusiasts despite their poor condition.
Barn finds can fetch high prices when sold. A 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS spider was sold for US$2.1 million in January 2014. The car had suffered an engine fire in 1969 and had been stored in a garage for 44 years. Despite this, it sold for more than a fully restored example sold in 2013. [1]
In the past, barn-find cars were typically subjected to exhaustive restoration, to return them to a condition close to that when they were new. However, the current[ when? ] trend is to treat the cars more sympathetically, to avoid restoration that removes evidence of the car's history and to place greater value on any original features the car retains even if they're in poor condition. In some cases, intense restoration can actually lower a car's value. [1] [2]
The Avro 504 is a single-engine biplane bomber made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during World War I totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in any military capacity during the First World War. More than 10,000 were built from 1913 until production ended in 1932.
A warbird is any vintage military aircraft now operated by civilian organizations and individuals, or in some instances, by historic arms of military forces, such as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the Royal Australian Air Force's No. 100 Squadron, or the South African Air Force Museum Historic Flight.
The Ferrari 250 is a series of sports cars and grand tourers built by Ferrari from 1952 to 1964. The company's most successful early line, the 250 series includes many variants designed for road use or sports car racing. 250 series cars are characterized by their use of a 3.0 L (2,953 cc) Colombo V12 engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo. The 250 series designation refers to this engine's cylinder displacement of approximately 250 cc. They were replaced by the 275 and 330 series cars.
A wrecking yard, scrapyard or junkyard is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies. Other terms include wreck yard, wrecker's yard, salvage yard, breaker's yard, dismantler and scrapheap. In the United Kingdom, car salvage yards are known as car breakers, while motorcycle salvage yards are known as bike breakers. In Australia, they are often referred to as 'Wreckers'.
The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aviation, automotive and agricultural collection located at Old Warden Aerodrome in Bedfordshire, England.
The Blériot XI is a French aircraft from the pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. This is one of the most famous accomplishments of the pioneer era of aviation, and not only won Blériot a lasting place in history but also assured the future of his aircraft manufacturing business. The event caused a major reappraisal of the importance of aviation; the English newspaper The Daily Express led its story of the flight with the headline "Britain is no longer an Island."
Cole Palen was the founder of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, a living museum of vintage aircraft from 1900-1937 located in Red Hook, New York. He became recognized for his work in the preservation of early aviation history. Palen's aerodrome boasts one of the finest collections of antique aircraft in the world including an original 1909 Bleriot XI, the oldest flying aircraft in the United States and the second oldest in the world. He also created many accurate flying replicas of historical aircraft. Many of these take part in the regular airshows which continue to place at the Aerodrome.
The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a living museum in Red Hook, New York. It owns many examples of airworthy aircraft of the pioneer era, World War I and the Golden Age of Aviation between the World Wars, and multiple examples of roadworthy antique automobiles.
The Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin was a British fighter aircraft manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It was used by the Royal Flying Corps and its successor, the Royal Air Force, during the First World War. The Dolphin entered service on the Western Front in early 1918 and proved to be a formidable fighter. The aircraft was not retained in the postwar inventory and was retired shortly after the war.
Conservation and restoration of road vehicles is the process of restoring a vehicle back to its original working condition. Vehicles, whether partially scrapped or completely totaled, are typically restored to maintain their roadworthiness or to preserve those with antique status for use as showpieces.
Leigh Ronald Keno and Leslie Bernard Keno are American antiquarians, authors, historic car judges, preservationists and television hosts. They specialize in stoneware, early American furniture and vintage automobiles. They are widely known as appraisers on the PBS series Antiques Roadshow, for favoring preservation of antiques over restoration and for their high-energy personalities.
The Curtiss No. 2, often known as the Reims Racer, was a racing aircraft built in the United States by Glenn Curtiss in 1909 to contest the Gordon Bennett Cup air race in Reims, France that year.
The Great Lakes Sport Trainer is an American biplane trainer and aerobatic aircraft. It was originally produced in large numbers before the company building it went bankrupt in the Great Depression in 1933. Owing to its continuing popularity, however, it was eventually placed back into production in the 1970s and again in 2011 by WACO Classic Aircraft.
The New York Museum of Transportation (NYMT), founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization located at 6393 East River Road, in the Rochester suburb of Rush. A private rail line built by volunteers connects NYMT with the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, over a distance of two miles. This demonstration railway allows both museums to offer train rides with their collections of vintage railroad equipment. NYMT operates the only electric trolley ride in New York State, not to be confused with the similarly named Trolley Museum of New York located in Kingston, New York.
Neri and Bonacini, also known as Nembo, was a small carrozzeria and mechanic shop based in Modena, Italy, active from the late 1950s to around 1967. Founded and run by Giorgio Neri and Luciano Bonacini, the shop worked on and produced bodies for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati road and race cars, both in an official capacity for those manufacturers and for private owners. Their best known projects are the Ferrari 250 GT-based Nembo spiders and the Lamborghini 400GT Monza. Neri and Bonacini also designed a car under their own name, the Neri and Bonacini Studio GT Due Litri. Two prototypes of this car were made between 1966 and 1968 but it never entered series production. The shop closed around 1967 when Bonacini went to work for De Tomaso and Neri started his own shop, Motors-World-Machines (MWM).
The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum is an automotive museum located at 6825 Norwitch Drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The museum's collection consists of approximately 75 racing sports cars and has been assembled over more than 50 years by Frederick A. Simeone, a retired neurosurgeon and native of Philadelphia. Frederick Simeone has been ranked the #1 car collector by the Classic Car Trust Registry.
The Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder is a sports car developed by the Italian automotive company Ferrari. It is presented by the brand as Ferrari 250 Gran Turismo Spyder California or simply Ferrari 250 California. It was designed by Sergio Scaglietti, who adapted the styling of the 250 GT Pinin Farina, and was produced by Carrozzeria Scaglietti. The model gained considerable recognition after its appearance in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Porche Foreign Auto Wrecking, Inc. is an American vehicle recycling business that has been in operation since 1980. The business, known colloquially as PorFor, was founded in Los Angeles by Rudi Klein (1936–2001), a German immigrant who began purchasing wrecked European exotic cars in the late 1960s and incorporated his business in 1980. Over the course of his career, Klein amassed a vast collection of highly valuable vehicles that were left in derelict condition. In the 21st century, Porche Foreign Auto gained notability in the media for its secrecy and for several of the ultra-rare vehicles it owned. After the owner's death, his family gradually began selling off cars from the collection. In October 2024, the remainder of the junkyard's contents will be auctioned by RM Sotheby's, with the full collection estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's Bleriot XI was donated to Cole Palen in 1952 by Bill Champlin of Laconia, NH, Mr. Champlin obtained it from Professor H.H. Coburn, who as a boy had observed the aeroplane in a junkyard while bicycling to and from work each day. Coburn finally procured it and kept it stored for many years. It appears that the Bleriot had crashed at an air meet in Saugus, MA in 1910, and when received by Cole it was approximately 25% complete.