26 Classic Cars Are Unearthed from Danish Barn Find

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Posted by Zach Doell

 

 

There’s something truly special about opening up the doors to an old barn and revealing a trove of vintage cars that haven’t seen the light of day in years. Known colloquially as the “barn find,” it’s an experience that most classic car fans can only dream about having. 

 

But that’s exactly what happened recently on the island of Zealand in Denmark when 26 classic cars were pulled from a private barn, according to the Online Post, most having sat undisturbed for the better part of three decades. Sadly, the owner of the collection has since passed away, but the cherished cars will continue to live on and go under the gavel in early November.

“A gentleman collected cars for many years and then 15 years ago he drove this one car in the barn as the last, then he stopped collecting, closed the door, and no one has set a foot here since,” said Finn Campen, director of Campen Auctions. “It is very, very exciting and very rare to discover an untouched barn find such as this.”

The video above details the process of extracting those cars from the barn, which are covered in years worth of dust and cobwebs. It’s an eerie but almost romantic look into the stillness of a car collection, and to some collectors that untouched look is exactly what they’re after.

The 26 classic cars range in vintage from the 1920s to the early 1950s, and include a variety of Ford Model As and Model Ts originally assembled in Copenhagen, as well as a highly sought after Model T pickup. There are also a number of cars you won’t expect to find on U.S. shores, including a 1952 Ford Popular, 1939 Opel Kadett, and a rare 1934 Renault Celtaquatre, of which only 44,000 were built.

Barn find collections have drawn considerable attention in recent years, as evidenced by Artcurial’s record-breaking Baillon collection, which auctioned off in February 2015 to the tune of $28.5 million. While this grouping doesn’t contain any exorbitantly rare Ferraris, Bugattis, or Talbot-Lagos like Baillon, it’s still a remarkable find.