I n 2014 a hoard of about 100 classic cars was unearthed in the grounds of a run-down farm in Échiré, western France, where they had been abandoned in an assortment of sheds, ramshackle garages and shelters cobbled together from rusting sheets of corrugated metal. Amassed by the late Roger Baillon, a haulage contractor, the collection included Ferraris, Maseratis, Delahayes, Facel Vegas and more — and, having been exposed to the elements for the best part of 50 years, not a single one was driveable. It was widely dubbed “the barn find of the century”, and when the Paris auction house Artcurial sold the 59 salvageable cars they raised a total of €25 million — with the star lot being a filthy 1961 Ferrari 250GT California Spider that was discovered beneath a vast pile of magazines.
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