Treasure trove of classic cars hoped to raise 16 million euros at Paris auction
After nearly 50 years locked away in scruffy sheds on a farm in western France, a treasure trove of extremely rare, classic cars is going to auction.
Issued on: Modified:
The Artcurial auction house expects that the 60 cars, including Ferraris, Bugattis, Maseratis, will fetch up to 16 million euros this Friday.
The cache also includes a Ferrari California Spider - one of only 37 ever made - which is high on the list of the 100 most expensive cars ever sold.
The Spider was owned for a time by French actor Alain Delon and historians thought the car had been lost.
Delon this week complained that his name was being exploited to “push up the price” of the car.
Engineer and inventor Roger Baillon, who made a fortune in the booming post-war transport business, collected the cars in the 1950s but eventually had to sell many of his purchases due to tax problems.
Artcurial managing director Matthieu Lamoure and senior specialist Pierre Novikoff found the cars on a farm in a location they are keeping secret after a tip-off while they were touring the country searching for rare antiques.
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