No doubt by now, you have seen news clippings or blog posts about the Baillon Collection, one of the greatest barn finds in automotive history. Well, auction house ArtCurial, which was responsible for passing the collection along to the masses, presented the cars in an adjacent exhibition hall at Retromobile. Make the jump to see what I saw, and how I felt.


First, let us get the obvious out of the way. This was the star of the collection, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder that sold for an unprecedented $18.5 million. It was particularly coveted because its headlights were covered. Ookay.

We’ve all read about barn finds before. Whether due to age, illness, or loss of fortune, an eccentric tycoon and car aficionado loses control of his car collection. And when I say “loses control”, I mean hordes of cars end up being left out in the elements, exposed for decades.

That is exactly what happened here. A French transport magnate sought to create the greatest collection of pre-war cars for a museum he was going to build. He ran into money trouble and was forced to sell half of his collection. He thought he would earn enough later in life to still make his dream come true. He couldn’t. He left the heaping mess to his son. His son did nothing and died a decade later. Now, the son’s kids are parting with the collection.

The mood of the exhibition was somber. The lighting gave it a haunted house vibe. Seeing these important and lust-worthy cars in such wretched shape was disgusting. What Baillon did bordered on criminal. But then, you start feeling sorry for the guy, almost like those poor saps featured on the TV show Hoarders.

I mean, the guy clearly loved cars. The cars he bought, and the half of the collection that he kept, really told you what this guy was all about. It was not necessarily the best according to a panel of respected judges, but what Baillon thought was the best.

Of the “modern” Ferraris, he chose a 308 GTS, a 400 2+2, and a Mondial cabriolet. How kooky was that?

And what really blew me away was this Ferrari-powered Lancia Thema 8.32, worth around 2,500 Euros. Baillon was baller!

So what’s your take on mega-barn finds and the people who accumulated these collections (and allowed them to rust into oblivion)?

Images source: Copyright 2015 Hooniverse/Jim Yu