Many people think they're an urban legend, but 'barn finds' really do happen, from the Porsche discovered in a storage locker in California that had been stolen in Las Vegas more than three decades earlier to a Bugatti at the bottom of a Swiss lake.
And even in IOL Motoring's home town…
These three classic British sports cars - a 1958 Sunbeam Rapier convertible, a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger convertible and a 1967 Jaguar E-Type 4.2-litre 2+2 coupé, were originally the property of a Cape Town attorney, and had been stored in an underground garage in Sea Point for 15 years.
RED TAPE TANGLE
About a year ago he decided to sell them; buyers were quickly found, but before the sales could be completed, the attorney died and the cars became part of his estate.
It has taken more than a year to sort out the resulting tangle of red tape, but the cars have at last been released by the executors, and will come up for auction next Wednesday, 20 March at 10.30am.
Considering how long they have been standing, the three gracious ladies are in fair condition, but all are in need of restoration. The auctioneers are understandably unwilling to risk starting them as they stand, so prospective buyers will have to bid on them 'as is', without knowing how much work it could take to get them running.
You can however, have a long hard look at them, from 9am to 4pm, the day before the auction, Tuesday 19 March, at the auctioneers’ premises in Epping.