[Mgs] Old Barn Find - Hoax?

Dodd, Kelvin doddk at mossmotors.com
Wed Jun 27 16:40:53 MDT 2007


I was contacted on a similar "barn find" in Los Angeles about 3 years
ago.

Someone bought a building in LA and found that the back storage area was
full of British cars.

The story I got was that there was a one man restoration shop run by an
Englishman out of the back area. The man disappeared a number of years
ago and the cars just sat there. Perhaps he went back to the UK?

When the building sold, as is, the cars became the problem of the new
property owner. He contacted me in the hopes of finding a buyer for the
vehicles. I gave him the names of some British car specialists down in
LA and that is the last I heard of the deal.

>From what I remember there were about 20 cars in all including MGs and
TRs.


It happens closer to home too. My wife and I bought a house and property
up in Ojai, about 10 miles from Ventura in Southern Ca. The 1/2 acre
next door had been owned by a guy who died owing lots of taxes. His
family didn't want anything to do with the property due to the tax
liability, so the bank foreclosed and put it up for auction. We bid on
the property, but came up short.

There were over 50 cars on the property! Including two mid 60s Lincoln
suicide doors, a Thunderbird two seater cvt. Volvo P1800, two TR4As and
over 20 Rovers including a 109 station wagon, two 1980 SD1s and a couple
of V8 powered P6Bs.

Just before we moved, a crane came onto our soon to be property and
picked up the Thunderbird, lifted it out of the yard and then
disappeared.

An enclosed trailer full of V8 engines also disappeared a couple of days
before the new owner moved in.

I ended up buying the four V8 powered Rovers from the new owner for $100
each. Most of the American iron found new homes along with the P1800,
the Triumphs and the 109 Landrover. The rest of the cars including the
Rovers were crushed.

Let's face it. There are a number of people in the hobby who have no
immediate family, are reclusive and accumulate lots of dead cars.

It's no wonder that barn finds happen on a fairly regular basis. Now if
I could just find something more intriguing than Rovers I'd be set.


Kelvin Dodd

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mgs-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:mgs-bounces at autox.team.net]
On
> Behalf Of Larry Daniels
> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 3:17 PM
> To: MG List
> Subject: Re: [Mgs] Old Barn Find - Hoax?
>
> It is quite possible that this is not a hoax.
>
> Look at this article of a similar find in De Pere, WI.  This sort of
thing
> does happen.
>
>
> http://tinyurl.com/avs24
>
> Larry Daniels
>
> 79 MGB LE
> 60 Bugeye
> 67 Austin A60 Pickup (Ute)


More information about the Mgs mailing list