Excitement rises over rare car parts find

Finding a classic car hidden beneath junk in an old barn is always a special moment, especially if it is a rare model. But rarely do you hear about a barn find that contains rare car parts.

In an amazing “container find” in the south of England, Coys international car auctioneers have uncovered an astonishing collection of rare classic car parts that are worth well over a million pounds.

The treasure trove of parts includes many valuable spares and items from the great Italian marques such as Ferrari, Maserati and Abarth, including parts for rarer models such as the 250 SWB, 250 GTO, 275, Competition Daytona, F40 and 512LM, along with Maserati 250F and various other Italian competition cars.

Amazingly, many of the parts are still in their original wooden packing cases dating from the 1960s, or in their original boxes wrapped in oiled paper.

Chris Routledge, MD at the firm, who spent days hunting through the containers, said: “Something of this scale and with the importance and rarity of the cars they are related to is unprecedented. We are looking at least £1m worth of spares, probably more, and I have never seen anything like it.”

He added: “Its an Aladdin’s cave which is going to excite people all over the world. There are wire wheels in their original wooden boxes, carburettors in their original oiled wrapping paper, exhaust pipes, radiator grills, dashboards, the list just goes on and on. It will take us several days to catalogue the parts and then we will issue a full list of the spares.

“I feel a but like Howard Carter uncovering Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 — every time we remove one box or item there is something else of huge interest hiding behind.”

The items were part of a private collection, the owner of which died many years ago. It is to be offered at no reserve in a sale in the UK on June 29.

WE ARE LOOKING AT LEAST £1M WORTH OF SPARES, PROBABLY MORE, AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT