60 forgotten classic cars resurface for auction

Published in

Thrill of Driving

4 min readDec 8, 2014

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, a French transport company owner going by the name of Roger Baillon, started a collection of cars in a barn somewhere on the French countryside. Initially, the plan was to build a museum. Shortly after, Baillon’s business took a turn for the worse and he was forced to sell his precious collection. Possibly the world’s greatest collection of cars was thought to be lost, forever.

The world wept tears of blood, and what not. Turns out, Baillon, the sly old man, hadn’t sold his entire collection. He had retained 60 of his favourite, in barns located in and around the west of France. How these cars disappeared of the face of the earth, still isn’t clear, more importantly what was Artcurial (the agency conducting the auctions) doing snooping around in old barns in the west of France?

The Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux, a Delahaye Coupé Chauffeur, a series 1 Facel Vega Excellence, a Hispano Suiza H6B cabriolet Millon-Guiet, a Maserati A6G 2000 Gran Sport Frua, a Panhard-Levassor Dynamic coupé X76, a Talbot Lago T26 cabriolet Saoutchik ex-Roi Farouk and a Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport coupé Saoutchik, are just some of the cars that have been found in rotting barns across the west of France.

French auctioneers, Artcurial, have revealed an incredible barn find of 60 high-value classic cars. The forgotten Baillon Collection will be auctioned at the annual Retromobile event in Paris next February. The lots include some of the most desirable Ferraris and Bugatti models.

Articurial are busy piecing together the history of each individual car which make up this fantastic collection. See the full list of cars below! The auction will take place on 6 February 2015.