Rare Cars Hidden by Collectors

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By Adam Garcia | Published 41 seconds ago

The world of classic car collecting has its fair share of secrets, but nothing captures the imagination quite like a barn find or a hidden collection that nobody knew existed. These aren’t just dusty old vehicles gathering cobwebs in forgotten garages.

Some of these discoveries have turned into multimillion-dollar auctions, while others remained locked away for decades despite their astronomical value. From eccentric billionaires to everyday enthusiasts who simply couldn’t let go, these collectors have kept some of the rarest automobiles hidden from the world.

Here is a list of 14 rare cars hidden by collectors.

Ferrari 250 GT California Spider

The crown jewel of the Baillon Collection spent nearly 50 years buried under stacks of old magazines in a French barn. This 1961 model with chassis number 2935 GT once belonged to French movie star Alain Delon, who was photographed in it with Jane Fonda sitting in the passenger seat.

When it was discovered in 2014, the car had been completely forgotten after its owner’s transport business went bankrupt in the late 1970s. The Ferrari was so well-preserved that it could run with just minor recommissioning work.

At the Artcurial Retromobile auction in Paris in February 2015, it shattered expectations by selling for $18.5 million, making it the most expensive barn find ever sold.

Shelby Daytona Coupe CSX2287

Only six of these legendary race cars were ever built, and for decades, everyone thought only five still existed. The first prototype disappeared in the 1970s after being sold to a bodyguard for just $1,000 by music producer Phil Spector.

That bodyguard gave it to his daughter, Donna O’Hara, who did something nobody could understand – she locked it in a private garage in Los Angeles and paid the rent every single month for 30 years. She refused to talk to anyone about it, even turning away Carroll Shelby himself when he showed up at her door.

When the car finally surfaced in 2001, it sparked a legal battle before being sold to Dr. Fred Simeone and the Simeone Foundation Museum for around $4 million.

Ad Palmen’s 230-Car Hoard

A Dutch car dealer named Ad Palmen spent 40 years quietly amassing one of Europe’s greatest secret collections. He stored approximately 230 classic cars in two dusty warehouses and a converted church near Rotterdam, keeping them hidden from everyone except a handful of trusted friends.

The collection included Ferraris, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Jaguars, and rare French luxury cars that most people had never even heard of. Palmen started with a yellow Lancia B20 in the mid-1960s and just kept going, rarely selling anything.

When the collection was discovered in 2023, it was auctioned by Gallery Aaldering in May 2023, and the automotive world went into a frenzy over what was quickly dubbed one of the greatest barn finds in history.

Ferrari Dino Buried in a Backyard

Two kids playing in a Los Angeles backyard in 1978 struck something metallic while digging and accidentally uncovered one of the strangest car stories ever told. Beneath the dirt sat a 1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS that had been reported stolen four years earlier in 1974.

The thieves had wrapped it in plastic, covered it with rugs, and even stuffed towels in the exhaust to protect it from the elements. Turns out the whole thing was an insurance fraud scheme by the original owner, but the thieves forgot where they buried it.

Real estate businessman Brad Howard bought the recovered car from the insurance company and had it restored. He still drives it today with a license plate that reads ‘DUG UP.’

Ralph Lauren’s Bedford Hills Garage

The fashion mogul keeps roughly 60 of the world’s rarest cars in an unassuming office park building in North Salem near Bedford Hills, New York, less than an hour from his Manhattan penthouse. Court documents revealed that Lauren only visits the facility for about 25 to 30 hours per year total.

Inside, a curator maintains treasures like a 1938 Bugatti coupe, a 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia roadster, and a 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK Count Trossi Roadster. The building’s windows have been blacked out so nobody can peek inside, and Lauren had the stairs replaced with ramps so cars could easily move between floors.

He spends most of his time there just walking around and talking shop with his curator rather than actually driving anything.

Sultan of Brunei’s Mystery Collection

The ruler of this tiny oil-rich nation owns what’s believed to be one of the world’s largest private car collections, estimated at 2,500 to 3,000 vehicles worth between $3 and $5 billion. Nobody outside a very small circle has ever seen the full collection because it’s completely private.

Photos that leaked online in the 1990s and 2000s showed custom-commissioned cars that major manufacturers never officially acknowledged, including six Bentley Dominators built 20 years before the Bentayga existed. The Sultan reportedly kept Rolls-Royce and Bentley afloat during the 1990s by purchasing about half of their production.

His collection includes everything from 11 Ferrari F40s to multiple McLaren F1s, plus countless one-off custom designs that remain shrouded in secrecy.

Billy Eubanks’ Woodland Collection

According to local reports, hidden down an unmarked dirt road in the Carolinas sits an automotive collection worth several million dollars, all watched over by a soft-spoken old-timer in plaid. Billy Eubanks has reportedly scattered rare classics throughout multiple buildings on his wooded property, including a 1929 Stutz, a split-window ’63 Corvette, rare Ford Talladega and Mercury Cyclone models, multiple Jaguars including an E-type, and countless other treasures.

While details remain unverified through public records, the story suggests he never sold anything and never flipped cars for profit. The collection gained attention through barn find hunter videos, though comprehensive documentation remains limited.

Tennessee Parking Garage Collection

On the eighth floor of a nondescript office parking garage in the Nashville area, someone has hidden one of the most eclectic car collections according to viral reports from 2019. A photographer claimed to have stumbled upon it during a lunch break and found Ferraris, Porsches, a Ford GT, a Jaguar F-Type Project 7, and even a Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet all sitting completely uncovered with dust accumulating on many of them.

The cars allegedly belong to Hines Race Team, though this remains unverified. Only the bottom four floors of the garage are reportedly used by employees, leaving the collection sitting in plain sight yet somehow still secret.

The story spread widely online, though independent confirmation of all details has proven difficult.

Moulsdale Foundation Collection

Near Glasgow, Scotland, a massive collection of over 400 rare vehicles has been hiding in what looks like an evacuated office building. Founded by Robert Moulsdale, owner of Moulsdale Properties, the collection includes delivery Ford Cosworths, lines of Porsches, McLarens, Mercedes, incredible Lamborghinis, and hundreds of Ducati and Aprilia superbikes for good measure.

The sheer scale of the facility is colossal, with cars packed so densely it’s hard to keep track of everything. Despite being one of the best collections in the UK, very few people knew it existed until it was first revealed publicly in 2023.

The Moulsdale Foundation keeps it all in a multi-million-dollar car cave that would make just about any enthusiast jealous.

Earl Trammell’s Alabama Time Capsule

For decades, Earl Trammell stashed dozens of barely-driven vintage cars in an outbuilding in Alabama, investing in motors instead of banks. The collection sat unused and gathering dust, with many vehicles showing almost showroom-fresh condition despite their age.

Trammell worked as a car and body man for 60 to 70 years and started collecting at an early age, but he preferred to let them sit rather than drive them. After he died, his widow Patricia finally agreed to sell the entire collection through Henderson Auctions in 2023.

His brother-in-law convinced her that these cars needed to be where people could actually see them rather than hidden away in Alabama where nobody even knew they existed.

Rocky Auto’s Japanese Warehouse

What started as a need for more storage space turned into a massive warehouse tucked deep in the Aichi Prefecture hills near Okazaki, Japan. Rocky Auto’s Shinji Watanabe built this facility to house his incredible collection of vintage and classic Japanese cars that he had no intention of selling.

The collection includes V8-powered Datsun 240Zs, Porsche 930s, Rolls-Royces, and Nissan Skyline GT-Rs everywhere you look, along with custom Z-cars that showcase his builder expertise. The quality of the building itself is impressive, but what’s inside is even better.

Some cars sit waiting for restoration while others are complete projects showcasing what Rocky Auto does best – giving modern touches to highly sought-after classic rides while maintaining their original character. The facility is not generally open to the public.

Dezer Collection Miami

Gil Dezer and his father Michael have created one of the largest private car collections in the world, with approximately 1,800 vehicles stored in a 250,000-square-foot facility known as the Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection. Many of their cars are famous movie vehicles, including Herbie the Love Bug, the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, and the flying car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Hidden in the back is one of the largest collections of James Bond vehicles anywhere, with around 60 Bond cars including the disappearing Aston Martin Vanquish and the green Jaguar XKR from Die Another Day. Gil’s favorite is the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger, complete with the famous ejector seat that actually works.

Maserati A6G from the Baillon Collection

Sitting in the same French barn as the famous Ferrari California Spider was a 1956 Maserati A6G 2000 Gran Sport Berlinetta by Frua with chassis number 2180, found buried under piles of books and magazines. Only three of these coupes were ever made with Frua coachwork, making this one of the rarest Maseratis in existence.

The car had been displayed at the Paris Motor Show in 1956 before being purchased by Roger Baillon in 1959. He started some mechanical restoration work just four years before the collection was discovered, but never got far with the project.

Despite sitting for decades, the car’s cosmetic condition was good enough that the new owner could preserve the exterior while just sorting out the mechanical bits. It sold at the 2015 Artcurial auction for €2 million, approximately $2.2 million.

Bugatti Type 57S Atalante

A collector in Newcastle, United Kingdom stumbled upon an abandoned garage in 2007 and found a dusty, forgotten Bugatti Type 57S Atalante with chassis number 57502 sitting inside. This wasn’t just any old car – it was one of only 17 ever made, parked there in the 1950s by Dr. Harold Carr and left to gather dust for over 50 years.

The Type 57S represents some of Bugatti’s finest craftsmanship from the golden age of luxury automobiles. The discovery sent shockwaves through the collector car world because these cars simply don’t stay hidden for that long.

Finding one that had been forgotten for decades felt like discovering buried treasure. It sold at auction in 2009 for approximately £3 million, roughly $4.4 million.

When Secrets Finally Surface

The stories behind these hidden collections often prove just as fascinating as the cars themselves. Whether driven by financial hardship, eccentric hoarding, genuine preservation efforts, or simple forgetfulness, these collectors kept some of automotive history’s greatest treasures locked away from the world.

Today, many of these vehicles have found their way into museums or private collections where they can finally be appreciated, though you have to wonder how many more are still out there, sitting in barns, storage units, or secret garages, waiting for someone to open the right door.