Discovering a forgotten classic car in a barn is one way that enthusiasts can stumble across a treasure. It’s much rarer to come across a collection of classic car parts, but that’s exactly what Chris Routledge found. The Managing Director of Coys uncovered a treasure trove of parts made up of Ferrari, Maserati and Abarth pieces. The hoard included parts from models like the Ferrari 250 SWB, 250 GTO and Maserati 250F.
Routledge found the parts in shipping containers and many of the components were in their original wooden packing cases. They date back to the 1960s and it’s been estimated they are worth well over a million pounds.
Routledge said “something of this scale, and with the importance and rarity of the cars they are related to, is unprecedented. We are looking at at least £1 million pounds worth of spares, probably more. I have never seen anything like this. It’s 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 wrapping paper, exhaust pipes, radiator grilles, dashboards, the list goes on and on.”
Routledge likened the experience to Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. “Every time we remove one box or item there is something else of huge interest hiding behind. It will take us several days to catalogue the parts and once we have done that we will issue a full list of the spares.”
It’s believed the components were part of a private collection that belonged to someone who passed away years ago. The collection is going to be auctioned by Coys on June 29th at Blenheim Palace. This will be a day before the sale of memorable cars at the same place. The parts are going to be offered without a reserve price, which means there could be some bargains.
