Barn find" of the decade: Klein Collection

Photos: RM Auctions (Robin Adams/Kegun Morkin)

The last great "barn-find"?

It almost seems like one of those AI creations that show everywhere once in a while, suggesting impossible "barn finds", only this time it's real.

The McKlein collection has been known for decades, but few have had the privilege of visiting, much less capturing images of what was hidden in this absolutely magical place.

Rudi Klein was a German immigrant who arrived in the US in the late 1950s and, after a short career as a butcher, began selling European cars and parts in Los Angeles. His dealership was deliberately called "Porche Foreign Auto." The spelling "error" was a legal maneuver following a warning from Stuttgart.

To fuel the business, Klein created a giant scrapyard where he dismantled some examples for parts but, at the same time, accumulated the most special models, discreetly creating one of the largest car collections in the world.

Without public access, few even got a glimpse of the impressive collection, which deepened the mystery and its aura. There is, however, evidence that a collection, which has remained in storage since Klein's death in 2001, includes some of the rarest cars of all time.

What is known about the auction

RM Sotheby’s announced the auction as “The Junkyard: The Rudi Klein Collection”, but has not yet revealed details of the pieces that will be included, but has already highlighted some examples that leave any enthusiasm in disbelief.

The first of these is the Mercedes-Benz 500K Coupé ex-Rudolf Caracciola. It is a unique example, made with a taller cabin than the normal 500K, to accommodate the stature of the legendary pilot of the "Silver Arrows". This was his personal transport when traveling to exams.

Through a Paris dealership, the car ended up in the hands of the son-in-law of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, during the Second World War and, after his execution, it was hidden for a long period in a pile of manure in Ethiopia, before arriving in the USA .

It was last seen publicly when taken to an auto show by Klein in 1980, and has remained secret ever since.

A 12-year-old Car and Driver investigation into the car and collection estimated it was worth more than $10 million, but classic car prices have soared since then.

Another notable example announced at the auction is the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL "Gullwing", one of 29 examples produced with an aluminum body and which once belonged to Luigi Chinetti, an American importer of Ferrari. It is known, however, that the collection included at least two more steel-bodied Gullwings and two Roadsters.

Another unique car is the 1967 Iso Grifo A3/L Spyder prototype, produced by Bertone, a model that never reached production. Klein acquired this car from TV producer Greg Garrison, known for creating The Dean Martin Show and hosting one of the landmark 1960 television presidential debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

Also included is the last surviving Horch 855 Special Roadster, a 1939 car that was used in Hollywood publicity photos in the 1950s.

The photos revealed now also show a set of three Lamborghini Miuras, a few Ferraris and several Porsche 356s, but there's more...
 

What else will be revealed?

Although the collection has been kept away from the public eye, some visited it a few decades ago and captured some of the dream cars in photos, some in a state of total destruction.

Among them it is possible to find another Miura with a crushed roof, several Dino 246s, a Mercedes-Benz W100 Pullman, a Porsche 365 Carrera GTL Abarth, the famous Glöckler-Porsche before it appeared on the market, a Lola T70, a BMW 507 Roadster, various Aston Martin V8 and Maserati Merak, etc.

One can't stop wondering what's more to be announced in the sale...