Roger Baillon was a major collector, and he owns some of the most valuable cars, even after all these years and rust.
Roger Baillon was a wealthy French businessman who enjoyed collecting automobiles. Although the earth is covered in GPS tracks, there are still many uncharted spots that we are completely unaware of, many of which could be someone’s cache and turn out to be a great treasure for someone else. Roger Baillon was a major collector, and he owns some of the most valuable cars, even after all these years and rust.
The French businessman’s aim was to collect rare cars from the 1950s and 1970s and display them in museums so that everyone could admire them.
The French Transportation Mogul – Roger Baillon
The two treasure seekers learned that the cars had originally belonged to a man named Roger Baillon after doing some research. Roger was a French transportation magnate who had meticulously chosen each vehicle. He had dozens of cars in his original collection. Roger Baillon’s car collection is worth upto $52,000,000.
Unfortunately, throughout the 1970s, Baillon ran into financial difficulties and was forced to sell off the majority of his collection. He couldn’t possibly give up all of his babies, as many vehicle collectors realize. As a result, he ended up stashing a few of his favorites in an old barn out in the country. The automobiles were hidden in cast-iron cages and beneath structures. All of them are antique cars from the 1930s through the 1950s. Baillon planned to create a museum for his collection in the future.
The Collection
These cars weren’t inexpensive, they were rare, and some of them were exclusive, as previously said. A previous Egyptian King possessed the Talbot-Lago in the collection, and one of the Ferraris was featured in a Jane Fonda film.
All of these collections were intended for the museum, but when Roger’s plans fell through, he had to sell 50 of his automobiles to settle his debt, and the rest were forgotten. The remaining automobiles were a veritable treasure trove. The automobiles were auctioned off in Paris on February 6th, 2015.
The 1956 Maserati AG6 2000 Gran Coupe Sport Berlinetta Fura
The 1956 Maserati AG6 2000 Gran Coupe Sport Berlinetta Fura, which sold for $2,713,683, was the second most expensive car sold at the auction. Only four 1956 Maserati vehicles were produced, one of which was in Baillon’s collection. The automobile was parked alongside a Ferrari 250 California.
A slew of paperwork demonstrated that the car was original and had never been touched by anyone in terms of interior and/or exterior modifications, which pushed up the price by a significant margin.
Bugatti Ventoux Type 57
This model was no exception to the company’s tradition of meticulous attention to detail. From 1934 to 1940, the automobile was built for approximately six years, 1934 to 1940. The car had a top speed of 95 mph and a horsepower of 135 horsepower.
The paperwork that came with the car was pretty concise; it documented every previous owner of the vehicle and even included a lot of information about the family. This model is thought to be the only one that has survived the line-up.
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Type S Sandford
Mr. Stuart Sandford constructed cars from 1923 to 1936, and one of them was the Type S, which featured a water-cooled Ruby engine with a displacement of 1083cc and 35 HP and was in Baillon’s collection. The car’s dashboard had a tachometer and a clock.
This automobile had only two owners until its sale in 2015.
California Spyder Ferrari 250 GT SWB
The Ferrari 250 California was regarded as the most iconic car in the collection; the car was previously owned by a French actor named Alain Delon, and several images of the car with the actor were published by auction houses. The automobile was sold for a new auction record of $21,980,656.
In a press conference, the auction house stated that the Ferrari was the sole automobile that had not been handled by a person since being discovered in the collection and that every spec and dust had been preserved.
Ferrari 308 GTSi, 1982
The Ferrari 308 GTSi was a V8 two-seater sports automobile produced by Ferrari between 1975 and 1985. Initially, the cars were supplied with naturally aspirated engines, but turbocharged engines were added later.
The car’s documentation revealed that it was purchased in 1989 and that it required some restoration, including paint and the replacement of some parts, due to a fire.
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The Conspectus
In the year 2004, the individual with the world’s largest collection of automobiles, unfortunately, passed away. The inheritance was unknown to the son, and it was only afterward discovered by the grandsons. The grandson had only a rudimentary understanding of their grandfather’s interests, but they never imagined the collection would still be available.
Many of these automobiles were from the late 1930s and still had their original paint, but sadly, many of them were in poor condition and could not be restored.
Nature had already begun to grow on the cars, but they recovered and nearly 897 of them were sold around the world. Roger Baillon’s ambition of creating a museum never materialized, although the auctioning organization said that around 15000 people came to see the special cars the day before they were auctioned.
All of the cars were purchased by collectors from all around the world, with the exception of one, a 1936 Panhard et Levassor Dynamic x76 Coupe Junior, which was purchased by a museum for $75,604.