True or False: The story behind the Belgian Bugatti barn finds

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It is about 10 years ago that we heard the myth of a couple of Bugatti's in a barn for the first time. Somewhere around Maastricht, on the border of The Netherlands and Belgium, a couple of Bugatti's were hidden in a barn for many years. No-one had seen them for the last couple of years and so time passed. But it was about a month ago that we heard of them again when auction house Artcurial released a little video about a discovery they made. On February 8th, 2019 the Bugatti's will be auctioned at their flagship sale at the Retromobile show. After seeing the video we were of course very enthusiastic but on the other hand a bit sceptic. Was the story real? Where it the cars that we heard of so many years ago? Or were they using the myth for their marketing? We spoke to some insiders and let's say; it is a very interesting story.

The story behind the cars is that of a Dutch artist, Mr August Thomassen, who had the cars in his garage for over 60 years and didn't drove them for the last years. He didn't want anybody to know he still owned the cars and only used them for inspiration for his sculptures.

The Bugatti register:

Our research started in the Bugatti registers. A very valuable source: Chassis 57500 was acquired by Mr A. Thomassen on 05-01-1960 and was described in the 1962 register as in good condition. According to the information, Mr Thomassen still owns the car. Same goes for Chassis 49487, which was bought in 1957 but after this, all traces are lost.

When we started asking around we quickly received photos of exactly the same barn with Bugatti's in it. The photos are taken about 20/30 years ago and we see the famous Bugattist Guillaume Prick with another Bugatti (57189) than those that will be auctioned. So at that time, we know Mr Thomassen owned the cars, they were still moved around and probably also driven.

Our sceptic mind took over and we were afraid that it was just a (good) marketing stunt and the cars were just parked there for the movie.

"We all had the hope that one day we were able to buy them."

We spoke to a local Bugatti car collector to ask if he knew more and he fired up our enthusiasm again. He knew August Thomassen and he said " everyone knew that the family had Bugatti's but for the last 20 years they did everything they could to let people believe the cars were sold and not any more in their possession and therefore garage. Most of us didn't believe their story, but there wasn`t much we could do about it. We all had the hope that one day we were able to buy them. But nobody had seen them for years. I know the owner didn't want to talk about it."

No wheels and no steering wheel

Apparently, it was about 20 years ago that Mr Thomassen got so afraid that someone would steal his precious cars, that he decided to park them in his garage and first put them on blocks and removed the wheels. After a while, he took the steering wheel of the cars and hid them. But even that didn't give him a save feeling, so the next task was to block the garage doors with heavy bags of sand. And then time did the rest.

According to the story, it was only since a few months that the owner and his family made new plans. After someone tried to break into the garage, the decision was made to sell them. It was time that the garage opened its doors and others were able to see the cars for the first time in many, many years. 

It wasn't very easy to take them out. We spoke to one of the helpers and he said the first problem was, as can be seen on the video, to remove the cars parked before the barn, after that to remove the heavy bags with sand, while they still weren't entirely sure if the cars were inside. The moment the door opened, can be seen in the movie. The cars really exist. It wasn't just a myth, there were a Bugatti Type 49 with Vanvooren body, a Bugatti T57 Cabriolet by Graber and a lovely Citroen 5HP hidden behind the doors.

After the happy discovery, the next big task was to get them out. They had to find the wheels with tires, steering wheels, and there even was a Triumph Mayflower parked before the T49 which was completely blocking the way. They put the car up against the ceiling so they were able to push the Vanvooren bodied car out. They had to make all the cars rolling but apparently, everthing was in a remarkably good condition and all was ready to move to Paris.

Conclusion:

When doing our research, we got enthusiastic. We could only dream about the moment that the doors opened and when you really see the cars you have only heard about. The story is, as far as we can find out, a true story. Of course, many knew the cars did exist and most likely still in the ownership of August Thomassen (it is even written in the Bugatti register) but almost nobody has seen them for the last 20-ish years. Are they a barn find? Well, Artcurial was contacted by the family but still, we see cars listed as barn finds which haven't seen a barn in many years. So, we hope to find a similar barn someday ourselves this way! It would be great to see the cars in real life and we hope for MrThomassen that the prices will be good.

More information about the Artcurial auction can be found here.

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