Photo: Barnfinds.com Classified Private Seller
If not for a couple of not-so-flattering cameos in iconic Top Gear episodes, it'd be entirely possible for the Austin Motorcar Company of Great Britain to be a complete unknown to modern American gearheads. But these episodes baked Austin into our memory. So when we see a whole American warehouse full of them going up for sale, we pay attention.
This Fresno, California advertisement on the barnfind.com classifieds comprises a collection of Austin vehicles gathered from all over the world. From places like England, Australia, Canada, Scotland, and even New Zealand. There are about 30 different Austin models ranging from 1947 until around the 1954 model year, along with thousands of individual spare parts.
In the late 40s and early 50s, the Austin A40 was a bit like the Honda Civic is today. A cheap, everyman's car that was reliable enough in its day and infinitely adaptable to a number of different tasks. This California collection contains at least 15 of these long-forgotten British runabouts. That said, we've yet to see any Honda Civics converted into ice cream vans. The collection has a further two examples of those as well.
It's safe to say most, if not all, of the cars in this fascinating collection are in non-running and non-driving condition. It would take a team of skilled mechanics and craftsmen thousands of hours of work and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars invested, in order to get every single one back into a shape most would agree is satisfactory.
The cost of the collection is $95,000 and luckily includes the 10,000 square foot storage facility that currently houses all these cars. So, in the case the new owner can't make a profit on the whole deal, they'll at least be able to sell this prime piece of Southern California real estate. Land like that is worth a great many Austin A40s, it would seem.
In the late 40s and early 50s, the Austin A40 was a bit like the Honda Civic is today. A cheap, everyman's car that was reliable enough in its day and infinitely adaptable to a number of different tasks. This California collection contains at least 15 of these long-forgotten British runabouts. That said, we've yet to see any Honda Civics converted into ice cream vans. The collection has a further two examples of those as well.
It's safe to say most, if not all, of the cars in this fascinating collection are in non-running and non-driving condition. It would take a team of skilled mechanics and craftsmen thousands of hours of work and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars invested, in order to get every single one back into a shape most would agree is satisfactory.
The cost of the collection is $95,000 and luckily includes the 10,000 square foot storage facility that currently houses all these cars. So, in the case the new owner can't make a profit on the whole deal, they'll at least be able to sell this prime piece of Southern California real estate. Land like that is worth a great many Austin A40s, it would seem.
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