As a now older man, Xmas presents seem a little hit and miss these latter years, but every once in a while a decent one comes along. In this case a book about one of the original "barn find" stashs that so enthrall many classic car lovers. Not entirely sure how my son came across this one but it was delightfully received.
It was a follow up book to a book published in 1986 entitled "Sleeping Beauties". Initially uncovered by photographer Herbert Hesselmann’s in 1983, he documents the discovery on a French farm in Villemarechal, 100 kilometres south of Paris. Then with two other authors they wrote the book - a 2007 edition listed here -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleeping-Beauties-Herbert-Hesselmann/dp/3283005494The follow up book, in the thread title was published in 2010, by three authors who collaborated in unearthing what became of them -
https://www.veloce.co.uk/store/The-Fate-of-the-Sleeping-Beauties-p136009622The owner of the cars a Michael Dovaz had amassed between 50 and 70 cars over his career and effectively drove and then parked them up on his farm over 40 odd years. Included in the collection as it became, were nine Lancias, from Dilambdas to Flaminias, including four B20s. The Lancias were all sold in one lot in 1990 to Italy and only one of the collection ever surfaced again, a 1952 Aurelia B52 coupe vignale in 2002 which was later restored by its Dutch owner.
No trace of the remaining 8 has been documented to date, would be interesting to know of their collective fates!
P
PS The only reference on the forum was a 2013 post by Richard Fridd in a single post.
