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Ah, the "Sleeping Beauties" photo essays...Some of Herr Hesselmann's haunting photos appeared in period (mid-80s) Automobile Quarterly issues, as well as his eventual book. He visited the collection twice, on the second occasion to document the move of the car "collection" to another location. As someone further up the thread has noted, there's a strange sort of charm in seeing these charismatic vehicles--whether they be these vintage cars, or Walt's warbirds--just sitting there, ever so slowly returning to the elements. Seeing a pristine F2G, or a pristine Bugatti T55 coupe (ten of each ever built BTW), is wonderful...but seeing them in the rough, as if forgotten by time, is strangely magical.
I wondered for years who the car collector "somewhere in Europe" was. Recently found out. The gent's name was Michel Dovaz; he was somewhat well-known for his fleet of ragtag classic cars, but mostly celebrated as an expert, and author, on the subject of wine. Some of his cars, for a time, were in a small museum in the Dordogne region of France (rather as Walt had a group of airframes in a museum at Youngstown for a while). As has been stated, the "Sleeping Beauties" have all now been re-awakened by restorers. Thanks for bringing up another favourite topic of mine!
S.
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