Anatomy of a Porsche Barn Find

One of the best parts of my job is finding a large stash of Porsche parts and cars, but can also be one of the worst parts of my job too. The hardest part is finding those long lost stashes, they normally aren’t advertised. We finished up a two truckload deal over the weekend and while everything was fresh on my mind I wanted to write up a breakdown of what a large deal entails.
1. Finding the stuff. Like I said, these stashes are not easy to find, they are normally Porsche hoarders or shops, not someone who has ever really sold parts or cars.

2. Once found, the stuff has to be bought. This can be very challenging because if someone has been holding onto these parts for 30-50 years they aren’t quick to let them go. It can almost be described as a suicide mission, there is usually a long line of guys who have tried and failed to get him to sell, and you have to make the impossible actually possible. The trick is buying everything with enough margin to still make money after you have to deal with all of it.
3. The logistics of a large deal, transporting large quantities of cars and parts. This recent deal was 3 cars and enough parts to fit into a full size pickup and trailer, as well as a full size box truck, that was packed up to the last inch of space. It was so weighted down I was in the PA mountains with the pedal to the metal, pushing 40 MPH! But before you can even get going you have to get all the parts from wherever they have been hiding for 30+ years, and it is rarely clean, normally a dirty barn but in this case a dark and wet warehouse, the leaky roof had knocked out all lights. To add to the misery the standing water mixed with 90 degree heat made for a fungus like sauna, and it was very very dark. Once you get a crew together, in this case, me, Big John and my friend Scott was who nice enough to help out, you have to touch every little part, pack it into bins and get it onto truck and trailer. From there you transport normally long distances, in this case it was 1000 miles round trip.

4. Then the real fun starts, you have to un-load, meaning you have enough room to unload and sort, and then warehouse a large stash.

5. Once all this is done, then and only then can you begin to sell and start to make your large investment back.

So if you think it’s easy to do a large buy out, it isn’t, it’s feeding and housing a crew far from home, driving long distances, after dealing with what is probably a wacky Porsche hoarder who probably wants a large pile of cash so he can bury it in his backyard. Then getting all the stuff back and sorting it, which takes forever and all the while it’s greasy, heavy, old parts and cars that don’t want to be moved, just think about wheels that don’t turn or engines that are falling through the floor of a rotting barn. But would I trade this job for any other job on the planet, the answer is hell no!
—Adam Wright

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