ARD OP DE WEEGH / KAY HOTTENDORFF / ARNOUD OP DE WEEGH
Foreword
Acknowledgements
The history of the sleeping beauties
Prologue: Three men in search of the truth
Cars under dust
Exodus of classic cars
The collector who is not a collector at all
Almost twenty years of peace
The secret castle
The museum in Sarlat, and the tax authorities
Michel Dovaz in 2007
Epilogue
The automobiles of Michel Dovaz
Introduction
The nine Bugattis presented in the Sleeping Beauties book
1928 Bugatti Type 44 Fiacre
1931 Bugatti Type 49 Faux Cabriolet
1930 Bugatti Type 50 Million-Guiet
1931 Bugatti Type 50 Landaulet
1933 Bugatti Type 55 Faux Cabriolet
1937 Bugatti Type 57C Galibier
1935 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux
1936 Bugatti Type 57 Coupé Fontana
1937 Bugatti Type 57 SC Atalante
Twelve other Bugattis owned by Dovaz
1914-26 Bugatti Type 27 Brescia
1927-31 Bugatti Type 35B
1926-27 Bugatti Type 38
1927-35 Bugatti Type 43
1930 Bugatti Type 44 Cabriolet
1930-32 Bugatti Type 46 cabriolet
1930 Bugatti Type 49
1930-34 Bugatti Type 49
1934 Bugatti Type 57
1934 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante
1935 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet Van Vooren
1938 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux
The nine Lancias
1929-35 Lancia Dilambda
1937-39 Lancia Astura Berline Pininfarina
1951-58 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT
1952 Lancia Aurelia B52 Coupé Vignale
1957-70 Lancia Flaminia Berlina
1957-65 Lancia Flaminia GT Coupé
Bella Macchina eight sporty Italians
1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B Mille Miglia Touring
1948 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competizione
1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Cabriolet Worblaufen
1943 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Cabriolet Touring
1951 Ferrari 340 America Berlinetta Ghia
1962 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 Coupé Pininfarina
1954 Siata 208 CS Coupé Balbo
1967 Maserati Quattroporte
Untouched ten beauties at the Chateau de Sanxet
1936-39 Panhard & Levassor Dynamic Coupé Major
1950 Jowett Jupiter Coupé Ghia Suisse
1957-62 Lotus Elite
1929 Cord L-29 Sedan
1937 Cord 812 Supercharged Custom Berline
1941-48 Lincoln Continental
1962-65 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III
1952 Bentley R Type Hooper Empress Saloon
1962-68 Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint Bertone
1948-51 Tatra 600 Tatraplan
Class beats volume
1951 Aston Martin DB2
1952 Aston Martin DB2
1946-52 Bentley Mark VI
1934-36 De Soto airflow
1937 Graham Supercharger 116
1951-54 Hotchkiss Grégoire
1964-68 Jaguar E-Type 4.2 Cabriolet
1942-48 Lincoln Zephyr Club Coupe
1954-57 Sunbeam Mk III
Pas important the offspring of mass-production
1956 Chevrolet Station Wagon
1947-88 Citroën 2CV
1947-64 Citroën H
1961-67 Ford Econoline
1946-54 Panhard Dyna X
1972-75 Volkswagen K70
Appendix 1: Bibliography
Appendix 2: The sleeping beauties 1983-90
Appendix 3: Map of the Dovaz property, 1983
Appendix 4: GPS coordinates of the event locations
Index
Features
The true and complete story of the Sleeping Beauties
Foreword by former Sleeping Beauties owner Michel Dovaz
All known locations of each car since 1948
Features a French Chateau where ten unrestored Sleeping Beauties are still on display
All the important details are covered relocation, barnfind museum, sale and restoration
Detailed description of every one of the 55 Sleeping Beauties
More than 250 colour photos
Includes each car's current restoration status and whereabouts
Map of the Sleeping Beauties garden in 1983, showing placement of cars
Description
The Sleeping Beauties an array of neglected Bugattis, Lancias, Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, Cords and Aston Martins on a rural French estate have fascinated car lovers worldwide since 1983, when they were immortalised in a sequence of photographs taken by Herbert W Hesselmann. For 25 years, the full story behind the collection and its fate has remained untold ... until now.
Synopsis
Say Sleeping Beauties to committed car enthusiasts and they will immediately know what youre talking about: a world famous 1980s photo series, showing an extraordinary collection of classical automobiles rusting away in a French barn, neglected by their owner. Famous brands like Bugatti, Lancia, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Cord and Aston Martin, laying under thick layers of dust, spending their remaining days falling apart in isolation.
Many have tried to find out what happened to these cars over the last twenty-five years decayed? destroyed? sold? but all leads fizzled out ... until two Dutchmen and a German hung on where others had given up. In true Boys Own style, their book tells of the three-year-long search for the fate of the cars from that French barn. It tells the story behind the collections origins in 1948, through the moment in 1983 when the famous photos were published, up to the day in 2007 when the authors talked to the current 79 year old owner a man who finally broke his silence about the fate of his collection for the first time in 25 years.
