It makes me happy not just knowing that many of these cars will be brought back to life, but also very soon restoration projects which have been stalled for lack of parts will soon be able to reach completion, giving the world a whole new generation of reborn classic cars.
The folks at singer must be wetting there pants, seeing all these Porsche chasis that they can build restomod on, It's going be a bidding war for sure during auction!!!
This is probably the most interesting car collection of all time. I think Jay Leno is even jealous. Who knows he might be buying one of these cars. I know Dave Kendig he’s gonna want that Volkswagen truck.
@@leeneal6969 No, they’re a step above the S class. At the time of the 600 (W100) , the S Class cars were the W108/109 (until 1972) and the W116 (from 1973)
It's been fun to watch the various videos of this place slowly coming out one after the other. I hope i get the chance to see the alloy Mercedes 300SL at some point.
Rudi Klein was a scrap dealer and an obsessed car collector. No one had a larger collection of rarities than this eccentric. But he did not look after his treasures, instead letting them rot in the California sun. As a young man, Rudi Klein emigrated first to Canada and later to the USA. There he started a strange business: he began buying up luxury cars that had been in accidents. His first model was a Mercedes 300 SL. The broken cars cost next to nothing. Shortly afterwards, he began to acquire vehicles previously owned by prominent people for his car recycling business, such as Tony Curtis' Rolls-Royce convertible. Klein struck on a large scale during the first oil crisis. He bought luxury gas guzzlers with large engines. After the crisis was over, he sold them on at a profit. His classic car and spare parts empire was initially a business, but Rudi Klein was an eccentric who was reluctant to part with his treasures. He hated greedy souvenir hunters and, even though his shop looked more like an endless junkyard, he knew the value of every single radiator grille. When Klein died in 2001, his warehouse in South Central Los Angeles had grown to 16,000 square meters. Full of car treasures, which were there hoping for better times under dust, dirt and bird droppings. Shielded from the outside by high walls, only a few insiders knew that the largest open-air mausoleum of automotive treasures in the entire world was hidden there. The dimensions of the car hoard are unimaginable: Klein is said to have owned 200 Porsche 356s alone. He hoarded priceless unique pieces, such as Rudolf Caracciola's 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster sedan. The volume "Junk Yard" was written during a visit while Rudi Klein was still alive. The photos of the rotting dream cars lead into a surreal parallel world of rust and chipped paint in the middle of Los Angeles. Klein's business decisions were inscrutable. He sunk millions into investing in a new luxury car brand, but was known as a tough negotiator when it came to his wrecks. If he didn't like a customer or if a prospective buyer gave an inappropriate answer, Klein simply demanded double the price or didn't sell anything at all. BMW is said to have tried to acquire lost classics for the factory collection, but for some reason Klein did not want to sell the cars to the manufacturer; they continued to rot. It would have been easy to protect and cover the expensive cars better. Klein had no interest in that either, nor in restorations. "I prefer them in their original form," was his brief explanation. After his death, his sons gradually dissolved the collection.
Oh they will,they are probably being powerwashed as we speak getting ready for disassembly and frame off resto,specially those Miuras and that Mercedes Gullwing, count on it.
I'm in the process of building a 2004 Dodge Dakota Pro-Street vehicle, and the rear tires are 33 inches tall, and 22.5 inches wide. They were the largest street legal tire I could find.
This is the type of stuff a lot of people live for this was clearly somebody’s baby, and they absolutely loved to take care of it I’ve never seen such a beautiful collection of iron glass steel and plastic
@@malcolmjcullen The amount of work it took to take all those parts off of cars and group them together like that, as well as documenting the over 7000 cars that the man/family owned, is EASILY proof enough that they had a passion for taking care of their things. They are dirty because they are old, and because not until very recently has it been possible to organize and store such a wide array of parts in a super clean way with the intention of letting them sit of years at a time.
This is the type of stuff a lot of people live for this was clearly somebody’s baby, and they absolutely loved to take care of it I’ve never seen such a beautiful collection of iron
Mr Sotheby's Man should realize the Rudolf Caracciola may have been a Grand Prix driver, but he was never a "Formula 1 driver". That racing series didn't exist until several years after he had retired. I see that even the Sotheby's auction listing calls Caracciola "the star of Mercedes-Benz's Formula One team". That's pretty sloppy.
Man why do none of these videos talk about the Facel Vega in the shed with the Maybachs, beautiful car with a great story and ridiculously rare but nobody mentions it
I noticed the Facel Vega 500 at the first shot of the inside of that barn and couldn't wait until they spoke about it. Well, I'm still waiting while they waffled on about the Maybachs etc. and forgot all about the Facel Vega which seems to have been one of the very few American associated cars in the collection! Back in 1992 I worked for a classic car dealer and we had a FV 500 that just wouldn't sell because it had no engine or gearbox. I wasn't knowledgeable enough at the time to know that it used a ChryslerV8 engine and gearbox either so it remained unsold during the time I worked there. If only I had known!!
Astonishing. Any guesses on what the auction will raise? $100M? And the auction site only lists the big/valuable/complete items - what happens to all the individual parts in boxes on and shelves?
He got the first two "cars" wrong, the far one is a bay window pick up, the closer one is a split screen pick up. Let's keep watching and see how well he does on the rest!! 😁
That hood on the back of that truck looked like it belonged to the one miura missing the nose. Looks to be the same color and damaged. Surprised they didn't put it back on the car and sell it with the front.
What a place. I would of spent a year selling guided tours. Then when everyone has paid to snoop around watch the bidding wars. Plus loads of enthusiasts could soak up the place.
2:43 that number plate surround (the plate is nothing) is an insult to any italian or italian car owner. the proper "Mafia staff car" was the Ferrari 412 from the 1980's.
I find so sad that some people have so many cars just to have them and let them rot like this when other people could be enjoying them... If you keep a lot, keep them in the best condition as possible...
I think we are all sad to see this, Rudy you have been exiled from the car community, how can you let all of this history rot away in the weather and not want to give some of these a new life and to see people restore them and drive them again.
"Built for a Mercedes Formula 1 driver in the '30s" No it wasn't. The first Formula 1 championship was in 1950. That guy clearly doesn't know his stuff.
Give him a break. Maybe it was an error of speech. Having a camera pointed at your face may cause this. Ther standards are very high for being a car specialist for RM Sothebys
WOW! This is the kind of place that needs preserving. It would make a fabulous museum. But i understand the sheer values on display. Shame it has to be split up.
Most of those cars will go to a lot of restorers so will be back on the road in due course but if they were in a museum they would never be restored or even put back on the road as running vehicles. I'm really looking forward to watching the auction if I can find it on line here in UK.
How do you get into the auction?!!! Dude im absolutely pissed at klein for this kind of negligence but i never thought id see another gullwing on sale again so like
They are really hyping this sale, every big automotive youtube channel has had a video on it. A bit heavyhanded but fairly smart advertising idea for this seller.
It makes me happy not just knowing that many of these cars will be brought back to life, but also very soon restoration projects which have been stalled for lack of parts will soon be able to reach completion, giving the world a whole new generation of reborn classic cars.
Makes me happy knowing the old bastard is long gone who just let these rot in a field
Breath-taking!!! I would love a 2 hours video on the story of this guy.
The folks at singer must be wetting there pants, seeing all these Porsche chasis that they can build restomod on, It's going be a bidding war for sure during auction!!!
Nah, Singer rebuild 964s, and they already have a massive stock of good quality ones.
This is probably the most interesting car collection of all time. I think Jay Leno is even jealous. Who knows he might be buying one of these cars. I know Dave Kendig he’s gonna want that Volkswagen truck.
when poor people do it its called hoarding, but when rich do its a collection
It's about the right thing 😂
Poor people don’t have 3 Lamborghini Muiras and a 300 SL Alloy Gullwing lying around.
Well hoarding is only when you keep useless shit w no value.
Nice, this is the kind of video journalism people love!
"Dirt Don't Slow Ya Down"... a sign that Magnus Walker got there first.
So if you fancy seeing Jay Leno, go to that auction.
Only limited people are allowed to be there. If I remember in the beginning of the video he said 180.
hopefully we will see some of them restored on JL garage.
I am sure they had people phoning in as well to make sure they can bid on what they want.
Or Seinfeld
Just wow! I watch a lot of barn find videos and this is up there as one of the best!
Is a junkyard considered a barn?
@@RedTail1-1 solid point 😆
Incredible. This place is dripping with mystic magic. It has that Field of Dreams for car lovers vibe.
A true visionary that knew what he was building and holding for the larger automotive world. We need more Rudy Klines.
@ 2.28, those cars are just called Mercedes 600s. The name "S600" was first used in the mid 1990s.
So that would mean today they are known as S600's
@leeneal6969 no, the 600 is the predecessor of the Maybach 57 and 62 nothing to do with an S - Class 👍
@@leeneal6969 No, they’re a step above the S class.
At the time of the 600 (W100) , the S Class cars were the W108/109 (until 1972) and the W116 (from 1973)
I was not expecting that. Most impressive.
It's been fun to watch the various videos of this place slowly coming out one after the other. I hope i get the chance to see the alloy Mercedes 300SL at some point.
The pinnacle of barn finds. WOW, great vid. So interesting
Rudi Klein was a scrap dealer and an obsessed car collector. No one had a larger collection of rarities than this eccentric. But he did not look after his treasures, instead letting them rot in the California sun.
As a young man, Rudi Klein emigrated first to Canada and later to the USA. There he started a strange business: he began buying up luxury cars that had been in accidents. His first model was a Mercedes 300 SL. The broken cars cost next to nothing. Shortly afterwards, he began to acquire vehicles previously owned by prominent people for his car recycling business, such as Tony Curtis' Rolls-Royce convertible. Klein struck on a large scale during the first oil crisis. He bought luxury gas guzzlers with large engines. After the crisis was over, he sold them on at a profit.
His classic car and spare parts empire was initially a business, but Rudi Klein was an eccentric who was reluctant to part with his treasures. He hated greedy souvenir hunters and, even though his shop looked more like an endless junkyard, he knew the value of every single radiator grille.
When Klein died in 2001, his warehouse in South Central Los Angeles had grown to 16,000 square meters. Full of car treasures, which were there hoping for better times under dust, dirt and bird droppings. Shielded from the outside by high walls, only a few insiders knew that the largest open-air mausoleum of automotive treasures in the entire world was hidden there. The dimensions of the car hoard are unimaginable: Klein is said to have owned 200 Porsche 356s alone. He hoarded priceless unique pieces, such as Rudolf Caracciola's 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster sedan. The volume "Junk Yard" was written during a visit while Rudi Klein was still alive. The photos of the rotting dream cars lead into a surreal parallel world of rust and chipped paint in the middle of Los Angeles.
Klein's business decisions were inscrutable. He sunk millions into investing in a new luxury car brand, but was known as a tough negotiator when it came to his wrecks. If he didn't like a customer or if a prospective buyer gave an inappropriate answer, Klein simply demanded double the price or didn't sell anything at all.
BMW is said to have tried to acquire lost classics for the factory collection, but for some reason Klein did not want to sell the cars to the manufacturer; they continued to rot. It would have been easy to protect and cover the expensive cars better. Klein had no interest in that either, nor in restorations. "I prefer them in their original form," was his brief explanation. After his death, his sons gradually dissolved the collection.
My pick are those two Iso Grifos. What a dream find those would be!
I'd love to see so many of these get restored/saved no matter what it takes. UA-cam car people, take note - this is once in a lifetime stuff
Oh they will,they are probably being powerwashed as we speak getting ready for disassembly and frame off resto,specially those Miuras and that Mercedes Gullwing, count on it.
@21:04 we need to talk about possibly the widest tyre/wheel ever seen ! ? what is that !
I'm in the process of building a 2004 Dodge Dakota Pro-Street vehicle, and the rear tires are 33 inches tall, and 22.5 inches wide. They were the largest street legal tire I could find.
@@billgoodwin8742 22! that's bonkers
A literal mountain of automotive treasure. 👀
I so hope some of these beauties make it back on the t
Road 🛣️😊
Wow, this was epic! Keep it up!
This is the type of stuff a lot of people live for this was clearly somebody’s baby, and they absolutely loved to take care of it I’ve never seen such a beautiful collection of iron glass steel and plastic
And dust lol 😂
Not so sure about "they absolutely loved to take care of it" !!
@@malcolmjcullen The amount of work it took to take all those parts off of cars and group them together like that, as well as documenting the over 7000 cars that the man/family owned, is EASILY proof enough that they had a passion for taking care of their things. They are dirty because they are old, and because not until very recently has it been possible to organize and store such a wide array of parts in a super clean way with the intention of letting them sit of years at a time.
Imagine the old coins that are in those cars.
This is the type of stuff a lot of people live for this was clearly somebody’s baby, and they absolutely loved to take care of it I’ve never seen such a beautiful collection of iron
I can't wait to see Magnus & Tavarish trying to bid on some barn finds... SOOOOO many Porsches & mercedes out there
forget those, the miura's are the ones to have
Porsche classic will buy every Part and every Car !!!!
Mr Sotheby's Man should realize the Rudolf Caracciola may have been a Grand Prix driver, but he was never a "Formula 1 driver". That racing series didn't exist until several years after he had retired.
I see that even the Sotheby's auction listing calls Caracciola "the star of Mercedes-Benz's Formula One team". That's pretty sloppy.
Amazing that Mercedes made a car in the 1930s for a Formula 1 driver, given Formula 1 didn't exist until 1950.
Formula 1 actually started in 1947, but there wasn't a world championship until 1950
He should have said Grand Prix driver
Clearly meant Grand Prix driver.
Man why do none of these videos talk about the Facel Vega in the shed with the Maybachs, beautiful car with a great story and ridiculously rare but nobody mentions it
I noticed the Facel Vega 500 at the first shot of the inside of that barn and couldn't wait until they spoke about it. Well, I'm still waiting while they waffled on about the Maybachs etc. and forgot all about the Facel Vega which seems to have been one of the very few American associated cars in the collection! Back in 1992 I worked for a classic car dealer and we had a FV 500 that just wouldn't sell because it had no engine or gearbox. I wasn't knowledgeable enough at the time to know that it used a ChryslerV8 engine and gearbox either so it remained unsold during the time I worked there. If only I had known!!
Very good organization 😉👍
This blows my mind !
Wow this is epic..will love to visit this junkyard as it will be amazingly interesting to visit for a car enthusiast like me
They're auctioning most of it off.
Tavarish has been looking for this salvage auctions like this as well, more restoration content coming up!
i saw a video that he made from that place
The Iso Grifo is just the coolest car ever.
Incredible
I hope barn find hunter Tom cotter gets a chance too see this before the auction that episode would be insane
Magness Walker did a great walk through....
Just blows my mind the scale of what is there…..
Lovely top gear video again
Tavarish was here last week.
Magnus Walker beat him and did it 2 weeks ago. 😝
I hope Freddie gets the Miura
He may have been but a lot of people don't watch him. I don't watch his videos because of his hairstyle.
Glazeeeee
Thanks, I was just wondering which automotive channel I saw this earlier.
Just WOW!
Astonishing. Any guesses on what the auction will raise? $100M?
And the auction site only lists the big/valuable/complete items - what happens to all the individual parts in boxes on and shelves?
Crazy how much better Magnus Walker’s video on the Rudy Klein collection was
Used to see this place on ebay selling project cars and always wondered.
If ever a video was crying out for Jonny Smith and his Barn Find Fleece!
Someone needs to ship him over there for a few days
This is simply a treasure, it's too crazy
Another nutty professor that was his castle life is to short to enjoy everything
Hat tip to Andrew for that tour!
i would love to see the results of the auction!
They made 30mil
mind. blown. many times.
I would love to see much of it washed and restored.
Un gran bel "garage" a cielo aperto complimenti, messo like
Amazing!
Love top gears
He got the first two "cars" wrong, the far one is a bay window pick up, the closer one is a split screen pick up. Let's keep watching and see how well he does on the rest!! 😁
Nah coolest number plate ever made was one I saw in Petone, New Zealand. “OLDCNT”
Iaian Tyrell’s phone line gonna be blowing up after this video 😂
That jack is probably worth a few thousand.
I know a lean to where a couple 356s are parked . One of them is an SC . Wide open three walls and a roof
Wow. Wow wow wow wow. WOW.
Auctioneers always make the price go up
All those engines!
How you explain things is unmatched!
Outstanding.
Tavarish beat you to it.
If i was a sheikh i would buy that wall of 356 and put it in my yard
That hood on the back of that truck looked like it belonged to the one miura missing the nose. Looks to be the same color and damaged. Surprised they didn't put it back on the car and sell it with the front.
Wow, probably the best video I've ever seen
What a place. I would of spent a year selling guided tours. Then when everyone has paid to snoop around watch the bidding wars. Plus loads of enthusiasts could soak up the place.
The place where cars come to die, and then maybe get reborn 😊
Outlaw Porsche already bidding on the collection 😂😂😂
😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
A car guys Disney Land!!!
Jay Leno has entered the chat
Looks like you could almost build a complete 300SL from the parts available here...
The poor man is probably rolling in his grave now that everything of his is being sold
The music is just way to loud
Bottom Gear is better than New Top Gear.
2:43 that number plate surround (the plate is nothing) is an insult to any italian or italian car owner.
the proper "Mafia staff car" was the Ferrari 412 from the 1980's.
Im happy with one 356
All those Porsche will now be for restoration
5:33 Sold for $9.335 million (that either included the buyer's premium or if not... $10,223,000)
I find so sad that some people have so many cars just to have them and let them rot like this when other people could be enjoying them... If you keep a lot, keep them in the best condition as possible...
I think we are all sad to see this, Rudy you have been exiled from the car community, how can you let all of this history rot away in the weather and not want to give some of these a new life and to see people restore them and drive them again.
thank God these weren't sent to be scrapped and have the chance to be brought back to life
8:38 -> camera operator fell asleep on the job
"Built for a Mercedes Formula 1 driver in the '30s" No it wasn't. The first Formula 1 championship was in 1950. That guy clearly doesn't know his stuff.
Give him a break. Maybe it was an error of speech. Having a camera pointed at your face may cause this. Ther standards are very high for being a car specialist for RM Sothebys
Supercar supercars the best of evertime
WOW! This is the kind of place that needs preserving. It would make a fabulous museum. But i understand the sheer values on display. Shame it has to be split up.
Most of those cars will go to a lot of restorers so will be back on the road in due course but if they were in a museum they would never be restored or even put back on the road as running vehicles. I'm really looking forward to watching the auction if I can find it on line here in UK.
Where the hell are people finding these BaRns!!!!!!
Sad to see the garage conditions of a billionaire
It's a junkyard not a garage also the guy has been dead for 20 years 😭
How do you get into the auction?!!! Dude im absolutely pissed at klein for this kind of negligence but i never thought id see another gullwing on sale again so like
Magnus already did it
5:14 but the first F1 race did not take place until 1950! My guy did his homework wrong
Officially the first was 1950 but before the war it basically did exist just not written as the same championship as now
Wowsers.
SoCal weather was kind to these vehicles.
They are really hyping this sale, every big automotive youtube channel has had a video on it. A bit heavyhanded but fairly smart advertising idea for this seller.
How can we get in touch with this junkyard owner
So the "expert" doesn't know that there was no F1 in the 30s
So how did the auction go? Was there a video of the event?
That old alloy gullwing sold for $9,335,000 alone. Crazy shit. Think they made over $30 million
@obsidian.... mentallll
@@ryankitching5936 Absolutely! 🤯
as much as the United States and England are like father, like son