The Baroness and the Mercedes

Review by Pete Vack

Despite its title, this is Wallace Wyss’s second book on barn finds – or quasi barn finds – the first being Incredible Barn Finds published just last year (Wyss is nothing if not prolific). And, while a good percentage of the cars in both books don’t actually qualify as barn finds, they are all interesting cars with interesting stories, were found in unusual circumstances, written in an entertaining fashion, and are all worth a fortune today. The subtitle corrals the subject; and 49 other Entertaining True Tales From the World of Rare and Exotic Car Collecting.

As with Barn Finds, Wyss is trying to draw the interest of people new to the hobby, who like many of us, harbor the hope that one day they’ll find the car of their dreams. And in both, he ends each chapter with “Lessons Learned” and includes strategies for the potential barn hunters out there. As such, the finds need not be barn finds, simply good deals purchased at the right time for the right money by astute and or lucky individuals. A few of the cars were never found at all, or at least not yet, which makes their stories even more enticing.

More or less of a disclaimer; Wyss has been writing articles for VeloceToday for about 6 years, and some of his stories that appear in his two books have been published in VeloceToday in some form. Personally, I enjoy his style, his wit, the way he can throw in a myriad of facts in an entertaining fashion, and his eternal optimism, both as a writer and car enthusiast. Writing short article is more difficult in many respects than authoring lengthy articles or books, and Wyss excels in this arena. In fact there are very few automotive writers today who can toss up a short, funny, and fact filled story as well as Wyss. It would be interesting to see how his books would sell if they were ever available at airport newsstands…in particular Baroness, which has a great title and a great cover art, something lacking with Barn Finds.

As the title suggests, Wyss has found fifty cars worthy of a chapter each, from the story of the Mini-Atlantic Bugatti to the title fight for the Chevy Cerv I and II and everything in between to catch the eye of a wide variety of enthusiasts. Other chapters include the Dean Jeffries Porsche custom Carrera; the Cord 812 in which Hollywood cowboy Tom Mix was killed, a magnificent Erdmann and Rossi 540K Mercedes ordered by King Ghazi of Iraq that disappeared in the fog of the 1991 Iraqi war, and the ex-Bill Spear Ferrari that ran happily with a Slant Six. Photos are limited, this is a pulp on demand book and there is only one image per chapter, but at least they are appropriate.

There is the question of accuracy. In the first chapter about the Bertone Ferrari, Wyss implies that the split grille design may have inspired the Pontiacs of the era, but fails to mention that the unorthodox Ferrari grille was inspired by the Chiti F1 and sports racers of the day. But that is not an inaccuracy per say; with Wyss one often tends to look for errors rather than read for pleasure. As with Barn Finds, these are more akin to parables, not meant to be the final word or a historical document and should not be used as such.

Who then should buy the book? At only $18 plus shipping, price is not an issue; to enjoy reading about cars is not a sin; to use it to encourage others to become classic car enthusiasts is a good thing; chill out, read it on a plane, send a copy to your daughter, and laugh a bit, even if like Wyss, we’ve all missed out on some incredible cars and profits. And if you know a nouveau riche investor looking to make a killing outside the Street, let him read the book. But don’t be surprised if he learns lessons from Wyss ends up finding and turning that ex-Sadam Hussein Mercedes for another handy fortune.

Below, a short interview with the author.

AUTHOR WALLACE WYSS ON HIS NEW BOOK ABOUT BARN FIND GREATS

Author Wallace Wyss has written ten books but the latest two were, he says, inspired by the path blazed by Tom Cotter whose book “Cobra in the Barn” started the whole barn find genre off as a popular new niche subject in auto books. Wyss also gives credit to Jerry Heasley whose series “Rare Finds” concentrates on domestic cars, mostly musclecars.

Why does this one have a title referring to a specific car in the book?

WYSS: Well, because, for once, in this second book we had a glamorous photo of a personality to show with the barn find car, in this case the Baroness Von Krieger so we put her and her Mercedes Special Roadster on the cover. She was the Prussian aristocrat, a Greta Garbo look-alike who left her Mercedes parked at the hotel she liked in Connecticut before the war and just never went back for it. It eventually sold for over $11 million dollars.

What’s different about your approach than that of Tom Cotter or Jerry Heasley?

WYSS: I like what they are doing but they are spending more time finding pictures of the cars, especially those shot when the car was found, and I figured my time was better spent telling the story, so I only have one picture for each chapter. You might think of my books as books of short stories with the added advantage of a picture. It’s more of a book for reading than looking at pictures. There are plenty of picture books, such as those of Dennis Adler and Randy Leffingwell. These stories are written for entertainment in a fast easy read style, not heavy on restoration, serial numbers and all that. I choose the 50 cars for each book solely on the basis of how good a story the barn find part is. I don’t get into the mechanics of the restoration, what the car fetched at the last auction, or have a complete list of owners of each car—I prefer to let the reader sample as much as possible the joy of the hunt, like I did when I was a car hunter off and on for thirty years.

What is in it for French car enthusiasts?

WYSS: Two Bugattis, one that’s French, the Ghia-bodied Exner Bugatti is at least a monument to Exner design, both Jr. and Sr., then there’s a Bugatti with what I call a mini-Atlantic body on it,

What about Italo-American cars?

WYSS: Got lots of those, For instance the DeSoto Adventurer II was almost a King’s car except the King rejected it; the Bizzarrini Manta, a car found abandoned in customs; the Ghia 450/SS, the Apollo 5000, the Cadillac Ghia that belonged to Rita Hayworth, given to her by her royal husband, the Aga Khan, and the Mangusta Spyder, a magnificent restoration in a car sold too soon.

Are some of the cars in your book still lost?

WYSS: One of the most fascinating is the Bertone Mustang. I contend it still exists but whoever has it just hasn’t revealed that publically.
It and some of the other cars I will be featuring are still waiting to be found by the determined collector. That was the Mustang that L. Scott Bailey, publisher of Automobile Quarterly magazine, had designed by Bertone and built out as a unique fastback.
It supposedly disappeared in Europe, though I did see an ad for it in Road & Track in 1967 offering it for $10,000 with Bertone as the owner selling it, so you can’t say it was stolen from Bertone. Maybe that happened with a later owner. Poor Bailey died while still trying to find it again like a mother trying to find her long abandoned child.

What’s the craziest story in the book?

WYSS: When I worked at Motor Trend in the early ‘70s the associate art director showed me a picture of a 250GTO sitting in a field in Ohio, year around, both winter and summer. I found out later it had first been donated to a high school for their shop class. Last I heard a 250GTO changed hands for $52 million so that’s got to be one of the most wacko stories in the whole car world, missing that car. I was offered one for under $20,000 by Henry Manney III the first day I reported for work at Bond Publishing in Newport Beach.

Do you have a couple of your own barn finding adventures in there as well?

WYSS: I do. At first, I debated the pros and cons of admitting that I had had some great cars, like Mercedes gullwings, or a Porsche Convertible D or Alfa Sprint Speciale, but let them slip through my fingers for a pittance but then I figured–the hell with it–the lessons I learned are educational for all barn finders so in every book I’ll have at least one or two of my own adventures.

What about the illustrations?

WYSS: Most are PR shots or shots I took at events like during Monterey car week or sometimes I just took out the oil paints and brushes and made my own painting.

When can we expect the next book?

WYSS: I am half way through book no. 3 in the series, but want to see what tall tales I hear at Monterey in August before I turn the manuscript into the publisher.

Where can we get the book?

WYSS: You could try to order it through your local bookstore or straight from Enthusiast Books, which also goes by the name Iconografix. Their phone is (715) 381-9755 Fax (715) 381-9756. Their address is: Iconografix, 1830A Hanley Road, Hudson WI 54016 USA