HEADLINER
BORN TO RUST
BECAUSE THEY DON’T MAKE ’EM LIKE THEY USED TO
Kept under lock and key for decades, Rudi Klein’s collection is the stuff of myth and legend. We take a tour before it crosses the block
WORDS JACK RIX PHOTOGRAPHY HARRY RUDD
What is it about junk yards that’s so magnetic?
Apart from all the ferrous metal. Probably the hope you’re going to stumble across some matching numbers Ferrari that everyone else has missed or forgotten about and make your fortune, when in reality the best you’ll do is trip over a smashed wing mirror from a Vauxhall Corsa. But what if I told you there was a place in south Los Angeles, a modest lot where everywhere you looked and every dust sheet you lifted revealed another classic car wonder, in some cases worth millions? We’re talking about the Disneyland of barn finds, and we had the chance to explore it before the collection was sold at auction.