Not every great barn find that you read is true. Such was one that made the rounds on the Internet and captured the imagination of countless readers on social media. The story went that a New York man had retired and moved with his wife to Portugal around 2007. They bought a farm to live on that had been vacant for about 15 years. The previous owners had died and left no heirs and the property was sold off to cover the back taxes making it a great buy.

On the property was a barn. Its doors were welded shut and no one from the real estate company who looked after the property wanted to go through the expense of opening up the barn. After all, they were probably just going to find dust and some dead birds they reasoned. Because of the barn’s dilapidated condition it had turned many potential buyers away leaving the man to be able to purchase the property for half of the asking price.

Here’s where the fun begins. Eventually the couple’s curiosity got the best of them. They bought the necessary equipment and cut through the welds. What they saw when they opened the doors was fantastic. Cars as far as they could see and not just any cars, rare cars. Aston Martin, Mercedes, Lotus and scores more. They were dusty but still in excellent shape. Photos began to circulate on the web detailing the couple’s incredible find. Soon the whole world knew about it. From the pictures it was believed that the value of the find could exceed $35 million. Not a bad retirement investment!

The only problem was the story was a hoax. Now there is a barn filled with cars in Portugal, that part is correct. A dealer had saved his favorite cars in the 1970s and 1980s and when the barn was filled he commissioned a photographer to snap a few photos of the cars in the barn. The doors were then locked and soldered shut. The photos that were taken were the ones that circulated on the Internet. The photographer was tracked down but had been sworn to secrecy about not only the owner’s name but the location as well. And I know what you are thinking, none of the cars are for sale!

Despite the fact that the story had been debunked numerous times it still makes it around social media every now and again. Some people just want to believe it seems.