A Suffolk Barn Find

Earlier today, several members of the Bridge Classic Cars team headed to Ipswich to take a look at a true barn find.

We’d heard about it but we hadn’t seen it so we had no idea the condition of the car that had been safely locked away since at least 1987.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Jenny, who owned the car. She quickly led us down her beautiful garden path to a small structure right at the bottom. With a padlock in place and things lent up against the doors, it was clear that the doors had been shut for quite some time.

After a bit of hard work, we were able to get the doors open and we got our first look at the car inside – a 1952 Austin A40 Cabriolet bodied by Jensen. The structure it had lived in for so long was just big enough for the car. That meant that it was difficult to get a full picture of the condition of the vehicle from it’s current position.

The front of the car looked to be in good shape so we were hopeful that the rest of the car might be in a similar condition. However, there was only one way to find out – it had to be moved out of storage for the first time in decades.

When the car was finally revealed to us, it was clear that it had been stored perfectly as everything seemed to be in fantastic condition.

As we looked closer and closer, we kept being surprised at how well the A40 had held up over its time off the road. Jenny’s husband, who sadly passed away, obviously knew how to look after classic cars as he had applied grease to the body and fully prepared the car for its long stay in the barn.

The interior also looks to have held up well, even revealing four spare tyres and the original hubcaps tucked away in bags in the boot of the car.

After a quick inspection in situ, our 1952 Austin A40 was loaded into the trailer and safely transported to the Bridge Classic Cars workshop.

Now that it is here, it will be cleaned, recommissioned and back out on the road in the very near future.