This fabulous collection of cars was brought together by two French brothers, Hans & Fritz Schlumpf , and consists of hundreds of the most beautiful cars ever produced. The `Schlumpf affair' is perhaps one of the most famous stories in the car collectors world, covered extensively by the media in the mid-1970s when the collection was seized by the trade unions and later by the French government. The Schlumpf brothers were accused of fraudulent actions to obtain their collection - but following extensive research by the authors of this book, the true story behind the collection is revealed. Ard and Arnoud op Weegh spent many years investigating the Schlumpf affair, and discovered many previously unpublished documents which prove that the Schlumpf brothers have been wrongly accused over the years. This book is written to tell the true story behind the collection, and also to rehabilitate the Schlumpf family. The book is beautifully illustrated with some rare photographs, and features many of the beautiful cars that make up the Schlumpf collection.

Say `Sleeping Beauties' to committed car enthusiasts and they will immediately know what you're talking about: a world famous 1980s photo series, showing an extraordinary collection of classical automobiles rusting away in a French barn, neglected by their owner. Famous brands like Bugatti, Lancia, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Cord and Aston Martin, laying under thick layers of dust, spending their remaining days falling apart in isolation. Many have tried to find out what happened to these cars over the last twenty-five years - decayed? destroyed? sold? - but all leads fizzled out ... until two Dutchmen and a German hung on where others had given up. In true Boy's Own style, their book tells of the three-year-long search for the fate of the cars from that French barn. It tells the story behind the collection's origins in 1948, through the moment in 1983 when the famous photos were published, up to the day in 2007 when the authors talked to the current 79 year old owner - a man who finally broke his silence about the fate of his collection for the first time in 25 years.