Barn finds usually take place in remote places, but sometimes classic vehicles can be left behind in city centers. Here’s what happened in Athens, Greece, with a classic Mini Cooper and Yamaha motorcycle that were found in a hotel parking lot more than three decades after its owner left them there.
All those years of exposure to dust and humidity took their toll on the Mini, which is in pretty bad shape. Small fender benders, presumably with other users of the multi-storey parking lot, plus vandalism with missing parts including the headlights, transformed the Mini into junkyard material. The driver’s window has also been rolled down and the rear side window is missing, causing damage to the interior.
The body is so dirty you can barely see the paint – it was probably repainted in dark blue over the original red. We see clear signs of rust around the exterior and on the chrome bumpers, the tires are cracked, the rest of the windows are foggy and the cloth roof does not seem to fold anymore. We don’t have any more pictures of the car, but we’re confident the engine bay and underbody will look just as bad.
The Yamaha motorcycle is in better condition, which leads us to believe that it can be saved, although such a project would require a lot of restoration work after so many years of standstill. And now that we’ve examined the vehicles, let’s talk about how and why they were left to rot.
Abandoned in a hotel underground car park
First of all, the photos accompanying this article were taken by Ektor Zenetos Rokkos, who happened to be passing outside the Titania hotel in Athens and came across this unusual sight. The Mini and the Yamaha were dragged out of the underground parking garage and sat under the sun for the first time in decades. The vehicles were temporarily parked on the sidewalk, waiting to be towed.
According to our sources, the owner parked the Mini and the Yamaha in the late 80’s or early 90’s and made a deal with the hotel which is in the heart of Athens. The vehicles were stored in the fifth underground floor of the building. Note that this multi-storey underground car park is not only reserved for customers and visitors to the property, but can also be rented for a certain fee.
Many years later, the owner died and none of his family or friends came to save the car or motorcycle. Thus the vehicles remained in the dark, forgotten by the world. Frequent passers-by knew about their existence, but ever since the hotel decided not to get rid of them, they just sat there gathering dust. We don’t know why the hotel management hasn’t done anything with the vehicles all this time, and unfortunately the people we spoke to from the call center were unable to help us learn more about the backstory.
As you might have guessed, this barn find doesn’t have a happy ending, as both vehicles are likely headed for the crusher. After so many years of neglect, there would be no point in saving the Mini as you can find a pristine one for far less than the cost of repair. The motorcycle is likely to suffer a similar fate as no one seems interested in buying it from the hotel.
