By Martin Ruffell
THE INCREDIBLE moment a British urban explorer discovered a collection of extremely rare supercars worth THIRTY-MILLION-POUNDS has been captured on camera.
In August 2020, urban explorer, Colin Smith (36) from Hampshire, who goes by the name ‘The Bearded Explorer’ on his YouTube channel made a remarkable discovery when searching the abandoned underground car park of the Bristol Car Company, Bristol, UK.
Founded 75 years ago in 1945, the Covid-19 pandemic led the car manufacturer to enter liquidation in May 2020 and as a result many old and rare cars had been left gathering dust underneath their headquarters.
When Colin and his urban exploration buddy Aaron entered the car park they could not believe what they had stumbled upon. Coming across dozens of cars, including an incredibly rare Bristol Fighter Prototype worth around £350,000, a Bristol 409 Bullet Speedster which is valued at upwards of £175,000, a 2008 Bentley and a Mercedes-Benz 300 Adenauer from the 1950s.
They also discovered thousands of tools as well as numerous original wooden car moulds used to hold the body of the car in place during construction.
According to Colin, the haul could be worth up to £30 million, with many of the cars being auctioned off over the autumn and winter of 2020.
After five years of posting videos online of his urban exploration, Colin confesses that it is the most spectacular discovery he has had the pleasure of making and admits that he is unlikely to ever come across a car haul that is worth a fraction of this one in the future.
“I have had this building on my list of places to explore for a while now, but when a friend told me there was something very special being stored in the basement I just had to investigate,” Colin said.
“When I finally found a way in, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was almost as exciting as if I had been walking around an abandoned Ferrari garage; the history is just phenomenal.
“Me being a massive petrol head, it was like walking into a dream.
“The Bristol Fighter Prototype was the only one in the world, so to be able to see it up close was just incredible.
“These cars are worth so much money and they have just been left in this basement gathering dust.
“Some of these cars must be absolutely priceless to collectors.
“The car company sadly went into administration and all remaining items were seized and are due to be auctioned off, but because of the coronavirus they ended up staying down there a lot longer than planned.
“It’s a shame that a car company with such an incredible history ended up in liquidation.
“Urban exploring is a wonderful hobby, but can be dangerous, so you have to treat it with respect.
“I always make sure that I never do anything illegal like breaking and entering.
“Sometimes if a place is locked, you just have to walk away.
“It’s a shame, but part of the game of being an urban explorer.”
