Treasure Hunter

Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale. 

The Californian now maintains a collection of rare classic cars. And he travels the world to find vintage models for prominent private collectors.

An inconspicuous garage on a normal residential street near Los Angeles. #bluenelson opens the hood of a #porsche 356 1500 Coupé built in 1953. Very carefully. He doesn’t want to blow up any dust. The reason is immediately clear. Two soft objects lie on the tank. They are nests made out of the stuffing in the car’s seats. Between them, on the tank cover, lies the desiccated body of a dead rat. Nelson pulls a second rat—this one very much alive—from the nest on the left and holds it up by the tail to the light. More rodents are hiding in the car’s interior and under the spare tire. “I spray the car every six hours with bleach and neutralizer, inside and out, to detoxify the excrement and eliminate the odor,” he says, reaching for a spray can.

A piece of automotive history

Despite the stench, Nelson beams. For him, classic cars like this weathered #porsche, which was probably once yellow, are the gold standard. A piece of automotive history—with a Belcanto radio from the 1950s, spare parts, yellowed papers, and other artifacts on the backseat. He liberated it from a garage in San Diego a few days ago, wearing a protective suit and filter mask. The car had been there, surrounded by household items, for 51 years. The original engine and the four-pipe Abarth exhaust system lay hidden in a corner beneath boxes.