Chevrolets-hidden-50-years-finally up for sale

And I'm wondering how they managed to balance the books with all the unsold new vehicles, nevermind taking in some 500 trade-ins and not reselling them. How'd they turn a profit operating like that?

 

These folks came from a time when people were incredibly frugal. The story mentions the gentleman hand built his own building after WW2 and I'm sure they were experts at keeping their operating expenses as low as possible. None of this naughty "let's spend 2 million on a new shiny showroom and take it out of our customer's hides!" Our nicely painted, clean maintained cinder block building will do just fine. Business was done with a smile and a handshake, total respect for the customer and their needs.

Guess what, that "farm?" Breakfast, lunch and dinner! Its all about low expenses. I think it was these kinds of folks that "Made in America" was all about.

 

There are no shortage of such untouchable types here in Germany also.
Now for what's pleasant. Nice hardware for bolting up to a 261 panel truck engine:

 

They're everywhere, Hans. Unfortunately.
Regarding the building, I sure hope somebody does something with that, instead of tearing it down. I'd love to see what that whole town looks like before anything else is torn down there. A sad thing about any small town is unused buildings that decay and ultimately fall to the wrecking ball. There were many in this county that went bye bye for no good reason.
But back to the subject, even auctioneers should know how to treat vintage finishes. I'm sure they wouldn't take an 18th century console cabinet with only 40 years of schmutz and pile cast iron pots and knives on it. Dirt can be cleaned off, scratches and dents can't.

 

There is a dealership here that has large collection here all new or low mileage "put away cars"

they are stored in the old Halifax Volvo plant

 

The article says they operated for 50 years with only one employee. I wonder if he was the service man.

 

Must have kept him busy altho this was a small town and it was over 50 years. I suppose he was the service man and mechanic too. Can't believe he stayed so long either.
Sounds like much of the family helped around the place.
It's great how they operated yet so strange how they treated the left over new and used cars. We'll never know the reasons why. Altho the daughter did write that dad would rather put a young couple with kids in a new car than an unsafe older one. Possibly he gave them such good deals not many wanted his used cars. Of course being stored on a farm most never knew they were around. Questions??????
Makes "barn find" and NOS easier to understand. Sadly none of those cars are "drivers" as they sit.

 

Very cool to see those low mileage cars. But such a shame what happened to the majority of them. Looks like most of the trade-ins, which were most likely very nice when traded in, were left out in the weather all these years. Here's a few more pics from the auction site. Notice the Ford wagon behind the yellow '57 Chevy.

I'm assuming they won't try to pull each car out of the woods for the auction? You think they'll just walk around to each car as they auction it off? Then leave it up to the new owner to remove it? I would love to attend this.

 

I did some reading on this, and the owner just parked all these cars on his farm and refused to sell parts off them. They just sat there and sunk into the ground.

The city filed suit against the owner in 1996, claiming the cars were junk, windows were smashed out of them, most sunk up to their axles, and in 1996 it was noted that the newest inspection sticker they found on the farm cars was from 1981. The town mayor actually inspected the cars personally. Found all this on Google.

The owner insisted they were not parts cars, again he refused to sell any parts off them, and that the smashed windows were caused by vandals. He said all the cars were restorable and worth more than when they were traded in, and he was saving them all, as they were appreciating in value.

So...my guess is the majority of these cars that were stored outside are pretty far gone now. Nebraska winters are wet and snowy, summers are hot, and after sitting outside all these years, I bet the vast majority are pretty rough.

I'm sure there are some great parts there, and the cars kept dry and stored inside most likely are restorable, but who knows what's left of the outdoor cars.

Will be neat to hear about after the auction!

-Mike

 

STOP IT ! This is so sad yet amazing. I'm sure even though those used cars and trucks look nice it would be major work to restore them. Even a "new" original car stored inside all those years would need total mechanical service, belts, gaskets, hoses, etc so would no longer be original. If I was his kid I'd been driving a different car everyday.
Maybe Jay Leno can have them fixed up. Or someone across the water where I'm sure many will go.
That 57 Chevy has something like 33,000 miles on it. :banghead3:
Imagine the size of that tree when the 55 was parked there. Or maybe there wasn't even a tree there yet.
Road trip Mike!

 

Curiosity got the best of me, so I called. They are going to have pictures of each car posted, sometime in August. They are in the process of moving the cars from the property to a central location, where they will be auctioned off. Guess we'll see how many stay intact as they attempt to pull them out of the woods. They do have an online auction for those who want to bid remotely. But, still, I'd love to see these cars in person.

 

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Lambrecht Chevrolet Company Inventory

http://www.vanderbrinkauctions.com/auction_images/135/documents/Inventory.pdf

I can't fathom how a small-town Mom-and-Pop dealership could afford to just sit on this many cars and stay in business... The amount of brand new cars that he mothballed is staggering....specifically the pickup trucks...in Nebraska...you would think their would always be a market for pickup trucks.

It says in one article that all his pricing was set, no dealing, no discounts. Did this person really just decide to park these new vehicles that didn't sell at the end of every year rather than discount them to move them off his lot? That's insane to me...and seems amazing that he could afford it...I'm mean he would have to pay GM for the vehicles regardless...

Open the list and look at how many vehicles have no miles on them. Specifically the trucks. There is an entire batch of new 1964 trucks....amazing.

It just seems terribly wasteful to park perfectly good vehicles outside for decades rather than to sell them at a discount.

The owner ran his business for years and years...I'm sure he knew about weathering/rust and depreciation, but he seems to think all these vehicles were gaining value in that lawsuit.

Weird stuff! Sure would love to see all these!

-Mike

 

I started watching the video from the auction company a few days ago, but I scrolled down and saw some comments about them setting parts on the paint and climbing in the cars, and I could hear that awful woman's voice, and had to stop watching. I found it very uncomfortable. To see these hamfisted greedy idiots digging through it all...ugh!

I've often dreamed of how wonderful it would be to have been able to tuck away cars from back then, but the reality is not for me.
It's one thing to protect and preserve old cars, but to just let them rot outside, or even inside, with no care, it makes me kind of sad. It's no different than some old codger letting a once beautiful car rot on his driveway. Hard to get excited about that. I'm glad they still exist, but that's about it.

Reminds me of the old Lincoln auction in the Texas Panhandle about a decade ago. Some were stored inside, but most were left outside to rot.

David

 

Thanks for posting the link to the inventory list. I really hope that the ones with the extreme low mileage that were never sold new were the ones stored inside.

 

Looking forward to seeing the pictures in August.

Attn: Jairus and Rev....they list a 58 Ranch Wagon with 23k on it!!