GM Roundwagon Collection. Whoa!?!?!

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/09/today-i-found-eclectic-bubbleland/

From the Longroof Forum:

"I located this place on Google Maps. Search on 2510 McKinley Avenue,Columbus, Ohio and look in the lot with the two school busses. You can even turn on street view and check the wagons out."

WHOA!

 

I saw that thread.
Off the top, the guy is in waaaay over his head. If he's buying them and not selling them, a for-sure hoarder. I've been watching a few of those 'hoarder' shows on TV, and this guy seems to be going down the same dead-end. If's just that what he collects takes up a lot more space.....

Maybe a B-body group of guys in the area can step in and help him.

If he's just buying them and throwing them on his property, what's the purpose?

 

Wow! I could go bonkers in there.

 

Its sickening to be honest, like a hoarder on the TV. Most likely, the kind of guy that will get pissed if you question him about them and say they are not for sale and they will just sit there and rot away. People like that should be condemned to an assylum for their greed and waste of good oxygen!

 

Boy, what a sight. I'm actually looking for one of these for a friend, too bad he's not in my neighborhood and ready to negotiate.

 

Is he waiting for the SS wagon resurrection?

Too many projects not enough time.

SS impala wagon...

Olds 442 wagon...

Grand national Roadmaster?

 

More power to him! At least he's keeping them from the scrap heap as I'm sure some of those would end up there eventually. As long as he has them they are safe.. I guess that's not a bad way to look at it.

 

What a shame. I hope he actually has a plan for his collection and not just let them rot. It does make me feel better about having two wagons though- my family thinks I'm nuts.

 

ok, fred (ruphrax....aka northstar auto..."b body wagon guy") just cleared this up over on the longroof forum. the owner deserves praise not ridicule. Fred is a personal friend of the owner's and here is the story....

"This was fun reading all the speculation about a guy who happens to love wagons as much as we do! This A-hole, hoarder, untrue enthusiast who prolly [sic] can't even drive is a very close friend. Yeah, he's peculiar. He's also extremely generous and those out here who know him know that, too. He's been "hoarding" since 1999.

He owns 50 of them and rotates them out regularly, driving each on a pretty regular schedule. If there are 36 on the lot, the others are at his house or at repair shops being maintained. Did ANYONE notice that the Bing picture a year later has different cars in different positions? He's a retired doctor with no kids, with enough play money to buy the cars until the market crapped, and now not enough for a building. I did hook him up with several of his cars both as a licensed (not curbstoner) used car dealer, and then I got him a bidder badge on my account so he could buy for me. Some of them I bought at salvage auctions and repaired for him. About 2/3 are higher mile rough and rusty cars to begin with. Nicer, lower mile ones are elsewhere. So he has 1/3 rough (potential donors saved from crusher,) 1/3 nice (usually protected,) and 1/3 rough daily drivers rotated in an out. He's been ill lately, and hasn't been able to rotate as regularly, which is sad - more for my friend than the cars. He's had the foresight to make sure that I help dispose them from his estate some day so that they don't end up in the crushing yard across the street, though. What an a-hole for that, eh?

For about 1/3 of these cars, he bought them at auctions where he (or I on his behalf) competed against dismantlers and scrappers. It's a shame these are there on his lot instead of shredded up into Chinese appliances. I'm sure we all wish these 200k mile non-beauties were in climate controlled storage but I assure you many would be in your kitchen by now if not for him.

Wish they could all be in a museum, too, but most were pretty rough when he got them. Having them where they are is (I promise) better than the alternative lives most of them would have had.

It's easy to see why people would think from the one weed picture (when he was really ill and didn't drive them much) but the author was just wrong - those few near the fence might have been in mud, especially those he just got and hadn't fixed up yet. But look at the Bing shot a year later and sleep easier!"

 

Do "dismantle-rs" or junkyards actually buy at auction?

If so they wouldn't pay much more than a couple hundred bucks for them.

 

Yes, they do. That's where a great majority of the 'stock' comes from. Aside from the 'salvage yards' or 'junkyards' you see around, or advertised in the local yellow pages, there are salvage auction yards who basically have contracts with insurance companies to dispose of their total losses. A couple of the big names in the business (there are others, and of course some smaller independents) are Co-Part and Insurance Auto Auctions.

Auctions are usually held every week or every other week, and you have to have a dismantler's license to buy the wrecks. They will have the occasional 'driver' vehicle that isn't a total loss (perhaps a theft recovery that was found after the insured took their settlement, etc.)

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As to this yard, I'm glad we got the true story from Fred, and it's not anywhere like what we were all assuming (myself particularly).

 

I was extremly excited when it said "roundback" A little disappointed when I opened it and they were "bubbles" and not 72-76 "clamshells. Still exciting to see that many wagons all together though

 

I understand they would but at salvage auctions but not the "normal' auctions where most of these wagons would come from due to cost.

 

Unless I can walk in and buy one from him, he is doing me no favors and is hording them from people who are looking to buy one. Sure he is saving them from China and bone yards, but he is also keeping buyers from having them and how they are parked, he is doing them more harm then good.

My 2 peso

 

I came across a guy like that who has a whole slew of Fox Mustangs. Most were just shells. The minute I mentioned the Mustangs he said "Not for sale get the **** off my property!!" Yeah I should have called the city and then have an inspector come out and have the whole damn place crushed.

But if you are buying to save then sell off to others who have a passion about them, thats fine. Just don't hoard them cause when they rust into the ground no one will want them.