The auction house has released a third video from the amazing Lambrecht Chevrolet dealer hoard of new, never-sold cars and trucks, many dating back to the ’50s. Have a look.
With this third video from VanDerBrink Auctions, reality is setting in as to the true state and condition of the hundreds of cars in the Lambrecht collection. The truth is that even when stored inside, cars can suffer significant deterioration, especially over 50 years. Make no mistake: These cars are far, far from showroom fresh—even if there are only two miles showing on the odometers.
And for the many vehicles that were stored outdoors in the hard Nebraska weather, all bets are off. When a car is parked in a field, it surely and steadily rots into the ground. Mother Nature doesn’t care whether it has 100,000 miles or 10 miles on the clock.
As the flint-eyed readers here at Mac’s Motor City Garage have been warning from the start, the vehicles are not what they might appear. They’re not what we wish they might be. In many ways, sitting unused is harder on a vehicle than careful, normal use, especially when the vehicle isn’t properly mothballed. When the auction begins in Pierce, Nebraska on September 28 and people see these cars in person for the first time, many are going be disappointed. Maybe heartbroken.
But never mind all that. The Lambrecht auction has transcended reality and become a happening. Word is that hotels have sold out for miles around, and auction fever is thick in the air. It won’t surprise MCG to see cars bringing many times their usual value.
The Lambrecht Chevrolet collection is a fascinating, compelling story that has seized the imagination of the collector car world. Why did Ray and Mildred Lambrecht simply curb all these brand new cars and trucks from their dealership instead of selling them? And why let them sit there and rust for all these decades? It’s a mystery, for sure. Maybe the auction will help to unravel it.
You can find the first two Lambrecht features with videos here and here.
Wise words well spoken. This is not McG’s first rodeo, is it?
This is unbelievable. it appears he just abandoned his dealership and walked away from all his inventory of new, used and just traded in vehicles. I would llove to get the story behind this strange happening.
Jeez, this camerawork makes me dizzy. They just sweep over everything without really giving you a clue what you’re looking at and what the actual condition is.
I think most of the real values at this auction will be found in the parts and papers that are sitting inside the dealership. If they saved all of these cars, I’ll bet there are boxes of brochures, dealer communications and promotional material too.
Were they left outside?
Some of the new vehicles were stored inside, others left outside. There are hundreds more cars in every condition from almost new to total wreck that were also stored outside. Watching all three videos will help you sort out what’s what.
I just watched the first video again. Some of them are better than I remembered, I’m interested to hear what they go for. Even fifty some years later, I still know what the inside of these cars smells like. Vinyl, horsehair and cloth. Wonderful smell.
Like McG, I’d really like to know the backstory here. Looked at the auction site and counted at least 4 ’64 half-ton pickups that were never sold – that’s a lot of sunk inventory for a small dealership, and they apparently did it year after year. How could they afford it?
can you tell me where this auction is?
Pierce, Nebraska is in the northeast corner of the state, about 120 miles northwest of Omaha.
All those mid 60’s pickups unsold, in a dealership in farm country make no sense, unless there was a cozy deal with a zone rep, insurance guy, and dealer. That’s several months sales numbers of what had to be the bread and butter for that kind of store. I can hear the radio ad…
“Lambrecht Chevrolet! Where if we can’t sell you a new Chevy pickup, we’ll just park ’em out back! Push, pull, or drag in your trade today, and we won’t sell it either!”
Is the owner still alive and who is benefiting from the amount of the money some the cars are bringing.
http://www.thejunkmanadv.com/lambrecht-chevrolet-auto-auction.html here is video and pictures from the auction that this guy took. What a circus!