You may (or not) already have read about this elsewhere: a small Nebraska Chevrolet dealer that was owned and operated by the same couple for fifty years (closed in 1996) finally gets around to selling its hoard of cars: some 30 “new” ones, including a 1958 Cameo with less than ten miles to a 1984 Cavalier with 24 miles. The cars (list follows) are quite the time capsule, but the full story behind them all is heartwarming too.
Looks like the Cameo is a bit worse for wear despite its ten miles on the odometer. It does seem a bit odd that so many new cars were left to molder like this, but like so many things in life, it was probably a case of “I meant to get to them one of theses days…”
Here’s the complete list of all the cars to be auctioned
Hat tips to Sam and Jason!
1958 Cameo <10 miles
1964 Impala 4spd <10 miles
1978 Corvette Pace Car <5 miles
Vega station wagon 17 miles
1964 Corvair van 14 miles
1960 Corvair sedan 4 miles
1966 Chevelle sedan 4 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 3 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 8 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 4 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 6 miles
1965 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1963 Chevrolet truck 16 miles
1965 Bel Air wagon 5 miles
1972 Chevrolet truck 3 miles
1980 Monza 9 miles
1976 Cheyenne 4×4 4 miles
1977 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1984 Cavalier sedan 23 miles
1978 Malibu 11 miles
1975 Caprice 7 miles
Chevette Scooter 817
1964 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1979 Caprice sedan 5 miles
1978 Impala 5 miles
– See more at: http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/news/vanderbrink-auctions-offers-glimpse-at-lambrecht-low-mileage-chevrolet-collection#sthash.SnoWXrAj.dpuf
1958 Cameo <10 miles
1964 Impala 4spd <10 miles
1978 Corvette Pace Car <5 miles
Vega station wagon 17 miles
1964 Corvair van 14 miles
1960 Corvair sedan 4 miles
1966 Chevelle sedan 4 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 3 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 8 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 4 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1964 Chevrolet truck 6 miles
1965 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1963 Chevrolet truck 16 miles
1965 Bel Air wagon 5 miles
1972 Chevrolet truck 3 miles
1980 Monza 9 miles
1976 Cheyenne 4×4 4 miles
1977 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1984 Cavalier sedan 23 miles
1978 Malibu 11 miles
1975 Caprice 7 miles
Chevette Scooter 817
1964 Chevrolet truck 5 miles
1979 Caprice sedan 5 miles
1978 Impala 5 miles
– See more at: http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/news/vanderbrink-auctions-offers-glimpse-at-lambrecht-low-mileage-chevrolet-collection#sthash.SnoWXrAj.dpuf
All will make good money. * 800 odd miles on the Chevette perhaps it was a buy back?.
Try and give us the auction prices.
Mark…auction is in late September…but, if your still on the scent of that trail, the auction site gives up to 30 past auctions, with price, photo, brief description of the vehicle. The site is a bit tricky so I’ll post this protocol so you can find the past auction results to compare prices in this market (Plains states, Upper Midwest region).
1) Go to site at http://vanderbrinkauctions.com/
2) On right hand side, notice “UPCOMING AUCTIONS” and gaze down on right to a green box “CLICK HERE FOR ALL LISTINGS” Click this box and wait for a slow load time.
3) You’ll see Four auctions with 5 green boxes below each listing….click on the far right green box with yellow letters saying “ONLINE AUCTION”.
4) 3 auctions are listed and to the right of each is larger Blue lettering telling you how many days and hours until the auction: “6 Days 8 Hours” for each auction coming up. Don’t click yet. Gaze down and to the left (yes left) of this list to see a grey bar with darker grey lettering “Show archived events”. CLICK ON THAT and wait for load time.
5) You’ll see 30 past auctions with a grey bar on right saying “VIEW AUCTION RESULTS” Click there to see what sold and for how much with the photo and description.
THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO BE: a list of all past auctions showing “price realized” with photos and brief description of car. Now you have 30 past auctions with prices from some small town in the middle of the plains states far from any city (Minneapolis/St. Paul…Omaha…Kansas City…Denver…LA).
Note: Most go to the front page of this site, and in the first left hand column they click on “Auction Highlights/Results”…….which….doesn’t get you what you want.
Neat…. nice to see that there are still surprises with stories out there.
The Chevette Scooter was a ‘demonstrator’ model 😉
But why keep so many cars that were average drivers?
Looks like the makings of a show called “Car Dealer Hoarders” . Has to be on Velocity channel, since Speed is gone.
This sort of thing is endlessly fascinating to me. Some cool stuff there. I wonder if they thought the 60 Corvair would become a collectors item. We now know, of course, that other than that 64 Impala, he picked wrong. He should have loaded up on Impala SS convertibles and early Camaros and Chevelles.
I’d love to get my hands on that 76 Cheyenne 4×4.
The 79 Caprice might be a nice ride too depending on how it is optioned.
Corvairs. Want.
Boy, did that give me a quick twinge of Hallman’s Chevrolet.
The Cameo actually has 1.3 miles according to the video on the auctioneer’s site and is certainly worse for the wear with the big dent on the roof. The floor mats are still rolled up behind the seat in it.
The Corvette pace car appears to have it’s decal box inside, presumably with the decals still in the box.
The most interesting thing to me is the large quantity of 64 pickups. I’d have to guess there was a drought, massive hail storm or something that wiped out the crops in 63 or 64 virtually eliminating all demand for pickups that year. There are a fair amount cars from that year too that indicates a particularly poor local economy at that time that took him by surprise. It just seems like it would have made sense to blow them out at deeply discounted prices when the local economy had started to recover rather than store them away. It seems that forgoing full profit on a 65 and putting the capital back in circulation would have been preferred, especially since it wasn’t uncommon to title cars and especially trucks in the year sold at the time.
The hidden gem to me is the ~74 Monte Carlo that apparently had some problems with its big block that led to it being partially disassembled and never repaired. It appears to have the swivel bucket seats and be in pretty good overall condition.
I noticed the same thing about all the ’63-’64 vehicles. Maybe whatever disaster befell the region, there were excess inventory everywhere. Given the careful, conservative way Lambrecht did business, maybe he was the only who had any kind of cash reserve and was able to pick up all these vehicles at fire-sale prices, but still wasn’t able to sell them (and would also explain why he still had them all).
This collection seems like a gold-mine of CC articles. Since the auction isn’t scheduled until late September, there’s still plenty of time for a CC writer to head on out to Nebraska and talk with the guy (assuming that, at age 93, he’s willing and able to recall the stories).
How about it, Paul? Pierce, Nebraska isn’t that far away, is it?
FWIW, here’s a PDF of the complete list of all the cars:
http://www.vanderbrinkauctions.com/auction_images/135/documents/Inventory.pdf
You got me curious and I had to refer to my friend, googlemaps.
Tom and I would be the closest, at 410 and 470 miles respectively. Paul is 1,260 miles. It’s amazing how quickly distance can add up, especially when you are taking about a state that borders you. 🙂
I don’t think of travel times in terms of distance, but in hours. My recent run from Grand Island to SLC was about 11 hours including a fuel stop. Lots of 55 mph construction zone running in western Nebraska. Plus a lot of speed nazis.
But this would be a great CC fall get together! I’m up for it. Let’s do it!
If you go…there’s some decent camping along Lewis and Clark Lake in Yankton, SD,….and just north of Pierce, Nebraska, is Niobrara State Park on a hill overlooking the tail waters of Lewis and Clark Lake. And you might want to see Thunder Valley Dragways/camping in Marion, SD. It’s on the way or in the neighborhood. Just saying. Cheers.
You have me intrigued Jason. Depending on when it is, I’d be up for it, assuming it is during the weekend. Sounds like a fascinating place!
Always the possibility that there was a small fleet order where the buyer backed out or went out of business. Or bought Fords?
I volunteer to assist. I’ve circling this auction site reviewing all the past auction results (took a while to figure out the site to get it to cough up past results with photo, description, and price at auction). I’m in Sioux Falls, SD, about 140 miles away, and I was thinking about camping at Niabrara State Park (tail waters of Lewis and Clark Lake in Yankton, SD, where I went to High School). I’ve got a nice Nikon SLD camera and a lesser Olympus point and shoot….and, I was hoping to talk my way into snapping some “in the grass” photos of old cars at dusk and dawn.
I bought the monte 454 turbo 400 Posi fully loaded. All docs including window sticker were in the glove box. I found the build sheet on top of the fuel tank. It s a blue haired granny sleeper, capable of running with any muscle of the time.
Ray Cody
telluride co
Congratulations on getting one of the best! Let us know what the restoration process means getting that beauty back on the road.
I’m with Syke-Corvairs. I bought a used (very) ’64 Corvair Monza 110 black on black on black convertible for $100 in 1969. The thing could actually handle and brake (and break). I loved it nonetheless.
My dad had a ’63 Bel Air six with three on the tree so I certainly don’t need to revisit that, regardless of the miles.
Pierce, NE is about a day and a quarter from where I live. I’m tempted to go to the auction just for shits and giggles. Stayed in Grand Island the other night on my way back from a funeral in Illinois. To all my relatives in western Illinois, if you have any plans on croaking, do it around Sep 28-29. Thanks.
The 66 Chevelle sedan will do me fine,even better if it’s a 6 with 3 on the tree
All the more desirable as far as I’m concerned.
Here’s a list of everything else: http://vanderbrinkauctions.com/auction_images/135/documents/Inventory.pdf
The first article I sent Paul was about an auction I attended where a gentleman had been hoarding cars since the mid-’50’s. It was even the same auctioneer as this one with about the same number of vehicles being auctioned, however he was only selling about 1/3 of his.
Events like this one are truly hard to describe, but well worth the trip even if you don’t plan to buy anything.
Thanks; I’ve added it to the post.
The Corvair fer sure, but there is a ton of stuff on that list that could be interesting. A 77 Fiesta?
I would like to go just to walk the inventory and leave with my mind blown…..
Some of these cars might go cheap too, I imagine none of it runs, and some of the cars are just not that desireable like the sedans.
There are a couple of really low mile Vegas on the list!
“There are a couple of really low mile Vegas on the list!”
Don’t think I didn’t scrutinize the details on those, either!
Call me sad, but I want that Cavalier and I wonder if it is a Type-10. I’m a J-Body enthusiast who constantly checks E-bay for good condition 87-90 Z24’s.
I think its a sedan, but still its a new 82 with the big sealed beam headlights.
It’s all good. I’m very much into the first-gen Cavaliers myself and still have a rather dull example (’86 white CS sedan — an ex rental-car per the build sheet).
I’m personally fascinated in the Chevette, Cavalier, ’70’s trucks, and 454 Monte Carlo.
Just saw that it is a sedan, so I don’t think they offered a Type-10 sedan. Only coupe and hatchback.
I’m about 1.5-2 hours from there. I don’t think this is the first time that the family/estate has tried to sell off these cars. I can remember the first flood of rumors about this stash of cars. I remember driving out there and seeing what was left of the cars that were parked outside in the elements. Got chased away by a sherriff for trespassing. A 63-64 vintage ImpalaSS convertable with single digit miles and a hole in the roof and holes in the carpet and floor pan are what I remember and a lot of Corvairs. Lots and lots of Corvairs. Same condition. I don’t think there was anything I’d consider buying. But than I don’t think too much of the boneheaded Barrett-Jackson crowd either. If you guys promise to be nice to me I’d be more than welcome to go there and witness the action. I’d be more than willing to document it even if you weren’t nice to me either. 9-28 is marked on my calendar.
Yes, go! Please. Its way to far from Miami.
And from reading comments about this situation on other car sites, it sounds like that security on the cars stored outdoors has lapsed in the past few years, and people have gone in (apparently even hauling in generators to power their tools) and removed some of the more valuable parts off of a number of the vehicles.
I watched the 11-minute preview video for the auction today, and I swear, if that lady repeated “four miles” one more time I think my head would have exploded. Of course they aren’t mentioning how bad of condition some of the cars that have been stored outdoors for a half century are really in, regardless of how low of miles that they have.
I use a nice telephoto lens to avoid the law.
The Lil Nordstrom (Van Der Brink) Gal is the auctioneer?! Interesting! She’s well-known in the rural, rural Midwest. She’s also a writer–she’d have a trove of stories for you all. Just sayin’.
Its 20 hours from where I sit in Oshawa Ont. Hmmmm? Might be a nice little cruise in the fall. I can’t afford to buy anything. just seeing a 64 Chevy with 3 miles on the clock..wow!
Page 8 leads off with a trio of low, low mile ’65 Impalas.
Dudes! Let’s make this a fall event! We might have three or four CCers there. Maybe less.
That is an excellent idea. I’d almost consider the 1,300 mile trip.
Very heartwarming story, and well written too.
… did anyone notice how the spelling and grammar of the very last paragraph in the article changed? There is a misspelling of “Piercve” which looks rather out of place in such a finely-written article. The auctioning folks should be a little more thoughtful in their ad placement.
The amount of capital Lambrecht had tied up in that unsold new car inventory is mind-boggling. Pick an average rate of return and calculate it, times 35 to 55 years per vehicle. Now you’ve got what they need to net from the auction just to break even.
I have to think he did not have a floorplan. What lender would have put up with that? I also have to think he did his own bookkeeping and taxes. Most CPA’s I know would have gone mad.
I would imagine that there was no floorplan, that everything was owned. Crazy.
I’ll take me a low miles chevy truck some of those things still run now a near new one would outlive me
What a waste to let them go to rot like that. True hoarders. Hope a lot can be saved, even one or two of the Chevettes. Also, I always wondered what happened to the new Daweoo’s when they pulled out of the U.S. market in 2002-2003. We had a new Daewoo dealer in town that had 20 of these brand new POS Legazos right up to the bitter end.
I think the Daewoos were, initially, embarked by creditors.
There was a dealer not far from where I was living; had a lot with about 30 on it. Just sitting there, while the lawyers and bankers did their thing. On my days off, in those days (working a sedentary job) I got some exercise by walking two miles to a local coffee shop…would walk by and look and wonder.
I’m still wondering. Occasionally, very rarely, a Daewoo appears…but it’s an orphan and a not-very-well-constructed orphan. GM, IMHO, missed a chance at a huge PR and corporate-goodwill bonanza by not supporting the previous Daewoo customers. Today, when “Daewoo” appears on the data on a GM car (as it did on the Aveo, which was designed and built by former Daewoo) the buyer thinks, “lemon….trouble…”
Well the Cruze is in the same boat, since they designed that, too, and build some.
I read on one site all that was done to these cars over the years was to keep air in the tires. Wouldn’t they be in pretty bad shape mechanically, even the ones stored indoors? Congealed fluids, etc.? I imagine even leaving the delivery plastic on the seats could be damaging to the upholstery and layers of shop dirt, etc. can’t be good for the paint and chrome. To say nothing of those left outside. What would it take to get one of these “new” cars on the road beyond new hoses, belts, wiring, tires?
Very good point about the fluids. I purchased a low-mile ’73 Century Luxus off Craigslist for $350 (or $400 – I forgot). The car’s last inspection sticker I think was from the early 80’s as the car sat under a shed for approximately thirty years without being started. It was full of oil per the dipstick but the 350 engine was locked as tight as could be.
When I removed the oil plug, not one drop leaked out which made no sense to me. Upon removal of the oil pan, I discovered the contents had turned into a brown gelatinous blob. I have the picture of it on another computer which I’ll try to post if anyone wants to see it. All the crankshaft bearings had somehow fused themselves to the crank as it could not be turned via a breaker bar even after all the rods and three of the main caps were removed. The bearings were not scored but their surfaces were very sticky to the touch.
I hate to think a lot of these cars will suffer major damage as the auctioneers and future owners attempt to fire them up. I would think each unit would probably have to be completely disassembled & cleaned before anything else.
The forklift, parts laid out over the hoods and her shopping network voice all make me very nervous. I hope the next time we see these cars they do not have that shinny stuff sprayed under the hood and Armor All all over the interior of these cars.
For real: all those NOS parts scratching the original paint off those old cars bugged me too. The more they fiddle with these cars the more they get damaged.
Its just a big old yard sale to the woman with the camera.
Didn’t something similar happen to a BMW dealer that closed in the 1980’s..They found some BMWs that were new in the 1980’s quite recently
I remember reading that on Jalopnik, but it was only like 3 or 4 new or newsish BMW’s left inside a BMW dealership in Canada that closed.
I would LOVE to get a chance on one of those 1964 trucks!
Just happens, it’s exactly the wrong time for me in terms of work and finance.
Yeah, must have paid cash for everything. Looks like they bought a very small amount of inventory from GM and, if it didn’t sell after a year or two, they just kept it. There were only three employees (owner, his wife, and one mechanic) and his wife did all the bookkeeping. Their market was so small, they must not have had a whole lot of turnover, but it was enough for them to stay in business for 50 years in the same small building that had been built in 1946.
You kind of have to admire the fact that they were content with their meager (but reliable) income with little or no ambition for the dealership to get any larger than it was originally.
But, as others have pointed out, I can’t imagine any of those low-mileage ‘survivors’ really being worth a whole lot. They all look like basic transportation cars (a lot of them are strippo 4-door sedans with few options), and that’s not the sort of thing that brings in the big-bucks at auctions. Even the sole Corvette is a ‘disco-era’ low horsepower version.
I don’t recall seeing any Camaros on the list, at all. A sixties’ Camaro with mileage in the single digits, even one with a six-cylinder, 3-on-the-tree, would bring some good coin. But the rest of that stuff just doesn’t look that great.
Four door Tri 5 Chevys, rust free, are worth a lot for the parts, so those will bring in some cash.
If they are rust free which I’m doubting since they have been sitting outside in the open or under trees, since they were traded in likely no later than the mid 60’s. For a look at where the bulk of the cars were stored go to Google Maps and search Pierce community Golf course Pierce NE. The lot with the cars is right to the east of it. Many are in the open but you can see a little sheet metal in the trees.
According to the “Mom n Pops” daughter in a Bio, [link on that other site Steve used to post] this dealer sold cars nationally. Word of mouth had buyers from all over. The WW2 vet sold to other GI’s in from the late 40’s through the 90s. Had only one mechanic and the two kids help clean cars for sale.
The husband and wife are still alive in their 90’s, by the way. They just loved the cars so much.
But, Auction site says no ‘early birds’ to try to look at cars before auction, and that anyone trying will get charged with tresspassing.
’65 Bel Air wagon, 327/PG, same car I took my driving test in ’69.
You know, if they really loved the cars they would have stored them better and not let them get destroyed like that. It’s sad really, the cars could have been really great time capsules, now most of them are just junk. It would have been better to have donated them to people who could have used them. I hope someday the real whole story comes out, I’m tired of reading the same old story reported everywhere with no details as to why these cars ended up this way.
Now that it’s over, if anyone wants to read about what it was like to be there head over here: http://www.jewelorjalopy.com/pre-purchase-inspection/attending-the-lambrecht-auction/