Posted on 06/28/2013 9:20:04 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
Lambrecht Chevrolet of Pierce, Neb., was like many Midwestern, small-town dealers — owned and operated by a family, with minimal overhead and little need for advertising since most customers were neighbors. Ray and Mildred Lambrecht ran the dealership with just one employee for 50 years before closing up, and later this year the Lambrechts will sell off a trove of 500-odd vehicles they've held onto over the decades — including roughly 50 with less than 10 miles on their odometers. It's less a car sale than a time capsule auction.
While many of the cars in the Lambrecht collection were customer trade-ins that were left outside to rot, the Lambrechts would occasionally take something they couldn't sell and just put it in storage. City folk might find it unthinkable to leave so many vehicles lying around for so many years, but there's always more space in rural Nebraska, and the annual costs fall to zero quickly. I wouldn't call it hoarding, but I know many people who gather old metal like this do form an attachment to their kingdom of rust; every ride has a story, even when there's weeds growing around it. Jeannie Lambrecht Stillwell, the Lambrecht's daughter, says the decision to sell wasn't an easy one for her parents, and that the cars "comprise a lifetime of hard work, tears, and joy."
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
or the blown head gasket
Please, let it be a 4x4 with the big block 396.
“Cameo with a flathead straight-6? that makes it more difficult.”
Sorry, Chevrolet never made a flathead anything. The Six is OHV.
plastic and rubber outgass regardless of movement. gaskets, fuel lines,/hoses, belts...
Cool story . . . this barn find was more like a warehouse find!
we had a lesabre with a 454 wildcat engine in it. mom was a leadfoot.
I’ve pulled engines out of wrecking yards where they have been sitting in the mud for 25-30 years and found the interior of them to be in excellent condition, as to corrosion.
The chief exception has been where there was an aluminum part in the cooling system, they always turn out to be unuseable, but the iron is usually good, as long as the engine was not disassembled in any way.
Gosh, my ‘90 Jeep cherokee (built in april of ‘89) has the same brake fluid in it that it had when we bought it, ditto the fuel lines, but I just changed the cooling hoses about a month ago for the first time. They were mostly still ok, except that I had damaged the ends of two of them when disassembling the water pump which was history, and had to be replaced.
I saved the hoses for future use, since they are still solid and flexible. (I’m a skinflint that way)
Thanks. I walked that back; conflated the Foed with the StoveBolt.
Way too many engine blocks in my past.
Wonder what kind of return on his investment he (or his family) is going to see
Production OHV 6’s date to about 1929 as I recall. My ‘37 pickup came with a 216cu Stovebolt. I later upgraded it to a ‘57 235cu (better lubrication and HP).
Only thing is I’d have to install A/C. It’s too hot here without.
Too bad they weren’t out in Nevada some place, they’d
be good as new.
I saw quite a few 40’s that have been sitting there
and had very little rust.
Could have bought a nice 40 Ford flatbed cab over
for 2500 that was driveable, I probably could
have driven it back to Georgia.
I’d have to see how they’re optioned out, condition, color, but there are quite a few good looking four door hardtops in the lot. The ‘69 Pontiac Catalina was an especially clean, well proportioned example of late sixties GM, sportier than the regular sedan, “personal luxury” with four doors basically. If it’s top of the line with one of the larger V8 engines and factory Pontiac mags, I’d like to have it if it’s low mile and in an appealing dark color, black, navy, maroon. They came new with Michelin redlines if I’m not mistaken.
“Way too many engine blocks in my past.”
Mine too, and there still are!
admit it..you were a Ricardo Montalban fan..
I watched the video..How did they roll the cars out??..the tires would all be well out of round..
I wonder if this was one of the Republican dealerships that were forced to close doors when GM was taken over by the Obama administration?
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