Scores of new Chevys stored for decades undriven

[dishdude]

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/scores-chevys-hidden-50-years-finally-sale-160911547.html

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.

Pretty cool!

 

[demarpaint]

Wow- I bet they'll clean up selling some of those classics.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

can i buy one?

I'll take a 1991-1995 ZR1
and a Typhoon.

 

[dparm]

Kinda sad to see that no one has been out enjoying those cars for the last 50 years. [censored] me off that the owners just let those things fall apart outside.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Man would I love to drive an '89 Caprice Classic Brougham LS off that lot if there was one!

 

[Virtuoso]

That is just a country mile away from me. I should go check them out.

 

[ahoier]

kinda crazy thought, but I know when I got my "barely driven" 88 Dodge Aries 2.2L....with only roughly 25k on the clock....yea, it needed a bit of work...oil pan gasket was weeping, vacuum lines were all brittle and needed replacement (had a very high idle...and would have to feather the accelerator pedal to get it started..) and etc other oddities.

Basically, fell apart from years of sitting, still needs a bit of body work....since it was not garage kept, the hood has bit of rust, and the roof has quite a bit more...just dont know who to trust to do the job at a fair rate lol. So basically just been driving it as a daily driver, runs great, even with it's CEL...all the parts I've changed were the OEM, PCV valve, fuel filter, etc. It's funny cause it still has the Chrysler OEM trunk lid light bulb still alive

But yea, when I got it practically all the seals were weeping....so took to the "potion of it's time" good ole Marvel Mystery Oil, added a pint to the oil, a pint to the transmission, and the weeping seals are gone. They had to have just been dried out from age.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: Virtuoso
That is just a country mile away from me. I should go check them out.


Yes, you should. And post back with your thoughts and pics

Crazy to think about really... So much waste, hopefully now at least most of the salvageable stuff goes to good homes.

I bet there are other dealers in the conUS that are not much different.

 

[morepwr]

I saw a video posted somewhere and there was brand new cars with the plastic still on the seats and anywhere from 1 to 5 miles on the odometer. Crazy.

 

[Vikas]

55 Chvey has 1 mile and comes with 5digit odometer

 

[GreeCguy]

My first truck was a '58 Chevy and my aunt had a '64 Chevy Impala - brings back memories.

My only concern would be it gets pretty cold in Nebraska - I wonder if those blocks were drained or if they froze and cracked the blocks.

 

[bigt61]

Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
My first truck was a '58 Chevy and my aunt had a '64 Chevy Impala - brings back memories.

My only concern would be it gets pretty cold in Nebraska - I wonder if those blocks were drained or if they froze and cracked the blocks.


They were new cars - they had factory antifreeze and were stored inside - they are fine. Now if they had been left outside in Nebraska for 50 years - different story.

 

[FXjohn]

they should just turn where they are being stored into a museum

 

[01rangerxl]

It's a shame the cars weren't stored better. If they had just thrown a cover over them when new, they would be just about perfect. I'm sure some could still clean up nicely, but all of that dust and dirt has probably gotten everywhere and the paint is going to be scratched. Still, being rust free and totally original with practically no miles is pretty amazing. I'd like to see them cleaned up, but not full on restored.

Carsinbarns.com has a page in their GM section where a bunch of new 1950s and 1960s Chevys were stored outside. The dealership owner just took slow sellers home and parked them in a field with plastic on the seats and everything. Unfortunately, those cars had deteriorated really badly.

I don't fully understand how this happens. It seems like a dealer would want to discount the car until it's gone, even if they take a loss, rather than have it sitting around for decades. For a semi-collectible car I can see it...the Ford dealer my truck came from had a unsold 1993 Mustang GT convertible sitting in the showroom, with window sticker, but it was perfectly kept and actually on display, not shoved in the back covered in dust. Simply never selling a bunch of random new cars and storing them that way seems really odd though.

If they have any 2-door Tahoes or fullsize Blazers somewhere, I'll take one though. Hopefully there wouldn't be too much dust in the velour.

 

[mechanicx]

Pretty cool! I don't understand why they would hold on to so many car and not sale them, at auction or to other dealers or something. Sounds like they loved the cars more than they did sales lol. I mean surely at some point even long ago these cars became very sellable, worth even more than originally.

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
It's a shame the cars weren't stored better. If they had just thrown a cover over them when new, they would be just about perfect. I'm sure some could still clean up nicely, but all of that dust and dirt has probably gotten everywhere and the paint is going to be scratched. Still, being rust free and totally original with practically no miles is pretty amazing. I'd like to see them cleaned up, but not full on restored.

Carsinbarns.com has a page in their GM section where a bunch of new 1950s and 1960s Chevys were stored outside. The dealership owner just took slow sellers home and parked them in a field with plastic on the seats and everything. Unfortunately, those cars had deteriorated really badly.

I don't fully understand how this happens. It seems like a dealer would want to discount the car until it's gone, even if they take a loss, rather than have it sitting around for decades. For a semi-collectible car I can see it...the Ford dealer my truck came from had a unsold 1993 Mustang GT convertible sitting in the showroom, with window sticker, but it was perfectly kept and actually on display, not shoved in the back covered in dust. Simply never selling a bunch of random new cars and storing them that way seems really odd though.

If they have any 2-door Tahoes or fullsize Blazers somewhere, I'll take one though. Hopefully there wouldn't be too much dust in the velour.



I can kinda understand this. I have a cousin who has an old Crosley sitting in his barn. Poor thing has sat there since I was a kid and has slowly rotted down over the years. Even when I was a teenager years back, I tried to get him to sell me that car, but he wouldn't do it. His thinking, even today, is that it's worth more to him than the money he could get out of it. I'm guessing these folks felt the same way. After a while, the price went down and they would have lost money to sell them and they simply could not stand the idea of selling at a loss. Obviously now, they're worth a small fortune, but it took a long time to get there and it's my understanding the original owners are long gone.

 

[GreeCguy]

Maybe a good comparison would be how long do you keep dumping money into an old klunker, especially if you've dumped some money into it recently. There has to come a point in time where you say "enough, it just ain't worth it." But when do you finally reach that point?

 

[HM12460]

I'm sure a pretty big crowd will be there for the sale. I'd love to go too. Totally amazing to find something like this.

 

[FXjohn]

how much of that old rubber will be dry rotted?

 

[01rangerxl]

The weatherstripping might be okay due to practically no sunlight exposure and no rain. The interiors look great too aside from the dirt.

Judging by the Cameo's engine picture, it would need all new gaskets and hoses.

I certainly wouldn't use any of the tires, though it looks like they are all holding air.