50 new Chevys stored for decades and never driven

[Roman Legion]

My father told me about this, so I looked it up myself and as a car enthusiast, this is exciting. Although I keep thinking about how much better it would if they had 50 DeLoreans instead of Chevy's, but I digress. The owner of the dealership basically just left 50 cars, brand new in the dealership when he closed the doors and some of these cars (A Chevy pickup from the 50's has only 1 mile, all original parts and the plastic still on the seats.) Here is a video of it which is amazing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRFiSUH4gdQ

[Jimmyvonviggle]

Wow talk about your "barn" find. What is the backstory to this dealership if anybody knows. While I love DeLoreans, I think this is more interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[Hokie]

Amazing!

[pezzonovante88]

That is SO cool. I love that stuff. There's a former BMW dealership near my house that closed it's doors in the late 1980's and there are brand new BMWs from like 1988 sitting in the showroom with an inch of dust covering them. Even all the old '80s marketing signage and paperwork is left all over the place in the showroom. The owner is apparently some curmudgeonly old German guy who refuses to discuss why he still keeps the dealership like this. Talk about eccentric.

[Kenny_Z]

I was hoping to see a Nova hidden in there somewhere. I do love that Corvair though. Every car guy's dream is to run across something like this. There's a decent amount of money sitting in there. I bet concurs restorers are already lining up for photos or getting out their checkbooks. I can't imagine there are many 10 mile Corvairs in the world.

[EdR5150]

That is SO cool. I love that stuff. There's a former BMW dealership near my house that closed it's doors in the late 1980's and there are brand new BMWs from like 1988 sitting in the showroom with an inch of dust covering them.

This one, right?

http://jalopnik.com/5829911/the-mystery-of-a-ghost-bmw-dealership
http://jalopnik.com/5856221/the-ghost-bmw-dealership-is-for-sale

I love this stuff too. These are incredible finds.

[Jimmyvonviggle]

I was hoping to see a Nova hidden in there somewhere. I do love that Corvair though. Every car guy's dream is to run across something like this. There's a decent amount of money sitting in there. I bet concurs restorers are already lining up for photos or getting out their checkbooks. I can't imagine there are many 10 mile Corvairs in the world.

I love the corvairs as well but I have noticed their values have decreased in the last few years, not sure why. Pretty interesting cars, I just am not a fan of the front grill or lack of it from 65 on.

[Jimmyvonviggle]

Ok I was on my other car forum and here is the backstory;




"The dealer is 95+- and has operated the dealership since 1945 until a few years ago. There only 3 employees all those years: the dealer, his wife, annd their mechanic (same guy throughout).


The dealer always paid cash to GM for new cars/trucks. If anything failed to sell (at his one-price asking price) during its current model year, he parked it out back. When the back lot was full, he started parking "left-overs" at his farm. If he never sold one, that was fine with him. It sat.


Interesting about the trade-ins. The dealer believed he was a new car seller, so he would not sell used cars. He took them as trade-ins, then parked them.


He lived through the rationing of WWII. He strongly believed it would or could happen again. He believed there would be another era when new car production would be shut down, like WWII. He believed the demand for used cars would then be overwhelming . . . and he would have a gold mine on the farm. That's why the auction inventory includes so many "trade-ins" that date back to his opening the dealership in 1945.


Odd way to run a dealership? Yes. But he sold a LOT of new cars for fair prices. He's said to be the last/only dealership that never financed its inventory. He did enough business to justify his existence to GM despite his chosen "business model."


My friend knows this (and more) quite well. He owned/operated a GM dealership apprx. 25 miles from this one.


So, if you want a fifty-something year old brand new car or truck with 10 or so actual miles, pony up the dinero and head for Nebraska in September. It will be well worth it!!


PS: There's a '64 Chevy Impala SS with minimal mileage (less than 20) that my friend said has been sitting in the front window of the shop (not the showroom) since new. It was in the same place every time my friend was there. He last visited the dealership in 2005 and it was still there then . . . since 1964!"

[Roman Legion]

Ok I was on my other car forum and here is the backstory;




"The dealer is 95+- and has operated the dealership since 1945 until a few years ago. There only 3 employees all those years: the dealer, his wife, annd their mechanic (same guy throughout).


The dealer always paid cash to GM for new cars/trucks. If anything failed to sell (at his one-price asking price) during its current model year, he parked it out back. When the back lot was full, he started parking "left-overs" at his farm. If he never sold one, that was fine with him. It sat.


Interesting about the trade-ins. The dealer believed he was a new car seller, so he would not sell used cars. He took them as trade-ins, then parked them.


He lived through the rationing of WWII. He strongly believed it would or could happen again. He believed there would be another era when new car production would be shut down, like WWII. He believed the demand for used cars would then be overwhelming . . . and he would have a gold mine on the farm. That's why the auction inventory includes so many "trade-ins" that date back to his opening the dealership in 1945.


Odd way to run a dealership? Yes. But he sold a LOT of new cars for fair prices. He's said to be the last/only dealership that never financed its inventory. He did enough business to justify his existence to GM despite his chosen "business model."


My friend knows this (and more) quite well. He owned/operated a GM dealership apprx. 25 miles from this one.


So, if you want a fifty-something year old brand new car or truck with 10 or so actual miles, pony up the dinero and head for Nebraska in September. It will be well worth it!!


PS: There's a '64 Chevy Impala SS with minimal mileage (less than 20) that my friend said has been sitting in the front window of the shop (not the showroom) since new. It was in the same place every time my friend was there. He last visited the dealership in 2005 and it was still there then . . . since 1964!"

According to the video I linked, you don't have to go to Nebreaska, but can bid online. Great back story and I agree, strange way to run a dealership; but at least he was successful, so can't fault him there.

[Shep]

I always love me a good barn find! Man, a one-mile Chevy Pickup, ten-mile Corvair, these have got to be the lowest-mileage cars of that era ever in existence. A year or two ago at the Barrett Jackson auctions, there was a car (Camaro?) that was stolen right off a showroom floor in the back of a truck, and was still inside the truck when they found both in a barn. Six original miles, but due to the way Barrett-Jackson auctions work, it had at least nine by the time it left the stage. I can't even begin to imagine the kind of bragging rights that comes with being able to say "My 50's Chevy Pickup has one mile on it :hihi2: ". Sweet jesus, that has got to be the lowest-mileage car in existence that is as old as it is.

I can attest to the whole WWII thing. My grandmother grew up in that era, and after she passed, we found boxes and boxes and bags of the most god-awful garbage that should have been thrown away decades ago. I kid you not, one bag in her closet had nothing but socks with holes worn through them. Apparently growing up in the depression and WWII made her think that she would be forced to live off of what she had at some point, even though social security paid her disability. I'd imagine it's the same kind of logic that went into this guy's mind. Some call it hoarding, others call it careful planning. The problem is that even though he's sitting on a gold mine, he'll never get to truly enjoy all the things he could have had if he had sold the cars years ago and used the money to buy, say, a Yacht or something. It's a damn shame, but you'll never be able to change someone's mind who has that line of thinking.

(And yes, it's definitely much, much better with Chevy's than DeLoreans. I'd hate to see 50 barn find DeLoreans in one place. We get enough neglect in the For Sale section as it is :nervous: )

Thanks for posting this! :)

[dvonk]

wow, awesome. tons of cool old cars... love it. those pristine vehicles are going to haul in the money.

i guess sometimes it pays to be a hoarder--you just have to hoard the right stuff. :lol:

[pezzonovante88]

This one, right?

http://jalopnik.com/5829911/the-mystery-of-a-ghost-bmw-dealership
http://jalopnik.com/5856221/the-ghost-bmw-dealership-is-for-sale

I love this stuff too. These are incredible finds.

That's the place! Citation Motors.

[micmak]

That's the place! Citation Motors.

That garage is rumored to have several cars in the basement at the back. The building is such that there is the showroom just a little above ground level at the front, and behind it on a higher level is the office area which kinda overlooks the showroom. Then below the office area at the back is a workshop, part of which is below ground level. You can see the ramps going into and out of it at the back and the side of the building. All the windows and doors are very well masked off from the inside so you can't see a thing. Over the last 6 months or so, the two Beemers were removed from the showroom! Nobody saw it happening, and nobody knows what happened to them! The mystery deepens..... But the property is regularly maintained and flowers and shrubs are tended to at the front. It looks as if it is in business and just closed for the day! If you peek in a side window, you can see a fax machine in a back office which has a fax sitting on top dated 1986. It is fascinating.

......Mike......