Lambrecht Auction – Day 2 Deals and Revenge Buys
Lambrecht’s Chevy Auction Wows’m all in Nebraska
“Every state, including Alaska and 20 countries represented”
Story and photos by Jim Volgarino
It may have been the most common sentence stated during the entire Lambrecht Chevrolet auction.
“This is just crazy!”
Following a first day session where the group of MSO vehicles brought prices that were making people gulp pretty hard, there was still an expectation that the remaining inventory, much of it rated #5 which meant it was close to being just good for parts, might still get some solid prices. That remainder didn’t disappoint.
The auction company has a complete listing of the final sales prices on all the units, but some of the best examples may have been these:
1967 GMC pickup, no box, ¾ ton, decent sheet metal, engine frozen, interior trashed–$4500
1949 Chevy 3600 pickup, the heavy duty version with long box, etc., windows broken, interior eaten by mice–$5500
1960 Chevy Apache pickup, ½ ton, nothing special–$6300
1958 Ford Ranch Wagon, rated #5, yes, there were Fords available–$9000
1980 Chevy Monza, 9.4 miles, but who cares because these were not good cars in the first place–$4000
Completely trashed 1963 Impala SS convertible, interior totally gone, no top, looked like it had been dropped into a vat of acid–$7500
1949 Oldsmobile convertible, very rare, great sheet metal, appeared to have all trim, no top or interior, lots of interest before the sale–$9000
People were scratching their heads wondering how some of these could bring such steep prices, but there was a general feeling that the serious buyers there were determined to buy what they wanted and take home “a Lambrecht auction car”.
A local buyer loading up a beat up 70s vintage pickup said he planned to restore it, despite its rough condition. “I’ve been trying to buy something from this place for years,” he said, “but Lambrecht would have nothing to do with me. Now I’ve got what I want.” Maybe a revenge buy?
The second day buyers, though thinner in crowds (Saturday’s estimated crowd was 20,000+), was just as determined to get purchases completed and vehicles on trailers. The auction company had a huge fork lift on site ready to pluck any vehicle from its display place and plop it on a trailer. No problem. And some who had purchased vehicles on Saturday, including the buyer of the 1964 Chevy station wagon (326 miles) who was getting after the task of getting the wagon started and ready to roll, right on the spot. And it did indeed run though he said the brakes were pretty much shot.
The auction company had nearly 3000 onsite bidders register to compete in person for the collection of vintage iron on the 80 acre spread that had been created to display the entire Lambrecht fleet. Another 4000+ bidders registered online through Proxibid. Overall the attendees came from every state in the continental United States including Alaska, and over 20 countries.
There was not a hotel room to be found within 200 miles of Pierce and the people of the little town seemed to enjoy the economic boost this group of automotive fanatics brought to their community. “I never imagined that bunch of old rusted cars that was hidden in a grove of trees I drove by regularly would ever get this kind of interest,” said one local lady who was fascinated with talking to the various auction goers. “We (the local town people) just saw them as just another bunch of junk cars, which isn’t unusual to see in our part of the country.”
It just might be that Nebraska could become a new “car prospector’s” gold mine. Watch out Cornhuskers. The car crazies are headed your direction!
Check out the Lambrecht Auction Page to see every story.
Tags
Related Posts
Share This
