Everybody's got stories of secret salvage yards filled with old cars. Here's one that takes the cake: In Quarryville PA there was a Dodge Dealer named Winnie Hogg, who had the unusual sales approach of putting a take-it-or-leave-it price on his inventory. If he didn't get the price, he wouldn't lower it; any unsold cars just sat on the lot. Anyway, over the next 30 years the unsold cars began to accumulate on his lot, rotting, with 0 miles. Eventually the dealership closed down in 1984, and the cars were auctioned off. Here's a pic of them in 1984. Winnie Hogg Auction, 1984? by Hugo90, on Flickr More of the story at Jalopnik: http://jalopnik.com/5704771/a-car-dealership-frozen-in-time-for-30-years
Sorry... reading the story again, I see these were actually used cars, but mostly lightly used trade-ins. Some of the cars were only 1 or 2 years old when he got them.
I swear some of the car dealerships around here work that same way There is one guy who operates a used car dealer in a not so near by town. He has got a yard full of cars in the back that he can't sell because he is so darn unreasonable on some of the prices. Funny thing is some of the cars on the lot are really good deals. I have no idea what goes through his head when he prices them out.
A small Used car dealer in WV about (5) miles from my house had about 15 used cars sitting there when I moved down there. When I left and moved back to WI after almost 6 years, they all were still sitting there, plus some more....all collecting that dirty wet leaf black crap, and never moved....what a shame...
I went to a Mecum auction a few years ago and they had an immaculate '69 Corvair 2 dr hardtop from Alabama with less than 20 miles on it. Apparently owned by the dealer, who socked it away thinking it would eventually fetch big bucks as a last year model. If I recall, I think it only brought $6000.
Someone around here has a new Vega...it has the bicentennial decal pack, which I think must surely push value below zero. Still has some curiosity value...probably the only non-drag car Vega left in recognizable form.
The latest AUTOWEEK issue reported a 1963 Monza coupe (not a Spyder) with a few ticks over 3,000 miles sold for $19k and some change...that has to be some kind of a Corvair record... Seems that the lots don't sit on cars around here anymore. They just go to the bi-weekly auction, then to another lot...crazy...all about "fresh" inventory. That's a pretty crazy shot on the first post.
You have read the story about the early Vette sealed up in a cinderblock room in the back of a grocery store right mike?
There is a used car dealer around here who is the same way, never sells a thing because his prices are too high and they just sit, then he would haul them up the hill to the back woods . He did this for years, then in 2002 decided to clean out. Started selling the cars out of the woods for $20 each to a dumbass kid who just scrapped them. All 50s and 60s, mostly base models though. I heard about it and had him bring me two (for $60 bucks each) a '67 Cutlass 4dr, rusty from sitting but only 30,000 miles, great parts car, and a '58 Belvedere, red and white 2 door, rotted bad but complete. Looked EXACTLY like Christine, it was crazy. That car dealer now has a lot full of 80s and 90s stuff, just sitting there rotting.
Matter of fact, if you google earth map Covington PA, you can see the lot just east of town on the Old State/ Frost Settlement rd, keep heading east a mile and you can see a bunch by the road, straight south of that 1000 feet is the patch of woods with the old stuff. Map pic is old though, most are gone now.
Damnned if he didn't show ya. You don't like it, take a hike and I will keep it forever. I have also seen a lot of antique stores with this attitude, inventory sitting in the same spot for a decade or more. They didn't even move it around like the smart old car dealers did. An't life strange? ~sololobo~
I know of a family that has a brand new 1969 Corvair that still has the hubcaps in the paper sleeves. One of the last ten off the line. It sits in one of two heated shops along with a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air FI convertible with less than 5,000 original miles, a 1956 Nomad with less than 5,000 original miles, and a 1957 FI Corvette with less than 30,000 original miles. These are and look like new cars. They have been owned by the same family. Their father was a Chevy dealer who had some bucks and would drive a new car home once in awhile to store.
all car people are a bit eccentric.. aren't we.. yes..what? pointing finger at you .. you and of coarse you...
Wasn't there an old Chevrolet agency in Northeastern Nebraska like that? I remember seeing pictures of a early 60s pickup in the back lot with less than a thousand miles, plus the guy allegedly had several unsold "new" Chevies stored on his farm. Real or not? Just found the post on that "barn find" site, being a FNG I don't know if cross-posting is OK on the HAMB, and pretty much all of the cars are OT.
I remember reading about that auction some years back. There was a used car dealer in Selma, Ca. called Glen's used cars, that closed down in the mid to late sixties, leaving all the cars on their lot. These were not even behind a chain link fence, and the inevitable vandalism occurred, all glass was broken out. These cars were all fifties and sixties vintage, and were not for sale, according to the property owner. An auction was finally held in the late eighties, and most cars sold for $50-$300. In Salt Lake city on Redwood road, there was another used car dealer that had a large field behind his property, this was fenced in, however, and he had all his trade ins going back to '30's vintage iron. Again, nothing was ever for sale. The entire collection disappeared in the late eighties also, but I know nothing about where, why, or who. Maybe someone on this board knows what developed here. ---John
This is a new car but we lived across from the owner of a Chevy Dealership in my hometown. He brought home a '78 Corvette Pace Car on a flatbed and put it up on blocks with 5 miles on the odometer. When he passed his son inherited it and was renting the house. My sister and husband rented the house for a bit in the late 90's and the car was still there. I went and looked at it. It had all of the stickers and plastic still on it from being delivered. It was very nice and still smelled new inside. I talked to the son and he thought when he sold it he'd put his kids through college. Then he found out that there wasn't much demand for that car at all. My parent's moved about 10 years ago. Not sure if it is still there or not.
There was a Ford dealership in CT that was the same way. The guy had a chain link fence with barbwire around the top. What a way to lure customers?!! Finally went bust and someone else took over the Ford dealership. I took a look behind the dealership, the back lot so to speak. There was a lot of late 60s early 70s tradeins. Nothing really impressed me so I never persued it any further. I dont know what happened to the cars.
i know of a real new car a 96 dodge viper gts coupe blue/ white stripes was owned by the owner of the dodge deasler where i used to work it just sat in the showroom had to have less then a thousand miles on it when they closed all the dodge dealers down a couple years ago the dealer was one of them so i dont knbow where the car went from there the owner of the dealership allways said he wanted to buy a 65 dodge AWB and just park it in the showroom to attract customers never did though he didnt understand you have to spend money to make money (one of the reasons chrysler closed him down) the dealership was in the original AMC (in our town)dealership building building is still there now its just another of the tons of used cars lots around
Yeah they were slow and silver "leather" interior...hmmmm not so much. We did see the decals in the back hatch never installed. I'm sure for a museum it would be great but its not going to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The last I heard was that the owner died and his kids sold the store. The new owners refused to let them get the car claiming the walls were part of the structure. Never heard the outcome.
There was a happy ending, I have it in print somewhere. I looked online last night and could not dig up the info. Thought of a different search and found it in seconds http://www.proteam-corvette.com/entombed.html
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