Anybody goin to the Lambrecht Chevrolet auction?

obviously some people don't live in the rust belt. Many of those" rusty" cars are near perfect for around here. Yes, they aren't worth a million bucks, but dam, an aged no mileage car or truck sounds tempting to me

 

I DO live in the Northeast rust belt, and I used to do rust repairs on mid 60s GM pickups for a living.

I have never seen a 60-66 GM pickup cab rust out from the inside, on the B pillar at head height. These cars/trucks never were aired out as they sat for 50 years, and they look like nightmares to me.

No miles? What does that matter if it's rusted out in weird places, stuck engines, rust on exposed gears in trans/rear ends, stuck brake cylinders, pitted drums, bad lines, bad gas tanks, etc etc. No thanks

 

Does any on live with in a hour or so that would let a few people camp in the yard or behind a barn. trying to get a couple of guys together to maybe road trip out. Really want to see this.

 

That's just it -- it doesn't explain. We still have the riddle of why Lambrecht curbed all those new cars and trucks for decades -- and then why he made no effort to preserve or stabilize them.

 

This is the most rational post on this entire thread. Junk is junk!

 

Maybe it just shows that the eccentric can be good business men too. We all have our vices and oddities. My wife keeps a list.

 

There is nothing about this story that would support the contention that this guy was a "good businessman" (i.e. smart auto dealer) if, as is obvious, he hoarded valuable vehicles and let them return to dust and lose the bulk of their value.

And before you tell me how they are still valuable....remember....a used '57 Chevy sedan's value in that era, say $2000, had as much purchasing power then as ten times that amount does today. But with rotted floors and interior, probably under $1k. So, with the possible exception of the better preserved of the 'new' vehicles, a lot of value has been lost in this process.

The fact that he survived in business for 50 years is the real miracle here.
Attribute that to otherwise low overhead.

And, several dealers I have known over the years have income from other sources....often farming. That would allow one to operate as they saw fit and still survive.

 

Exactly. I was talking to a very knowledgeable guy the other day who reminded me that the weather sealing was not the greatest back then, nor was the drainage. Over the decades, the vehicles that were stored outside certainly filled up with water multiple times.

 

The guys business plan, along with the estate planning, was pretty lax. If you think about it, it's a pretty sad indictment of the auto industry on the whole, as it existed up until recently. Complete morons could make so much money, in spite of themselves, that the entire industry imploded. From Detroit, all the way to Nebraska, sloppy work, poor planning, greed and out and out theft lead to the auto industry in America endig up like one of those forgotten Impala's. Moldy, rusted, abandoned shells of what they could have been.

Brian

 

It's funny reading the negative comments. Every day we see threads on floors being replaced / rust repair. There are tons of near perfect parts if nothing else. I wonder how many "naysayers" will be there with a pocket full of cash.

 

It's not that the cars, some of them brand new, some used trade in's, will need restoration, it's the SCALE of the whole thing. The sheer numbers, and the "What were they thinking?" factor makes it interesting. They'll bring stupid money, no doubt, as conversation pieces. If I had room, and some project money to spend, I'd be on something, but as it is, I've got enough projects to last the rest of my life, and certainly some would look in my shop now and think, "What is he thinking?"

Brian

 

Take a closer look at some of these "perfect parts". I was looking at the "new" 59 Chevy car; the close-up pic of the speedo shows hazed plastic lens on the speedo, and the plastic chrome had deteriorated. Then look at the rest of the car, don't be fooled by the term "new".

Yes, we restore outdoor finds and woods finds, but we pay squat for them. I don't see the glamour of paying hyped prices just to tell yourself it has 10 miles on it. Some of these cars/trucks, will actually need more involved restorations than a 120,000 mile car found in a barn.

On hamb, we also read threads of a whiner saying he bought a car long distance, and it was not as good as he thought. That is failure to "look" at the pics real closely, and with common sense, and some experience as to where to look.

 

Your point about competition is well taken. This was a remote rural dealership with a geographically protected territory. And it has been openly admitted, more or less, by the family that the dealer curbed the used cars simply to take them off the market.

It would also seem that of the new cars, there might be something wrong with each one, a little or a lot--transportation damage, ordering error, etc. The dealer may have obtained vehicles as salvage but then never destroyed them. It's said some cars don't have VIN plates...

...and it's also been suggested that units were curbed and eaten in order to meet annual PP/sales volume quotas. Unit cost and marketing allowance were highly dependent upon sales volume. It may have been convenient or even profitable, conceivably, to swallow a few units.

As you say, in those days a GM franchise was essentially a license to print money. A dealer could engage in any number of sketchy and/or dodgy practices and remain lucrative.

 

This is exactly what I was just sitting down to write. I want to keep track of who posts pictures, should be fun. Just don't spend too much on yoi parts car.

 

This is an interesting read about Mr. Lambrecht.

http://www.auctionzip.com/Listings/1815638.html

All the comments about rust are valid. I haven't seen anyone question the mechanical integrity of equipment sitting in a field unprotected from 50 winters of sub zero temperatures. There has to be freeze damage as well as the rust. My '38 sat in a pasture in Eastern Washington under similar conditions for over 30 years. You could see the cracks in the flathead from 20 feet away. The humidity in E. Washington is a lot less than in Nebraska but even so, rust was a major issue.

Looks to me like another sad story of once valuable merchandise that will be nearly impossible to salvage.

 

The first line in your post I can agree with.....in fact it is basically what I said in a prior post.

The rest of your rant, however is pure BS, typical of dealer haters who have no real knowledge of what running an auto dealership amounts to.

Are there morons in the auto business?.......maybe....but not for long and no more so than any other walk of life..........factory workers, lawyers, medical services personnel, grocers, undertakers............you name it...they ALL have egregious examples you can point to. But to indict an entire occupation because of the conspicuous minority is either careless commentary or ignorance.

The auto industry in America did not implode because of auto dealerships. It had a lot more to do with automakers products and years of kowtowing to Big Labor. There is plenty of blame to go around.

I suppose you would also blame "Realtors" for the housing industry bust?

On a more positive note, I have followed your builds and admire your work. The '36 Ford, Diamond T, the travel trailer restoration, the GMC truck and your Pontiacs are all first rate.
You are a very talented person.

 

Absolute bitching, fussing and sussing over nothing. And defending the dealers because you were one. Only took a few (in any field) bad one's to taint the rest. Why? Bored. Ego.

 

Yeah............you're right................."sticks and stones................"

 

Whoa. I worked in the car business for 10 years, and I can tell you first hand that, as Bill pointed out, in the past having a GM deal was a license to print money. Maybe more accurately, a license to steal. If a dealership opened it's doors and could figure out where the light switch was, they made money. STUPID money. Not to say that everybody in the car business was a crook or stupid, but there were plenty to go around. I worked with, and for both kinds. It's a pretty big leap on your part to state that I'm a "...dealer hater..." because I pointed out that (particularly in the past) car dealerships may have been operated in a manner that would make Bugsy Segal look like a rotarian.

It's not a rant, it's a fact that the auto industry stepped on it's collective dick during the last part of the 20th century, loosing market share, the trust and good will of it's customer base in the process. That permeated the business from the manufactures, to the dealership. There was so much money to be made at every level, nobody looked past the end of the month, or the end of the year. This auction, and the story behind it, are testimony to that, any way you look at it.

Bill made a point I hadn't thought of, in that curbing cars, new and used, served a purely selfish and greedy business philosophy. I overlooked that, and thought the "collection" was simply poor business practice. In reality, it's probably a bit of both. If you can argue how it's possible to let set dozens of brand new cars after the end of the model year, for decades, and not try to sell, even make a rudimentary attempt to preserve them, I'd like to hear it.

Further, where does politics come into any of this? I don't know what your political beliefs are, you don't know mine, so why do you feel the need to go there? I didn't bring up at all. It doesn't matter. That has NOTHING to with this topic. You don't have to be Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Socialist to see that hoarding inventory, and leaving ones family a gigantic mess to clean up, is a baffling way to conduct business.

I'd STILL like to be able to go and buy a '65 or '66 Impala SS with a 396 and 4 speed, knowing it would need a total rebuild, but I can't. It's not whining, it is what it is...

Brian

 

Well before the time stamp of your post, I deleted the reference to politics. Note the time stamp of my "edit"............

And, if you read my earlier post about Lamprecht, I stated he was not an example of "good businessman", if that is defined by stewardship of assets and resources.

That said, however, I wholly support his right to have run his business in any manner he chose, however inefficient. His money, his business, his choice.

As for the "stupid money" made by dealerships.........believe it or not, well run stores net about 2 to 3 percent on gross sales dollars, from all departments, before taxes. The only reason that adds up to "stupid money" is that they handle huge amounts of money simply because of the bulk of sales are high ticket goods. But, if you do the reciprocal math, it means that of every dollar that comes into a dealership from all sources, 97 to 98 cents go back out in overhead.

Also, the investment required to run a modern dealership is in the multi millions for land, buildings, equipment, parts inventory. Typically the cars are floor planned and represent millions more. Given the investment, 2 to 3 percent net before taxes doesn't seem all that "stupid" unless you mean no one in their right mind would risk so much for so little.

The vulnerabilities to forces beyond a dealer's control are comparable to what crop farmers face, only dealers don't have the govt subsidies to underwrite their risks.

 

It IS in deed a very sore spot for you. Something really dig's in on this whole dealership thing. More to the picture, than meets the eye. How does this spin from Hot Rod's & Custom web site to the wheeler dealer topic?

 

Isn't saving old cars & enjoying them what this website is about? Bill

 

With all the hype and exposure, there isn't gonna be anything there I could afford. I'll watch online if there's some u-tube stuff coming.
A trucker buddy of mine says he saw a spot on the news in San Diego regarding the sale! And I've also heard the family has received several offers to buy the entire inventory for mega-bucks....turned them down.

 

Okay, we agree that Lambrecht did mystifying things from a business standpoint, and his family has, depending on how the sale turns out, a giant mess or a windfall. I'm not in the car business any longer, and I don't care one way or another how any deal operates these days, but I will give you that it's lots tougher now than in the good old days. Running the 3% alone didn't work then, and it surely doesn't work now.

As for the rest, truce! I disagree with lots of my friends, let alone complete strangers on the interweb...

Brian

 

There is nothing more to it than tiring of the frequent bashing of dealers, their methods, integrity, etc., etc. by people who are generally uniformed on the topic yet feel qualified to judge what they don't know.

I didn't raise the subject, I responded to it.

As for having some sort of burr under one's saddle, you have quite consistently taken any opportunity you can find to attack and/or challenge me without any direct provocation. So far as I know we have never met, you really know nothing about me but your suppositions, but "something really digs in on this. More to the picture than meets the eye" eh?

Do me the courtesy of telling me why you feel compelled to do that.
Or not..........I can do what you do and just speculate as to your motivations.

 

Kind of a rough crowd here speculating, though obviously we all wonder what in the world these owners were thinking.

On the other hand, the bulk of these low mile cars were kept around during a period 50 years ago when the dealership and the owners were in their prime. Perhaps the guy was just a car nut that enjoyed having his collection and they were all mostly cared for back then?

Fast forwarding 50 years is hard on any body, steel or flesh.

It sure would be great to hear an honest interview from the owners of how this collection really happened, and why.




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From what I hear in the Omaha area, a lot of guys are just going to look. They figure with all the hype, the "stupid money" will come out. (Their quote - not mine.) This thing was advertised nationwide. I'm not even curious enough to drive up there.

 

got a couple customers going....not sure if he's buying or just for the show...

 

day one of the sale is now open on proxibid. HOLY COW, some of the cars are already bringing crazy money, and the auction is still 38 days away!! i know one of mine is already out of range for me. so much for the element of auction day suprise!

https://www.proxibid.com/asp/AuctionsByCompany.asp?ahid=1530&gclid=CLHzn4vxjbkCFSgS7Aod43UA5g

 

Here we go! Off and running.