I talked to John Crabtree (I think he went by Black Hills Antique Auto or something like that) yesterday and he is selling everything on Auction July 30. Vanderbrink is doing the auction. The last time I was out there he had hundreds of cars from the 20s to early 60s. I think the 61 Impala convertibles were the newest stuff I saw out there.
Looking at Google Earth I see a lot of bare spots. Looks like he's gotten rid of a lot either by selling complete cars or crushing. I know a few years ago his son Sean was selling quite a bit on Ebay
Sean went off to work somewhere else several years ago and John has been doing it himself. I looked on Vanderbrinks site too and no pictures yet but the July 30th sale says it is in Rapid City. I wouldn't think he would move everything there, that's 50-60 miles from his place.
I know he's in New Castle, he was when I dealt with John awhile back. But he was selling things on EBay for John back then. He's still selling parts there are they his or Johns?
The sale wasn't too bad. It ended just in time for everyone though. A terrific rainstorm hit just a couple of hours after the sale was done. It resulted in a flash flood of the place and many cars are now under water. I'm including a couple of pictures and where it just shows water it because the water is deep enough that the cars are completely under water. Another picture shows the high water line the morning after the flood. The picture showing the log on the driveway is the result of the water flowing high and fast enough to put that log there.
Wow, incredible pictures, hope no one's new treasures got too badly damaged by the flood waters. What were prices like? I'm always curious to know what stuff like that sells for. Anything particularly rare or desirable?
For the most part the cars under water were just stripped out hulks, but it's still give the guys who bought them a lot of work cleaning all the crap off. I saw a 90's Lincoln Towncar floating for a bit then it was nose down and soon out of sight. I didn't think most prices were bad. The T cpe was in nice shape and brought I think $2600. The 50 Ford convert, gray with Pontiac trim, only brought $3K but I could see there was quite a bit of bondo in it. I think probably it was just covering dents. Tons of sheet metal and parts with some going extremely reasonable as the auctioneer was determined to be done on Sat rather than going over into Sun. In hindsight that was a good decision as the auctioneer got her office trailer out of the fast rising water just in time as they had water coming in the door before they got it to higher ground. Sun a new road was being cut in the yard area so she could get her truck and trailer out
The Jalopy Journal
