A couple of us stopped by on the 16th & I stopped in on the 22nd on the way to Jefferson. It appears that they have been closed for a week or two. Don't have any info but I sure hope we don't loose that place any time soon, it would be a real blow to the WI car hobby. Maybe somebody knows sumptin...
Haven't been there for a few years but they have ,had, more Cadys in one place than I have ever seen before.Very cool yard. But the owner was probably much older than me and that is old so who knows.
not sure what is going on with the yard but Jack Bender died Nov. of 2019. Last I knew the son was running it.
Its been posted here. Jack has passed. I believe there is suppose to be an auction to sell off most of the toys and some of Jacks car collection, it sounds like the yard may still carry on, but that was not a total positive yet, from what I've read.
The auction was already. it was back in Feb. of 2020. the only news I know about the yard itself is that it was downsized. Jack had the whole area full of cars but jack did what jack wanted and they didn't pressure him but when he died the township pushed and now all the cars are back inside the fenced in perimeter and everything was cleaned up outside of the fence. I even noticed a few rolls of cars inside the fenced in area was gone too.
I heard their was/is an ownership squabble between the son and Doug (?, pretty sure that was his name, essentially Jack's right hand man, as I understand it-- and saw firsthand in my many trips there), so I'm going to try to dig up what I can about its current legal status. Just another example of when you have the opportunity, take advantage of it and GO. Last time I was there was 2017, maybe?
Yeh, the 2 kids are battling things out in court & Doug washed his hands of the whole deal (more or less)
Is the yard open for business? I have been there a number of times but it has been at least four or five years since the last visit. My impression was that it was very picked over, not many almost complete vehicles remaining. If I remember correctly the North (?) end of the yard was like a swamp and the South (?) end was full of ground moss and very soft. I remember Doug telling me there were other buildings off site that Jack had some cars stored, probably his favorite’s.
No, not currently. I think my first visit was in 2007, and I don't recall seeing many complete vehicles, unless they were newer (like late '80s and '90s). There was an incomplete bullet nose Studebaker coupe near the front of the yard, to the south of the main building, and I recall a Kaiser Manhattan, Nash Metropolitan (which was nose up and very picked over), VW Type 2 bus with the roof cut off, and a Thames panel van. It was a lot of work walking the entire yard, but so very worth it.
"Anything new? Is Jack's still there? Or cleaned out?" there is another thread floating around here but i stopped about a month ago. the yard is closed but it is still there.
Folks Of Interest - Jack's Auto Ranch? Watertown , Wis. | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com) this is another thread with more recent stuff on it. maybe i can swing that way in about 2 weeks or so when i go to town and see if it is still closed with no action going on or if something is happening again.
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