For Chevrolet aficionados, the sale of the century

Auction-watchers and car-collectors have used phrases like “field of dreams” and “wheels of fortune” and “mother lode” to describe the sale, on 28 and 29 September, of some 500 vintage cars – most of them Chevrolets from the 1950s and ‘60s, on a family farm in Pierce, Nebraska. The auction featured cars that ranged from outdoor-kept rust buckets to garage-preserved time machines, along with a vast array of auto-dealer ephemera, including signs, posters and car parts. The collection represents what’s left of Lambrecht Chevrolet, a dealership that closed its doors in 1996. Owner Ray Lambrecht, now a spry 96 years old, had the unusual habit of storing trade-ins and model-year leftovers rather than reselling them. And that is how these survivors have passed time ever since, gathering dust in a Lambrecht warehouse or resisting the elements in a nearby field.

The two-day sale attracted some 10,000 Chevy aficionados – serious bidders and the merely curious – to this town of 1,700 residents, with online bidding attracting would-be buyers from all over the world.

The star of the show was the blue 1958 Chevrolet Cameo pickup truck pictured here. With a dented roof and a scant 1.3 miles on its odometer, the truck brought a cool $142,000. Other highlights included a red ’63 Impala with 11 miles showing and protective plastic on the seats that sold for $97,500, and a dusty 1978 Corvette Indianapolis 500 Pace Car edition with only 4 miles on its odometer, which brought $80,000.


/BBC/