Starting to get ready for the first auction.....

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quads

Minister of Fire
Nov 19, 2005
2,744
Central Sands, Wisconsin
In the last three days, we have lined up 75 cars in the pasture. There are approximately 50 more to go before we are ready for even the first auction of the estate. These are just the cars that sat outside, there are many good ones that are inside, most of which we won't move out until the auction, especially the convertibles. Not counting all the tractors, farm machinery, household items, etc. etc. Sometimes it all seems overwhelming and we will never get done!
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I heard a rumor once, many years ago, that one of my ancestors on this farm had acquired part of the local gristmill. I found this hidden in a bunch of brush and was wondering if maybe this was it, but I do not know. Once upon a time there was a steam engine on the farm too, but I don't think this would have been part of that. The large gear is about 3 feet in diameter or so.
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WOW..........wish it wasn't so far away. It looks to be an awesome auction for sure.
 
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Lots of History on that Farm....... As always. Appreciate the pics...

Hope the auction goes off well......
 
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Well, I talked to a guy last night that knew my great uncle. The big gear box is actually a sorghum mill that belonged to my great grandfather and his brothers and the flywheel is from a steam engine that blew up on the north side of the millpond. So that's where I got all my rumors mixed up. HAHA!
 
Wow..That is a cool collection of old vehicles, hope you can get a picture of the ones that have been stored inside. Good luck with the auction and keep your eyes open for this guy (If he shows up, you know you have something special)!

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Thanks! We don't have a date yet for the car auction, but as it gets closer I will take a few more detailed pics. Plus, the auctioneers will be advertising it.
 
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Quads, how about more car pics. I can't believe there are 100+ cars scattered throughout this property. Were they originally purchased, gotten for free etc.........
 
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Quads, wow thats alot of old cars. how many acres were they spread over? i might have to go to an auction in Wisconsin ;)
 
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Quads, wow thats alot of old cars. how many acres were they spread over? i might have to go to an auction in Wisconsin ;)
He owned 575 acres. The cars outside were only on a few acres, and down one hedgerow. So far all the better cars that were stored in the sheds are still in the sheds. Only the outside cars are lined up in the pasture so far.
 
Quads, how about more car pics. I can't believe there are 100+ cars scattered throughout this property. Were they originally purchased, gotten for free etc.........
I don't have a lot of individual car pics yet, but I will take a bunch eventually. And the auctioneers will. As of tonight we have 96 moved out there. There are only about 5 more 'outside' cars to move. The outside cars are pretty tough, mostly. The better cars are inside and there are probably about 40 of those. Not even sure yet. Many were purchased, some were free, some were traded for parts for other cars, etc. etc.

Here is a pic of some of the farm machinery that we started to line up today:
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And the 96 cars as of tonight:
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And here is the machine we rented to move most of the outside cars out of the bushes!
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He had all this stuff and the day he died his bank account was overdrawn!
 
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He had all this stuff and the day he died his bank account was overdrawn!

Wow that's a shame Quads. Still sorry to hear about how all this came about. Just think there probably was $30,000 in scrap just in those cars in the brush
 
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Wow that's a shame Quads. Still sorry to hear about how all this came about. Just think there probably was $30,000 in scrap just in those cars in the brush
Well, we have been doing some figuring, and with the current price of scrap minus the cost of having them hauled etc, there is more like $45,000 worth of scrap in those cars. Not counting all the other scrap and farm equipment. So either way, even if nobody bought anything for other than scrap there is still money in it. My cousin could have sold the cows ($35,000 was the final check for the herd) and then had rummage sales/sold scrap for the rest of his life and would have had plenty of money. Not counting the 575 acres, all the houses he owned, etc etc..........
 
Sounds like a classic hoarder......my neighbor down the road probably has close to $100k in scrap machinery and refuses to sell it.
 
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I hope not all of those cars are scrapped . . . some look like they could be the start of a nice restoration or the foundation for a hot rod.
 
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I hope not all of those cars are scrapped . . . some look like they could be the start of a nice restoration or the foundation for a hot rod.
Well, probably not all of them will be scrapped, but that depends whether anyone buys them. You just never know how auctions will go. Certainly the inside cars should go to restorers/collectors, but I imagine the scrappers will be there bidding on everything too.
 
wow, amazing thread, i really hope you continue it and add more details and pics.... amazing stuff to me, id have that big ole' gear and motor powerwashed and painted and planted right at the end of my driveway if i could =P i want more pics inside that barn of everything not just cars (if you get a chance sometime without getting in trouble or anything?)

The owner was probably happy to have his farm and didn't "want" for anything (i know alot of old timers who are quite happy with that, so dont feel to bad for him, he died on his land, his farm with his stuff and theres alot to be said for that)
 
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A friend of mine has an uncle that likes to collect things. I think he has seven model Ts in a barn, the contents of two blacksmith shops and another barn full of every pipe fitting you could every want plus a lot of brass valves and fixtures from old papermills. He really wont sell anything but on rare occasion might trade. In his later years his wife will make the comment when he brought things home that "they would look good at the auction" as she has told him that when he passes, she plans to auction the whole pile. Unfortunately I think his kids already have the auctioneers phone number on speed dial as they dont want to have anything to do with it.

I dont know if its a hoarding mentality or more of someone brought up in the depression as to those folks "stuff" is far more valuable than paper money
 
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wow, amazing thread, i really hope you continue it and add more details and pics.... amazing stuff to me, id have that big ole' gear and motor powerwashed and painted and planted right at the end of my driveway if i could =P i want more pics inside that barn of everything not just cars (if you get a chance sometime without getting in trouble or anything?)

The owner was probably happy to have his farm and didn't "want" for anything (i know alot of old timers who are quite happy with that, so dont feel to bad for him, he died on his land, his farm with his stuff and theres alot to be said for that)
Sure, I'll take lots of pics eventually. I won't get into trouble, it's my stuff now! HA! Well, partially mine anyway.
 
A friend of mine has an uncle that likes to collect things. I think he has seven model Ts in a barn, the contents of two blacksmith shops and another barn full of every pipe fitting you could every want plus a lot of brass valves and fixtures from old papermills. He really wont sell anything but on rare occasion might trade. In his later years his wife will make the comment when he brought things home that "they would look good at the auction" as she has told him that when he passes, she plans to auction the whole pile. Unfortunately I think his kids already have the auctioneers phone number on speed dial as they dont want to have anything to do with it.

I dont know if its a hoarding mentality or more of someone brought up in the depression as to those folks "stuff" is far more valuable than paper money
Really, my cousin made that hoarding TV show look like amateurs! You guys don't know the half of it. Consider this, he owned 3 farms, 5 houses, an auto parts store, an auto body repair shop, and many many other buildings (all filled to the brim with cars and everything). Him and his mother (he was a bachelor that lived with his mother, and she died ten years ago at 90) kept every single card they ever received (many of which still had money in them, some 50 dollar bills even) and they had more clothes than I have ever seen in a clothing store, a large percentage still had the price tags on them and had never been worn! Goodwill has sure been happy with us, 40 large trash bags full of new clothes and still counting. It just goes on and on. I can't even begin to describe to you how he lived. I was about the only person that knew the extent of it while he was still alive. The other relatives are still in amazement, having found out after he died.
 
Really, my cousin made that hoarding TV show look like amateurs! You guys don't know the half of it. Consider this, he owned 3 farms, 5 houses, an auto parts store, an auto body repair shop, and many many other buildings (all filled to the brim with cars and everything). Him and his mother (he was a bachelor that lived with his mother, and she died ten years ago at 90) kept every single card they ever received (many of which still had money in them, some 50 dollar bills even) and they had more clothes than I have ever seen in a clothing store, a large percentage still had the price tags on them and had never been worn! Goodwill has sure been happy with us, 40 large trash bags full of new clothes and still counting. It just goes on and on. I can't even begin to describe to you how he lived. I was about the only person that knew the extent of it while he was still alive. The other relatives are still in amazement, having found out after he died.

can we say EBAY BABY! =P
 
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Really, my cousin made that hoarding TV show look like amateurs! You guys don't know the half of it. Consider this, he owned 3 farms, 5 houses, an auto parts store, an auto body repair shop, and many many other buildings (all filled to the brim with cars and everything). Him and his mother (he was a bachelor that lived with his mother, and she died ten years ago at 90) kept every single card they ever received (many of which still had money in them, some 50 dollar bills even) and they had more clothes than I have ever seen in a clothing store, a large percentage still had the price tags on them and had never been worn! Goodwill has sure been happy with us, 40 large trash bags full of new clothes and still counting. It just goes on and on. I can't even begin to describe to you how he lived. I was about the only person that knew the extent of it while he was still alive. The other relatives are still in amazement, having found out after he died.

You're a good man...I don't know what I would have done if I was in your position, But I tend to think all the work you & your family are doing would annoy the heck out of me! That being said, Please keep the pictures coming because I am fascinated by all the cars and equipment! Thanks for letting us in on the action!
 
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