Hot Rods Incredible Estate Stash in Colorado

Why? There's a small fortune in stuff there, pretty easy sell, desirable stuff, and the govt didn't tax it like cash over all these years. So they have to work at it in order to harvest the value. I feel good for the family.

 

I guess you never had to clear out and clean up after a family member passes. It's not about the monetary side of things, but rather the huge burden it puts on people to clean up someone else mess while still navigating their own life. We are not talking days or weeks, but many months to clean this up. As "neat and cool" as all of this stuff being there, hoarding to this degree is a form of mental illness, plain and simple. Since cleaning up after my Dad and brother died, I have reduced my collection greatly as to not put someone else in the position I got put in. Sometimes it's better to think of others rather than just yourself for everyones sake..

 

Well, yes I have. My own and others in fact, and helped a lot too. Sadly you'll miss the new episode of America's Got Talent and to make it worse your fuckin fingernails get dirty. It's part of life. It isn't for nothing when it's like this. Now if all this was bags of garbage, pop bottles, newspapers, or any number of hoarding sicknesses I'd have the due empathy you seem to feel I'm incapable of. This is value. This is good stuff. This is easy to liquidate. Every reward in life worth having is worked for, and I'm sorry you think some physical labor and dirty jeans and boots are a crime against his surviving family members. This as nice as I can be since I sense a distinct foul odor of disdain and disrespect here. And just saying fuck off or shut the fuck up wouldn't be appropriate given that you may have indeed dealt with the garbage version. This isn't hoarding per se. Can you swear he didn't often sell stuff to pay his bills or fund getting more good stuff over all these years? Just stop. This is "The Jalopy Journal" not the latest episode of "Hoarders" on TLC. Happy New Year.

 

If you don't see this as hoarding, then I'm not quite sure what can be said then. You are only seeing the car side of this job, there's a ton more there than just that. As far as name calling, I'll pass thanks.

 

Lots of tires…..

 

Ah yes, the "mental illness" card has been played. Surprised it took this long.

 

Is this still available ? It's already priced at scrap prices but Will you take less? Will you deliver or meet me half way ? Ill be there in 20 minutes, 8hours ago. Its amassed by the spoonful and usually leaves by the dumpster load.

 

I wish people would worry about themselves and not worry about speculating about other people, it would be way easier for everyone

 

Well said partsdawg! And no he did not put anything on his family! I hate hearing this! If his family is interested in these parts, they will enjoy separating them and selling them or keeping some of it! If it’s a burden for the family, they can hire companies to do everything and cash a huge check! Either way is correct!
I started trying to liquidate my stash….more cars, but not as good of cars as this cat! My son said “ wait a minute , dad, I want this one and that one….so I will just keep most of them, sell a few , maybe. Like this guy, I enjoy having and looking at my stuff and still dream of building them….maybe tomorrow!




Bones

 

It's funny how a thread that has a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, so to speak, can go to shit so fast. I was excited to see such a treasure trove so close to home. I've seen HOARDERS first hand and this dude doesn't fit the bill. He seemed very passionate as to what he was saving, certainly not trash or junk. I would love to wade thru it personally. I'm sorry for the family's loss, loving cars and things mechanical is not a disease but an experience only the true gearhead can appreciate. Mitch

 

No one answered if it is coming up for auction.

 

Well said , Mitch!

I personally think the neat freaks are mentally ill!





Bones

 

Back to regular programming. The Youtube video was posted the same day as @swade41 posted it here....12/26. All of the Google Maps image captures are dated 10/2024. Can't find any estate sale/auction, past or future, listed for this.....so I'm thinking a lot of this stuff may still be there.

 

That is an amazing amount of good stuff. Looks like paradise to me.

 

Nice detective work Joe Blow

 

Thanks Mitch....I see a road trip in your future.

 

Saw a post on IG, someone I've talked to a time or 3. He's loading up probably as we speak (type?). Going to good hands, not a greedy sack of shit with visions of dollar plums dancing in their heads. And for the record I'll stand by my sentiments 100%. There's indeed professional help involved and surviving family will be happy. I have no details so don't ask.

 

how anyone could look at this as a negative for the family baffles the mind. how much money did this guy give for all that stuff? 30K 50? that's a lot of stuff and the smalls add up to way more that what a person might think.

 

if I inherited that stash I'd advertise and charge admission, no money involved but each person would have to take a tire with them when they left.

 

It's why you could not find parts you need when you need and why some younger hot rodders gave up on pre 48 cars. So now we have mostly older guys building but really not so much. so projects don't sell well the whole hoarding thing has driven the price of our hobby thru roof. What a shame it would have been for a house fire .we see this all over the country old guys tip over and the their stash comes available only slot of us are timing out

 

The guy that posted the video is a flipper.... So I’m sure it will be picked over if there is an auction.

 

So many 32 parts......wow

 

Younger guys giving up. Hmm, 3 guys in their 20s drove their MODEL T TOURINGS from Detroit to Hershey and back. No trailers, no backup rigs. A dozen or more young'uns hanging at the space off n on all week. Lots of guys way more youthful than I walking Hershey too even tho it was lean year due to the hurricanes. I think this lifestyle is alive and well for several generations to come, and these guys SAVED THIS STUFF so the new guys can play too. Or, just focus on the mopes who'd rather have the latest $1,200 iPhone and forget about the ones carving out their legacies right now. How old is Brian Bass? Henry from Steadfast? Bill Ganhal? A lot fuckin younger than me, what are they doing? LOOK OUT!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!! AAHHHGH!!!!

 

Never said all young guys said some.there are lots of young talented guys building cars . When I see such a hoard of parts hidden away I have to ask why ? yes he saved some good stuff that I hope gets used. The sky falling.... guess that your opinion don't know where that came from you have a great day

 

No such thing as a hoarder in my opinion. Guys like this are collectors just the same as the folks who have collections of cars in private or public displays. Same passion for finding and saving cars and parts as any of us. They get labeled as hoarders usually by those who don't have the drive or desire to do the work to save this amount of vintage tin over all the years it took. All those parts were available locally but he went out and got them. One guy can have 5 project cars in a shop with rare hard to find parts scattered about with none of it for sale but since he built a car or two and his shop is open to visitors he's deemed a collector. Another guy has 3 cars in the backyard and a few hard to find parts in the garage with nothing for sale and a "get off my lawn" attitude and gets the 'hoarder' tag.

 

Well said partsdawg kinda puts it in right perspective for me

 

This has been a very interesting read so far. And many opinions expressed as well.
I just want to add a few observations as triggered by the comments by @partsdawg .

Through the advent of Google Earth, it was fascinating to get a good look from a variety of different angles of the property there in Trinidad.

One thing I noticed was the roofs of the three houses, all of those roofs were in very good condition, no obvious damage and no shingles loose or coming apart.

To me that meant that the owner cared about not having water come through the roof.

Now granted, the rest of the buildings may have been a bit ram shackled and worn down, but for the most part, they were still in tact and not sinking into the ground.

When you take a look at the surrounding neighborhood and around those three houses, for the most part, there were not a lot of weeds grown up, and it appears that most of the deceased mans neighbors, were very tolerant and understanding about all of the cars that the man had collected and stored.

I have watched that video over several times, it still fascinates me.

To me the man wasn't a hoarder, he was a collector of parts and various other things that caught his eye, and it was obvious that he knew was he was collecting.

The jury is still out as to the fate and future of all of those parts and cars and all things automotive related that was in those houses.

But with the advent such websites as the H.A.M.B. and with the aid of current tools such as Google Earth, to me it seems that this particular stash of parts etc, is going to have an interesting future, as far as distribution and sale of the huge inventory.

There used to be a business at 7407 Aurora Ave N 98103 Seattle Washington.

It was known as McDonald Motors, I used to drive by it a lot, and always noticed the cool neon sign in the window that was the emblem of the Hudson Motor Car Company. Plus there was a sign for International trucks as well.

Back in the early 80s, I decided to stop in and finally see what was inside of the building.
I am glad I did.
The place was a sanitary, well kept time machine, that for the most part, had not changed a thing since the 40's/50's.
The parts counter was still there, the racks of parts books, vintage chairs, and old school green and black tile floors.

He even had a variety of vintage transmission jacks for cars and trucks that you could rent from him!

I met the owner of the building, Mr. Sid McDonald. He was already getting up there in years.

Long story short, I asked him about the Hudson sign, and he showed me the back room where there was an incredible arrangement of NOS Hudson parts, everything from special tools, to brand new Hudson exhaust parts, racks and racks of NOS Hudson paint, plus he had a good stash of vintage NOS International truck parts as well.

I came to find out that Sid McDonald was a very well known man in the Hudson car owners clubs and various other associations that were into Hudson's. When ever there was a Hudson car owners club in town, they always had a big gathering at McDonald Motors on Aurora.

Sid hadn't been a functional Hudson dealer for many decades, but he still came to his building everyday, and he actually did deal with people that would stop by.

The show room was in immaculate condition and Sid would be available to take phone calls and just be in his building, among all of those well stocked shelves of NOS parts, that would find their place on someones Hudson Automobile.

Sid wasn't hoarding, he was a caretaker of a huge pile of specific parts for specific automobiles. And he really enjoyed being able to be supportive to those that loved Hudson's as much as he did.

Sid passed away in 1996, and the building is now a Triumph Motorcycle dealer.

As to the situation there in Trinidad, and that huge stash of parts and car parts and parts of cars and cars as well, I feel that a lot of people knew the deceased man, and I bet he had a lot of friends, seeing how he was a fireman as well.

I hope that through the advent of social information and sites such as the H.A.M.B.
That there will be a lot of gear heads, that will take the time to make a trip to Trinidad, or get in touch with the family or what ever it takes, to try to help to make sure, that a lot of those great parts, don't wind up at the scrapper.

​

Thanks from Dennis to @swade41 for starting this fascinating thread!
Everyone's results may vary greatly!

​

 

It doesn't matter whether it's the collector or the guy who buys the collection or at least a lot of it, it brings out the bitchers who don't take the time or money to find parts. They always have an excuse, not enough free time to travel and hunt or a lack of funds. How many of those parts would still be available if not for the collector. How many wouldn't be for sale if someone wasn't buying and reselling. Many here dislike the person who buys and resells (flipper). I've bought and resold many parts and over 80 cars and bodies since 06 when I retired, probably driven over well 100K since then buying and delivering. I've shipped parts all over the U.S. plus Canada, Europe, Australia even Guam. How likely would it be for those in foreign countries to find the stuff and then convince the seller to ship? Other times it's been parts, cars and bodies from western states and sold to the east coast. In one case I bought a body in Idaho and delivered it to southern Fla.

 

What ever happened to all of Don Knopps stuff (Niles Ca.)?

 

Mentally ill and he held back the entire vintage car hobby.