Hot Rods Incredible Estate Stash in Colorado

Where I live in Flagstaff I’m on the road that goes to the local U-Pick-It. Back when scrap was over $300.00 a ton I saw so much stuff on trailers headed out to the scrap yard, stuff that I couldn’t believe was getting scrapped! Tri-5 Chevys, Unicab F-100’s, you name it, I saw it all go down that road. They all ended up shredded and on a container ship headed to China. Thank goodness there’s guys like this who can actually see the value of saving this irreplaceable stuff! He could have made a small fortune calling in the scrappers back then, but he didn’t!

 

Don's daughter had help from a Hot Rod guy liquidating all of it. not sure where it all went. Don's old 57 Chevrolet flatbed truck he took to all the swaps is still in Niles parked at the Flying A gas station.

 

isn’t that between him and his family, something we actually know nothing about !
…..and doesn’t concern us…….

 

Well said!



Bones

 

Thanks. Don was a long time fixture around my parts.

 

his truck still is a fixture around town

 

I'm curious. Where would you classify guys like Jay Leno, collector or hoarder?
His poor family will have to deal with all that shit he has accumulated over the years.
Yep, it's a real hard question to answer without judging what others may see as important.

 

To families who are left with the detritus of a lifetime hobby:

If the money's important, put in the time and effort to clear it.
If the money's not important, call in the pro and don't watch him work.

jack vines

 

Jack Vines, that was well said.

 

Collector, the differences in the scenario's are pretty clear to me. That's the nice thing about people, we all see things differently.

 

My point exactly.

 

there is a big difference between a hoarder from the TV show and a guy like this. my brother is a hoarder of antiques, old clapped out campers, old cars and assorted stuff. on my recent visit he had some things to do so I spent 3 hours in his barn, assorted outbuildings and walked the whole property. American pickers actually contacted him and he said no thanks. I bet he's got $50,000.00 worth of antiques in his barn that he paid pennies on the dollar for all of it

 

Hoarders or collectors? There seems to be a pretty fine line between the two things, unfortunately, that line moves all the time. It seems everyone has a different perspective on where that line is drawn.

I've watched this debate for years. It seems to me that if a person collects stuff you have been looking for for years but have not found, you label him as a hoarder. But if he has collected something you have just recently came in need of and his estate offers it for sale, he was a collector.
Of course, the price of that part you need plays into it matters too. If the price the part was offered at close to the going average price of that part, and that price is out of your price range, the guy was a hoarder. The investment the guy originally made, or the cost of the long term investment to protect that part (in this case the guy bought houses to store the parts in), or the financial needs of the guy's family, or the cost of making that part available to you (someone dug it out of the house, cleaned it up, and transferred it to a location to where you could have bought it) doesn't matter if you are short of the funds. He had it, now someone else has it, and you still don't, that means two hoarders were involved, the first guy, and the current owner.

I see a lot of really good parts that are probably going to be on the market soon. The guy that will probably be most of the reason those parts will be on the market appears to have a pretty good grasp of what those parts fit. He was willing to invest his time to go look at it, and he brought equipment with him to save as much as he could, on the day he first saw it. He deserves the chance to choose which parts/cars he wants, because he was the guy that took the time (and the time, and the expense) to go and look into it. It was pretty clear he was looking at all the parts guys need to fix their stuff, and his goal was to make as much of it as possible be available to them.

A guy that collect as much needed stuff as he could find (that may have given or sold off more then what is there now) to a guy that wants to make that stuff available, and all some people want to do is call them names.
I have to wonder how much stuff the name callers are hoarding because they want to keep some of their stuff for themselves?