I have spent all the adult years of my life hunting and capturing old cars, it is truly my happy place. Ive come across probably more old barn finds and garage sitters than most as I have made it my profession as well as my hobby. It just never gets old to me and no matter what the car, as long as its dusty and need rescuing, I at least wanna have a good look at it...if not drag it back to the Carchaeology Labs for analysis. When a friend of mine called me a while back to tell me about an estate he was involved with, he didn't give many details...just said it was "big". It took me a bit to clear an afternoon to go check it out, and today along with my brother, we aimed out to Riverside California just to take a peek. The images that we encountered are something that I think neither of us will ever forget. There spread before us was 11 acres of pure 100% USDA Grade A "Rusty Gold". Barn upon barn, storage trailer upon storage trailer , all of them packed to the gills and all the spaces in between littered with piles of parts and bizarre motoring contraptions, the vast majority of it in the 1920's to 1930's with a fair bit prior and past those decades. All told there were about 120 cars I believe and thousands upon thousands of parts. It was almost too much to take in...around each corner was another "wow" and "what is that?".
A photo is worth a thousand words they say, so Im going to get right to the images. I will wrap up the story after you have wiped the drool off your keyboard. Enjoy....
The story of the collection is an interesting one. The owner was a bit of a hoarder that not only had nearly endless space to store his treasures, he had easy access to cool old cars and parts through the family wrecking yard business and over a period of about 60 years or so, he grabbed anything and everything he could to stash away in his yards. The 11 acres here is just a small part of it, I have heard from others that there was at least another 20 acres full not long ago that has been cleared, and there may very well be additional cars and trucks stashed that I am not aware of. The family of this man is now in charge and the land must be cleared. A crew of enthusiasts has stepped in to sort through the cars and parts and separate trash from treasure in preparation for an upcoming auction and "yard sale" April 19th, 20th and 21st 2019... Easter Weekend in Bloomington California (Riverside County) This will be an event that is well worth attending if you are in search of treasure. The photos above are just a sampling of what is there, there were countless trailers filled with stuff and a lot of corners we did not explore. The sheer mass of parts and vehicles is simply staggering...it must be seen to be believed. The auction bidding will be on the cars and trucks and the yard sale parts will all be at bargain level. Bring your truck, trailer and wallet and get a little piece (or a big piece) of this once in a lifetime estate sale. Once it is gone, it is gone. This a Carchaeology on the grandest scale possible...this is the Mother Lode! For more details visit https://bernies-antiquecars.com/