 |
| Welcome to the world's most expensive auto recycling center. |
What a
waste. What an absolute waste.
The
Lamrecht auction should have happened at least twenty years ago, if
not sooner. Regardless of mileage, none of the cars at the auction
were new. The interiors had a million miles, there was more rust than
paint on the bodies, and the cars are mechanically worthless—nothing
would run or drive without significant work.
But
Lambrecht Chevrolet is responsible for preserving these low mileage
cars!
Ray
Lambrecht didn't preserve anything. If he could afford it—and he
obviously could—then it was his prerogative to sell or hold onto
whatever cars he wanted. That was his choice. That was his business.
But to describe the end result as “preservation” is an insult to
the word. The selling prices may appear to indicate otherwise, but
the Lambrecht auction was nothing but low mileage junk.
Ray
Lambrecht is just as responsible for the condition of the cars as he
is for their low mileage. And whether that's a result of
eccentricity, arrogance, or a combination of a personality disorder and
acreage, the results are the same: again, it was low mileage junk.
While some people may look at the cars and see good parts, good
stories, or fun memories, how anyone can view the damage done to the
cars by sitting in a field for 30+ years as anything other than
inexcusable is beyond me.
So what
if Ray Lambrecht didn't like selling used cars? Or if he didn't like
selling new cars when they weren't the current model year? Lots of
people want to buy used cars, or new cars of the previous model year.
And lots of people like buying cars that have been sitting for a few
years. But sitting for 50 years? Outside? With trees allowed to grow
up through the hood, bed, or trunk? At best, that's waste of the
highest magnitude. At worst, it's further proof that who you choose
to be when you make your living is who you are as a person—and that
is a statement which, in this case, brings to mind many other words.
But the
most prominent word is a question: why? Why didn't the dealership
sell these cars? Why did they have to sit for so long? Why didn't
anyone at least keep the trees from growing up through them? Why? I
don't know. Many people don't know. Some people—Ray
Lambrecht's nephew, for example, who was interviewed by the History
Channel—either don't know or are too nice to say. And the rumor
mill, while infinite in its scope, is entirely unsatisfying without
any confirmations.
[Edit: later in Wheels of Fortune, Ray Lambrecht's daughter, Jeannie Stillwell, has a nice spin on why Ray kept the cars in her interview on the History Channel—she says that her parents kept the cars due to their "Depression era attitude." All well and good, until when she said that "they believed you should never waste anything." If the condition of these cars isn't the definition of waste, I don't know what is. Besides, how the hell does the Depression make you want to keep 500+ cars?]
[Edit: later in Wheels of Fortune, Ray Lambrecht's daughter, Jeannie Stillwell, has a nice spin on why Ray kept the cars in her interview on the History Channel—she says that her parents kept the cars due to their "Depression era attitude." All well and good, until when she said that "they believed you should never waste anything." If the condition of these cars isn't the definition of waste, I don't know what is. Besides, how the hell does the Depression make you want to keep 500+ cars?]
So I'll
go back to my original thought. This auction should have happened at
least twenty years ago, if not sooner. When a car is ten years old
and has no miles, that's pretty damn rare. Add forty years? Sure,
it's more rare, but it's also useless as a car—and that's what
these cars are. They are cars. They aren't going to make the world a
better place, the grandkids probably won't want anything to do with
them, and may God have mercy on the soul of anyone who views one of
these cars as their legacy.
