800+ trucks, tractors, and mid-century cars up for auction in NE

A huge collection of work trucks, tractors, and cars from the 1910s through the 1990s is set to be sold on October 26 and 27 by Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers. The auction, which we learned about thanks to Barnfinds.com, will be held at Scrapco, in Sidney, Nebraska, just north of Interstate 80 in the southern Nebraska panhandle. The bulk of the collection seems to be light- and medium-duty trucks from the ’30s,’40s, ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, with mid-century tractors from Massey-Harris, Ford, International Farmall, and John Deere to match. Even if trucks aren’t your thing, with more than 800 vehicles set for sale, there’s something to suit your tastes.

The 1946 Ford and 1967 Chevy shown above are a good representation of the bulk of the vehicles up for grabs, and while there might not be a lot of collectors that need a big flatbed, we hope that some of these workhorses can return to at least some kind of use, even if they’re kept with all of their patina. Among the hundreds of flatbed trucks, we spotted some rather unique and noteworthy models that are worthy of restoration.

One of the coolest cars that we found is the 1969 Cadillac wagon that you no doubt spotted above. Cadillac didn’t make wagons like this in the ’60s; they were built by upfitters. We’ve seen a couple of different variations of the roof and tailgate on these models; this combination seems to be lifted from a 1969 GM B-body and seamlessly grafted onto the Cadillac sedan. The pillarless four-door already had great lines, and the long roof only accentuates them. We’re already visualizing this thing restomodded with a 4L80 overdrive behind the big Cadillac V-8 and maybe some bull horns up front. You know, to keep it classy.

Besides our rare Cadillac, we found a rusty but seemingly complete Lincoln Continental, a six-pack of Fiat Spiders, and a fastback 1964 Barracuda missing its rear glass that got our imaginations going. Some collectors have taken notice of the Barracuda, but plenty of restorable classics have nary a bid.

While the collection seems to have a little bit of almost everything, there are a few other models that stand out. One that is definitely overrepresented is Studebaker’s Grand Turismo Hawk, with seven listed for sale. The unique roofline of this particular variant is stunning and is one of our favorite Brooks Stevens designs, which is saying something. In just that one photo, you can see four of them lined up together.

We also spotted three Olds Toronados, which has got to be the highest concentration of those uniquely beautiful personal luxury coupes we’ve seen in a long time.

Dig through the listings and you’ll find mid-century sedans and wagons from the Big Three as well as several Corvairs, including a few sedans, a couple of coupes, and a pair of vans.

If long-distance road trips are your calling, the auction has a couple of vintage RVs and some big sport utility vehicles that would make for excellent projects. Think of the boxy Chevy and Ford shown above as the grandfathers of the conversion van or mini RV. These short-wheelbase vans would require some innovative packaging inside to make for a comfortable mini RV, but we’d love to see some resourceful craftsperson give it a shot.

This GMC bus and International Harvester Travelall would both make excellent overlanders given the proper underpinnings. The Travelall has the same wheelbase as the second- and third-generation Ford Expedition, if you’re up for a chassis swap that doesn’t involve any shortening or stretching. Ford used Navistar diesel engines for a while, so you could justify the swap for all but the most hardcore of IH fans.

There’s not much time to make plans to see this auction if it wasn’t already on your radar, but if any of our readers do wind up with one of these classics we talked about, or any of the hundreds of others, please let us know about your plans and any progress. We’d love to see some of these projects make it back on the road.

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