Vintage Cadillac collection heads to the crusher....

[Mr. 'H']

Pretty sad, this is a huge collection....

Randy Berfelo was a Cadillac fanatic, who started rebuilding old models in the early 1980s and quickly became a one-man Caddy warehouse. He restored, sold rare parts and could customize older models with original parts.

Berfelo became known as the "The Cadillac King of Alberta," but died in 1989 at the age of 32. His older brother Andrew Berfelo decided to keep the business going toward Randy's original goal of 500 cars. The collection of models from 1947 to 1979 grew large enough to require Berfelo to buy some farmland near Hay Lakes, Alberta, for a parking spot.

 

[matei]

Indeed, very sad. Isn't there anyone out there who would buy them - at least some?

 

[HepKitty]

tragedy!!! why doesn't anyone try to sell them? ka-ching!

 

[Silver Dollar]

That's insane. There are cars there that a huge amount of collectors would be happy to buy. The cars from the late 40's and 50's alone are worth thousands upon thousands. Whoever made the decision to crush them needs to be declared legally nuts. :rage:

 

[davestlouis]

Well, leaving them stored on a grass field will do all sorts of unpleasant things to them(rust)...if older cars with non-galvanized structures are stored outside, they rust to bits. They also settle into the ground, so the floor is almost touching the ground, or may touch, and stay wet all the time. Critters like to eat electrical items too, and nest in the cars(gross).

The reality is that 1959s are worth big bucks, but lots of other older Cadillacs aren't all that terribly collectible, especially if there is rust.

I might argue that this is really a Cadillac salvage yard, not a collection, as such.

 

[HepKitty]

there are all sorts of enthusiasts who see a bit of rust as just needing some care and restoration. it's a matter of finding them, especially when there are so many. agreed that some won't sell due to condition/critters/year/whatever but if it were up to me I'd try really hard to sell them

 

[Diamondback]

Or even just to use as templates for reverse-engineering to build replicas...

 

[Silver Dollar]

I've known a few custom car builders. You should see what some of these guys can do with a rust bucket shell and some sheet metal. Somebody needs to actively market these things, especially the older ones to get them into the hands of the collectors. Also, some of those older Caddys that aren't the very collectible ones (read horrifically expensive) are much more affordable to the average gearhead. I remember seeing a 57 Chevy for sale that was in pretty good shape. It wasn't the Bel Air hardtop but the 210 four door. I could have bought the thing for $5000 instead of 20 to 30K.

 

[HepKitty]

selling them for dirt cheap is still better than letting the crusher feed on them. chop shops are always looking for projects for promotions and advertising

 

[bil_maxx]

Totally agree. Sell them as empty shells and make a BBQ in the hood or trunk. Anything is better than wrecking them.

 

[davestlouis]

The whole article on jalopnik refers to the seller saying that he'll give it a year...any that don't sell will go to the crusher then...the 76s-79s already went bye-bye, on the premise that there was no collector interest.

 

[Silver Dollar]

The whole article on jalopnik refers to the seller saying that he'll give it a year...any that don't sell will go to the crusher then...the 76s-79s already went bye-bye, on the premise that there was no collector interest.

AAAAAARRRRGGGHHH !!!!

 

[davestlouis]

There's another cool story on the same site about an abandoned Chrysler dealership in East Liverpool Ohio that still has two cars in the showroom...one late 60s, the other mid 70s.

I occasionally drive by an abandoned custom van place...it's been closed and locked up since the mid 80s, and is still full of running boards, CB radios, all the crap that people put on vans in the 70s. I have never seen any human activity there, and it's just a weird time warp. It was apparently a 2 bay service station before it was converted into Godfather Vans.

 

[Mav]

Anyone who crushes an old Caddy that is even marginally able to be brought back to life is guilty of a crime against nature.

 

[Vintage lover]

Anyone who crushes an old Caddy that is even marginally able to be brought back to life is guilty of a crime against nature.

As a life long Cadillac lover, and current Cadillac owner, I concur.

 

[Silver Dollar]

Now you guys are talkin' my language. I'd love to get ahold of a 49 Caddy Sedanette in good ol' Cadillac green.

 

[Mr Vim]

I am too dumbfounded for words, well almost anyway.

I wish I had the money and resources to get one brought here.

Besides that, I like how we somehow refer to the crusher as an entity... NOT THE CRUSHER!!!

 

[doctor dan]

I have a body shop and if they have been sitting in a feild on grass for any length of time they are not worth saving. The frame and floors of the cars would be completely gone. The trim would be pitted. We had a 1941 Cadillac that sat in the yard of a neighbor for at least the last 50 years and the owner would never sell it until he decided to sell his house and go into a condo. He called me up to see if I was interested and when I just looked inside the windows I could see the ground. The floor was gone, I don't know what was holding up the seats. The inside and outside of the car was rusted. The scrapper charged him to haul it away because it had no scrap valvue. We had a similar situation to this in Wisconson. A man collected one of every Buick that was built. He stored them in run down barns that leaked on dirt floors. Out of 100's of car ther were less than 12 that could be saved. Take a soup can and set it in your back yard and see what happens to it in just one year. But I also think that it is to bad and what a waste of money.

 

[Mav]

As a life long Cadillac lover, and current Cadillac owner, I concur.

They're an icon. May as well crush a Harley or burn the flag.

 

[Mr Vim]

Doctor Dan, that is a sad story. Seriously, Cadillacs and now Buicks? What a sad waste. I want to make it my goal today, that as soon as I pay off my car (the new one) I'm going to get a car (an old one). This is now in writing, in hopes to make myself stick to my guns.

Speaking of, does anyone have any mechanical training and also a vintage automobile? Does it pay to have such experience when dealing with older cars?