An old Ford pickup left to the elements, the kind of truck that fills this millionaire's collection. Photo: Rick Harris via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Give someone a fortune and a lot of land, and you’d expect Ferraris under dust covers. This millionaire went another way. Old trucks. Lots and lots of old trucks.
YouTuber Chris Thomas Outdoors filmed the collection with Oklahoma’s The Old Truck Guy. The two walked the property, sized up what’s sitting there and tried to figure out whether any of it is worth saving. Their tour first went up in late 2022, but it keeps resurfacing, and one look at the place explains why.
You can watch the full tour of the collection on YouTube. Want more rust? The Old Truck Guy spends a lot of his time walking yards just like this one. Here’s one of his more recent strolls through an off-the-grid rural Oklahoma salvage yard, packed with the same kind of old iron.
View this post on Instagram from @rottingclassics
A Truck Guy’s Dream (and Nightmare)
The property is covered with vintage vehicles in every stage of decay, from “needs paint” to “needs a miracle.” Most of them are pickups, mainly Fords from the 1940s and 1950s. They were parked wherever there was room and left for the seasons to have their way with them.
Fair enough. A big bank account doesn’t change what you like. Few classics mix usefulness, style and character like an old half-ton. Those trucks were built to work, and a lot of these look like they did plenty of it before they were put out to pasture. It’s the same spirit behind Alabama’s 1,300-car hoard that just sold at no reserve.
Not Just Pickups
The trucks may rule the lot, but they don’t have it to themselves. Among the Fords sits a Chevrolet Bel Air sedan, one of the most recognizable nameplates of its era. There’s also an MGB, looking a long way from home.
Then there’s the real star, depending on who you ask: a riding lawn mower that has somehow held up better than nearly everything around it. Priorities. It wouldn’t be the first time a backyard hid the good stuff. See the Fairlane that drove Fireball Roberts to eight wins and then sat forgotten in a backyard.
Can It Be Saved?
This isn’t just a video of people staring at rust. The crew goes vehicle by vehicle, judging condition, talking through what each restoration would take and weighing resale value. They even check out a second property and sit down with the owner to talk business.
The catch is the price. The owner was asking a cool $1 million for the whole collection. That’s a big number for a field of project vehicles, especially when nearly 300 cars are heading to a Colorado field sale with 50-cent opening bids and an Ohio seller wants just $5,000 for 14 Geo Metros. Still, a sale means these classics have a real chance to leave the weeds and head back to the road instead of to the crusher.
Your Move
Is a million bucks fair for a yard full of vintage Fords and friends, or is somebody dreaming? Asking prices like this are why people argue car culture is being priced out of its own garage. If the number were right, what are you dragging home first: a Ford, the Bel Air or that suspiciously healthy lawn mower?
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