There are lots of people who collect cars. Some amass more than others, but we’ve never seen anything quite this big. It’s the Hackenberger collection, and it’s going up for auction – all 700 cars, trucks, tractors, and motorcycles.
The collection is the life’s work of Ron and Eunice Hackenberger based out Norwalk, Ohio – about halfway between Cleveland and Toledo. Ron bought his first Studebaker at 15 years old with money borrowed from his grandpa, and set about a lifetime of expanding his collection after marrying Eunice. The rest, as they, is history.
Hackenberger ran a trucking company before expanding into real estate, hospitality, and even cattle ranching, crisscrossing the country and picking up any and every type of unusual wheeled vehicle he came across along the way. Sometimes he would even take an empty car transporter out to the West Coast and bring it back packed with motorized oddities.
At this point the collection has swelled to over 700 vehicles. There’s some 250 Studebakers, reflecting his lifelong passion, with the rest of the collection including everything from European micro cars to John Deere tractors. There are some 1940s motorcycles, a series of mid-60s muscle cars, and even some Checker limousines – all in various conditions. There’s even a DeLorean, Bricklin, Porsche, a couple of Jaguars, some Citroëns, and a Cadillac ambulance that looks straight out of Ghostbusters.
It’s all still being catalogued, but what’s clear already is that the breadth and scope of it all is staggering. And it’s all going up for auction over the course of one long weekend. Apparently Ron had planned to restore it all, but having reached this late stage in his life, realized it was too much to undertake.
Everything will be up for grabs, with no reserve prices on anything when VanDerBrink Auctions handles its liquidation this coming July 14-16. Check out some of the highlights in the gallery below, or visit the auctioneer’s website for more.
Photo Gallery
