After Years Of Rescuing Vintage Trucks, Minnesota Man Is Auctioning His Collection Of Over 400 Vehicles

If it's not Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars, Tonka trucks are the next gateway drug to a car enthusiast's future real-car collecting habits. Minnesotan Tim Wertish turned his love of acquiring Tonka Trucks into a full-blown hunt to save vintage trucks. Now, those trucks, upwards of 400 of them with various cars, parts and other accessories are going up for auction this month.

In an interview with CBS News, Wertish says his Tonka collecting turned into actual car collecting when he turned 16. It might have been partially inspired by his parents, who also took up the pastime, even hosting an auction of their own back in 1979. He told CBS, it's "probably just an addiction loving all this old stuff."

In 2019 Wertish started this vintage truck and vehicle collection, which turned into Vintage Vehicle Rescue. He and his uncle would go about finding vehicles within a 100-mile radius of his Minnesota home in hopes to keep old vintage trucks from meeting a dire fate at the crusher. Specifically during the pandemic, Wertish said most of the trucks were found on Craigslist, with more leads for vehicles, upwards of 10-20 more, coming through with each trip. 

Some of those trucks would find homes with like-minded collectors. Some were stored on Wertish's property where they were sorted and on display by brands over the years. The property was recently sold, so Wertish aimed to find homes for his collection via a two-day auction.

There was never an end goal for the collection. Instead, Wertish was looking to find the heavy trucks and the collection sort of expanded from there. What it created was a vast display of patina-aged vehicles on his property spanning Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, International Harvester branding, with a smattering of Jeep, GMC, Studebaker and REO examples, farm and firefighter trucks spanning from as early as 1928 to as late as 1979 model years. Most all won't start. They're definitely project cars — it's a project car paradise if you will.

One vehicle in actual running condition is a 1966 Dodge Hemi Charger, which as of this writing is already at $19,000 as online bidding started this week. The listing says it appears to have its original paint, which is in fairly decent condition, the rest of the car is decent with very minor rusting. It sports a rebuilt 426 Hemi, and wears 76,031 miles on the odometer. 

Beyond the scale of vehicles, also included in the auction are front-end wall art, old gas and service station signage, bars made from the front ends of cars, and even an old railroad luggage cart. I'm particularly fond of this 1963 Chevrolet 95 ramp side pickup, despite the listing says "Need to confirm motor."

Again, the auction is already underway online, with the live in-person and continued online auctions hosted on Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26 through VanDerBrink Auctions (links for each day are with the appropriate dates). Despite this collection going to the auction block, Wertish told CBS this might not be the end of his collection procurement. Perhaps once his kids are grown, he might start the whole chase back up again.