‘A museum’ of vintage trucks
Redwood Falls man putting more than 300 trucks on auction
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REDWOOD FALLS -- Tim Wertish says he was born on a salvage yard. He presently owns a used car lot in Redwood Falls.
So cars and trucks have always been part of his life.
So much so, that he started what he called a vintage vehicle rescue. In 2018, he purchased a farm site on the south end of the city to store and display his collection that has grown to more than 300 vehicles today.
"I first started buying this stuff probably when I was just out of high school," Wertish said in a phone interview with the Independent on Tuesday. "I didn’t have room to pull this extra stuff I was finding, so I bought the farm site to display everything ... It’s a museum to me. So I call it Vintage Vehicle Rescue. And basically, what that means is I rescued most of those trucks out there from the crusher, probably. When people clean yards up, they go bye bye. You know what I mean."
Through the years, Wertish said he used Craigslist and even the Hy-Vee Trader to advertise for vehicles. He also said a retired friend helped with locating and "toddle around" the vehicles.
"As you know, you find all kinds of fun stuff on the back roads and the gravel roads and all that stuff. So we just started plucking a few here and there, and then it just got wild. It seemed like you’d find one and then you’d find 10 at the same spot and stuff like that. So it’s really crazy, and it was kind of like kids going to Disney World in theory,” he said.
Wertish calls it a "crazy hobby, like collecting baseball cards." He recalls a buddy calling him and asking him if he ever thought about collecting stamps.
"I said, 'no, not really.' He goes, 'well, they don't take up near as much room.' I just love trucks and I have a whole bunch of trucks I drive,” he said.
Unlike some collectors displaying their vehicles in a chaotic way, Wertish says his vehicles are lined up “like Matchbox cars.”
“People come into town, they don’t know what’s going on. They see the lineup and say holy Toledo. My phone number is on a sign, so they will call and ask permission to go in there. ‘Of course you can.’ I don’t have it set up like private property where I don’t want no one in there. I kind of did it for everybody to look at them,” he said.
Recently, Wertish has been getting calls asking if he wants to sell the property.
“I thought, you know, we’re really a busy family. My kids are in sports. Maybe I should take advantage of the property sale,” Wertish said.
On Sept. 26, Wertish plans to say goodbye to most of his collection of vehicles.
"I called Yvette (VanderBrink) before I decided if that was a good idea, and I said I got 350, 60, 70 vehicles. What would you think about having an auction? If she couldn’t have done that, you know, I probably wouldn’t have sold the property," Wertish said.
VanDerBrink Auctions, LLC, will be holding an auction to sell the vehicles to the highest bidders. According to a VanDerBrink Auctions release, a preview will be held on Sept. 25 starting at 9:30 a.m. The auction itself starts at 3 p.m. on Sept. 25 and continues at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 26. There will be live onsite and online (vanderbrinkauctions.com) bidding.
The property is located at 33430 327th St. in Redwood Falls.
"She expects a large crowd. She’s had some amazing classic car auctions, and she’s on YouTube and Facebook and TikTok. Word travels fast, and I heard about her years ago when she did an auction in Nebraska," he said.
Wertish believes he's ready to let go of the collection.
"Until it happens you really don't know. Maybe it’s different when I’m standing there on Saturday and they’re loading up cars and trucks and everything, you know. Maybe that will be a big deal," he said.
"I still have eight pickups I drive. I got old pickups that I drive every day. I got my oldest one -- a 1960 F100. Then I got a '62 International Travelall that I drive. I got '72 F100. They just kind of go up the ladder. I got '70s, '80s, and '90s pickups. They’re at my house. I drive old trucks most every day. It’s pretty fun,” he said.
Wertish may have to say goodbye to some trucks that are at the Vintage Vehicle Rescue location.
"My favorite truck out there is a '38 Plymouth pickup, All original. And the reason it’s one of my favorites is because, I mean, I’ve never, ever seen another one. Not ever at a car show. Never seen one scouting the back roads. It’s just a really neat old truck. There are a handful of Dodges, but hardly any Plymouth pickups,” he said.
He also talked about a Mercury pickup that can be difficult to find.
"I’ve only had one of those in my life. So it’s very very neat,” Wertish said. “You’ll learn about this stuff just by chasing it -- so pretty cool.”