Wyoming early cars...

[ossiblue]

Looks like the Porsche collector from Wyoming is offering his inventory for sale again:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/cat.php?id=59

It would be interesting to hear from just one person who actually bought one of his cars, especially since he is asking specific amounts and not just "offers."

[GG Allin]

I suspect someone picked through and took all the good stuff.

Take a look at the current Total 911.....

[John Schaefer]

Originally Posted by ckrause

Take a look at the current Total 911.....

Save me a trip to the newstand. Do tell.

The mag sent a guy there and found him to have 51(!) 911 and 912's. Among them were a 70S, 71S, 73S, 69E, etc... The botton line that he appears to be legit...

my $0.02

-CKKrause

[wm711]

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=430225&highlight=wyoming

[Matt Monson]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280298946457&ssPa geName=STRK:MEWA:VRI

Looks like he's got one of them on Ebay.

[Matt Monson]

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=449041

Looks like I may be mistaken on that car.

[atlair]

Did you notice the WY guys list of cars?

twin turbo v10 diesel touareg daily driver
ruf modified c4 coupe rally car
misc. early porsche bombers

Well I tried to buy a Grey 912 he has and it was a big waste of time!!! He definitely has "issues". I offered him full price for the car and he would not commit...he kept getting off on tangents... Don't waste you time like I did....

-CKKrause

[nkgosselin]

I am the one who wrote the article about John for Total 911. All the cars are there. And he knows all about them. He did say that we was looking into selling some of the cars. But, gut feeling, he seems like more of a collector than seller. And he is no 'dealer'. Buying a car from him would not be a quick thing. Like prying a prized possession from an omitted pack rat.

Here are some additional pics and the article. Though as a plea for starving writers everywhere buy the magazines when they come out if you like them. Or buy my book, Hunt for 901.

http://kevingosselin.blogspot.com/search?q=horde

Click on the pictures to make the really big.

Nice guy though. Seriously. I spent like 8 hours with him. Quiet. Not a braggart. It almost seemed like he couldn't believe he owned all these P-cars.

[Macroni]

Originally Posted by nkgosselin

as a plea for starving writers everywhere buy the magazines

Which issue?

[nkgosselin]

Issue 42.

Really, I mean any issue. Without buyers, mags die. Two magazines I used to write for have folded in the past five years. Shoot, even at $9 they are bargains. They provide hours more enjoyment than any film.

Originally Posted by nkgosselin

I am the one who wrote the article about John for Total 911. All the cars are there. And he knows all about them. He did say that we was looking into selling some of the cars. But, gut feeling, he seems like more of a collector than seller. And he is no 'dealer'. Buying a car from him would not be a quick thing. Like prying a prized possession from an omitted pack rat.

Nice guy though. Seriously. I spent like 8 hours with him. Quiet. Not a braggart. It almost seemed like he couldn't believe he owned all these P-cars.

I bought your magazine and that article prompted me to try a buy a car he listed on "The Samba.com". In fact he listed a bunch of cars. Tried for weeks to make the deal at full price on a 912 and he would not do it... Nice enough guy, as someone else said, but there is something not quite right.... I ended up buying a car off the 912 Registry to turn into a vintage racer....

-CKKrause

[Matt Monson]

He's a nice enough guy until you get on the wrong side of him. I made a post to this thread when it first was started. Within a day I had a scathing email from Jon going off on me. he claimed that I didn't know what I was talking about, that I would never see any of these car and wanted to know where I was getting my information since he had never met me. Even though I had met him several times and had tried unsuccessfully to purchase a couple of these cars he had no clue who I was. I removed the post just so that he would go away and leave me alone. I figured that his reputation proceeded him and that adding my 2 cents wouldn't tip the scale one way or another.

I subsequently talked to another Coloradan who actually knows him through PCA circles and his assessment is that he puts them up for sale for the attention it gets him. I think anyone who is going to get one of these cars will have to proove themselves a worthy owner. He will vet you thoroughly to make sure that you aren't going to flip the car and that you want it for yourself to love and enjoy. Otherwise it costs him no more to park 30 of them in his building than it would to park 20 of them. Like most of us, he love these old cars. I just think his love for them may slip over to the unhealthy side of it a bit.

[Hesse James]

seems like love becomes obsession;
but looking at the pictures I would say it is a cool place the way it is. I could imagine living there between all those cars in exactly this condition.
There is a similar story of a yard in switzerland. Over 500 cars rot there, but not a single part was sold - like a piece of art. Now they have to close down and remove every vehicle because of emvironmental issues, like leaking oil or fuel that drains from the cars. Here's the story (sorry, in German but with a slideshow)
http://www.welt.de/motor/article2100560/Der_Kampf_um_einen_verwunschenen_Autofriedhof.html

[onboost]

Originally Posted by nkgosselin

I am the one who wrote the article about John for Total 911. All the cars are there. And he knows all about them. He did say that we was looking into selling some of the cars. But, gut feeling, he seems like more of a collector than seller. And he is no 'dealer'. Buying a car from him would not be a quick thing. Like prying a prized possession from an omitted pack rat.

Here are some additional pics and the article. Though as a plea for starving writers everywhere buy the magazines when they come out if you like them. Or buy my book, Hunt for 901.

http://kevingosselin.blogspot.com/search?q=horde

Click on the pictures to make the really big.

Nice guy though. Seriously. I spent like 8 hours with him. Quiet. Not a braggart. It almost seemed like he couldn't believe he owned all these P-cars.

Kevin, Thanks for speaking up.. I picked up the mag just around x-mas time I think.

I've seen & heard comments about this guy for a number of years. Have had friends traveling on business call me with "guess what I just found for you" .. remember he had all these car and parts in another location if I recall and then moved everything to Wyoming.

This isn't odd though, in my travels over the years I have stumbeled on, met, and come to know several indiviuals that fit this profile. Some collecting hand hoarding Porsche parts, and I've met have been into BMW's, Ferrari, Harleys, and just car in general.

They are a strange lot. They've got all this cool stuff, like to tell you about it.. dangle it in front of you.. over price it, and even when you step up to the overprice, they refuse to sell! Ususally fairly nice guys, just quirky as hell!

Hey, but in the end.. regardles of what we say, it's thier stuff.. they bought it and own it and are the current custodians of it... we're usually just sour because we can't seem to pry it out of thier hot little hands!

Thanks again for posting..

P-

I agree that John was a nice enough guy, very knowledgeable about Porsches. I just didn't appreciate the time he had me waste thinking the car was really for sale....

-CKKrause

[RichHawk]

The obsessive collector diagnosis sounds right. Nothing wrong with that as a collector. But as CKrouse pointed out, not conducive to the business of selling Porsche cars.

I was involved in raising $100K funding needed to buy a bunch of the cars. I never spoke with Jon personally, my partner was in communication with him. We had detailed plans on what to accomplish on a trip up there, hopefully ending up with a large check getting traded for a bunch of cars.

Before we could even get up there, Jon just stopped talking to us. At the time we thought someone else has swooped in and bought the whole thing.
Now I imagine it was because he realized we were planning to re-sell the cars after getting them running, driving, and documented to the needs of the P-car community.

Richard