69 Vintage Cars Once Owned By O.C. Plumber About To Go On Auction Block
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Little is known about Gerald Willits who died last year.
He was 76 and a plumber by trade. He lived in Buena Park. He also loved vintage cars. He collected them. A lot of them. Sixty-nine of them to be exact.
KCAL9's Brittney Hopper previewed the collection which is about to go on the auction block.
It might look like junk. But it's not. The classic cars and automobile parts were recovered from Willits' estate.
"We've never had that many cars in any case, you know we get a car or two sometimes, maybe three. But we've never had anything like this," said Elizabeth Henderson with the Orange County D.A.'s office.
Some of the cars -- like one with wooden wheels -- is thought to be a hundred years old.
Others include a 1924 Model T pickup, A 1949 Ford convertible, And dozens more. All of them were left sitting outside for many years at a 20,000 square foot home.
"It's kind of a treasure trove of old car history," says Henderson.
She was appointed by the courts to remove all of the cars and get them ready to be auctioned off.
The money will then go to a family member or family members depending on the court's decision. Henderson says the exact price of these cars will be determined after an appraiser comes in but she's estimating hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"It sounds like there's a lot of people interested in these old cars. And we would love to sell them and get a good price for them so that we can give the money to the estate," Henderson said.
All of these 69 cars will be going up for auction in early or mid May.
For more information, Email: ClassicCarAuction@da.ocgov.com