Massive 220-car Oklahoma collection to go across the block

It's been six months since some 500 cars from the gigantic Lambrecht Chevrolet stash found new homes, and many of them are well into their restorations. In fact, all a few needed was a new battery, some fluids, and a few hours of work to be brought back to life. Others will surely be preserved as-is, not even with their dust wiped away. And as historic as that sale was, we always suspected that there could be a few more car stashes in that part of the country that were ripe for picking.

It turns out, it didn't take long for another large collection to come to light, this time in Oklahoma. Some 220 cars, most of them pre-war, are set to go to the highest bidder this summer in what promises to be another grand spectacle. And the same auction company that oversaw the sale of the cars from Lambrecht Chevrolet will be auctioning them off one by one on June 7. So just what is this collection? Yvette VanDerBrink of VanDerBrink Auctions clued us in.

Oliver Jordan ran a salvage yard from 1945-1953 in the small town of Enid, Okla. Enid is a few hours north of Oklahoma City and about a hundred miles south of the Kansas border. With a population of just under 50,000, this Garfield County town is known as the "Wheat Capital" of Oklahoma, though few residents are probably aware that it holds a tremendous trove of pre-war cars that haven't been seen for decades. That's because Jordan, upon closing his salvage yard, tried his best to keep it from view, setting up a fence complete with barbed wire. Jordan reportedly let very few people see its contents, and he was also embroiled in a slow-motion fight with the town over his car stash.

VanDerBrink Auctions
This supercharged 1937 Cord deserves to be restored.

Around town, Jordan was known as "the man with all the cars," though just what they were was a bit of a mystery even to his neighbors. A local legend says that there was a map of Enid with that was color-coded for zoning cooperation, with the violators' properties shaded in pink color. It's said that Jordan's 3-acre property was marked with a "pink middle finger" representing his stubbornness about the city's efforts to close down his yard.

The most amazing thing about this collection is that it is believed that no cars entered or left the collection after it was effectively closed in 1953, essentially frozen in time. Very little is known about just why Jordan kept this collection on his property for so long, but what we do know is that Jordan died in 2004 at the age of 95, with his widow Ruby Jordan passing away in the fall of 2013. And the whole collection, some 220 cars in total, will be offered for sale in a one-day auction.

The complete list of lots is still being compiled, though we managed to get a preliminary listing. In a sale of this size and prominence, the headliners include a couple Cords from 1936 and 1937, as well as an all-aluminum Lincoln seven-passenger sedan from 1939. There are also several Cadillac V12s ranging from 1935 to 1941 and plenty of lesser-known marques, such as a 1917 Maxwell, a 1931 Continental Devaux four-door sedan, and a 1924 Rollin.

VanDerBrink Auctions
Hundreds of cars will be available alongside a large selection of parts.

Ford vehicles make up the plurality of the entire collection, with just around 50 complete vehicles and dozens more parts, with vehicles ranging from the 1929 to the 1949 model years based on a preliminary list. Chevrolet comes in second with just over 20 vehicles, ranging from 1930 to 1967. A similar number of Oldsmobiles will also be on offer in varying condition, with models from 1935 till 1949.

The auction promises to offer hundreds of parts as well, and this may turn out to be a gold mine for restorers and hot-rodders. The Kaisers, Packards, Hudsons, and DeSotos will be the coolest cars to see (at least for us) and there will be a few from each marque.

A preliminary listing is up on the VanDerBrink auction website, which will hopefully withstand the onslaught of web traffic as the date of the auction gets closer.

We'll bring you more photos and lot information as it is compiled by the auction house. Visit the auction website for a preliminary list of lots, auction schedule, and driving directions.

By Jay Ramey