Hot Rod Hoarder's Four-Decade Stash Goes to Auction

For the past 10 years, no one, not even his son, was allowed inside Bob Koepke's home near Titusville, Fla. The retired NASA accountant had been a fixture for many years around the area's hot-rod circuit and swap meets, and had long wrenched on his own vehicles. When he died last November, his son opened his house — and found it occupied, floor to ceiling, with cars and parts.

After months of pulling vehicles from the weeds and unpacking some four decades of gathering, Bob Koepke's wares will go to auction April 11, and there's a little something for everyone — from the well-preserved 1973 DeTomaso Pantera with 3,800 miles to a bushel of Chevy Tri-Fives and mid-30s Ford coupes in varying states of rust, to hundreds upon hundreds of intakes, carburetors, starters and other parts, including a few built by former friend Smokey Yunick.

Bob Koepke's son Dave recalls growing up with his father's hot-rod hobby, and as an adult often talking about some new car or gadget he'd found, and telling him "some of the best stuff is outside." Many of the cars Koepke gathered over the years — in particular Chevy Nomad wagons — were wrapped in tarps to provide some small protection from the Florida climate.