Who Gets Your Collection When You Are Gone?
Authored by Peter Ratcliff (long-time member of the Cadillac-Lasalle Club) gratefully acknowledging expert assistance from legal adviser Joanne Hazeldene
We are all going to die in the end.
What arrangements have you made for your “stuff”?
When I walk around swap meets each year, I see all the same old faces getting older and older, and still chasing parts for the same cars as they were twenty-odd years ago, bits of cars that were hopeless then and impossible now. These guys still want to buy more stuff to add to the skeletal remains of whatever project they dragged home when they were thirty years younger and fitter!
Others are eagerly buying parts on eBay that will go toward a restoration or two that realistically, are unlikely to ever happen. These guys are still dreaming of restoring several cars from the numerous heaps of deteriorated iron oxide in their yards and sheds. Some of them are still wasting restoration work and time on daily-driver cars while the years roll by and the inspiration to spend every moment in the garage dwindles away.
Remembering the old advice to always buy a car in the best condition you can, an older person really shouldn’t be restoring any car that is not a very special model. Do you have the time? The thing that troubles me (and should trouble them) is that even if they accumulate a few more important bits for their dream cars, they will be too old to work on the cars. But often they can’t be told. They can’t be told that collections of cars last longer than human lives, and that someone else will have to deal with the disposal of their treasure after they have gone. Refer to Line One above.
I know people in their seventies who are building bigger sheds to house their restoration projects and their lifetime accumulation of parts. This doesn’t seem smart to me at that stage. Collecting cars is not an activity that has been with us through the ages - the early settlers did not collect cars, nor did our grandfathers (with a few exceptions). Car collections are a phenomenon of our lifetime, and the problem of posthumous dispersal of hobby collections has yet to strike most families.
Collectors of petrol bowsers and enamel signs, collectors of car models, pedal cars, tools, books, literature, etc often fall into the same category as above. The collection continues to grow, in many cases more sheds are built, or a room added on to the house, but the collector fails to deal with the most obvious of all facts - we all die in the end.
Now you may not even be feeling off colour, but that is no reason to continue collecting as much stuff when you are 60 or 70 as you did when were a spritely thirty year old. A friend died leaving a massive 50-year collection of cars, trucks, parts, engines, hardware, etc with no instructions for his widow. With some dedicated help and almost a year of hard yakka she sent 70 tonnes of metal to scrap in clearing his stuff.
And you should be planning –seriously planning– what will happen to those collections when you die. Who will you choose to be in charge of disposing of what’s left? Who will advise them on values, specialists, dealers, buyers?
You probably know all the experts relevant to your stuff, but have you written their details down to help your family when you’re not here to ask? Most sensible collectors of age 60 or more (and some who are a lot younger) will have realised that any further personally completed restorations are unlikely. How many clearing sales have you attended, or how many ads have you seen in the paper for great wonderful cars and motor bikes that are “all there, just need reassembly” or “just need finishing off?” Cars in that state are often unsaleable at any price and end up being sold for parts or taken to the tip for lack of interested buyers.
Many times, I have seen this happen after the proud owner has died, leaving a wake of dismantled cars and bikes. I’m sure you’ve seen it too. Likewise, owners of big collections of bowsers, signs, stationary engines, trucks, tractors, boats, etc need to do a stocktake and spare a thought for whoever will be dispersing their treasures. Often, no immediate family are interested in taking over, so the day you die, the treasures in the sheds (and in the yard) instantly turn into rusty scrap. Yes, scrap and ironmongery that even a dedicated and well-connected enthusiast might be lucky to find buyers for. How would your wife find buyers for your super rare 1926 Whippet that is in a million bits and just needs reassembly, or the rusty ‘36 LaSalle with four spare engines but no grille? Likewise, your collection of mint Dinky toy cars in their original boxes or your prized set of original sales brochures and parts books for every Cadillac ever made? This stuff looks like junk to most people, and you should expect it to be treated accordingly when you are not there to advise.
As one Club member friend (and a prolific collector) has said, “If I die, my missus will have the whole lot down to the tip the next day”, and this is probably a widespread sentiment. Some male collectors have gone to great lengths to conceal from their spouse the price paid for certain collectibles, with the result that the spouse also has no idea of the value of the items, and therefore will not go out of her way to seek a buyer for them after her departed leaves her in a mess. (Pardon the sexist bias, but I have yet to hear of a female collector who conceals the prices of her collectibles from her male partner.)
The “down to the tip” sentiment indicates not only a certain lack of interest on the part of many of our spouses, but also a complete ignorance of the existence of a wonderful network of hobby enthusiasts and dealers that we pride ourselves on being a part of. On the part of the collector, it also indicates a lack of personal organization and a disregard for the preservation of the items after we have gone. Keeping the wife in the dark may help you to retain your collections during a nasty divorce settlement, but it will do nobody any good if you die with a yard full of incomplete sixties Cadillacs or an attic full of rare and specialised models or literature or enamel signs. And if your treasures are of the yet to be restored kind, for which buyers are notoriously scarce at the best of times, they probably WILL end up at the tip. Is that what you want?
Perhaps your family has the idea that your cars are worth a squillion and that they will be off on trips to the Mediterranean when your collections are sold up? Imagine the situation when they discover that the incomplete cars are so difficult to find a buyer for that they are almost worthless. Take a fresh, long look at your collection(s) now and assess what you still can finish and what you are still really interested in. And don’t kid yourself - get rid of most of your unrestored stuff now, especially if you have not completed a restoration in the past few years.
While you’re assessing this, think carefully about who could dispose of your stuff when you’re not around. We should all have made a Will, and in my humble opinion you are nothing short of stupid if you have not. Your Will instructs your survivors as to where you want your goodies to go after your death. But in addition to a regular Will, consider including a set of special instructions (known as a “Memorandum of Wishes”) for your executor for the best disposal of your cherished automotive belongings, big or small. The stuff we collect is obscure to the general public, so include suggestions of HOW to dispose of it, and the phone numbers of people who may have expressed an interest in it or be able to help. Use the old-car network to set up a path that a non-specialist person can follow. Catalogue and itemise your collection (you may already have an insurance valuation) pointing out highlights, suggest where to advertise, which dealers do you prefer? who might conduct the sale? etc.
The Memorandum of Wishes should be kept with the original of your Will. It is not legally binding, but is a request, and it is not necessary to update it when you update your Will. It can be made out by you or with the assistance of a friend or even a solicitor. It does not need to be witnessed, but being the cautious type, I would date it and have my signature witnessed.
The choice of wording is yours, but a solicitor would suggest something like this:
MEMORANDUM OF WISHES I, Henry Leland of 800 Cass Ave, Detroit do hereby declare this to be a Memorandum of Wishes. This document is to provide a request but not a direction to my Executor(s) as named in my Will.
I hereby list the following items: -1932 Cadillac V-16 roadster, restored, engine no 999999999991962 Eldorado convertible, restored, engine no.8888888888 unrestored 1913 Cadillac chassis two 40-foot containers full of vintage La Salle parts the automotive contents of the back yard at the above address my collection of Cadillac La Salle literature and, signs incl sales and service items my collection of Cadillac models and their packaging and display cases.
It is my desire that Henry Ford of “Fairlane”, Detroit assist my Executor in the disposal of the aforementioned items.
I hereby provide details of the people/organisations that can assist with the disposal: cars - Joe’s Golden Gasoline, Adelaide Shannons Classic Cars, Cheltenham, Vicparts - Simsmetal Recycling Industries (only joking - or am I?) literature – Roadside Relics Qld.
Dated----------Signed By-----------------
Witnessed
1.-----------------------------------------
2.-----------------------------------------
Full name of witness------------------------
Address of Witness-------------------------
If you want something legally binding, such as to leave a particular car to a particular person, then you need to add a codicil to your Will or you need a new Will.
Remember, ANY information will be of assistance to the poor Executor.
DO IT NOW- the sooner you start, the easier it will be.
Your loved ones will thank you for it.
