Bob Slack Collection

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Does anyone have any old photographs of the Bob Slack collection or tales to tell? Have never found anything much about his collection but remember being mesmerized by the 3 page auction advert in the V8 Times! Would love to know where the cars all are now, the '33 woodie I believe went to Nick Alexander and a few years back saw a post from a guy in Kansas from memory with the '32 station wagon. Am guessing many of the NOS parts likely went to the Secrest collection or perhaps Gene Hetland's?
 

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Does anyone have any old photographs of the Bob Slack collection or tales to tell? Have never found anything much about his collection but remember being mesmerized by the 3 page auction advert in the V8 Times! Would love to know where the cars all are now, the '33 woodie I believe went to Nick Alexander and a few years back saw a post from a guy in Kansas from memory with the '32 station wagon. Am guessing many of the NOS parts likely went to the Secrest collection or perhaps Gene Hetland's?
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This is Bob Slack related. Im at Hershey 1978 and for three days Im hearing about a 32 3W for sale on a trailer in the parking lot. Sat lunch time Im done, Im dead tired, I drag my butt out to my car/camp site, getting ready to leave and another guy tells me about the 3W and where to find it and that it is still for sale. I follow his directions and find it. In a word it is the most mint original complete down to the rear window shade tassel 32 Ford 3W I have ever looked at. Its reasonably priced and negotiable. People around it tell me it is still for sale. Info sheet in the window gives the swap spot of the seller. I get in my car and drive to a spot on the road closest to the swap spot. Pull up on the shoulder, put on the hazard warning lights, lock the car, jump the fence, go to the swap spot. The 3W is still for sale, negotiate a price with the seller, agree on $14,500.00 counting out $100 bills. Someone interrupts and asks if the 3W is still available? Seller tells him just sold it. Interrupter steps in front of me and tells the seller he would like to put it in a museum. Seller tells me he would like to hear what he has to say. As they step into his trailer I remind the seller we agreed on a deal, I have the money, just need to arrange transportation. A few minutes later they step out both smiling and shake hands. Seller tells me he sold to the other guy because it belongs in a museum. He reneged on our deal and there was nothing I could do about it. The interrupter was Bob Slack and the "museum" was his private collection not open to the public. End of story.
 
Bob liked to use the expression "step up or step back" when he wasn't first in line. In your case, Tom, he took that several steps further.
 
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IIRC, Bob Slack should have been called Bob "Slick". Bob was known to be on the "Slick" side in a lot of his dealings. He was not known to be a Gentleman.
 
A friend and I went to the auction when he sold all the cars. He kept stepping up to the microphone and yelling out "Pay too much, you will enjoy it more!"
 
This is Bob Slack related. Im at Hershey 1978 and for three days Im hearing about a 32 3W for sale on a trailer in the parking lot. Sat lunch time Im done, Im dead tired, I drag my butt out to my car/camp site, getting ready to leave and another guy tells me about the 3W and where to find it and that it is still for sale. I follow his directions and find it. In a word it is the most mint original complete down to the rear window shade tassel 32 Ford 3W I have ever looked at. Its reasonably priced and negotiable. People around it tell me it is still for sale. Info sheet in the window gives the swap spot of the seller. I get in my car and drive to a spot on the road closest to the swap spot. Pull up on the shoulder, put on the hazard warning lights, lock the car, jump the fence, go to the swap spot. The 3W is still for sale, negotiate a price with the seller, agree on $14,500.00 counting out $100 bills. Someone interrupts and asks if the 3W is still available? Seller tells him just sold it. Interrupter steps in front of me and tells the seller he would like to put it in a museum. Seller tells me he would like to hear what he has to say. As they step into his trailer I remind the seller we agreed on a deal, I have the money, just need to arrange transportation. A few minutes later they step out both smiling and shake hands. Seller tells me he sold to the other guy because it belongs in a museum. He reneged on our deal and there was nothing I could do about it. The interrupter was Bob Slack and the "museum" was his private collection not open to the public. End of story.

And shame on the seller....
 
This is Bob Slack related. Im at Hershey 1978 and for three days Im hearing about a 32 3W for sale on a trailer in the parking lot. Sat lunch time Im done, Im dead tired, I drag my butt out to my car/camp site, getting ready to leave and another guy tells me about the 3W and where to find it and that it is still for sale. I follow his directions and find it. In a word it is the most mint original complete down to the rear window shade tassel 32 Ford 3W I have ever looked at. Its reasonably priced and negotiable. People around it tell me it is still for sale. Info sheet in the window gives the swap spot of the seller. I get in my car and drive to a spot on the road closest to the swap spot. Pull up on the shoulder, put on the hazard warning lights, lock the car, jump the fence, go to the swap spot. The 3W is still for sale, negotiate a price with the seller, agree on $14,500.00 counting out $100 bills. Someone interrupts and asks if the 3W is still available? Seller tells him just sold it. Interrupter steps in front of me and tells the seller he would like to put it in a museum. Seller tells me he would like to hear what he has to say. As they step into his trailer I remind the seller we agreed on a deal, I have the money, just need to arrange transportation. A few minutes later they step out both smiling and shake hands. Seller tells me he sold to the other guy because it belongs in a museum. He reneged on our deal and there was nothing I could do about it. The interrupter was Bob Slack and the "museum" was his private collection not open to the public. End of story.

Lot of "wow's" in that story! but one that sticks out is $14,500 in 1978. That was a lot of money!! I was only in 7th grade.
 
Yes, 14.5 was a lot back in '78. I remember my brother and his wife bought a '34 pickup around '76 for $2,600 if I remember correctly. It was pretty nice with juice brakes and a 265 sbc. I loved that truck, but I couldn't afford it, for a toy.

Al Hook
 
Shame on both the buyer and the seller

I can't think of a thing the buyer could have done in this particular situation that wouldn't have made things worse.

If you can, I'd love to hear about it. (We all need to sharpen our "people skills".)
 
Some more details, It was offered at 15K It was in my opinion the best all original unmolested well preserved 32 Ford I had ever looked at. It was all there, flawless in every detail I could think of. It looked like a 3 year old car. Yes we agreed on 14,5 I had a bit under 4k in my pocket (lucky me after 3 days in Hershey), we agreed on a $3,500. deposit the remainder to be paid in full in cash by the following Mon or Tue. Transportation arrangements were up to me. Yup I knew the price was steep but I felt it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. What I didn't know at the time was that Bob was standing off to the side and listened to the whole negotiation. In fairness to the seller, Bob offered a less complicated deal, he offered to pay $12,000 immediately with a cashiers check and transportation was no problem, he had a empty truck waiting. The seller was 100% correct, it belonged in a museum. I just don't like who and how it got there. To me, It was the Big Fish that got away.

It would be interesting to find out where that car is today.
 
Tom,


Was the seller from Connecticut by any chance? I recall a coupe of that description at Hershey years ago and it was from Connecticut.
 
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