A Peek into the Collection of the Century
Where to start this adventure? Well … Hi! I’m Solomon, and I’m a self-admitted F-100 hoarder. Some of you know me from articles in this and previous issues of “F-100 Builder’s Guide.” But my addiction to Ford trucks stems back much further. I also founded Ford Era, a YouTube channel that has kind of taken over my life. It all revolves around my love for these classic Ford trucks and these wild Ford journeys that I tend to find myself knee deep in quite often.
Recently, in fact, I was contacted by a buddy of mine who told me about a honey hole in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. He had been picking there for years, and one day, he wanted to take me there so I could make a video and show the world what the town was hiding. Needless to say, I said, “Let’s ride!”
Time Capsule
Fast forward a couple months, and Don tells me he’s headed to Soddy Daisy and asks if I want to fly up and go with him. I had some time and, mind you, this is 9pm on Tuesday night, so I immediately booked a flight for 6am Wednesday morning and was at the property just shy of noon the same day.
When I got there, I was literally amazed and overwhelmed. I’ve seen a ton of Blue Ovals in my time, but there were so many rare and odd trucks all in one area that I was left speechless in awe (which doesn’t happen often haha). What really got me was that it was in an industrial complex and looked like it was all put there at once and forgotten—like a true time capsule.
Wheelin’ and Dealin’
Don introduced me to the property owner and owner of all the trucks, a great man named Brett. We spoke for a bit, exchanging stories and becoming old friends fast. After a little while of exchanging war stories he says to me, “Hey, are you just going to make a video, or did you want to get a truck since you’re here?” I said, “Well I’m always ready to buy a truck!”
He then told me to make a list of the ones I liked and maybe I can get a few of them. So, I did just that and put together a list of more than a few—was roughly 28 trucks. I showed it to him, and we walked around the yard itemizing the list. He hit me with a price that was very fair and honestly took me by surprise.
When Brett saw my shocked face at the price, he explained to me that he has been collecting and building these trucks for more than 42 years. He is getting older and wanted to live out his life without being held down to one spot, so after a while more of browsing, in his words he was officially “passing the torch” to me. I was honored, shocked, and amazed to so suddenly be the curator of such an awe-inspiring collection.
The Holy Grail
The next few days were quite hectic to say the least. I originally had a flight back for Thursday morning but skipped that one to start planning what and how to go about sorting and transporting this newfound collection.
Luckily our Ford truck community is pretty tight, and I had calls and messages from friends all over the country offering to help. I got together with my buddy Greg Creech at Needumz Garaz to be my go-to transporter, and we just started to sell off some of the trucks to friends I knew had been looking for certain models and options, then we arranged to transport.
At press time, it’s the beginning of August and the deal was done around eight weeks ago. Time has flown by, and the collection dwindled slowly. The majority of the trucks we will keep for the time being to build on our Ford Era YouTube channel and in these very pages. Only time will tell where they all end up, but I’m glad to be trusted with such a task!
I truly want to say thank you to everyone who has helped in any way, and a very special thank you to God for this blessing. If you want to see all of this unfold you can go to YouTube and search Ford Era. There are currently six videos outlining the collection currently, with more to come!
