Rare, classic cars collected by bounce house inventor to be auctioned in Hutchinson

Yvette VanDerBrink walked inside a warehouse in rural Reno County and saw a room that was bumper-to-bumper with antique cars.

It was a similar sight at storage facilities in a few other locations — roughly 140 antique vehicles in all plus car parts. The collection belonged to the late Robert ‘Bob’ Eugene Regehr, who died in 2019. The Hutchinson man had a lucrative career as the inventor of the moon-walk, which is commonly known as a bounce house, according to VanDerBrink.

“Nobody knew what was packed away in all those buildings,” said VanDerBrink, whose company, VanDerBrink Auctions, will auction off the vehicles next week. VanDerBrink said Regehr drove a couple of the cars regularly, but the others had been out of sight for years. “He just kinda bought anything that he liked … He bought them and put them away.”

Chevrolet Corvettes, Roadsters, Nomads, Camaros and Bel Airs are in the mix. Ford Model As, Victorias and trucks are also up for auction. There is also a Ferrari.

“It’s just such an eclectic collection that he had ... he has something for everyone,” VanDerBrink said.

The auction will be held at 9 a.m. on Oct. 24 at the Kansas State Fairgrounds. A preview is available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 23.

One of the Minnesota-based auction company’s specializations is in selling classic cars. VanDerBrink wouldn’t say how much she estimates the auction will bring in but conceded it would “easily” be over $1 million.

Some of the highlights, she said, would be a 1953 Buick Skylark convertible and a couple of 1932 B400 Ford two-door convertibles.

“They are not a pretty car,” she said. “It’s not attractive. But it’s just super rare.”

She said less than 900 were made and were mostly used by government officials overseas — one of Regehr’s was in Denmark and the other in Sweden. She said a fan and collector of the vehicle estimates fewer than 50 are in the U.S.

She estimated they will sell from $59,000 to upward of $80,000.

The Skylark was owned by a Hutchinson woman and has less than 50,000 miles, VanDerBrink said.

Regehr kept asking the woman to sell him the car and one day she told him she sold it to someone else, according to a flier about the auction.

“(Regehr) was determined and tracked the car down in Hemmings Motor News and bought the car,” the flier says.

VanDerBrink has auctioned a “piece of” junk Skylark for $40,000; one that had been on fire went for $9,000. A perfectly restored one could go for $125,000 but she doesn’t expect this one to fetch that much.

VanDerBrink said they didn’t try to get any of the vehicles running. Based on the condition of some vehicles, she believes some will start up with little effort.

There’s a another rare find in the mix.

Perhaps the rarest of jewels in the auction is a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Indy 500 Pace Car with just 43 being built, according to a Fox News article about the auction. An article in Hot Rod suggests as many as 300 were built.

A 2009 Hot Rod article about Regehr’s collection says Regehr has every model of 1932 Ford ever made. There are more than a dozen 1932 Fords in the auction.

Regehr was hard-pressed to let go of the collectibles.

The first car that he bought, at age 14, was a two-tone 1940 Mercury that he was driving when he met his wife, Judy Regehr, while drag racing down Main Street. It is also part of the auction, the flier says.

His collection of vehicles reached 260 at its peak, according to a news release.

“(When Judy Regehr) passed away in 2014, Bob allowed his children to begin selling parts of his collection,” according to the release. “However, unable to bear seeing them sold, he instructed his family to auction the cars after he passed away.”

Registered bidders are in Australia, Germany, England and all over the U.S., VanDerBrink said. The event will be online and in-person, with people able to social distance at the fairgrounds and sanitation stations and masks available for attendees.

More information and a list of cars can be found at vanderbrinkauctions.com.

This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 4:37 AM.