It takes a special kind of person to go down the lifelong road of being a collector. We aren’t talking about the trust-fund collectors that buy collections using fortunes. We are talking about the type of guy that spends most of his life saving and searching for classic cars in the classifieds and by word of mouth around town. It’s the kind of guy that amasses 100+ classic cars from the “Big 3” automakers over four decades of collecting. It’s a guy like Bill “Coyote” Johnson.
Since he was able to drive, Bill has been buying, selling and trading classic cars and now the time has come for him to part with part of his coveted collection. 93 of the more than 100 classics that Mr. Johnson currently owns will be going up for auction.
Just about every type of collector vehicle is in the collection. There are distinctive classics like the 1951 Ford Victoria Custom, a few 80s pickups and at least five late-model Trans Ams. The bulk of the collection however is the muscle and boy-oh-boy does Bill have some serious muscle!
From this Ford Mustang Coupe to this 1965 Pontiac GTO to this 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Sport Coupe, there are plenty of muscle to go around, but like Mopar Muscle. Mopar makes up most of the muscle. There are at least ten Plymouth Roadrunners for sale as that is Bill’s favorite. Specifically, it was a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner enticed him to love Motor City muscle when he was just a teenager. We are guessing his love for hunting down Road Runners is what earned him the “Coyote” handle.
There are also numerous Dodge Chargers, Challengers, Super Bees and Plymouth Barracudas that complete the docket and they will all go across the auction block on in Red Oak, Iowa, at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds on Sept. 14, 2019. Opening bidding has already begun online until the live bidding begins Sept. 17.
The auction will be organized by VanDerBrink Auctions and you can see the entire vehicle docket on their website. One of the best parts of the Bill “Coyote” Johnson collection is that all vehicles will be sold “as-is” with no reserve. Not all the vehicles even run, and most of them will require some level of restoration. It is the opportunity of a lifetime to grab a classic/muscle car before it has been fully restored. You can get the full event details here.
Check out this video that shows much of the Coyote Johnson collection and hear directly from Bill how he built his massive muscle car collection — and why he’s selling it off.