German immigrant Rudi Klein collected cars for more than 50 years. Even though he is long gone, it is only now that the cars have to go.
As a young man, German Rudi Klein immigrated to the United States, where he ended up settling down as a scrap dealer.
It was an open secret that the man had some pretty wild and very rare cars kept among all the junk. However, it is only now that Klein's collection has become so well known.
The scrap dealer himself died in 2001, after which the family took care of the many cars he left behind here on Earth. But now the cars have to move on. Not necessarily as scrap, but for new owners.
And they have to pay a good deal to get hold of part of the Klein collection. Boosted has told how the collection contains everything from extremely rare Porsches to Ferrari and Lamborghini models to at least equally rare Mercedes cars.
– This collection is special and includes Ferraris, Porsches and much more, says Leslie Kendall who is historian at Peterson's Automotive Museum.
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It was sons Ben and Jason who took over their father's business when he put the clogs on display in 2001. But this summer the brothers chose to put the entire collection up for sale via RM Sotheby's.
The auction house believes that at least 208 cars from Rudi Klein's company can be sold. The trip around the scrap yard shows everything from a Lotus and several Maseratis to Porsches in a sea of scraps. There is also a single Maybach on site.
The last car that Leslie Kendall can talk about this time is a Mercedes-Benz 600 'Pullman' from the 1960s. In its day, one of the world's absolute most expensive cars.
– It is an incredible car that was very expensive at the time, but it was worth every penny. The model was developed for presidents, popes and absolute rulers, says Kendall.
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