Text and photos by Steve Temple

While some folks like to collect stamps or coins, Wes Abendroth relishes something much more exotic. He has a yen for lesser-known cars, some that you might have never heard of, many with unusual configurations. But they all have one thing in common: they look really cool.

Formerly a used-Corvette dealer in Dallas, Texas for 21 years, but now retired and active in the vintage racing scene, Abendroth has a thing for Corvettes as well. He even once owned a 1980 model with only five miles on it, as sort of a time-capsule Corvette. But the bulk of his private collection consists of some rare racers and performance machines.

How did we come across this diverse batch of cars? Actually, that’s an interesting story in itself. One day we noticed a large storage building in the High Sierras of Northern Nevada, perched on a hillside overlooking a scenic valley of cattle land. The structure’s site didn’t make sense for storing farm equipment, so we suspected that it might contain a car collection. 

Oddly enough, Wes called our office a couple days afterwards to offer a private tour. The current location of his collection is a fairly well-kept secret, and we felt privileged to granted an insider look at it, and share what we found. (A note of credit is in order to Harold Pace, for providing historical background on these cars from his book, Vintage American Road Racing Cars, co-authored by Mark R. Brinker.)

Adding to our curiosity, Abendroth says he has a lot more cars stashed away, such as ’57 La Dawri and a racing Corvette, among others, but he declines to reveal any more details, as he prefers his privacy, and eschews the car-show scene.

After all, “How much can you drive? Where do you go?” he notes. But with one exception: “Vintage races are the one time you can really enjoy the car, and interact with fellow racers and collectors.”