A once-in-a-lifetime Chevrolet collection is heading to the auction block outside Fremont, Nebraska, and the reason has nothing to do with the cars themselves. Tim and Mary Robinson spent decades assembling one of the largest full-size Chevrolet collections in the country, but rapid growth around Omaha and Lincoln has caught up with their rural property. After county officials sent a letter urging the family to sell, move, or otherwise deal with their fleet, and months of fighting the decision at board meetings, the Robinsons made the difficult choice to part with the bulk of their beloved cars.
Tim’s love of Chevrolets began as a teenager working at Ridge Runner Auto Salvage in Chadron, Nebraska, where he traded a year of unpaid labor for his first car, a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. That same car carried Tim and his future wife, Mary, home from their wedding, and the couple still owns it today. From there, the collection grew steadily as the family gravitated toward Tri-Five Chevrolets and Impalas, eventually amassing more than 400 vehicles, roughly three-quarters of them Impalas built between 1958 and 1970.
Earlier this year, farmland near the Robinson property was sold to a housing developer, and the family received word that their decades-old car collection would need to go to make way for new residential construction nearby. After trying to buy more time, the Robinsons ultimately decided to sell the majority of their fleet, approximately 350 Chevrolets including more than 200 Impalas, while holding onto a small personal collection and that original 1955 Bel Air.
The family enlisted VanDerBrink Auctions, the firm behind the widely covered 2013 Lambrecht Chevrolet sale, to handle the event. A preview is scheduled for October 2, 2026 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the live auction beginning October 3 at 9 a.m. (gates open at 7 a.m., rain or shine) at the Robinson property outside Fremont. Bidding will be available both onsite and online.
The inventory list runs into the hundreds of lots and spans decades of Chevrolet production. Alongside the heavy concentration of Impala hardtops, convertibles, and wagons from the late 1950s through early 1970s, the collection includes Tri-Five era Bel Airs, Nomad wagon projects, a handful of Corvettes, a 1967 Chevelle, and even a few Chevrolet trucks and vans, giving restorers, parts hunters, and collectors plenty to chase regardless of the project.
Tim still remembers racing his first Chevy on the back roads outside Chadron, recalling one run-in with a visiting Hemi Cuda: “I SMOKED HIM! My 1955 Chevy blew his doors off!” That same passion fueled decades of collecting, and now it will pass to a new generation of Chevrolet enthusiasts as the Robinsons’ cars find new homes across the country. See the collection here.
Shawn Henry