Forrest 'Toppy' Clark and son collections auction Nov. 1

Way back when life was a bit slower. Forrest Clark could be found playing tops with other kids. He gained his nckname "Toppy" from his competitive edge and winning area top tournaments. He was one of eight children who were mostly raised by his mom.

Clark was born in Sabetha, Kan., on Aug. 15, 1911, on the way to Elk City, Okla. Throughout his life, he saw many changes. He learned to drive with a team of horses, and then came the Model Ts and other cars. His first memory of their first car was a REO. They took lots of long family rides from Butler to Spickard, Mo. -- long before air conditioning and paved roads -- to visit family.

Clark's grandfather was a Grundy County judge, and the whole family piled in the REO to visit him. Clark remembers other trips and it was a good thing they had kids, because they pushed the REO home most of the way from Oklahoma. Forrest drove young and this started his love with cars. When the Model A Fords came along, he thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. He courted and married his wife in a 1937 Chevrolet, his father-in-law's car. Clark mowed the cemetery for money and when he could and did go to School for Pharmacy and gave up mowing grass once and for all.

Clark was a Rich Hill, Mo., pharmacist and operated a pawn shop as well. Many children in the area were given half dollars and silver dollars whenever they met him. Clark iked to gamble and also always looking for a deal. He loved Cadillacs, and those big cars. Forrest recalls many trips with such buddies as "Titanic" Thompson and road trips to Kansas City to play craps. On one fortunate winning, he came across a deal and bought his only son, Terry a car, which is in the auction. Clark collected and bought many cars over the years. In his lifetime, he has made lifelong friends with fellow car collectors. He has lived to the good old age of 97, and so his motto is; not to take pills, and drink good whiskey, cold beer and collect cars.

Terry Clark boasts that he's seen every car museum and most casino lobbies in the West. He played behind his Dad's pharmacy in an old 1937 hearse. He would pretend he was rescuing the perishing from accidents. Terry didn't follow his dad's love for the cars but went into the ambulance service after helping drive for a local funeral parlor. Terry started his first ambulance service in 1967 and First Call service for funeral homes and the county coroner, in the Kansas City area. He had the first raised-roof ambulance in the Kansas City area, a high top Pontiac. Terry Clark also served in the U.S. Army and was drafted into service in Vietnam. He worked with supplies and making sure they were delivered and some policing of the black market. He loved "The Andy Griffith Show" and said Rich Hill wasn't too far off from Mayberry. He liked the police car. He was later a Chief Deputy Sherriff and retired from that line of work. Terry traveled with his wife Frieda and will go into a police station in another country and smooth talk his way to acquiring one of their hats. Terry Clark remembers riding with his Dad on trips and making sure they stopped at every salvage yard and clump of cars. "Diamonds in the rough, boy. That's what they are," his dad would say.

Now Toppy Clark is older and Terry Clark and his wife are moving to Austria in 2009. It is time to sell both of their collections. VanDerBrink Auctions, LLC, Yvette VanDerBrink, will conduct the auction and party of Forrest "Toppy: Clark and Son auction on Nov. 1, at l0 a.m.. at the Vernon County fairgrounds in Nevada. Friday is preview with a band and barbecue in the late afternoon to celebrate. Saturday, at l0 a.m., the auction will start. The car collection will be sold at about 1 p.m. This sale includes some rare and valuable cars. There is a 1959 Cadillac El Dorado Biarritz convertible with the Tn-Power, a 1929 four-person Sport Phaeton Cadillac, an assortment of Model As, and a Vicky. A 1948 V-12 Lincoln will be parked with three 1956 Thunderbird Roadsters, more Cadillacs, 1957 Studebaker, and more. There are even trucks, like a Diamond T and Model B ford Truck. Even a 1953 Pontiac Ambulance/ Hearse will be offered, ready to restore. All vehicles will be sold with no reserve to the highest bidder. There also is assortment of original Ambulance/Hearse equipment, sirens and red bubblegum lights and other lights, and police items including badges, lights andsirens, patches, decals, hats, and more, along with a good assortment of signs, toy vehicles, and much more.