it with the heaviest heart I regret to inform everyone but long time User and Oldsmobile fanatic, jhoppeolds (John Hoppe) from Greenfield, Wisconsin passed away this December from a heart attack. He has helped hundred with his knowledge of Oldsmobile and the amazing plethora of parts he uptained from over 45 years of collecting. His brother in law informed me of this news today.

John was the only man in Wisconsin who had a non-rusty 1963 Starifre frame for me to have to save my Dynamic. I met with him multiple times to get things like transmissions, fuel pumps, sheet metal and many misc. items. He was very genuine and nice man to have known. He felt like sort of a mentor for these cars, since at 22 years old my knowledge is thin and his was vast.

John unfortunately did not have any living descends, did not marry or write a will. His collection will be put at auction this summer in Brillion, Wisconsin. I will let this forum know of dates and times this will be happening to help remember John's Legacy and support his brother in law.

He had a incredible collection of mint condition starifres, 98s, engines, trannys, doors, and just about everything in between. I hope it all will go to a good home.

You will be missed John RIP...

 

Sorry to hear about John. I met him several years ago and he was fair priced and helpful. Let us know about the auction.
R I P John

 

Hey brother I feel your pain. I feel your heavy heart. Sad but we are all getting older. We lose more friends damn near daily. Thoughts and prayers for everyone involved. 🙏

 

Always sad to hear of an Olds friend passing. We've lost many here.

Alex, glad you had the chance to meet and know John.

 

That sucks. Thanks for the info.

 

Sorry to hear this. Condolences to his family and friends.

 

Yes sorry to hear this , i purshased a set of nice hubcaps of him in 2016. RIP John.

 

Sorry to hear. I'd never met him but seen his name over the years offering to help people with parts they needed.

 

Sad we lost another Olds guy.
it seems like it’s been a tough winter for our brethren.
RIP sir.

 

Alex, that was a very nice tribute to our mutual friend John, I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier. I think we met once when you were at his shop looking at 64 stuff. I'm writing here to let you know (and I'll make a second post about it, too) but over the last year and a half I, along with some of John's other friends, have been working on cleaning up his massive estate/collection, and it's currently being auctioned off by Hansen Auction Group. Everything starts at $1 and there's no reserve, our main goal here was to give this stuff a chance to be saved and used again instead of getting scrapped. Here's a link to the auction.

https://www.hansenauctiongroup.com/a...etail/bw114672

I learned a lot from John and he's the reason most of my old cars run at all. His sister and brother in law are keeping his '66 Dynamic 88 convertible and his '70 Delta 88 along with some bits of memorabilia, and they'd love to see the rest of the pieces get into the hands of someone who can actually use them.

 

Interesting. Not that I expect anyone to know the answer, but if he left no will and has no living relatives, who gets the proceeds from the auction? Perhaps some goes to pay his funeral expenses and maybe his final credit card and utility bills and so forth, but that probably won't take all of it. Just curious. Having lost both of my parents in the last couple of years, I'm familiar with the ins and outs of having versus not having a will, dealing with final expenses, and all the rest.

In fact, without a will and with no relatives, who has the authority to put the cars up for auction? I presume the courts have gotten involved and have appointed someone to dispose of the estate, but who petitioned the court? Who paid the filing fees? Perhaps he has creditors, and they've gotten together to see his things sold so they can recover what he owed them. This perhaps explains why the auction is happening now, six months after he passed away. Took that long for the paperwork to get in place and the courts to act.

 

I'm not really sure how the "Will" stuff works. John passed away December of 2022, not 2023. Its been about a year and a half since his passing. Thank you for the update squablow. I remember meeting you too when we were looking at his 63 Starfire for my frame! I though after the summer ended in 2023 that I missed the auction but completely by coincedence I met a man working at a car show in New London, Wi that sold John his 64 white Jetstar 1. He mentioned he thinks his auction could be this summer and when I looked up Johns name on google, I was so happy to find his auction! I pray now I can win something from the auction to have in the garage as to remember who saved my project from the scrap yard. RIP John, you were a great guy!

 

Rest in peace, John.

 

 

OLDSter Ralph This thread was started a year and a half ago when I had very little info about John's background because it was strictly business and he never spoke about his family. I was not aware he had a living sister. His brother in law contacted me to let me know John Had passed, not his sister.

 

Alex, it was for Jaunty75 information in post #11.