Buena Park man's vintage cars to be auctioned off

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A Buena Park man who recently died left behind a unique collection of vintage cars.

Crews rolled a 1920s vintage car out of a storage crate in the back parking lot of the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The county's public administrator is holding 69 cars from the estate of Gerald Willits, 76. Officials said they do not know a lot about Willits, except that he died last year and he was likely a plumber based on the writing on some of the cars.

Many of the vehicles are from the 1920s or earlier - Model Ts, Model As, Mercedes, Ford, Volkswagen and dozens more.

Investigators said most of the cars no longer run and are in pretty bad shape.

"They were definitely out in the elements. You know a lot of critters made their homes inside a lot of these cars," said Rose Arellano, supervising deputy public administrator.

The office took over the cars and the estate because Willits' family cannot find his original will. All of the cars will be auctions off, and the money will be saved until a court can identify a rightful heir.

"We're getting tremendous amount of interest from the public and I think this auction will be very successful," Arellano said.

The public administrator plans to bring an appraiser out to look at the cars and then hold an auction sometime in May.