By MADELINE REIDA

Staff writer

A two-day auction July 23 and 24 on Mustang Rd. is anticipated to attract collectors from across the country and beyond.

The Litke collection is an amalgamation of Virgil Litke’s hobby of 92 years. His antique vehicles, tractors, farming implements, signs, seats, and other memorabilia create one of the largest collections in the country. Many of the pieces are attached to stories that Virgil shared with visitors before he died April 2019.

Glen Litke, Virgil’s son and an antique collector and restorer himself, initially considered creating a museum out of the pieces. He will be host for the auction with help from Aumann Auctions, local auctioneer friends, and hopefully coordination with the Marion county road and bridge department because of the crowd expected.

“This’ll be far-reaching,” he said. “We’ve had many people across the states of the union and ‘across the pond,’ as they say. It isn’t just a county auction.”

He is anticipating that farmers, historians, and other collectors will attend the auction.

“The people who are coming are like-minded collectors,” he said. “People like to take tractors that are nothing but a skeleton of rust and restore them.”

Quests for restoration will draw collectors to purchase parts to replace in their own pieces. Virgil’s own fully restored pieces will be sold at the auction.

Glen won’t be parting with all of the pieces.

“I’ll keep some things, I’ve been part of it all my life,” he said. “There’s some key items that I still wanna play with.”

His father was close to God and knew eternal from material.

“That helps me release,” Glen said. “It’s all material.”