[laughter] that will do. see you tomorrow. >> a world record car collection. >> he just kept going. he never stopped. >> i believe his goal was to have one of every car ever made. >> a maverick driven to leave a mark. >> he went to the auction, bought the whole lot. >> his family promises to carry out his grand plan. >> i think there was a feeling of dread, relief, excitement, and enthusiasm. >> love it. love the hair flowing. the top down. >> but can they fulfill the patrio patriarchs dying wish? >> you don't want that car oil on your hand.

>> i'm jamie colby. today i'm driving outside tacoma, washington, on the way to meet the hares o heirs of a man who started with nothing. he left his heirs enormous wealth, but also an overwhelming task. >> i'm doug lemay. my father earl lemay passed away in 2000 2000 is and left us with a full-time collection. >> his father lived here for more than two decades. he now lives and works here. >> hey, doug. >> hi, jamie. glad you could come. >> i'm so happy to be here. is this a house or garage? >> well, it's a five-bedroom house with

with -- >> as doug shows me around, it's easy to see this isn't just a home, but a reflection of his father's passion for the automobile. >> i mean, doug, i have to be honest, i've been to car shows that haven't had this many cars. >> dad did it for a long time. >> everywhere you looked, there's a collector car. what's your dream ride? a 1930 cadillac 452 convertible? a 1961 metropolitan? it's probably here. somewhere. there are even rooms completely filled with the same model or manufacturer. jamie: these are all pack packa? >> yes. this whole row. >> am i allowed to touch? >> have a seat if you want. >> you don't have to ask me twice. oh, my goodness, look at the steering wheel. it has my name written all over. so many do.

lemay'lemay's fascination with cars started before he could reach the metal. nancy is harold's widow. >> his mother said he loved anything with wheels. >> harold is born in 1919 to a single mother struggling to make a living and care for three young children. when harold is just three, maria feels she has no choice, but to place harold in the custody of friends who can better take care of him. when the couple comes to pick up harold, they're driving a chevy. >> harold was apprehensive. he's only three. hadn't met these people before. he described, this portly man behind the wheel said harold, you need to sit on my lap and you can drive the car home. >> little harold puts his hands on the wheels of that chevy. feeling a life-long love

affair with the automobile. after driving a truck in world war ii, harold returns home and builds up a garbage and scrap collecting business. it may not be glamorous, trash proves to be very profitable. >> how successful was his business? >> very successful. jamie: lemay enterprises eventually groses to be the tenth largest trash removal in america. annual revenues topping $1 million. in 1963, harold marries nancy. a few years later, he has another life changing moment. >> a friend of his was in the monte club. that would be just the thing for him to get into. >> once he joins the club, a lightbulb goes off. harold wants to collect classic cars. he begins with american models. mostly chevys and fords. >> how did he find these

cars? >> he would find them himself. >> by the 1970s, harold revs us. as his grandson says, so did his wish list. >> it didn't matter where in the country the car was. he would say, you want to go for a drive. then you're crossing from oregon to california. >> as his passion grows, harold buys any car nearly he comes across. >> grandpa never called himself a car collector. he was a car saver. he saved cars. >> harold couldn't stand to see a car crushed crushed. >> he bought the whole wrecking house in idaho. >> harold's collection of cars totaled into the thousands. >> he just kept going. he never stopped. >> you never said, honey, enough already. we could use that money for a vacation? >> no. but when we went on

vacation, it was always for a car somewhere on the route. >> as harold's fleet expands, he runs out of room in a 300 car garage. >> he would buy houses to use the garage. rent the house, not the garage. >> he buys this 87-acre former catholic school called marymount. we'll circle back here. >> how many conversations did you have with harold about what should happen to the collection when he passed? >> he never go to about thought about pass at all? >> his heirs are thinking about the huge challenge rumbling towards them once harold is gone. >> you have to decide with your life, what will you do with the stuff? that's a confrontational

thing. you have to have a plan. it's a burden on everyone else. >> harold makes that plan. plus, the one car he really wants, but never gets. >> and now, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. what was the first official white house car? was it an 1899 packard? a 1990 for taft. or 1929 cadillac for or 1929 cadillac for hoover in the an

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♪ >> so what was the first official white house car? the that

51 cars were made before his chicago company folded. with or without a tucker, la may' vintage car collection is named world largest in the 1998 world records. it includes the classics as roadster, duesenberg, and harold now in his late 70s starts to worry what will become of his beloved ooze when he's gone. charlie maxwell was friends with harold for over 30 years. >> what did harold want to happen with his collection. >> he wanted his collection preserved. 346rk had au.

>> it isn't he but his heirs, including son doug and grandson eric who will have the enormous burden of housing and maintaining all these cars. >> did he think what he had amassed and what his family would face as he got older? >> yeah. he had made the decision through my grandmother that they were going to create a museum. >> that's right. a museum. just for harold's car. the family starts by requesting land from the city of tacoma but before city's award the property, they ask harold for an initial donation of at least 300 cars to get the project going. >> 10 appear of the collection. is that hard for him? >> i think it almost killed him. he had this document that he had to put his signature on saying that he wasn't going to own this stuff at some point and i remember his handshake scpg he kind of took a deep breath and he sign it and he handed me the piece of paper and he stormed off back toward home.

>> on november 4th, 2000, after a massive heart attack, harold dies at the age of 81. his hairs inherit his grand car collection, and even grander dream of a museum to house it. >> i think there was a feeling of dread, relief, excitement and enthusiasm. >> two questions arise. how many cars are there and what are they worth? the family calls in larry batten, owner of the auto appraisal group in charlottesville, virginia. >> it was a massive operation. the cars were located in 53 locations. his filing system was a 32-gallon green trash bag because he never had any intention of selling or marketing a vehicle. we worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week. >> over the six-month appraisal, the team uncovers countless

classic cars only harold knew he had. >> we would open a door that hadn't been opened in decades. it would be full of cars that had been there for years covered with cottonwood flower like snow on the inside of the a building and there were bumblebee fords, convertibles and pierce arrows and cars that were so unique. >> in all, larry and his team locate, number, and value 2,973 cars, not including the countless rusted half wrecked hulk. >> i believe his goal was to have one of every car ever made. >> larry is not allowed to say what the whole collection is worth, but independent estimates peg it at $100 million at the time of harold's death. with the inconvenienventory come family tries to realize harold's dream of a car museum and start >> creating a museum is like

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>> so which classic american sports car came first? it's, a, the chevy corvette from its introduction in 1953. chevy produced 1.5 million of them. jamie: in the early 2000s, harold's family is struggling to

honor his dying wish, the creation of a museum where its entire 3000-plus car collection can be on public supply. one thadisplay. one that will be there is the model t. i meet for a driving lesson. step one, hand crank the car to start it. >> what do you think? >> i think you're up to it. give it a good crank. not quite. >> ouch. [laughter] wait. is this a trick? oh, come on. get me a car that works. >> there you go. >> hey. all right. there you go. >> right on. >> the model t is considered the first affordable automobile, but it's not particularly easy to

drive. it has three pedals, but the brake is on the right. what's it doing there? jamie: you did clear the trees today? >> and the sidewalk. jamie: as we scoot around, it's easy to see why harold fell in love with this classic. i love it. feel the hair blowing, the top down. >> there's a big tree. big tree. jamie: brake. brake. brake. okay. brake. oh, that's forward. wait. brake. oh, yeah, that thing on the right, throttle up. oh, my gosh. perfect. not a scratch. but a collision is in store for the lemay family as it tries to get its museum and to drive. >> you need a building. fund-raising, all the next steps. >> the family donates 600 cars to the project and $15 million too, but it's not enough. so they hire a fundraiser who tells

them they have to have corporate sponsors for more big bucks. that will mean the lemays are told they will have to sacrifice their control and vision for the museum. the family agrees, but soon find themselves two on a board of 30. >> on the one hand, you want to see the legacy restored. on the other hand, you can't have the control once it's in the museum. >> the museum adds cars from other collections to attract national attention. then fund-raising runs tight. the board tells the family they don't have the budget to preserve all of harold's cars. many of the ones he donated, they say, are redundant. they decide on a step that harold lemay would have never considered. sell some of his cars. >> if you could have controlled that situation. would you have asked them to sell other cars? i don't sell many cars.

jamie: in fact, harold had only sold three collector cars in his lifetime. family members are dismayed. >> none of us wanted to be the one that says we split all the stuff up. you don't want that car oil on your hands. >> if you didn't want them, why ask for them. it seems like they wanted to sell them. >> the museum auctions 145 of harold's autos. their estimated value well into the millions. his packard sells for 113k. his 1936 rolls-royce goes for more than 65 grand. the funds do their part to help the museum keep going. when the sleek looking building finally opens in 2012, its name has been changed from the harold lemay museum to

lemay american museum. that reflects the shift in focus from harold lemay to cars from other donors as well. that's discouraging to harold's heirs because his wish was for a museum for just his collection. the family believes there's still a chance to keep his vision alive. >> what is this place? would you believe a second museum just second museum just minutes down the something special happens when you come to transunion.com. you get in the know. and when you're in the know about your credit, you feel confident, ready for anything. at transunion.comyou get instant credit alerts to keep you in sync. you can even lock and unlock your transunion report with the swipe of a finger. come to transunion.com. and get in the know.

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to get out, to escape and now

ok you are outside and you are safe but what do you do now and that's where the red cross came in... . we ran out of the house just wearing our pajamas. at that point just to even have a toothbrush that i could call my own was so important... . ...you know it just makes you feel like a person again. every 8 minutes the american red cross responds to a home fire or other emergency. you can help. please donate now. >> now, back to "strange inheritance." jamie: harold lemay's family continues to face the dilemma of how to honor his legacy. a chunk of harold's huge car collection has been sold off. a museum in tacoma washington, originally meant to be solely devoted to harold has a different mission. then a solution. the family decides to refit that school property that harold purchased in the

mid-1990s. eric, what is this place? >> this is the other part of the equation that was our family learning how to save the world's largest car collection. this is mar marymount. it's an event center. a museum. >> your museum? >> yeah. we wanted another museum that was about the lemay family and our taste in collecting. we may be only 6 miles apart, but we're very different culturally from each other. they consider marymount the down to earth little brother. the sleek modern museum. it's the dirty finger version that celebrates harold's cars and nobody elses. it depends on the hard work of eric. everyone from the tour guide to the director is a volunteer. are you in the black or in the red?

>> at some point, and it's not that far away, this will be a self-sustaining business. it looks really like it's going to be healthy for a long, long time. ♪ jamie: before i leave, there's one last car eric tells me i need to see. >> it's a 1948 tucker. >> wait a minute, harold wanted a tucker, he never got it. >> my grandmother bought it after he died. a group of our family went to an auction and grandma bought the tucker that he couldn't have before he passed away. >> unbelievable. so he left, but you knew it was that important to have? >> we knew it was that important. jamie: what would harold say? >> he would love it. i think if grandpa were to look at how hard we've tried to do what he was hoping we'd do, i think he'd be really proud of it. it took a whole community.

it took a lot of volunteers. it took a family that never got off track with each other. that's his legacy, basically. ♪ jamie: one last harold lemay story, back in the '80s at a garbage vacation in chicago, he caught wind of a 901 1914 baby chevy. the day he said goodbye to his mom, he road in it. harold bought it on the spot and loaded it in the back of his fancy garbage truck that he purchased at that trade show. he and nancy hauled that chevy back to tacoma. there it sits to this day. he never let it go. i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and, remember, you can't take it with you.

do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an email or go to our website. "strangeit it right now. >> found in grandpa's attic. >> dirty, dusty old box. like, wow. i don't know what it is. >> a discovery that will make the baseball world flip. >> you've got honus wagner. cy young. christie matthew son. >> i'm thinking to myself, oh, my god. i have a million dollars sitting in a chair. >> but is it almost too much of a good thing? >> it certainly changes the market in a negative way. (?) ♪ jamie: i'm jamie colby. i'm in