LATIMER -- A northern Iowa man has put his lifelong collection of old and classic cars up for auction, but he said his car collecting days are far from over.

Jerry Passehl, of Latimer, started his collection when he was 14 years old.

By the time he graduated high school, he had 350 cars.

The collection has dwindled to about 125 cars, most of which he planned to auction off on Saturday.

"I just love cars," he said. "We just have a full building. Hopefully someone can take some of these and do good with them."

The cars range from the 1920s to the 1970s. About half are Fords. The rest are a mix of other makes. Most of the cars run but need some work, he said.

Yvette VanDerBrink, owner of VanDerBrink Auctions, of Hardwick, Minn., said Passehl's collection includes some rare cars, like Ford woody wagons.

"He has a lot of nice stuff, real nice collector cars," said VanDerBrink, who did the auction.

There are old convertibles, coupes and two-door hardtops.

Some, like a Saxon, he's keeping for

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himself.

Many of the cars were saved from junkyards, Passehl said.

"We used to go to junkyards when they were crushing cars and pull them out of the pile," he said.

Despite his efforts, many old cars were lost, some because of high scrap metal prices in recent years.

That has made it difficult to find rare parts, but Passehl's collection includes some of those parts, VanDerBrink said.

Passehl said part of his interest in saving the cars was because of their history.

"I just think it's interesting, the evolution of cars," he said. "From the old friction cars to what we have today."

Although he's selling much of his collection, his interest in old cars won't wane.

"The search is still on," Passehl said. "I'll continue saving them from scrap."