Mike Hall has a deal that his real estate ad describes as a lifetime opportunity that is perfect for the vintage auto enthusiast who loves to work and live in a beautiful area. The five acres he has for sale is alongside Highway 1 at Tappen – a one-hour drive east of Kamloops and 10 minutes from Salmon Arm on Shuswap Lake.

For $1.45 million, the successful buyer gets the property zoned for auto salvage, a renovated house, a 900-square-foot restoration shop, a 1,200-square-foot steel building and enough steel beams and rafters to build 8,000 square feet of covered space.

Oh, and he’ll throw in more than 340 vintage vehicles. He values the cars and trucks at anywhere from $500 to $35,000 each.

When pressed, Hall doesn’t know exactly how many cars he has – but more than 340, and very likely considerably more. He admits to buying at least 40 more cars since originally listing the property for $1.19 million a year ago. The cars and trucks he has collected over the past 40 years are lined up across the property like an old drive-in theatre. They sit silently rusting while waiting for new owners.

“I started accumulating cars when I was 20,” says Hall, who is now 60 years old. “First it was 50 cars. Then the collection grew to 100. I bought more and more. It’s easy to buy them when you’re working. It’s like an addiction. With 100 cars, 200 seemed better, and now it’s well past 300.”

He spent his career as a rock scaler – one of the guys you see hanging on ropes above the highway picking rocks out of cliffs to ensure they don’t fall on the traffic below.

“They call me the Rasta Blasta,” he says, proudly referring to his dreadlocks. “I was away 10 months of the year working around the province. I made more money than I knew what to do with, so I would buy cars all across B.C.” He hauled them back on trailers, in the back of dump trucks and any other way he could transport them.

His hoarding started in Kamloops when he was young. As the collection grew, he bought a 26-acre farm and populated it with 200 old cars and trucks. Some of the vintage vehicles he hauled home were purchased from an old wrecking yard on the property he currently is offering for sale.

When his wife drew the line and insisted that he stop storing old vehicles on their organic farm, he bought the five-acre property in Tappen, which is zoned for auto wrecking – strategically next to the well-known White Post Auto Museum. He stores cars on the museum’s property as well.

Mike Hall is a bit ambiguous as to why he wants to sell his property and the vintage vehicles that he says he collected to give him something to do for his retirement. But he just got a big five-year rock-scaling contract so his retirement won’t come soon.

“I’m 60 years old and won’t live long enough to restore these cars,” he reasons. For example, he wants to build a Sunbeam Tiger that came originally with a powerful Ford V8 engine coupled to a four-speed transmission – so he collected half a dozen Sunbeam Alpine sports cars that the Tiger is based on. “I need to get to that,” he says.

He has a row of 1955 to 1957 Chevrolet two-door station wagons and sedan deliveries for future restoration that he hasn’t gotten around to. The oldest cars include a 1926 Chevrolet roadster pickup, a 1927 Ford Model T pickup and a 1947 Mercury Ute (known as a “utility” or half car, half pickup) originally from Australia.

Among the newer cars are five 1991 Chevrolet Firefly convertibles along with two turbo coupes. “I drive one every day. It only cost $28 to fill up with premium fuel,” he says proudly.

He has collected many muscle cars including what he describes as a bunch of Dodge Coronet and Super Bee models. There is a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu convertible that was originally equipped with a V8 engine and four-speed transmission, and a rare 1966 Pontiac Beaumont SD (Sport Deluxe) with a V8 engine and four-speed transmission – one of only 45 built. He has owned his restored 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle with a big-block 396-cubic-inch engine and four-speed transmission for 30 years.

“I don’t sell parts, only project cars,” he says. He also restores cars, which is very labour intensive and time consuming. “I just finished a Dodge Challenger and am now doing a ground-up restoration on a 1966 Plymouth Satellite convertible for a customer.”

His property has been listed for sale all winter and has not created the interest he had hoped – even with the 340 cars thrown in as a bonus. “I haven’t had one offer but it was winter and you couldn’t even see the cars,” he reports. “They were covered in six feet of snow.”

Listing agent Hudson Purba of Century 21 Desert Hills Realty in Kamloops remains optimistic about the offering

“It’s not just purchasing the cars, land and buildings. It is about a lifetime opportunity to spend time doing what people like: restoring vintage cars and living in one of the most beautiful parts of B.C. That value is more than the asking price.”

Meanwhile, Mike Hall continues to drag cars back to the property from all over B.C., including a 1941 Plymouth coupe that he just couldn’t resist.

“Every day, I’m torn about selling the property with the cars. I’m still buying cars. It’s like a sickness that I’m not getting over.”

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. You can reach him at aedwards@peakco.com.