VANCOUVER —A car dealer from China has purchased 100 classic cars and trucks from arguably the best and largest collection in Canada.
Jim Ratsoy, a B.C. car dealer for nearly 50 years, spent the past three decades selecting the best vehicles in North America for his collection which spans six decades of automobile production.
Jim was a longtime Pontiac Buick dealer in Richmond. For a number of years, he drove a 1936 Ford convertible to work at his General Motors dealership almost every day.
He became a car dealer on his own in 1957 and acquired his first collector car two years later – a Model T Ford purchased from a local farmer in Northern Alberta who bought it new.The oldest car in the Jim Ratsoy collection is this 1906 Brush roadster powered by a single cylinder engine.
“We got it started and put air in the tires to drive it home,” he recalls. “The tires were rotten and didn’t last so we drove it home on the rims – about 40 kilometers to where I lived.
Since then, I’ve always played with old cars and enjoyed every episode.”
Jim bought his collector cars one at a time and originally housed his collection in a warehouse near his Pontiac Buick dealership. He eventually expanded to acreage in Richmond, approximately five kilometers south of Vancouver International Airport.
The growing collection occupied two large buildings on his property. One of the buildings containing rows of beautifully restored classics is ringed by a collection of memorabilia including signs, vintage gas station displays, pinball machines, jukeboxes, player pianos and music machines from early in the last century.Jim Ratsoy has sold his collection of some of Canada’s best classic vehicles to a Chinese buyer who plans to open a large museum in Beijing.
The majority of the beautifully restored vehicles include a preponderance of convertibles.
“Top goes down, price goes up,�� Jim would often say at the auctions where he bought some of his cars, adding, “It was the auctioneers’ favorite saying.”
His Ford collection includes convertibles beginning in 1929 with a Model A phaeton running through continuous years up to his fully optioned black 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner retractable hardtop convertible and 1960 Edsel Convertible. In the last model year of production for Edsel, 1960, only 76 convertibles were manufactured.This 1960 Edsel is one of only 76 convertibles manufactured in the last year of Edsel production.
He has a perfectly restored first year 1939 Mercury convertible lined up with Mercury convertibles in the subsequent years of 1940, 1941 and 1948 as well as a 1957 Mercury Monterey convertible. There are also two Mercury ‘woody’ station wagons and a rare Canadian-built yellow 1947 Monarch convertible. The collection includes a 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan convertible.
Plymouth and Dodge convertibles, beginning with a 1932 Plymouth and going right up to a stunning black 1948 Plymouth convertible, line one wall of the building. The wood-bodied 1947 Chrysler Town & Country convertible that he bought in St. Louis from a collector along with a 1931 Cadillac V12 phaeton are among the 100 vehicles going to China.
Jim Ratsoy has almost every Chevrolet convertible built up to 1961 including this 1941 model.
There are Chevrolet convertibles from all eras as well as pairs of both 1955 and 1957 Bel Air convertibles. Pontiac convertibles are represented from 1948 and 1958, and he has Oldsmobile convertibles starting with the first Rocket V8-powered Oldsmobile built in 1949.
Jim’s collection ranges from 1906 to 1991, including a 1991 Buick Reatta with only 8,000 miles registered on the odometer.
“It is simply time for them to go and there is nobody around here that is interested,” Jim says sitting in a century-old barber’s chair amidst the collection he spent much of his life putting together.
He explains that his children aren’t willing or able to look after the collection and a series of health issues led to his decision to liquidate.
A very rare 1958 Pontiac Bonneville convertible is among the 100 cars being shipped to China.
He has had several interested parties looking to purchase the collection, all from out of the country.
“I’ve had some negative comments about the sale,” he admits. “But no one here stepped up and wanted to buy them. I have no second thoughts.
“In some ways, it is sad that the collection did not stay locally but it is going to a place where hopefully the cars will be enjoyed and appreciated.”
Jim is keeping approximately 20 of the newer collector cars because they are easier for him to drive and eventually sell. His longer-term plans are to pare his collection down to about four special convertibles he can use.The TT Wildcat was Buick’s sportiest convertible for 1963 and this prime example is in the Jim Ratsoy collection.
Among the cars that he says are most notable that are heading to China is his massive 1958 Buick Limited convertible – the largest production convertible ever built by General Motors’ Buick Division.
“It was originally silver with a red leather interior but we painted it black which is my favorite color for cars. Black shows off the chrome very well,” he says.
He admits he may buy some more cars in the future. It’s in his DNA.
His father was a General Motors dealer in northern Alberta and Jim became a dealer at the young age of 23. He’s been buying and selling cars all his life and it may be hard to stop.
Rows of classic convertibles waiting to be shipped to China including a 1939 Mercury and 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air.
This 1951 Studebaker represents the first year for a two-door hardtop model with the new V8 engine.
High style and performance of the early 1960s is epitomized by this 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible.
One of the classic cars being kept by Jim Ratsoy is this 1954 Buick Skylark convertible.
Jim Ratsoy sitting in a century-old barber chair amidst the amazing collection of more than 100 classic vehicles he has collected over the past 40 years.
Jim Ratsoy has almost every Chevrolet convertible built up to 1961 including this 1941 model.
An elegant 1951 Cadillac convertible is among the 100 classics being shipped to China.
A 1940 Mercury convertible waiting for shipment to China.
This beautifully restored 1961 Chevrolet Impala convertible has almost every factory option.
Jim bought this 1931 Cadillac V12 phaeton from a collector in St. Louis, along with a wood-bodied 1947 Chrysler Town and Country convertible.
