Robby Novak of Minot said he has been working since August to prepare for the auction, which kicks off at the Novak family property, six miles west of Minot on County Road 14, at 11 a.m. Sundsbak Auction Service expects to clear out the last remaining pieces in the collection of Richard Novak, who passed away three years ago.

While some items might interest other collectors with an eye for restoration, other pieces are likely to go for scrap, but that’s fine with Robby Novak and his siblings, who are hosting the sale of their late uncle’s collection. The auction is expected to draw a crowd, just because of the interesting items that old-timers can reminisce over and younger folks will marvel at.

“It’s all from the ’50s or older,” Novak said.

One of the items at the auction is the first self-propelled combine to be used in the Minot area, probably in the early 1940s, Novak said. Purchased by Richard Novak at an auction, the combine had previously been owned by the Scofield Ranch, a bonanza farm south of Minot.

Jill Schramm/MDN A Graham truck with a wooden cab, front, and a 1948 International truck next to it are among trucks and pickups being sold at the Saturday, Oct. 11, auction.

Robby Novak said his uncle repaired some of the equipment in his vast collection, and most of the better maintained items had sold over the years. Equipment that still ran was auctioned a couple of years ago.

“Thre’s a few of these that run, but not too many,” Novak said of the current equipment.

Novak estimated 20 trucks and pickups are on the auction block. A 1948 International was his uncle’s well-used service truck and one of the Diamond Ts also was used in the 1950s. There’s also Dodge and Mack trucks and a rare Graham Brothers truck with a wooden cab, made in Detroit.

Novak estimated about 30 of his uncle’s tractors are up for auction.

“He was a huge Allis-Chalmers fan. He just loved them. He must have had, at one time, probably at least 16 of these WD and WC – those two styles,” he said.

Jill Schramm/MDN Various equipment used to dispense petroleum products are among items in the Novak auction Saturday, Oct. 11.

While his uncle favored Allis-Chalmers, his collection includes some unusual makes, such as the Jacques Mighty Mite tractor, built in Texas in the 1940s.

Additionally, there are numerous pallets of assorted farm items, some of them in multiples.

“He just liked collecting,” Novak said of his uncle. “Anything kind of intriguing. But then, he would buy, like, just pairs of pliers. He had buckets and buckets of pliers. He just liked that stuff.”

Novak and his siblings are selling the last of the collected items that have been stored in buildings for years on the homestead farm.

Novak and his sister, Roxanne Vander Vorste of Minot, shared that the farmstead originally was homesteaded by Ed Kivley, who rumor has it hosted a distribution center on the farm for illegal alcohol runners during Prohibition. Their grandfather, Frank Novak, married Bernice Kivley, and later moved his family to the Kivley homestead in the late 1930s.

“He never threw anything away. He saved everything,” Robby Novak said of his grandfather. That helped Frank’s son Richard kickstart his collection. Frank’s other son, Jim, who was Robby Novak’s father, also farmed in the area, and a daughter, Gean Novak Uhlir, lives in Minot.