Steve Ames isn’t your typical car collector. Sure he loves cars and has a collection like most of us. The difference with Steve is that he owns an entire building full of collector cars. He tries to find unrestored, original, and low mileage cars and trucks. 

Last year Steve traveled down to the Lambrecht auction to see what rare cars he could pick up and add to his collection. Hemmings was able to catch up with Steve and talk to him about the auction and this truck. The Lambrecht auction was filled with all original, low mileage cars and trucks for the 1950’s and 1960’s. Most people that came to the auction were looking at some low mileage big block Impalas. At first, Steve was as well. 

But what he noticed that these cars were heavily rusted on the bottom and would need a lot of work to make them right. If he bought the Impalas, he would have to restore them, making them unoriginal. The 1958 Cameo was solid underneath with no rust and wouldn’t need a restoration. 

Steve’s building and collection of cars

The only problem with the ’58 Cameo was that at some point during storage, the roof of a building fell on it, denting the hood and cracking the windshield. He felt this added even more history to the truck though. 

What also made his decision to pick up this Cameo was that he felt history was being made right in front of him.  Recalling the day of the auction Steve said “The truck must have had 10,000 fingerprints on it. The FBI would have loved it! I’ll bet 1,000 people knocked on the bed’s sides just to see if they were really fiberglass.”

Since the truck was in his possession, Steve hasn’t done a thing to it. He hasn’t even wiped it down, so it will remain as original as possible. A true time capsule. “The history of the Cameo is revealed in its patina – the dented roof, the broken windshield, the fingerprints, the partially rubbed-off dirt – all help to tell its story” says Steve. 

This 1958 Cameo has 1.3 original miles, painted Tartan Turquoise and Jet Black. The interior is silver and black and the truck has a six cylinder engine and three speed transmission. 

This unique and highly original truck brought in more money than any other car at the Lambrecht auction, and for good reason. This is a one of a kind Cameo! 

The only time this Cameo saw daylight, going from one truck to another.