The most recent vehicle auctioned to support Mennonite Central Committee was so particularly nasty, it had to find an alternative venue.
The West Coast Mennonite Relief Sale in California just didn’t seem to gather a sufficient pool of bidders for “Creep-N-Nasty,” a hot rod built by a member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang out of a 1923 Ford Model T.
Jerry Koop orchestrated the eventual $12,500 sale in December to a buyer in a neighboring state, in the latest example of decades of wheeling and dealing to support the Fresno relief sale and MCC’s work in peace, relief and development.
“For more than 35 years I’ve been a car jockey for Jesus,” Koop said. “Really, I’ve had an amazing experience in every car deal.”
Most recently, that means knowing a guy who knows a guy who happened to have held an influential role with the Hell’s Angels.
“They’re famous for being rather reckless and debaucherous,” Koop said. “Well, he was a number-2 guy in the whole organization and lived in Bakersfield. He built it as a farewell statement to his family — what little is left — and he barely got it done before he passed.
“My cousin who befriended and discipled him in Bible studies ended up inheriting this thing. It was in his garage, and he wanted the space back, so my cousin gave it to me.”
Koop worked to market the rather niche set of wheels off and on for more than a year before making the sale, which resulted in a net profit of more than $9,000.
Looking ahead to this year’s West Coast sale April 11-12 on the campus of Fresno Pacific University, he’s suggesting to the sale board that the money be rolled into buying a few used vehicles with broader appeal to create an even bigger eventual donation for MCC.
“Our car donations aren’t as plentiful as before,” Koop said, noting classic cars used to get donated — and bid on — with more regularity. “. . . You’ve got a more fertile environment in Kansas. Jerry Toews is getting cars all the time for that relief sale. We compete with other charities here in California.
“Sometimes cars are sold or donated ‘smog unworthy’ in California because you have to buy a whole new carburation or fuel injection system. If I have to put $1,500 into a $2,500 car, it’s not worth it.”
Kevin Malamma, a former member of the West Coast sale board who now serves on the MCC West Coast and U.S. boards, said Koop has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for the organization over the decades.
“He loves finding donors with an interesting story, and a lot of them don’t have a connection to the Mennonite or Anabaptist world,” he said. “He’s made all sorts of connections, and he really enjoys those conversations and relationships.
“There’s a lot of people out there who have the feelings or empathies for the work MCC does but aren’t Anabaptist. So when Jerry can connect their feelings to MCC, that’s a real positive spin for the relief sale and MCC in general.”
Malamma agreed that times seem to be changing. The classic and antique vehicles that used to be donated by collectors have mostly been replaced by sensible sedans.
“Last year we had a nice little 2000 Mercedes coupe,” he said. “It was a nice little car — not a hot rod — but the kind of car we’re getting when an estate is settled. We’re seeing the market change.”
That change isn’t limited to cars and the occasional boat or camper.
“I think we’re seeing just a general aging out of the old guard that supported MCC,” Malamma said. “We’re not getting the kind of volunteers we’re accustomed to having, so it’s getting harder and harder to bring items and food into the sale.
“We used to make thousands of verenika for the relief sale. We didn’t make any this year. We just don’t have the people. We used to make 400 pies before the relief sale. That group has aged out. And there’s no one to pick it up. I think we’re finding that it’s not so much they’re disinterested but they are interested in coming but not working. They’re just too busy.”
Koop is still busy running a landscape company but makes time for supporting MCC because of the impact it made on him at a formative stage.
“I was the last Vietnam-era draftee MCC processed for [an alternative] service assignment,” he said. “I was surprised I was even drafted. It took me out of my college trajectory. It was better than college. MCC put me in a Christian service orientation that changed my life. . . . It changed my worldview and created a sensitivity to people in need that I would never have gotten if I had just stayed provincial in California.”
Regular attendees of the sale can recall several of the antique vehicles that have carried Koop’s fingerprints. He has worked on or restored 13 Ford Model As over the years. One, in particular, stood out.
“Two months before our auction, a local doctor thought we could produce a project he and his son couldn’t complete,” Koop recalled. “We did it in nine and a half weeks, and he lived to see it. I did the paint and body. Another guy did the mechanical; another guy did the upholstery.
“About the time I told the auctioneer to take it away, in comes this doctor in a wheelchair with an IV tube on a pole, and it took me by surprise. I lost my composure. He got next to the car in front of 3,200 sets of eyeballs and put his hand on the car. It was so emotional. I’ve never seen the bidding jump so fast from $10,000 up to sell for $18,000-something.
“Afterward I went over to Dr. Irwin Wall and asked if he was happy with that, and he nodded.”
Most donations involve a direct, personal connection, which made one phone call on a hot night from Palm Springs so memorable.
“It was an original 1963 Cadillac two-door coupe,” Koop said. “The caller told me, ‘I’m not involved in this. I’ll slip the keys under a floor mat, and I’ll leave it under this streetlight, otherwise I’ll dispose of it another way.’ I took a trailer and never met the owner. That’s a wild one.”
He wished he could have met the mysterious donor.
“The reward for what I do as a volunteer is I get to see the open hand and open heart of Jesus,” Koop said. “I get to see the joy that a pure donation generates in a donor and the bigger picture of MCC when we’re talking about walking down war-torn streets or food and clean-water projects. It’s so good to see the good that comes out of some of these projects.”
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