He bought the 196ha sheep and beef farm in Mandeville from his parents in 1963.
About 15 years ago, he had plenty of contract work on and he offered the farm to his two sons.
Neither of his boys wanted it, so he leased the farm, rather than selling, just in case either son changed their minds.
But he made a vow to sell the farm, when he turned 70.
"To give them a fair chance but they didn’t want to come back.
He sold a 78ha "chunk" of the farm and gave his sons some money "to set themselves up in business" about a decade ago.
He celebrated his 70th birthday in lockdown and he stayed true to his word and sold the 118ha farm to the leaseholder.
"It’s a hard thing to do but life has got to carry on and why put the family into a farm and they have it for 12 months and sell the bloody thing and you’ve got no money left for yourself."
He had bought a home in Gore with his wife Mary and was building a 18m by 50m shed on his son’s property to house their collection of 75 cars, ranging from a 1927 Chev to a 2006 Ford FPV.
"We started collecting cars in 1993 and it just kept growing."
The clearing sale on the farm in Mandeville Kingston Crossing Rd would feature a 1936 Ford V8 sedan and two 1949 Morris Minors and a 1964 Wolseley 6/110.
"It’s a petrol 35, with multi-power — there’re not many of them around."
Other machinery on sale includes a 1955 Fordson, a 1955 D4 Caterpillar and a 1949 John Deere, which his family had owned for nearly 60 years.
When asked if would get emotional at the sale, he said: "Nah, not really — I’ve taken it in my stride — the time has come and it’s time to carry on and look forward".
He had no plans to retire.
"I’ll probably drive trucks or something — I’ve got work to do."
