05/01/2026
Happy Fun Fact Friday: Sorry for the longer article I am sharing today, but so many have asked about the history of the museum, here is the short summary! John C. Vander Haag Jr. began accumulating things, as he likes to call it, at the ripe old age of 7 when his father John C. Vander Haag, Sr. started South Side Junk Yard in 1939 in Sanborn, IA. It was primarily a scrap and metal business to help support the war effort. John, Jr. would run home from school everyday to see what new and exciting things had come into the yard. Times were tough for most people back in those days, still recovering from the depression. John was a curious and creative kid. He would tear wore out bearings apart so that he and his friends could play marbles, but with steelies. One day an old Maytag washing machine was brought into the yard. John wanted to use the one-cylinder engine to make a go-cart. He got the motor running and the cart built, but the streets in town were just to rough in Sanborn, so that didn’t work as well as he thought. John C. still has the engine tough, thus the start of accumulating.
In the 1940’s, after the war, the business changed from collecting scrap metals to purchasing older and wrecked cars. John C., Jr. quit school in 1947 and began working full time in the business. Helping grow the business and transitioning it into the auto parts business, he felt a name change was in order. He called it South Side Salvage, since they were on the south side of Sanborn.
In November of 1952 he was called to serve his country during the Korean conflict. Returning home in 1955 John C. Vander Haag, Jr. took over the family business. He started buying late model wrecked and burnt cars. In the 50’s people started to insure their cars. As there were no insurance adjusters as we know them today, insurance companies hired attorneys in the area to settle claims. As insurance companies grew, they started to hire their own adjusters to settle claims. John was buying most of his late-model cars at that time to get better quality parts. He also became a member of NATWA – National Auto and Truck Wreckers Association. He was so impressed by what the organization was doing that after his first meeting in Chicago, he came home and helped start the Iowa Chapter of the Automotive Recyclers Association.
During the late 1960’s, John C. Vander Haag, Jr. moved the business to Spencer, IA. At that time, he saw the opportunity in the truck parts and repair business. Since they were on the North side of town now, another name change was in order. Not wanting to have to change it again, he called it Vander Haag’s Inc. His vision of trucks and truck parts has enabled Vander Haag’s to become the leader in quality recycled truck parts with 6 locations and over 250 employees.
John C. had been collecting smaller items the whole time that he had been in the business. In 1962, he came across a 1917 GMC 2-ton farm truck that was for sale. That would be the first old truck that he would buy. He fixed it up and used it in a few local parades at a lightning speed of 14 mph. A few years later when he moved the business from Sanborn to Spencer, he needed a place to store some of the things that he had collected, including the old GMC. The old fire station came up for sale, so he bought that thinking that would be plenty of room. It took several years to get things settled in Spencer, so he didn’t have much time for anything but the business.
John C. joined the ATHS in 1979 because of his love for trucks and the trucking industry. Every time the Wheels of Time would arrive he, like many of us, would read it cover to cover, especially the Back Lot classifieds. In the early 1980’s he bought his second truck, a 1946 KB 5 International that he thought he would keep and restore in his retirement, which was still 20 years away. The body of the truck was in good shape, but it needed window rubber and a new interior.
In the mid 1980’s he saw a for sale add for a local fire truck. He went a looked at and was amazed at the great shape that it was in. All a guy would have to do is remove the lights and the fire body and you would have a great truck for restoration. That is when the true collector disease took ahold of him. By this time in his life, he began thinking about all the things that he had crushed or dismantled over the years. Someone needs to preserve some of these things for the next generation.
By the early 1990’s the old fire station was getting pretty full, as well as the warehouse at the Spencer yard. During the 1990’s he had not only been adding to his collections, small items, a couple of cars and quite a few trucks, but he had also been grooming his son John M. Vander Haag, to take over the business. In 1995 he built his museum/house on highway 18 in Sanborn, IA, again thinking that 10,000 sq. feet would be way more than he would ever use.
After retiring in 2000 he spent the next couple of years moving all his trinkets and treasures that he had stored in the old fire station, the warehouse and a few 20’ van bodies into the museum. The more he worked with his collection, the more his passion grew for all things old. The more his passion grew the more old stuff he found to preserve. Pretty soon there wasn’t any room left in the museum.
In 2002 an opportunity came up to buy an 8000 sq. ft. building. With a little revamping he turned the machinist shop into a two-story truck museum. With his love of trucks growing by the time he was finished with the building, it was time to add on already. As of today, the building has been added onto 7 times and has over 100,000 sq. ft. under roof. The Museum is open 8:00 am – 4:00 pm Monday through Friday and by appointment in the evenings and weekends. There is also a 5000 sq. ft. event room that is available to rent for the local community. If you are ever in the NW IA area, make plans to stop in Sanborn, IA and check us out.
