Mecum to auction large portion of Elmer's Auto and Toy Museum collection



(June 16, 2022) WALWORTH, Wis. — On the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in the small community of Fountain City, Wis., lies a 90-acre parcel with five buildings that are stocked to the hilt with more than 100 collector cars, over 700 pedal cars, hundreds of bicycles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, thousands of vintage toys and more. Long known worldwide as Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum, a large portion of the collection will soon be offered at auction by Mecum Auctions at an on-site auction event in Fountain City Sept. 14-17.


Collector car enthusiast Elmer Duellman bought his first pedal car in 1971, a 1905 chain-driven, wooden pedal car, and after filling his available garage and storage space with full-size classic and collector cars, he switched his focus fully to the pedal car pursuit, ultimately building one of the world’s largest and most encompassing collections of its kind.

Throughout his time collecting, Duellman became so knowledgeable about the hobby and so well-known within its realm that he was featured on the show “American Pickers” with Mike Wolfe several times, contributed to a series of books on the topic and was sought out by others compiling reference and price guides for contributions of information and imagery from his collection.

In 2003, eight of Duellman’s pedal cars were utilized as part of an exhibition at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in Stamford, Ct. titled “Pedal to the Metal: A History of Children's Pedal Cars.” Elmer and his wife, Bernadette, also gifted one of their pedal cars, a circa-1953 Kidillac, to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. in 2003 to be featured in a display called “America on the Move” within the National Museum of American History. 

As part of the upcoming auction, all of the full-size classic and collector cars, all of the motorcycles, scooters, mini bikes and bicycles, all of the pedal cars and a large selection of other Road Art and memorabilia from the Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum collection will be available for bids. Additional information, photos and descriptions of the collection are available at Mecum.com.

The auction will be open to registered bidders only; members of the public are welcome to visit the museum and preview the offerings in advance of the event during scheduled business hours. Bidder registration is available online in advance and on-site at the auction for $200, and it includes admission for two persons to the four auction days. For those unable to attend in person, enhanced remote bidding options are also available, with options for both online and telephone bidding.