Photos of Damage at Russo and Steele

[Flassh]

Hopefully this link will get you to the photos. I received it as an email.

Kinda makes you want to cry.

Text from the email.

Russo-Steel Car Auction (STORM DAMAGE) in Arizona



Attached herewith are 250 plus photos of the damage and what happened in Scottsdale this past Thursday evening during the horrific storm that hit around 6:15 pm at the Russo /Steel Car Auction which was hit the hardest in North Scottsdale as both tents where the sold and unsold cars were parked experienced 65 MPH +- winds, ( not km/hr ) winds
which got under these two football field size tents and lifted them hurtling them onto the adjacent 101 east bound adjacent freeway closing the road for hours and shutting down the Auction immediately.



The Barrett Jackson Auction took pre-cautionary action several hours earlier that day at their close by location that afternoon because the local weather stations were predicting 2-3 days in advance of this looming storm and they subsequently parked 18 wheelers all around the perimeter of the open tents attempting to close in the ends and sides of their outside tents where the cars were stored blocking the impact of some of the predicted wind damage.



Legal representation extending from Haggerty Insurance , Russo Steel and private insurance companies for car sellers and car buyers will have a hay day with these damaged car claims as the Attorneys will allege that Russo /Steel may have been negligent in that they should have taken the same pre-cautionary measures as did Barrett/Jackson because Russo /Steel like everyone else who had access to a television weather report knew of the coming storm days in advance and yet did nothing extra to secure the tents similar to what Barrett Jackson did to avoid possible damage from the coming storm.



Legal issues may also arise as to who is responsible for the damage because of when the title to these vehicles actually changes hand as the title to these cars has to be given to the Auction Company at the time the sellers bring in the car to sell and the title is signed off at that time in blank by the seller while eventually waiting for the Auction Company to then sign over the car to the new buyer after the car is sold as the Auction Company does not take the title in their name however they hold an owner/seller title signed transfer in blank for the new buyer.



Everyone was evacuated from the Russo Steel Auction when the storm hit fending for themselves and the Auction was closed until today Sunday Jan 24 attempting to sell damaged and undamaged cars probably subject to fixing the cars , however the law suits are probably being stacked up right now and the ambulance chasing Attorneys are switching to representing car buyers and car sellers at these Auctions who suffered car damage.



Enjoy the photos and as reports emerge, so to speak, on the legal issues I will forward this info to you for the Membership to enjoy.( hoping that none of our Members have suffered this type of damage ).



Ken Boswell, Member , Scottsdale, Az.





Check out these pictures of the excessive damage caused by the high winds in Scottsdale that took out 2 of Russo Steel's auto auction tents!! Pretty dramatic.. TK




Link to the photos

Picasa Web Albums - fred - russosteel au...

Link to the slide show.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredi...mode=SLIDESHOW

[ibjeff]

That was a very scary night here in the Valley.

[Yellow Tub]

Watching the slide show can almost bring you to tears. It is truly hard to comprehend the damage that was inflicted on those beautiful cars.

[Jgrden]

Sheeesh, tearful. Terrible.

[1luckydog]

Super! Can't wait for my premiums to go up next year.

Feel bad for all the owners. Gotta be worse than watching a restorable classic go to the crusher, Egads!

JTR

[Cash]

Jeez, I had no idea there was damage remotely like this. That slideshow is tough to watch.
It is hard to comprehend that so many vehicles could sustain damage with seemingly almost nothing escaping completely unscathed.
If one can take a positive note from this (and that is silly because you really can't) but did you notice the B Pillars on that gorgeous Hemi Cuda?
It was almost flattened which makes one really appreciate what our SSR's will withstand.

[turnheadz]

oohhhh I think I'm gonna be sick

[PaceGuy]

Ray, somehow I missed your post here until today. Man, what a mess! Like Cash, Turnheadz and others said, that's a painful slideshow to watch. You wonder how many of those cars were claimed to be all original -- can't put "they're only original once" on their sign boards any more! Thanks for posting the link (I think ).

Seeing this had me go to YouTube...

Video shot as the first tent comes down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAnXEOSLHw

Here's a link to the YouTube home page of a consignor that has posted multiple videos shot from before the first tent collapsed through when he was allowed in to see the condition of his car (Porsche) which survived nicely. Caution here: The guy and some of his fellow consignors use some very flowery language at times.

http://www.youtube.com/user/vintageexcellence

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