Packard Forum Index » General

by Peter Corbett - Jan. 22, 2010 10:23 AM
The Arizona Republic

Russo and Steele officials were assessing damage Friday after an 800-foot-long auction tent blew onto the Loop 101, blocking traffic and leaving hundreds of valuable collector cars uncovered in a pounding rainstorm.

Heavy tent poles struck some cars and uncovered convertibles were damaged in the ongoing storm that has blown through the state this week. An insurance executive estimated damages to the cars could run at least $1.5 million.

slideshow Cars damaged at Russo and Steele Collector Automobile Auction Drew and Josephine Alcazar, Russo and Steele owners, said they planned to make sure the site was safe before allowing car owners to assess damage to their vehicles.

The Alcazars said they hoped to resume the auction Saturday, but there was still a lot of cleanup on Friday.

"By no stretch of the imagination are we down for the count," Drew Alcazar said early Friday as tent crews worked to clear away the damaged tents.

Public safety officials cleared out people from Russo and Steele's two display tents late Thursday when the high winds threatened the structures, and the auction continued in the main tent, Josephine Alcazar said.

High winds lifted the north tent high off the ground about 6:15 p.m. and it crashed down on the freeway east of Scottsdale Road, she said.

Russo and Steele shut down the auction and cleared the site. The south tent then blew over, but did not go onto the roadway.

Chuck Favour, Hagerty Insurance vice president of claims, said his company has insured about 125 of the cars at Russo and Steele.

After viewing the auction site from the Loop 101, he estimated that as many as half the 600 cars on the lot were damaged with dents and scratches from tent poles and debris.

Favour expected the claims would average about $5,000 per car.

That works out to claims approaching $1.5 million.

He said he would be surprised if Russo and Steele was able to resume the auction.

Other Valley auctions continued on Friday. Barrett-Jackson had to move everyone into its main auction tent as a precaution Thursday night, but otherwise the event continued without major disruption.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety closed the eastbound on-ramp to the Loop 101 at Scottsdale Road on Friday morning because of the cleanup efforts at Russo and Steele.

The freeway was closed in both directions between Scottsdale and Hayden roads for several hours after the tent landed on the roadway.

Russo and Steele, a Valley-based company, is in its 10th year of holding car auctions in Scottsdale

Original article link.

News Video of carnage.

Doh!

I was watching the BJ auction on the Speed Channel last night and it looked like a bad storm. The police did not want anyone to leave the auction and start driving during the storm. The cars that had been auctioned were kept inside the big tent structure. It seems everyone went into the big tent to escape the storm. I was wondering if that structure would hold up to the strong winds and rain, but it held. Also, there were tornado warnings in the area. It was a good night to be watching it at home on TV. A 1953 black Caribbean is on the list. Looks like a very nice car.

Whoooooo - Aw!

I had planned to get so good sleep for Friday's trip to the Valley of Sun (greater Phoenix), but with the storms ferociously approaching Tucson on Thursday evening, I had to stay late at work covering certain storm operations just in case the Tucson city center found itself adversely contending with ill-effects that this ugly winter storm was leaving in its wake across California and western Arizona. We prepared and waited, and very luckily, the worst skirted the Tucson valley area and I got to bed by 0100. But, I was up at 0448 (it seemed like only 10 minutes) and my pal Wayne picked me up at sharply 0530 for the 2 1/2 hour drive north.

The weather was still ugly all along I-10 into Phoenix, through the Loop 101 (east valley) and eventually into Scottsdale. But when we arrived, the clouds lifted somewhat and withheld the winds and the rains for us. We lucked out further, as most other people probably avoided the auction early on due to the news reports. But when we got to the WestWorld complex old BJ was taking care of business as usual!

The cars were rolling over the block and we hit the field eagerly to spy, the following, '34 Packard-twelve convertible-roadster, '41 160 Coupe (two-toned green), '56 Patrician & an absolutely gorgeous 5k mile original surviving '56 400 and also the black '53 Caribbean mentioned above. I stood there for fifteen minutes examining the 400 and enjoying my mini-affair with her! As usual present too were the Hudson's (38 p/u truck), several Kaiser-Darrins, Fraizers, Crosley's, and the so many other beautiful Buicks, Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles!

Before you all die, everyone of you need to attend a BJ auction somewhere. They are a first class outfit and the experience will last a lifetime in your hearts.

(Sorry no pics this year........I didn't take the camera on this trip and frankly, I enjoyed myself more as a result.)

kg

Wow the amount of damage and the amount of cars affected is pretty staggering. I can't see how some of those cars where the roofs are completely caved in are going to be repairable. I wonder how many are going to get totaled based on value to damage.

Amazing the power of wind.

I made it over today. There were probably more cars damaged than not. The news was reporting an average of $5000 damage per car. They are sadly mistaken. There were cars that are essentially destroyed. The orange Super Bird in the slideshow Eric posted was probably not left with one square inch that was not dented or damaged. It was way worse in person.

There seemed to be as much damage from the tarps rubbing the paint, and mooring cable whipping about for the two days that no one was allowed in.

Whoever owned the black 52 (I think) Packard convertible is very fortunate. I was pleased to see the Tucker; it did not appear to take any damage. Very fortunate for those folks.

Rough week in the Valley of the Sun!
Jim

Attach file:

---

  (36.98 KB)

It's a damn shame, there's no way around saying it. But, it does go to show that we sometimes put too much value on material things. My question is, and I haven't found an answer for it, was anyone hurt during this?

From what I gathered today from friends that were there when this all went down, no, no one was hurt. The news claimed one person had a minor injury (would not be news if someone didn't have a "minor injury" of course).

I don't know about placing to much value on material things, but I tell you what... a lot of people place there livelihood on these auctions. In this case, everyone looses.

That's good to hear. It looked very bad and I was waiting for the Prez to declare it a National Disaster.