2010 Russo & Steele Tent Disaster in Scottsdale

[AZSTAD]

My wife and I were on our way to the Barrett Jackson Ford GT Dinner last night when East bound traffic on the 101 came to a complete halt. The freeway was completely shut down in both directions. So subsequently, all traffic was diverted off on one exit. Needless to say - we arrived to the dinner late and didn't make the pics! (Great dinner BTW Chip - thanks).

Anyway, I thought you all would like to see some video I found on the tents, as well as a few articles.

Rumors are that there was injuries and many, many cars have damage. Yet to be seen if the auction will even continue this weekend.

VIDEOS:
Close up of tent falling. But doesn't show full extent of "lifting" off the ground and poles flying everywhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAnXEOSLHw

Local news station with write up as well as video.
http://www.azfamily.com/news/Tents-collapse-at-luxury-car-auction-due-to-severe-storm-82320467.html

More details from SPEED TV.
http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-storm-wrecks-russo-and-steele/

 

[dbk]

Wow! That sucks!

 

[Triheart7]

No wonder Southwest Airlines gave up for the day yesterday.

 

[tpraceman]

Wow! That sucks!

I think you meant.....That Blows!

What a mess this is going to be.

 

[GTMikey]

It's been this way for 5 days in SD. All the sand is missing from the bunkers on the golf course I live. Never seen anything like it in SOCAL. At least 10-12 inches of rain this week

 

[GTMikey]

pictures of damaged cars in the link half way down the page, this sucks. I think worse is all the convertibles were left open in a pounding rain storm:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/...100122storm-hits-scottsdale-car-shows-CR.html

 

[Empty Pockets]

Man. What a crying shame...:frown:frown:frown

 

[AZSTAD]

Another video update...Drew Alcazar speaks about the Russo and Steele situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AWpMApuWIo

Looks like auction will resume tomorrow if all goes well. They will auction Saturday and Sunday.

 

[STORMCAT]

:frown:frown:frown:frown:frown

 

[Shadowman]

What a terrible situation

Shadowman

 

[Neilda]

That's just awful to see..... I feel very sorry for all those owners worrying about their cars, they must feel desperate to get in and see their pride and joy.

 

[Kayvan]

Several hundred vintage cars suffered at least minor damage, and no sales were made on Friday as fire officials kept the area cordoned off, saying it remained dangerous.

-NYT

 

[Kingman]

300 of the 600 cars were damaged. Haggerty had policies on ~150 of them.

That ain't good.:frown

 

[tmctguer]

Weren't there 2 ford GT's selling at Russo this year? There were 2 at Barrett but I thought Russo had a few.

I met someone with a 1957 Black Chevrolet Belair covertible under the tent. He was hoping to get $120K for it. As of Friday at 5 pm when I met him at a local restaurant, he was still not allowed to see his car. They said "maybe Saturday". He said he hopes it is totalled so we won't have to haul it bAck to Dallas. He said he had the top up, so he may not have had it filled with water like lots of of the convertibles were.

 

[69RS/SS]

Just awful. Having lived in Arizona for a few years I would have gotten the heck out of there before the storm hit. After all, 60-80 mph winds with tents as structures. No way that was going to hold. They all knew that this major storm was coming. Same goes for the Barrett Jackson. My nerves would have been shot if I would have stayed put and done nothing to protect myself. At least Barrett Jackson circled the tents with big rigs to break the winds.

Muscle cars and alike do have to face their own levels of attrition from the elements.

 

[BlackICE]

300 of the 600 cars were damaged. Haggerty had policies on ~150 of them.

That ain't good.:frown

For the owners sake, I hope the "act of god" exclusions didn't apply.

 

[Neilda]

For the owners sake, I hope the "act of god" exclusions didn't apply.

Yes, good point. Insurance companies over here in the UK will do just about anything to wriggle out of settling.

We all know how we'd feel if it was one of our cars - just gutted.

 

[RADGT]

I was in the main tent when the large back tent blew away. We were asked to evacuate in an orderley fashion. I got to my car and got in the 101 on way to Chip Scottsdale dinner only to be stopped on the highway. I was at the front of the line of cars and it looked like after another 15 minutes or so, a second tent blew off showering the 101 with projectiles. The SUV in front of me was struck broadside by large metal rod...major damage. Fortunately the police realized it was better to get the cars in direct down range target to go through and stop cars farther behind Scottsdale Road. They were planning to be up running the auction on sunday but I had to leave town too early to see what cars were still on the auction list.

Stu

 

[GTMikey]

Looks like the white blue striped GT got dented up, check the slide show below:

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/n...opens-after-tents/L9vc8Xfz4U-zlfi9GhC8Hg.cspx

 

[gtjoey]

That car is a production car.......was there other pics of the concept? sad news , the big guy is really , really getting mad up there. We now have 50 mph winds in N.Y. and frogs and lizards are all over the place:thumbsdow Please everyone go to church before its too late:thumbsup gtjoey 1314