Russo Steel carnage pics...

[Steve1968LS2]

These were posted over on pt.com by Vintageracer. First shots of the carnage.

So who is liable? The car owners or the auction company that put the cars under the tent?

Some of those cars look like totals, especially the offbeat ones.

damage shots start after the first couple dozen:

http://www.fototime.com/inv/0D32321D1D5460A

[70rs]

That just sucks. No other way to put it. My heart sank more with each next picture.
What I did notice though, is A LOT of cracked bondo on some of those cars. Looks to me like some of them were really layered up with the stuff.

[BBC71Nova]

Wow! That would suck big time. Bad enough to take something out there in this economy and get beat up on the sale. Top that by bringing back a wrecked car :faint: .

[Jimi-FM3]

Collector car premiums had been pretty reasonable...key words being "had been". :(

[Aschle]

So sad....:( I wish all of those cars owners the best !

Jason

[FoxRod]

It will blow back on russo and steele, cause it will come down to why didn't they install better tents. Then russo is going to state to save money and keep overhead down and I see a bankruptcy.

[Musclerodz]

That is just sickning to look at. Russo should be held laible for all damages. No different than any shop in possession of a customers car being worked on. Might be a different story if the cars were outside at a car show. If Russo insurance does not cover the damages, I forsee a massive multi-million dollar class action suit coming.

[CRCRFT78]

Holy $***. My heart dropped after seeing some of those cars. I feel for the owners that have cared for those cars as if it was a child. I would be PO'd beyond measure.

[DOOM]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:faint: What a mess..

[Steve1968LS2]

Collector car premiums had been pretty reasonable...key words being "had been". :(

I forsee a "tent" clause being added if Russo sticks all the owner's insurance companies with the bill.

They could argue that the tent wasn't strong enough.. after all the BJ tents held.

What a mess...

[phillym5]

wow.... thats pretty crazy.

[LowchevyII]

my god that sucks. my heart dropped when i saw the GT500 with the roof that now has a V in it. reminded me of that episode of Home Improvement where Tim drops the beam on the Nomad :D

[70rs]

my god that sucks. my heart dropped when i saw the GT500 with the roof that now has a V in it. reminded me of that episode of Home Improvement where Tim drops the beam on the Nomad :D

That GT500 was a bad one. What about the 'cida vert with the windshield laid back into the seat? Or the crushed Pantera. All of those damage pics suck but some are just painful to look at.

[MarkM66]

I wonder if R and S own the tents, or if they're supplied another company?

If so, maybe they'd be liable if they didn't perform as stated. :_paranoid

Sue everybody.... ;)

[Steve1968LS2]

I wonder if R and S own the tents, or if they're supplied another company?

If so, maybe they'd be liable if they didn't perform as stated. :_paranoid

Sue everybody.... ;)

The only sure bets here are that lawyers and bodyshops are going to make a LOT of money off this...

[70rs]

The only sure bets here are that lawyers and bodyshops are going to make a LOT of money off this...

That is the problem with disasters, someone always makes a buck...or several thousand bucks.

[ProTouring442]

That is just sickening to look at. Russo should be held liable for all damages. No different than any shop in possession of a customers car being worked on. Might be a different story if the cars were outside at a car show. If Russo insurance does not cover the damages, I foresee a massive multimillion dollar class action suit coming.

If it is found that the owners of the tents, or those who set them up, were somehow negligent, then those parties would be responsible. Otherwise, I would imagine that the individual insurance policies on the individual cars would be responsible, just like when you leave your car at a shop for repair. At a shop, the shop is responsible if they are somehow negligent, otherwise, it is the insurance policy on the car that is liable.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

[Northeast Rod Run]

that is just unreal!

[speedshftr]

the poor cars:(
dont you sign over your title to the auction house for the auction?if so then its all on them.they own the car at that point.i may be wrong

[WSSix]

WOW! That gold Y88 TA had it's lower quarter panel just pulled out and around. That takes tremendous force to do something like that.

[xplantdad]

I wonder if R and S own the tents, or if they're supplied another company?

If so, maybe they'd be liable if they didn't perform as stated. :_paranoid

Sue everybody.... ;)

No they don't own the tents....they rent them from a local event company. That company has to produce a certificate of insurance just like every other vendor at any event...to prove that they have current insurance coverage in case of an issue such as this...

my god that sucks. my heart dropped when i saw the GT500 with the roof that now has a V in it. reminded me of that episode of Home Improvement where Tim drops the beam on the Nomad


If you are talking about the dark blue one...that car is owned by a friend of mine...and it's badly damaged :(

[Steve1968LS2]

the poor cars:(
dont you sign over your title to the auction house for the auction?if so then its all on them.they own the car at that point.i may be wrong

No, that's at BJ since it's a no-reserve auction and all the cars WILL sell.. it might not sell at RS so I doubt they sign over titles.

[Musclerodz]

If it is found that the owners of the tents, or those who set them up, were somehow negligent, then those parties would be responsible. Otherwise, I would imagine that the individual insurance policies on the individual cars would be responsible, just like when you leave your car at a shop for repair. At a shop, the shop is responsible if they are somehow negligent, otherwise, it is the insurance policy on the car that is liable.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
shops should have "garage keepers" insurance. If something happens while in the shops facilities, the insurance will cover the damage up to the indivual vehicle cap amount. If the shop has no insurance, the personal insurance on the car "MAY" cover it depending on coverage clauses, but will turn right around and attempt to collect from the shop who had control over the vehicle at time of damage. The owners of all the cars damaged should not be liable for the tent that came down on top of them. That should either be covered by Russo or the company that owned and or errected the tents.

[GregWeld]

Spoke with a CHUBB agent at the airport in Phoenix -- he was there to do a "report" on a "550 thousand dollar Ferrari"... a total loss in his opinion... and I specifically asked "will you now claim it was an act of god?" and he said NO -- they'll cover the claim.

Okay - so then what happens is they "subrogate" the claim in the background. So what this means - and it happens even in a fender bender - is that the insurance covers your loss... and then they look to "whomever" they can to get their money back. But you don't care about that nor do you have to worry about it - that's their problem. Maybe they get some of their loss covered and maybe not.

Having collectors cars -- that is where you want an AGREED VALUE policy. Normal insurance will use a depreciated value regardless of how much money you have invested - where the agreed value policy is a set amount for a total loss - and you have to have it (the property) appraised etc. The only saving grace for these "old cars" and an agreed value policy is that they know you're not our driving it in the snow and rain - and everyday to the grocery store... so the chance of loss is far less etc.

[buickfunnycar.com]

Sickening and waaay worse than I figured...I can feel my premiums going up as I type this.:(

[GregWeld]

I called my best buddy -- he's my insurance agent... and we spoke about the wind - and tents and damage. He states.

As long as the auction company/tent erector took "reasonable" action to protect the tents and contents... there's not much anyone can do to say they were "negligent" in a wind event like this. You would be more negligent if you made everyone take their cars outside! Nobody could have predicted the event... and I'm certain that they put extra effort into making the tents secure knowing the winds were coming. That is all they would be required to do.

[GregWeld]

Sickening and waaay worse than I figured...I can feel my premiums going up as I type this.:(


That's doubtful John. I just spoke with my agent and his take was:

It's much more likely that the premiums for the rental company that owned the tents will rise... and that the premiums for the auction houses that use "temporary facilities" to house such expensive stuff... will rise.

Now -- if we all suddenly began crashing our cars on a regular basis -- that would make our individual premiums/risk rise. The risk wasn't that the cars were bad -- it was the tents that were the issue. We may see that they won't be able to get coverage in the future as the risk premium would be horrendous. Phoenix is a windy area! I was glad that it was raining because if you've ever been in a Arizona wind storm - you can only imagine the dust - you can't see 10 feet - and the dust is like sandpaper!

[BlackenedRR]

Phoenix is a windy area! I was glad that it was raining because if you've ever been in a Arizona wind storm - you can only imagine the dust - you can't see 10 feet - and the dust is like sandpaper!

I spent 4 years stationed there while in the Air Force, I've seen cars have their paint stripped off in some of the really bad windstorms. You're absolutely right about the rain, probably saved some VERY expensive paint jobs on any cars outside...

[tones2SS]

That sucks!! I would be ripping.
I hope it all works out for those people.:thumbsup:

[ProTouring442]

shops should have "garage keepers" insurance. If something happens while in the shops facilities, the insurance will cover the damage up to the indivual vehicle cap amount. If the shop has no insurance, the personal insurance on the car "MAY" cover it depending on coverage clauses, but will turn right around and attempt to collect from the shop who had control over the vehicle at time of damage. The owners of all the cars damaged should not be liable for the tent that came down on top of them. That should either be covered by Russo or the company that owned and or errected the tents.

Sure isn't the way it worked here. Perhaps it works different in the custom car world, but when we ran a shop (a mechanical shop) our insurance was there for when we did something to mess up a car (I.E. set a lift down on a door, dinged a car with a jack handle), not for when Mother Nature, or another customer decided to get stupid and mess up a customer's car. When that happened, it worked exactly the same as when the car was parked at any other facility, that is, the individual insurance companies worked it out.

In any case, I am sure the appropriate parties will step up to the plate and work it out. I feel very badly for the owners of these vehicles, not to mention the various people at the involved companies who must be pulling their hair out at the moment!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

[FoxRod]

I assume all the total loss cars will be bought back by owners and if not where would these cars end up.

[GregWeld]

If the insurance company totals a car - you get a check - and they get your car - it's then sold on a salvage title.

[DEIGuy38]

Here is some more pics of the cars. What a sad mess.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tjmyers769/RussoAndSteele2010Damages#

[GregWeld]

Thanks for the post Guy -- now I need to go take some pepto-bismol...

[COYBILT]

wont catch me at one of there events after this one. Total ****ing idiots for not having that secured better.

[RECOVERY ROOM]

That just sucks,Hopefully most of those cars can be bought and fixed,There are a few that might end up as convertibles later on.

[1970camaroRS]

If the insurance company totals a car - you get a check - and they get your car - it's then sold on a salvage title.

Just remember, if the cost of repair is $15,000 and the car is worth $60,000, all they will do is try to make you believe the cost of repair is actually only $5,000....

None of these cars will be totaled, they are all worth way too much and the cost to repair wont get anywhere near the value of the car. Then again, I bet they try in a few cases and then the lawyers will get involved since a salvage title will take away from the worth of the car.

[DOOM]

Was one of these cars the green RS Chevelle!

[ProTouring442]

wont catch me at one of there events after this one. Total ****ing idiots for not having that secured better.

They (R&S) relied on a company who does this sort of thing to provide a secure tent. I don't know what the winds were in the area, but it is quite possible that the winds were simply too much for any reasonably secured tent of this style. Frankly, one good micro-burst may have been enough to cause the sort of damage seen here, and I am not sure any tent manufacturer or installer can really prepare for such occurrences.

We seem to forget, sometimes when Mother Nature gets pissed off, all we can do is run and hope like hell we survive.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

[Roadster Shop]

Was one of these cars the green RS Chevelle!

We had a few cars there. Somehow our 70 Chevelle and 70 Challenger escaped with out a scratch on them. Our '66 Chevelle and '32 roadster didn't fair so well.

The '66 Chevelle luckily only got hit on the hood. Not great, but I would still rather replace a $400 aftermarket hood than try to remove the roof from the dash!

Our '32 roadster was under the downed tent for 2 days getting beat to death. No major structural damage, but it looks like it was in a baseball sized hail storm. The tent was flapping up and down on it leaving 50 + major dents in the rear, leaving the equivalent of 80 grit scratches all over, ripped the top in 6 places, and chipped/scratched the front from all of the debris. And the windows were down from Thursday night until they let us back in Saturday morning, so the interior should have a fantastic mildew scent any day now. This car is going to be a complete re-paint and a whole lot of unnecessary work

Overall, a pretty F'd up situation.

[Roadster Shop]

They (R&S) relied on a company who does this sort of thing to provide a secure tent. I don't know what the winds were in the area, but it is quite possible that the winds were simply too much for any reasonably secured tent of this style. Frankly, one good micro-burst may have been enough to cause the sort of damage seen here, and I am not sure any tent manufacturer or installer can really prepare for such occurrences.

We seem to forget, sometimes when Mother Nature gets pissed off, all we can do is run and hope like hell we survive.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

There was an art fair in the same parking lot, less than 500 yards away. They had 4 good sized tents up and there was no damage what so ever. The tents were staked into the ground which was basically packed sand and dirt. After 2 days of rain the ground was extremely soft and gave way. They started trucking in concrete barriers Thursday afternoon as if they knew the tents wouldn't hold, but never got them unloaded off the semi's.

[70rs]

We had a few cars there. Somehow our 70 Chevelle and 70 Challenger escaped with out a scratch on them. Our '66 Chevelle and '32 roadster didn't fair so well.

The '66 Chevelle luckily only got hit on the hood. Not great, but I would still rather replace a $400 aftermarket hood than try to remove the roof from the dash!

Our '32 roadster was under the downed tent for 2 days getting beat to death. No major structural damage, but it looks like it was in a baseball sized hail storm. The tent was flapping up and down on it leaving 50 + major dents in the rear, leaving the equivalent of 80 grit scratches all over, ripped the top in 6 places, and chipped/scratched the front from all of the debris. And the windows were down from Thursday night until they let us back in Saturday morning, so the interior should have a fantastic mildew scent any day now. This car is going to be a complete re-paint and a whole lot of unnecessary work

Overall, a pretty F'd up situation.

Very sorry to hear about the damage. And while it could have been much worse and included all of your cars, it still sucks big time. I hope the roadster is in better shape then the initial inspection shows. Best of luck with the paperwork too. That alone has got to be a nightmare.

[buickfunnycar.com]

So sorry to see that damage,that '32 looks so sad...

[MarkM66]

Did the undamaged cars go through the auction? Did they sell?

How did the rest of the auction go?

[Roadster Shop]

The undamaged cars did not go through the auction. We weren't exactly in the best mood after not being able to see our cars for 2 days. So we packed them up and headed home. If we did run them through, we would have had a time slot late Sunday night, or Monday morning. It really wasn't worth sticking around for three more days to see them not sell.

The '32 is actually worse than it looks in the picture. It was wet when the pics were taken so the majority of the scratches and damage can't be seen.

Thanks for the sympathy. We still felt pretty lucky walking away with 2 untouched cars and minor damage relative to a lot of the other cars.

[E.rodz]

oh how I feel for the people that owned theese cars.I am assuming that it doesn't work like the barret jackson that the hold the title and the power of attorny paper. to bad that did not happen at barrett jackson so they could eat some bad luck. the only thing that could be good is if you had your car insured for more than it would have brought in this economy. that sucks for R.S. because it was not there fault but somehow will take a blunt part of the blame.:(

[ProTouring442]

There was an art fair in the same parking lot, less than 500 yards away. They had 4 good sized tents up and there was no damage what so ever. The tents were staked into the ground which was basically packed sand and dirt. After 2 days of rain the ground was extremely soft and gave way. They started trucking in concrete barriers Thursday afternoon as if they knew the tents wouldn't hold, but never got them unloaded off the semi's.

I am not saying that this IS the case, but, in the case of weather, it is not uncommon for a storm to do major damage at one place, and nearly no damage at another though the second is a very short distance away.

How were the tents at the art fair secured? Were they anchored with concrete barriers or were they simply staked?

In any case, I surely hope that the responsible parties do what is necessary to get these vehicles back into their pre-storm condition and the appropriate parties compensated. I know I would be quite upset of it were my project that was damaged!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

[[email protected]]

if this happend during that real bad storm not to long ago. i wouldnt push to much blame on anyone. at those kind of winds and rain i'm surprised any tent stayed in the ground. in AZ we rarely get weather and rarely get rain and wind at that magnitude.....hell there were even tornado warnings.

[tgvettes]

There might be one big difference, the Art Fair tents have been there for quite a while so it is more like a permanent installation, they might just be built and installed way differently then the temporary tents for the Auction.

Tonny

[ProTouring442]

if this happend during that real bad storm not to long ago. i wouldnt push to much blame on anyone. at those kind of winds and rain i'm surprised any tent stayed in the ground. in AZ we rarely get weather and rarely get rain and wind at that magnitude.....hell there were even tornado warnings.

yes, but in today's society is HAS to be somebody's fault, and SOMEBODY MUST pay for all of this, regardless of whether or not they really could have done anything different to stop the damage. <sigh>

I'm not saying that the people on this site think that way, though it's possible that some do. I just know that someone who's car was damaged in this mess, or some "lawyer" will think that way, and in the end all the rest of us will suffer for it!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

[DOOM]

We had a few cars there. Somehow our 70 Chevelle and 70 Challenger escaped with out a scratch on them. Our '66 Chevelle and '32 roadster didn't fair so well.

The '66 Chevelle luckily only got hit on the hood. Not great, but I would still rather replace a $400 aftermarket hood than try to remove the roof from the dash!

Our '32 roadster was under the downed tent for 2 days getting beat to death. No major structural damage, but it looks like it was in a baseball sized hail storm. The tent was flapping up and down on it leaving 50 + major dents in the rear, leaving the equivalent of 80 grit scratches all over, ripped the top in 6 places, and chipped/scratched the front from all of the debris. And the windows were down from Thursday night until they let us back in Saturday morning, so the interior should have a fantastic mildew scent any day now. This car is going to be a complete re-paint and a whole lot of unnecessary work

Overall, a pretty F'd up situation.

F'd up is'nt the word!! I am very interested in the outcome of this, and how its going to be handled. Please keep us posted