Russo-Steele Auction Pixs

[SAFE4NOW]

We almost trucked the Greenwood Corvette to this event , now I am glad we did not:

https://sites.google.com/a/allclassicsllc.com/www/home/2010-russo-and-steele-damages


Steve

[Bingocaller]

Sorry please explain what the Russo-Steele is? And what happened there?

Thanks

[SAFE4NOW]

By now you probably heard about the damage that many collector vehicles sustained at the Russo & Steele classic car auction from a rare storm that hit Phoenix last Thursday which produced "heavy rains, flash floods and reports of several tornadoes – exceedingly rare in the state".

Its a real shame that there was quite a bit of damage to some of the collectors, which the Arizona Replublic reported sustained "more than $1.5 million in damage to cars" at the auction when the tent came crashing down. The storm "ripped away huge sections of the event’s tents and deposited them in the traffic lanes of the adjacent 101 freeway", which had to be closed temporarily.

Here is a video showing the tent coming down and a link to pictures of cars damaged:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAnXEOSLHw

https://sites.google.com/a/allclassi...steele-damages

[SAFE4NOW]

One more link:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/22/strong-winds-cause-russo-and-steele-auction-tents-to-collapse/

Last night while we were driving to the RM auction on the 101 loop in Phoenix, Arizona, traffic came to a sudden stop. Literally, a complete halt. We turned on the radio hoping to find out the reason for the delay, assuming a big rig had been blown over or a multiple car pileup had been caused by the rain. We finally found a local news station, only to hear that a tent had blown onto the freeway. While the people on the radio didn't know any details, we instantly knew what must have happened.

Full details came in just a little bit later. High winds had collapsed two of the tents covering the cars at the nearby Russo and Steele auction, with one of them blowing onto the freeway. Fortunately, there were no deaths and only one reported minor injury, but plenty of gorgeous classic cars were damaged in the process. Right now no one seems to really know the extent of the damage since the local fire department isn't allowing access to the area for safety reasons, but we'll be sure to let you know about any updates we hear.

We've included two official statements from Russo and Steele as well as a two videos after the jump. The first is an outside view of one of the tents as it collapses onto the cars, and the second is video recorded during the auction when the announcement is made to evacuate the tents (jump ahead to 21 minutes). Be aware that there is some NSFW language in the second video. Thanks to everyone for the tips!

[Erik]

Wow, that is so sad to see. :(