Russo & Steele Car Auction gets hit by a bad storm, possable tornado.

[TruckDriver]

I have seen news stories reporting of around $1.5 million in damages just to the cars there so far. But that may go much higher.

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

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/storms-wreak-havoc-on-russo-and-steele-collector-car-auction/

[Ponch ®]

I have seen news stories reporting of around $1.5 million in damages just to the cars there so far. But that may go much higher.

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

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/storms-wreak-havoc-on-russo-and-steele-collector-car-auction/

how do they know the amount of the damage? there's a thread on moparts about this (some members there had cars or know people that had cars under those tents).They're not letting car owners in to inspect their cars until tomorrow.

[Aero426]

I'm amazed it took the news this long to make it here. 

[Aero426]

how do they know the amount of the damage?

That number came from a drive by on the 101 hwy.    The article even said so.   So they really don't know.   There are going to be a lot of cars with minor damage that you can't see until you're on top of them.

[69bronzeT5]

Some pictures. In the first picture, there's a blue Superbird, a '69 General Lee and I believe that might be the '69 Camaro from Bullrun Season 2 but I could be wrong...looks like it though! Check out the poles lying against the blue '70 GTO Judge in one picture and the poles crushed the convertible top of a '70 Torino in another.

[69bronzeT5]

Two more....

[FJ5WING]

poor Torino!

[Sublime/Sixpack]

And '67 GTX right beside it.

[draftingmonkey]

I heard that the storms that wreaked havoc here in SoCal were playing nasty in Arizona also. Sorry to see some classics ended up taking hits, ouch  .

[69 OUR/TEA]

if this has'nt already been posted,in the damage..... 2 superbirds,hemi cuda vert,etc......very sad


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

[chargerboy69]

Wow, those cars took a beating. The roofs caved in on so many cars from the poles. I would almost guess the black Trans Am will be a total loss as it looks like every body panel on that car is toast.

[Brock Samson]

wow it just hurt to see that.. those scratches alone were pretty severe...
nice mix of cars alot of '67 shelbys and '70 Boss/mach ones...
I hate to see 'em beat on like that.
 

[TruckDriver]

Almost makes you wanna cry seeing that. To think how many of those cars were unrestored originals, that now will have to be either totally restored, or worse, parted out.

[mauve66]

good for the parts industry though

[ChgrSteve67]

Here are a bunch more pictures if you all have not seen them.

They are not for the faint of heart.

http://www.allclassicsllc.com/home/2010-russo-and-steele-damages

[TruckDriver]

Here are a bunch more pictures if you all have not seen them.

They are not for the faint of heart.

http://www.allclassicsllc.com/home/2010-russo-and-steele-damages

Posted 6 posts before yours. 

[NHCharger]

Damn those pics were hard to look at. That tent took no pity on the black Trans Am. Seeing those damaged birds
I'm thinking the initial guesstimate of 1.5 mil in damage might be a tad low.

[Magnumcharger]

Here are DOWNLOADABLE pictures for you ghouls!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/tjmyers769/RussoAndSteele2010Damages#

[Magnumcharger]

more CAR nage...

[Magnumcharger]

More...

[Magnumcharger]

Last batch...just looked on Aerocar forum...and there are some duplicates here.
Sorry!

[ChgrSteve67]

The hood on the orange bird is interesting.

Looks like it broke all the way across the front just in front of the hood pins

Or is that a bondo crack?

[bordin34]

Were there people under the tent when it fell.

[elanmars]

ok, that's really horrible and all-but WHY have an auction OUTSIDE and in such an unprotected way? Sure, when you come down to it, no place is really safe but at least inside a concrete building there's more protection than pretty much NOTHING.

[Dadscharger]

ok, that's really horrible and all-but WHY have an auction OUTSIDE and in such an unprotected way? Sure, when you come down to it, no place is really safe but at least inside a concrete building there's more protection than pretty much NOTHING.

Because here in the Phoenix area we never get storms as bad as that 1 we just had. Heck we are lucky to get 7" of rain all year this was just a freak once in a life time storm here. Russo Steele has been doing there auction in the same location for years without a problem. Barrett Jackson is once a couple mile east of there off the L-101 they had cars outside and nothing really bad happened there. Oh and Barrett Jackson Auction is also in a tent.