CARNAGE AT RUSSO & STEELE

摘要

It was a surreal scene at Scottsdale, Arizona's Russo and Steele auction this past January 21 as a violent thunderstorm savagely ripped through the popular classic car auction. Held just down the road and during the same week as the Barrett-Jackson auction, the Russo and Steele auction also makes use of huge tents, which were jammed with hundreds of irreplaceable muscle cars. When the tempest came through, it ripped two of the huge tents from their moorings and scattered dozens of heavy poles and trusses onto the cars below. Hagerty Insurance, which insures many of the vehicles, estimated that half of the cars were damaged, some of them already sold and technically not covered. Making things worse, officials closed the auction down, and secured the area under guard until Saturday. In the intervening 36 hours, a torrential rain incurred additional water damage to the now uncovered cars, previously damaged or otherwise. According to eyewitnesses, many of the cars looked like they had been blasted with shot pellets, exhibiting damage from small rocks and hail. The Roadster Shop's '66 Chevelle is pictured here, and was severely damaged in the freak storm.