--- In
2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com
, wrote:
> Winds, rain tear through Scottsdale auction venue
> January 22, 2010
> by Old Cars Weekly Staff
> Heavy winds and matching rain destroyed tents and devastated one of the main
> auction venues in the annual collector car auction extravaganza in
> Scottsdale, Ariz., Thursday night.
> Three tents were ripped from the ground at the Russo & Steele event, leaving
> several hundred collector cars exposed to the elements and the wreckage
> during some of the worst weather in the Scottsdale area in recent years.
> Remains of one of the tents wound up strewn across nearby Highway 101,
> forcing highway crews to temporarily shut down one of the city's main
> arteries.
> No injuries were reported and most of the audience had already been
> evacuated by the time the tents collapsed.
> No car owners or spectators were being allowed onto the venue grounds today
> as police and insurance adjusters combed through the scene and assessed the
> damage.. One car owner reported that he had been told he and other car
> owners would not be allowed on the property until 8 p.m. Saturday.
> According Old Cars Weekly Auction Editor Ron Kowalke, who was at the site,
> the winds picked up at 6:15 p.m., and the large white tents began pulsing
> and the lights inside began swinging above bidders. After about 100 cars had
> crossed the block, an unknown person ran into the tent and contacted Russo &
> Steele President Drew Alcazar, who immediately ordered everyone inside the
> main tent to evacuate as a Chevrolet was mid-bid on the block.
> "The evacuation was very orderly," reported Kowalke by phone, "which
> probably helped get everyone out of the tent safely.
> "Once we got out, everybody went out into the rain. People were trying to
> get to their cars when suddenly the southern-most tent where they keep most
> of the cars lifted into the air. When the tent went up, all of the poles
> supporting it came down on the cars. To make matters worse, the remnants of
> the shredded tent began slapping on the cars.
> "The part of the tent still there, the wind would get underneath it and lift
> it, then drop it back onto the cars."
> Meanwhile, owners could do nothing but watch the weather abuse their fresh
> restorations and high-dollar machines as police and fire safety personnel
> kept the crowds and owners away due to safety concerns.
> "A Road Runner convertible owner tried to get the police officers to allow
> him to his car since it was beneath a pole hanging above, and they almost
> let him until they decided it would be a safety concern, and then they would
> have to let everybody else in," Kowalke said.
> "On some of the convertibles, where the owners left the tops down, there is
> nothing covering them anymore and they are filling with water. None of the
> owners could retrieve their cars or raise the tops to keep the rain out."
> The main tent, where bidding is conducted, remained in position as of Friday
> morning. To block the continuing winds, several Reliable Transport semi
> trucks and trailers lined up bumper to bumper to form a barrier to prevent
> further wind damage from the southern end of the auction compound.
> Kowalke noted that the high winds also put Barrett-Jackson on alert, and it
> evacuated one of the tents at its venue where cars are staged before they
> cross the block, and one of the non-essential tents did blow away. Due to
> the rain, Barrett-Jackson had also been forced to closed part of its lots
> due to flooding.
> "I think they are going to declare a state of emergency," Kowalke said.
> "There are a lot of flooded streets and they are getting several feet of
> snow in the mountains and they are not prepared to deal with that here."
> One of the marquee cars on the Russo & Steele schedule was a Tucker
> convertible that had drawn much publicity and scrutiny in the past year.
> According to car owner Justin Cole of Benchmark Classics, "the Tucker
> convertible was under one of the tents that was destroyed by high winds...
> Fortunately, it only sustained minor damage to the left front fender."