Sports car collection nearly burns in fire!

[Brad B.]

This is a scan of yesterdays St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper. A Jaguar Club member's storage warehouse burned with his collection inside. No word yet on how bad things are.

[bjwebster]

Thats horrible, just horrible!

I sure hope things arent too bad.

[Dinzdale40]

Ouch....maybe some autopians can go over and give their support and get to detail cool cars too.......

[TOGWT]

Quote: Sports car collection nearly burns in fire!


~One mans opinion / observation~

That breaks your heart; I hope they are not too badly fire-damage (water/ smoke damage is tough to clean).

I assume there must be a sprinkler system installed or there would be ‘write-off’ type vehicle damage.
Most garages that are used for classic car storage don’t have sprinklers installed (we’ve just finished a garage design and the owner’s comment was that no other company had incorporated a fire protection system, other that first-aid extinguishers) we won the contract.


~Hope this helps~


Experience unshared; is knowledge wasted…/

justadumbarchitect * so i question everything*

[geekysteve]

Wow - that hits pretty close to home. I spent the better part of my High School/College/and post-college days working for a large auto museum in Wisconsin. It was owned by a father and son, and between the two of them they had over 400 cars - all of them Indy Pace Cars, rare Muscle Cars, antiques; just about anything you can imagine.

They called me about 5 years ago with bad news - the main "barn" (a 200'x200' metal over metal shed) had burned to the ground. In it were most of the good cars - the 1970 GTO Judge convertibles, the 1970 Superbirds, the 1968 Shelby GT500KR Convertibles, the 1971 Buick GS 455-Stage 1, the 1970 Buick GSX, about 10 Corvettes, all 1963 - 1967 big blocks, etc...

I thought my heart stopped when I heard the news. Apparently, a painter (they did their own restorations in the shop next door) was working late one night and he was going to lay down primer on a 1950 Mercury pace car. It was cold in the shop, so he fired up the furnace to super heat the paint area. He forgot he left the furnace on and started spraying primer...about 3-4 sprays into it, the shed exploded (he was burned but lived, later committed suicide), and the fire spread quickly. Within 2 hours more than 150 cars were nothing but shells of their old selves.

I had a lot of great memories of those cars. We drove them a lot (parades, for fun, out on the town, etc), and now they're gone. Worst part is: the painter committed suicide about 3 months later and the insurance only covered $250,000 of the $5M+ loss... They gave "book" value on the cars, as the father/son didn't have supplemental insurance.

Hindsight is always 20/20 - as towgt states, a sprinkler would have helped prevent some damage, and better insurance would have lessened the loss of the cars.

[Lynn]

Brad with at least two fellow JAGSL members on this forum, you KNOW you cannot -- must not -- post something like that without telling us who. Is that Pete's E-type? WHO SUFFERED THIS FIRE????

[MBZ 500E]

That is sad to hear. I hope whoever it is bodes well and doesn't have any sifnificant damage to the cars. Worst part of fires is the things that can't easily be replaced.

Steve,

Very sad to hear that story, some serious history lost in that fire.

[4DSC]

Sorry to say this Brad, and Brett, but I wish I hadn't read either of you guy's posts......

I always get this sick, empty feeling whenever I hear about things like this...

[White968]

Faulty wiring caused a fire early Tuesday that destroyed a warehouse at Magnolia and Michigan avenues and damaged some church organs, organ parts and classic automobiles inside, authorities said.

Paul Carton, 54, the owner of the contents, said he didn't know how much of it could be salvaged. He said it was insured.

Carton, whose business is repairing pump organs, said he used the warehouse to store the organs and parts. He also kept six older automobiles there.

Nobody was in the building when the fire was discovered about 6:45 a.m., authorities said.



Mark

[76Jag]

Hi Guys. I'm new to the forum and have been lurking for a while. I live in St. Louis and know the great Brad B. as well as Paul from the local Jaguar club andthe collector car scene here.

Paul said the cars are mostly OK as they were parked at the other end of the building from where the fire was. The antique organs are another story with many damaged beyond repair. One entire wall fell in in the blaze. Faulty electrical wiring is blamed. The cars suffered some minor water damage from the sprinkler system and a bit of smoke damage but nothing that can't be cleaned up. Paul's main concern now is finding suitable temporary storage space for what's left. Anybody want to keep a 67 E-Type roadster in their garage for him?

[Lynn]

Gosh, that really sucks, Joh. But I'm guessing that the sprinkler system is to be thanked for limiting the damage. Right, Gonzo?

Heck, the opportunity to babysit a '67 E-type is almost enough motivation to make me get out my hammer and nails and build a garage!

[DaGonz]

[quote]Originally posted by Lynn
Gosh, that really sucks, Joh. But I'm guessing that the sprinkler system is to be thanked for limiting the damage. Right, Gonzo?


[size=large]Right![/size]