spot_img
HomeCar CultureCommentaryReduced to ashes: Classic cars burned in California fires add to the...

Reduced to ashes: Classic cars burned in California fires add to the devastation

-

Anxious to see what damage had been done to his home in Santa Rosa, California, Scott Birdsall used his own military truck to pass through roadblocks to the area. In that guise, he appeared to be one of the National Guardsman who had been called out to the wildfire zone.

His neighborhood in Coffey Park was one of the hardest hit as the wind-swept blazes destroyed home after home, turning the cozy community into a smoldering moonscape. But Birdsall, the affable owner of Chuckles Garage hot rod shop, hoped that maybe his possessions had been spared.

What he found broke his heart.

“It’s total devastation, like an absolute war zone. Nothing is left,” Birdsall said in a telephone interview with the ClassicCars.com Journal.

classic cars burned
Birdsall’s Ford Fairlane wound up on its roof | Scott Birdsall

His home was leveled, just the blackened foundation and pieces of steel remaining. But for the passionate car guy, some of the worst distress came when he saw what was left of his garage; his beautiful collector cars were reduced to hunks of burned, twisted metal.

“I had a ’63 (Ford) Fairlane that was fully restored, a ’62 Buick Wildcat that was fully restored,” Birdsall said. “I lost my tow rig and my Lexus. I basically lost everything.”

The Wildcat was the worst, he said, because he had owned the car since he was 19.

“It was an heirloom.”

Fortunately, Chuckles Garage is about five miles away, he said, and was not touched by the fire.

classic cars burned
A 1969 Camaro burnt beyond hope | Goodguys

Collector cars might not be on everyone’s mind when thousands of homes have been swept away by fire and at least 40 people were killed. But the loss of beloved vintage vehicles only adds to the sense of devastation and sadness.

“Obviously, we’ re most concerned about people’s safety and personal well-being, but it sure is a shame when you hear of someone losing a collector car they’re so passionate about,” said Jonathon Klinger, spokesman for Hagerty Classic Car Insurance. “When you start to hear stories of vehicles that have been in the family and passed down through the generations, that’s always tough.”

Most of the collector cars, trucks and motorcycles lost to recent hurricanes and floods in other parts of the country could be salvaged to some extent, Klinger noted, but the vehicles lost to the fires were utterly destroyed with nothing left to soften the blow.

The burnt remains of a Chevy coupe | Goodguys

“So that’s the big difference between the hurricanes and the fires,” Klinger said. “Virtually all the cars were salvageable from the hurricanes. Even in the worst-case scenario, there are parts that are salvageable. In the case of these fires, that’s not happening.

“The vehicles that burned up in the fires, we’re not just talking about smoke damage or paint. You’ve seen the pictures, they’re gone, there’s no salvaging them.”

The photos taken by Birdsall tell the sad tale. The Wildcat is crushed as well as burned, the heat of the fire warping the body panels with the hood bent up over what remains of the buckled roof. Chunks of concrete and charred debris lie all around.

The Fairlane ended up lying upside down, for whatever reason, one of its tires inexplicably remaining.

classic cars burned
The Buick Wildcat was a family heirloom | Scott Birdsall

John Drummond, a spokesman for the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, also emailed some photos from one of the regular participants in the nationwide car shows. Those photos show a ’69 Camaro that has been obliterated and a mid-’60s Chevy hardtop reduced to rubble.

“It’s been brutal,” Drummond said.

Overseas publications have taken notice of the California wildfire’s destruction of classic cars. The Daily Mail of Great Britain recently published a story and photos of a Santa Rosa man, Gary Dower, who lost his entire car collection.

classic cars burned
Gary Dower of Santa Rosa with one of his ruined cars | The Daily Mail

There was also a somewhat positive story published by the BMW Car Club of America’s newsletter about how a number of club members rallied to rescue one member’s collection of vintage BMWs, including several rare pre-war models.

Klinger said that the California wildfires are expected to result in greater classic car losses than Hurricane Irma, which roared through Florida, as well as Puerto Rico, Cuba and other Caribbean islands, last month.

This has been a rough year for major losses of collector cars, he added.

“There have certainly been more weather-related catastrophic events, a lot of losses,” he said. “But that’s what we’re in business for. We’re prepared for this.”

While Hagerty Insurance might be prepared to pay claims on hundreds of ruined cars, nothing could prepare the collector car owners for what they found when they finally returned home.

spot_img
Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen is a longtime automotive writer and editor, focusing on new vehicles, collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. He is the former automotive writer and editor for The Arizona Republic and SPEED.com, the website for the SPEED motorsports channel. He has written free-lance articles for a number of publications, including Autoweek, The New York Times and Barrett-Jackson auction catalogs. A collector car enthusiast with a wide range of knowledge about the old cars that we all love and desire, Bob enjoys tinkering with archaic machinery. His current obsession is a 1962 Porsche 356 Super coupe.

21 COMMENTS

  1. My heart goes out to all you guys who lost your beloved classic cars. I own a 1967 Camaro RS/SS
    Show car which is the 13th Camaro manufactured when they started making them and If I lost it, I would be devastated just as you guys are. I can say this, if you have Hagerty classic car insurance, you will be reimbursed in a very timely manner as I have been when I had a claim. I also belong to the biggest classic car club in Oklahoma and surrounding states and we have an excellent website which we list classic cars for sale on when they become available. If you would like to check it out go to canadianrivercruisers.com Again I am very sorry for your losses. Chuck Norris,Oklahoma City, OK

  2. "Anxious to see what damage had been done to his home in Santa Rosa, California, Scott Birdsall used his own military truck to pass through roadblocks to the area. In that guise, he appeared to be one of the National Guardsman who had been called out to the wildfire zone."

    Look at me! I’m above the law!

      • My 68 chevelle SS may have been burned at my Dads house.
        Of course I worry about him first. At the same time I took this car from a rust bucket to a running almost frame of resto mod.
        With car on non opi may loose everything put into it. About 20,000
        And 10 years of working on it on and off. All the work done myself and almost ready to drive. I may have lost it. Hurts to see people loose everything ,but a piece of my work may be lost too. So I understand. I’m sad and don’t even know my outcome.

    • YOU Know ,, Having been through a wild fire in 1999 ,, and loosing (8) collectible vehicles ,, I know How anxious a collector can be ,, However Instead of concentrating on our loss, I did not hesitate
      to climb into the seat of my tractor ,, and cut fire berms around my neighborhood,, trying to save others,, I think this is the prevailing Mind set of collectors,, cars can and will be restored, or replaced ,,But the loss of the community you live in, comes first to all.. I to found a way around the road closures,, knowing others were in danger,, I know a lot of collectors,, but I do believe safety of others, would come first .

      • I was camping with my 2 boys in San Diego, CALIFORNIA when the wind was whipping my camping trailer’s canvas awning and woke me. Sleep plus ruined/torn trailor awning got me up to stow it.
        Wind was whipping and firepits were still glowing with embers so I took plastic grocery bag around with water and quenched fires…
        That’s when I saw glow just aboive a dirt BERM (6ft high dirt pile separating next property). Went over and climed atop and saw fire across horizon maybe 1/2 mile off!
        Went back top camp, purposely set off my Landcruiser’s theft alarm and packed up quickly! People woke, I pointed to glowing fire peeking above berm, and EVERYONE STARTED PACKING EXCEPT OWNER, WHO CAME OVER AND SAID ALL WAS OK AND SHOULD STAY! BS, I LEFT AND MOST LIKELY MOST OTHERS DID TOO! I BELIEVE 12 PEOPLE DIED IN THAT ONE! oNE GUY HAD COME IN LATE AND HAD A FLAT TIRE BUT THE SPARE HAD A CABLE LOCK ON IT TO PREVENT THEFT! GREAT IDEA… IF YOU HAVE KEY (PREVIOUS OWNER…) IN ANY CASE I HAD A PAIR OF TREE TRIMMING LOPPERS LEFT IN MY CRUISER AND I CUT THE CABLE FOR HIM AND OF COURSE HAD TO LEND HIM MY LUG WRENCH AS WELL! HOPE THE ‘TRAILER PARK’ MANAGER GOT OUT OK… IF NOT IT’S JUST SURVIVAL OF THE FITEST (AND OTHERS SMART ENOUGH TO REALIZE WHEN AND WHO TO FOLLOW!).

    • Come on
      Until you have delt with something like this give the guy a brake
      We where in the Ceder Fire in San Diego
      Living in our SUV for the first two nights with a 92 year old mother
      Mom in our Tear Drop trailer us in the back of the SUV
      Scary we only lost the food in our freezer

    • Yeah he along with the state and city governments who think they’re above Fed. law. By the way the State of Ca. changed the way they were fighting fires at the beginning of this last years disaster. Basically they didn’t bring in airpower until the fires were out of control. Kinda like they haven’t fixed many dams in the state while extorting huge sums of money from working people to build an unneeded, overpriced high speed rail as well as defending and financially supporting criminal illegals.

      • …so Jay, seems your political rant forgot to mention the building of "The Wall" as one of the biggest "extortion of money" to build something that’s not needed. BTW Jay, while I agree there are many infrastructure projects here in CA that desperately need repairing or out and out replacement (as is across the country), your bashing of the high speed rail and its cost (due to years of political delays and wrangling from self-serving individuals) or extortion of monies from hard working people comes across as yet another back room planting of misinformation….and in all places an article on the tragic destruction of collector cars! There are many, many others that would disagree with you about there not being a need for the "high speed rail" service between southern CA and northern CA. The only problem I see is that the proposed length isn’t long enough. Time to greet the 21st Century Jay….AND be a little more transparent about who and what you’re connected with. RJ – Santa Monica, CA

    • My heart goes out to the owners of these gems and all the owners have lost, beyond the vehicles. I have posted ads, that as an appraiser in the area, I’ll gladly appraise the cars or trucks at a reduced rate and try to get the owners compensation via insurance or other means available.

  3. Oh come on… I am a car nut and adore classic cars like all of you out there, and yes, I would be very, very sad and extremely upset if I lost a "beloved" classic car in those devastating fires, or in the recent floods in other parts of the country. But imagine if it was a beloved family member or close friend that was killed in those fires or floods. Precious classic cars may or may not be replaceable but human lives definitely are not… Put things in perspective and appreciate what you do have.

  4. Last January 26th, 2017 I lost 8 classic cars in a fire along with tons of signs and memorabilia.
    My cars have been insured with J.C. Taylor for over 30 years for stated value. They were very prompt in paying me for what I had them insured for.

    Problem is I did not keep up with increasing the value as time went on. A lesson learned…keep your car’s policy up to date and take good photos of your "STUFF"

  5. I can only say that I was so saddened by the loss of these classics. I had my beloved old Camaro taken from me, and to this day I still look on websites for it. It is as bad as losing a pet. And I do not care if this comment angers some people. Unfortunately, I do not think the younger generation will carry on with collecting classic cars or motorcycles, they only seem to care about their cell phones!

    • To your remark about young people not caring on in the antique car tradition, I disagree. There are many youngsters at car shows eager to join in and carry on the tradition. They are using their cell phones to take pictures of our cars to get ideas of what they can start with. We

  6. Don’t use this article to bitch about politics. If you are reading this you are a car guy too. My brother in law and sister’s Sonoma County car club had so many members loose cars that we all beloved at shows. Luckily no members’ lives were lost. It was so sad to see the charred rubble of once beautiful pieces of history that these people put their heart and sole into restoring. Lives are slowly being put back together and homes rebuilt, new projects are popping up and we will enjoy these new additions. Sad to see the old ones lost, but even happier to see the same faces around. Sonoma Strong!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -