[DeTomaso] Russo & Steele Pantera photo

[jchwbam at aol.com]

I had a show truck in R&S' auction (and have consigned 3-4 vehicles to R&S w/mixed results).  I was supposed to run on Sunday so I got there after the storm.  My vehicle was in the tent that blew away.  The damage to the field was random but at least 40% of the cars sustained the kind of damage that a lead pipe and coarse grit sandpaper can do in the hands of a determined vandal.  A lot of cars looked to be totaled.  Luckily I got off easy with FR fender damage and panel misaligment issues (maybe $3-5K total).  But as I walked the field, the damage to some truly exquisite cars just took my breath away.  I will never go to an auction or car show w/o flashing back to the images of last weekend.  

As for the business side, R&S' attitude was concerned but focused on going forward.  They left it up to the owennr.  You had the option to pull your car from the auction and get it out of there at yuor expense (w/a promised refund of the consignment fee) or proceed.  They had already done a "green sheet" of cars that had little or no damage that they hoped to persuade the owners to stay and auction.  Mine and many others were not on that list (we were on the SOL list).  We could go.  

Drew promised to "work" with our insurers - whatever that means.  I will submit a claim thru my insurer and they will handle the subrogation w/R&S, tent guys.  There will be lots of tap dancing.  I'm a lawyer and this situation is a law school exam: R&S' duty of care, prior storm notice, R&S' decision to proceed, owner's assumption of risk by not pulling the car, the contract's requirements that owners particpate, the adequacy of the tent set-up, metallurgy/defective material and/or installation, why was no other auction affected, act of God, assumption of risk, you name it.  Say what you like about lawyers, the owner of the Ferrari I hear got whacked pretty hard will not see any real money until he or she lawyers up.  Repair damage are only the beginning with collectibles that are only original once and can lose half their value (after repair) after a casualty like this. 

Thank God no one was killed and only a few were injured.

Moral of the story - life is not fair, natural events are laughably random, stuff happens despite the best of intentions, and if you have something that is truly irreplaceable, keep it in your control and never trust the other guy to keep it safe.

  JCH

        





-----Original Message-----
From: MikeLDrew at aol.com
To: oldwheel at mts.net; detomaso at realbig.com
Sent: Sun, Jan 24, 2010 6:42 pm
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso]   Russo & Steele Pantera photo



n a message dated 1/24/10 18 34 20, oldwheel at mts.net writes:

 Hey Mike
 I don't know about the two at R&S, but someone emailed me to tell me that 
 a
 Pantera GTS went for $80K at Barrett-Jackson?
 
I only see a single Pantera, a decent but by no means spectacular red 
-model that went for $40K plus 10% commission:
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/currentcarlist.a
px?aid=304&sd=01%2f24%2f2010&ed=01%2f24%2f2010
Mike
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