Polara Pat
Well-Known Member
Our good friend and crew chief Chris Carlson's shop burned down today destroying his livelihood and many beautiful cars from our collection. To start things off I will say that no one was hurt during the incident and the fire was caused by an accidental slash of a late model fuel tank while doing exhaust work.
Now onto the bad news. Everything in and around the shop is a complete loss including my '67 Polara wagon; our '67 Polara race wagon; Chris' '66 Coronet wagon; '66 Belvedere wagon still in the paint booth and being reassembled; '56 Chevy sedan delivery (our next project); '67 Monaco wagon; our friend Graham's (330 wagon on this site) '63 330 interior, glass, and new motor from his recent resto and a few customers cars. It's safe to say that I still feel sick and the destruction is beyond belief. I am personally invested in four of these cars but still feel so bad for our friend who lost his little empire. Of course the shop is well insured but we'll never get back the quirky items acquired over the years and hours poured into our wrecks that are now lost. Plus most of my cars were not insured. No photos at this point but I'll get some up for the visual impact in the next bit. Fortunately the altered lives at my place so we still have a gem in the stable and still plan on racing Mission at the end of the month.
Again, no one was hurt and material possessions are always replaceable...but it still sucks balls.
Now onto the bad news. Everything in and around the shop is a complete loss including my '67 Polara wagon; our '67 Polara race wagon; Chris' '66 Coronet wagon; '66 Belvedere wagon still in the paint booth and being reassembled; '56 Chevy sedan delivery (our next project); '67 Monaco wagon; our friend Graham's (330 wagon on this site) '63 330 interior, glass, and new motor from his recent resto and a few customers cars. It's safe to say that I still feel sick and the destruction is beyond belief. I am personally invested in four of these cars but still feel so bad for our friend who lost his little empire. Of course the shop is well insured but we'll never get back the quirky items acquired over the years and hours poured into our wrecks that are now lost. Plus most of my cars were not insured. No photos at this point but I'll get some up for the visual impact in the next bit. Fortunately the altered lives at my place so we still have a gem in the stable and still plan on racing Mission at the end of the month.
Again, no one was hurt and material possessions are always replaceable...but it still sucks balls.
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