Features Fire at restoration shop - Traverse City

Sad news.
Fortunately no injuries.

Nickels Automotive Woodworking

https://www.record-eagle.com/news/l...cle_ecee03e2-0e79-11ec-90e2-abad083279bc.html

 

What a shame!

It seems as though we not only have to trust in the capable hands of craftsman, but also to the fickle hand of fate.

 

Fire bad.

 

Sad deal for sure. Some of the cars were "one of a kind" according to the article.

Will the insurance pay to have those cars rebuilt/re-created, or just pay out what they were valued at?

 

The insurance companies will pay out what the cars were insured for. Hopefully that was enough to give the owners a choice. It would likely be up to the car's owners weather to rebuild them or not. That might depend on exactly how badly they were actually damaged, and how much of the original car was salvageable.

How much damage does a one of a kind car have to have, before it is no longer considered to be that same one of a kind car it used to be? Gene

 

Got lucky when lightening hit the tree next to my my duplex of 45 yrs- yes lost a lot of stuff - but my Daytona didn't get hurt by fire or firemen throwing stuff about. The lighting went thru the big tree in the back ground and split it before finding mine.

So sad about the fires there and everywhere going on these days.

 

Something like that happens you'll find out who was walking the high wire without a net. I've no idea how insurance works for that kind of thing but they probably have limits on the insured contents or whatever. So the insurance co. cuts a check for the limit of the policy and they divide it a**** the claims? Sounds like a real mess.

 

Sad to here cl***ic/antique automobile's being destroyed in such a wasteful way.
Thankfully none of the owners or mechanics we're there working and most importantly no Fireman or Firewomen injured that day.
(And hopefully no guard dogs died)

Prayers going out to the owner of the Restoration Shop and to the unfortunate owners of the cl***ic or antique automobiles...

1Nimrod

 

Mike did several woodies for me---terrible news, he had patterns for basically every woodie ever made, all destroyed along with his own personal vehicle and customer cars

 

No water available to fight the fire. Mental note: Check for an automatic fire sprinkler system before leaving my car somewhere.

Sad for all involved.

 

Mike is well known for his restoration of Woody Wagons and many other Woody's. Your right woody Tom, he had patterns for a ton if not all woody's made. He had bought out a shop from the west coast several years ago to complement his already well stocked shop. This isn't corporate America we're talking about, It's nearly a one man show and over the years, he's had some highly skilled shop help. Sorry to learn of this disaster it is about 5 miles from my home.

 

Mike is well known in the Woodie community and has built several award winning vehicles. There is a benefit to living in a rural setting, but in the event that you need Fire or EMS it can really present problems. I'm a retired firefighter and know that quick response time is critical to fighting fires. Also, having limited water supply and having to rely on tanker trucks can severely hamper firefighting. In a rural setting, I would recommend a sprinkler system and several fire extinguishers located in different areas around the shop. You can't use an extinguisher if you can't get at it and having a back up in case the original extinguisher does not work or you use it up fighting the fire is good practice. I read the Newspaper article and limited water supply was a factor as most pumper trucks only carry a 250 to 500 gallon water tank and that get's used up really quick. I also read that 12 cars were totally destroyed. As long as no one was hurt is what really maters.

 

Wow - what a waste

 

Heartbreaking.

 

Any word on a cause, did it start at night? Fire is one of those things that gives most anyone the heebie jeebies, even if we really try to do everything right and leave nothing to chance there is always that .. chance.

 

Sad