This photo is from March 5, 1929, showing the aftermath of a fire that occured during the annual Los Angeles Auto Show. The original photo is 38 1/2 inches X 11 inches.
Wonder what happened to them all? Somebody probably sold them, maybe that is how the used car salesman thing started!
I down loaded the photo and blew it up and scanned to see if I recognized any of the marks from that time period,,I couldn't. I can only imagine how devastating this fire was for the major players at the time and what a horrific loss it had to be for some of the smaller struggling automakers that the fire signaled their death nail in the industry. Remember,this was the beginning of the depression and I would thing some investors had everything they owned ridding on the outcome of this show. HRP
Whoa, that's crazy. Can you imagine if that happened today at a modern auto show. The cost would be outrageous. I suppose it was outrageous back then too, relatively speaking.
From Wikipedia ... "During the 1929 show, an electrical circuit in one of the airplane exhibits caught fire causing the entire show to go up in flames ending in more than $1 Million in damage. With the help of the community, the show re-opened one day later at the Shrine Auditorium." .... I wonder how much that million dollars would be in todays money.
The cost at the time was estimated at $1,250,000 In today's money that's ,,, $16,783,187.13 So yeah,that's a chunk of change. HRP
Looks like the show was held in some kind of tent. Bodies in those days were made of wood with metal panels tacked on. The bodies all appear to be destroyed. If a car burns outdoors it is sometimes possible to save the ch***is, if it burns inside a building the heat is so intense it ruins engine, ch***is and all. Maybe someone salvaged a few parts but most likely, everything went for s**** metal. Have heard of at least one custom show car destroyed at that show, the Auburn Cabin Speedster. Never heard of any cars surviving. Auburn Cabin Speedster flickr pictures of modern reproduction http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjb4photos/6787948852/ Caption says 320 cars were destroyed in the fire. Picture of the original http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1928-1936-auburn-speedsters5.htm
I was going to post this in the Vintage Shots thread, but as long as there's one here: (From the USC Digital Library) This was taken at the lot where the insurance company was storing the remains, although this must have been just a small portion of what was lost. The original photo is here, and can be enlarged to see a huge amount of detail...
The Jalopy Journal
