This is a huge loss.
The classic car community is in mourning after several vehicles were lost in a fire. Those cars were being stored in a large garage in Island Lake, Minnesota. The owners of the property and cars, Glen and Ruth Erickson, didn’t want to speak with local media about the loss, other than stating each vehicle in the garage was gone.
Carsonville Fire Chief Michael Harvey couldn’t identity which vehicles were present in the garage, but he did tell the media “there were a lot of old cars in there.”
The Detroit Lakes Tribune did a profile of the pole barn-type garage’s contents and the owners back in 2011. Of the cars profiled back then, there was a 1936 Ford pickup truck, a 1930 Ford Model A, and a 1959 Chevy Corvette. It’s assumed those three and possible more classic cars were destroyed by the fire.
Showcased for the month of October on the 2012 Snap-On Mini Snap-Shots calendar, the 1936 Ford pickup was a pretty famous vehicle. Erickson said he built the Ford up himself and understandably had a considerable amount of pride in it. By his estimation, he had poured about 20,000 hours of his own blood, sweat, and tears into the vehicle. Among the customizations he painstakingly crafted was a chopping and lowering of the truck. Now all that is gone.
It’s always a shame to see well-restored and properly cared-for classic cars of any type destroyed, whether by nature or an accident. Making this incident even more difficult to swallow is the fact the Ford truck was legitimately unique
For now fire investigators aren’t saying what sparked the blaze, simply stating it was the result of an accident. As a result, the state fire marshal declined to investigate. The fire apparently spread so quickly firefighters were unable to rescue any portion of the garage. Crews from three different cities responded to the fire.
Source and images credit: DL-Online
