However, this might be only the beginning as Chris Boribon, Shannons national auctions manager, thinks that there will probably be more claims and, unfortunately, many more vintage vehicles might have been uninsured.
"A lot of these cars aren't replaceable and that's the real pity about it," said Boribon."There is a handful of fairly serious cars that have gone," he added.
More importantly, many of the burnt cars can not be restored as the fires reduced the vehicles to unsalvageable shells.
"The shells are basically unusable - the heat has probably damaged the steel panels to such an extent that they are not able to be rebuilt," he said.
Among the vintage vehicles which were destroyed by the fires, we can note a 1927 Vintage Auburn, better known as an American Rolls Royce, valued at $50,000 and a 1923 Delahaye, also worth around $50,000. In addition, Kevin Purtzel of Narbethong, a classic car owner confessed that he lost five cars which were stored in his garage, including a restored 1954 Holden and a Ford V8.
"I believe there was an early collection of Ford V8s that weren't insured, which is a real pity, because they are world market cars and they're not building them any more," Boribon explained. "We've lost a 1927 vintage Auburn and a 1923 vintage Delahaye, a couple of early Triumphs and a handful of early hot-rods - you just can't replace those cars."
We are terribly sorry that such valuable cars have been lost in the flames but this kind of unfortunate event shows that it's useless to invest so much money in a vintage car if you live in a region with high potential for bushfires.
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