Hi Cam
Good question. I lost a lot of parts and tools, not necessarily all from fire damage, but also from the insurance company clean up crew. The insurance company had five very pleasant non English speaking women who knew nothing about tools or motorcyle parts working in horrific conditions in the wet and cold and filthy burnt out shell of the garage without adequate lighting or heating for 5 days, sorting out what was suitable for cleaning and restoration and what was not. They filled a large haul away garbage skiff with stuff that went to the dump. I was still recovering from pancreatic cancer surgery and could not supervise. I think anything they did not recognize as having value, or did not know what it was, they just threw out. A year later and I am still figuring out what I am missing.
The entire mess is winding its way slowly through the Courts, my insurance company suing the insurance company of the shop that had just rebuilt the mechanical fuel distributor in the Bentley, etc., the shops insurance company insisting I must have done something to cause the car to catch fire, etc., etc..
When I got accused of intentionally burning down the Bentley, i pointed out that if I had intended to do so I would at least have made sure the car was insured for more than just what I initialy paid for it (having thrown another $24,000 in parts over and above the purchase price plus hundreds of hours of my own time at it since i bought it), and more important, I would have backed it out of the bloody garage before the fire........
With the insurance, my intention had been to have the car properly appraised after I finished it and then properly insure it for finished value, but I never got the chance. Of the 9 motorcycles in the garage ath teh time of the fire, the only one not insured was the three quarters built Garelli, I had almost $5,000 and a bunch of time into that, no insurance coverage for that either. A bunch of the Garelli parts disapeared in the subsequent garage disaster clean up, I suspect a bunch of Garelli parts went to the dump as well.
On the subject of cheap tools, the inexpensive blind bearing puller broke on the 6th and last bearing in the Gilera cases. No such thing as good cheap tools apparently. $100 to pull 5 bearings and fail on the 6th, so $20 per removed bearing....... Going to have a chat with Amazon about warranty and replacement, hopefully with a credit towards upgrading to a better set.
Paul LeClair
