‘It hurt to watch it’: Million dollars’ worth of custom vehicles destroyed in Manitoba fire

Nearly a dozen high-end vehicle have been destroyed in a fire at a storage unit in southern Manitoba.

A fire at a storage compound in Manitoba destroyed more than a million dollars in restored vehicles.

Re-Spec Performance, an automotive customs company based in southern Manitoba, was storing cars at a compound off Highway 59 near St-Pierre-Jolys when a fire broke out Sunday night.

According to Re-Spec owner Jeremy Reimer, the fire started in a neighbouring unit before spreading to the unit they were using.

“I got the call a little after nine o’clock at night that something was going on at the shop and that I needed to get there right away,” he said. “So we called up the guys and we went over there, hoping that that we could make sure that everyone in the attached unit there was okay, and that we could get some cars out. But it was already 1,100 C inside the building, so there was no saving anything.”

The shop workers just sat in their van, unable to do anything while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.

“It hurt to watch it, and it was just as hard to look away,” Reimer said. “It was surreal.”

CTV News Winnipeg has reached out to the St-Pierre-Jolys Fire Department for any update on the fire.

Among the 10 cars destroyed by the fire were several Mazda RX7s, a Porsche 930, a 1977 Chevrolet C10, and a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle. In addition to showing them off at cars shows across Canada, many of the builders at the shop had a personal bond with the vehicles.

“These are cars that I thought I’d pass on to my kids, and that’s the same for some of the other guys who lost vehicles,” Reimer said.

Reimer said the shop is currently dealing with insurance and making plans to get back to building and customizing cars.

He said they are thankful for the support from the wider automotive community.

“We’ve heard from hundreds of fans personally, and it’s their support right now that’s really driving us forward,” Reimer said. “We’re planning a comeback. It’s not going to be the last chapter for us, and we think for all the support here, we owe something to the community, and we’ve got to come back and make them proud.”