There are still a few remnants at Country Classic Cars from the fire that lit up the sky in this rural Illinois town the night of Aug. 8.
Concrete floors in the classic car business off old Route 66 remain warped and blackened in spots. A vault that kept the titles for some 600 classic vehicles safe from the towering flames is marked in places. And two cars that burned in the fire still sit on the lot, black and brown crisps of their former glory. The cause of the massive fire is still considered undetermined, but the Illinois Fire Marshal narrowed down the source to the wiring in one of five vehicles stored in the business’s main building.