'Still Kind Of Numb': Vacaville Home With Classic Cars, Antique Collections Burned To Ground
VACAVILLE (CBS13) – A Vacaville home known for its incredible antique collections is nothing but ashes after flames took down an entire neighborhood.
More than a dozen classic cars, dolls and furniture from the early 1900s are all gone. All that's left standing of Ken and Marci Albers' home on Estate Drive is the chimney.
"Ken's the one who woke up and looked out the window and saw the flames," Marci said.
The flames didn't even spare the garages – yes, they had more than one to store those classic cars.
"1956 Chevy Nomad – it was a project I was working on, 1957 Chevy Coop that I drove quite often," Ken said.
Ken can list every detail – big or small – of each one. He and his wife were collectors, cherishing every prized possession.
"I had probably 500 dolls that I collected. Plus the one I had as a kid," Marci said. "That one probably is the worst one to have lost because it was mine."
"Insurance has already said a half a million but I don't think that's going to be enough," Ken said.
In the middle of the ashes lie 500 toy trains, dozens of old cast iron toy cars made in the '30s or '40s, but it's not just the collectibles – it's pieces of their lives they'll never get back.
"You can replace the cars, you can replace the toy trains and that kind of stuff if you wanted to, but it's the personalized items that really hurt," Ken said.
He's still not sure if he'll start a collection again.
"I'm still kind of numb to that. Although I was looking at a Corvette C-7 this morning and I thought, boy I miss the one I had," he said.
"It's kind of taken the wind out of both of our sails for collecting things," Marci said.
Many would love to see them rebuild. In fact, at Christmas time the Vacaville Museum would include the Albers' home in their tour because it had collectibles both women and men wanted to see.