From Vettes to Herbie, classic cars drowned by Hurricane Sandy wash up in salvage

Insurance adjusters are still filling out their spreadsheets in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's attack of the East Coast, but already the toll of damaged vehicles has hit 230,000 cars and trucks, with 190,00 of those in New York and New Jersey, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Some of those totaled by flood waters have washed into the insurance salvage yards -- including several bona fide classics like this 1966 Chevrolet Corvette.

While the 230,000-vehicle figure includes everything from chipped paint to burned vehicles, anything submerged in water will likely be declared a total loss -- as it should be. In modern cars, there's no way to fix all the damage from a dunking short of a complete tear-down, and even then the cost of repairing a vehicle's electronics and interior can quickly reach beyond the value of the car. That doesn't stop more unscrupulous dealers from attempting to wash flood damage off a title, but the cars and trucks in Copart and other insurance salvage yards are so far gone there's usually no chance of revival.