There's so much tragedy in the world, now this!

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There's so much tragedy in the world, now this!

Postby hmeeder on Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:46 am

There's a blurb in the U-T the reports that a car transporter full of vintage Porsches stalled at a railroad crossing in Ventura yesterday. Policemen tried calling to have the trains stopped, but were too late for a freight train at speed. All the cars were totalled.

A moment of silence in memory please...

So much senseless violence, and it's always the innocent ones that suffer most.
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Postby MikeD on Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:27 am

Someone posted about that on the POC forum. 6 mint 365's were on that transporter. Very, very sad indeed. There are pics on Pelican Parts if you can bare to look....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthre ... genumber=1
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Postby rss996 on Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:51 am

Sounds fishy to me....Did one person or company own them all?

:(
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Postby martinreinhardt on Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:02 am

Somebody should have derailed that train to save these Porsches. Man all these Speedster :cry:
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Shoulda been there....

Postby Michael Dolphin on Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:02 pm

I was at the scene of the collision yesterday. There were four 356's and one mid-80's 911 Cab on the transporter. He got high-sided driving the low trailer over the crest of the train crossing and could not move the transporter.

They all came from the European Collection in Costa Mesa and one was Nick's personal hard-top 356 Speedster (with Rudge wheels and knock-offs even).

It was disheartening. All of the cars were totally destroyed. Three of the cars are totally irreplaceable.
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Postby Tim Comeau on Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:14 am

Micheal,
I'm hopefull that someone will repair/restore the cars. We've both seen 356's that were total rust buckets "recreated" right?
Such is the love for these little cars........... :wink:
Who knows, maybe Jerry Seinfeld will take this tragic project to heart? It's gonna take a lot of love AND a lot of money...
...........................just sad..............................................
Remember when Lufthansa dropped Porsche number 1 off the forklift? Ouch!
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Ouuuucccchhhhhhhh......

Postby Michael Dolphin on Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:56 am

Oh, dear.

I think the Lufhansa incident with car Number 1 was the worst ever. As far as car incidents go, the reminder of that particular one still causes me to shudder just a little bit.

It created a dark cloud over the entire 50th celebration in Monterey.

Anybody notice that the two Rudge wheels ($10k a set if you can find them) on the black 356 Speedster were perfect on one side of the car? On the other side of the car the other two wheels were twisted and bent like an aluminum beer can.
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Postby MVZ944T on Tue Sep 14, 2004 6:11 pm

That was pretty sad. I sure hope the owner had them well insured, not that that will make him feel better. I thought my wife was going to cry. They may be just cars, but they are still important to the owner.
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Postby Mike on Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:07 pm

Here is a link to pics of the wreck and more info, nothing was insured.
http://d240157.u39.zeonhost.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4287
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Postby rss996 on Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:12 pm

Very sad, even more so that there was no insurance! Wow, how could you not have insurance and then use a carrier that has no insurance.

Someone had more than a brain fart on this one.....
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The Internet....

Postby Michael Dolphin on Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:31 pm

One of the most obvious things about the Internet is its ability to perpetuate the worst of bad news and rumor. I often think of email as the "Devil's tool".

The cars from the train wreck WERE insured according to Nick, the owner. His response is that he just considers them as having been sold for him (or purchased by the insurance company in another perspective).

If you're interested in seeing them up close, they are at the shop, European Collection in Costa Mesa
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Postby David J Marguglio on Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:47 pm

Michael: Any word on whether they will attempt to restore some of them? :?
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Restoration

Postby Michael Dolphin on Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:20 pm

The white 356 Cab that somehow remained within the trailer structure may be restorable -- though it surely will be salvage title. The other cars were tossed out by the impact and the total damage was much, much worse including twisted and buckled chassis.

I've had inquiries from Porsche-friends all over the country about the incident. Bad news spreads really, really fast and wide.
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