Vintage Porsche Train Wreck???

[69911T]

Does anyone know anything about the wreck???

[GreenT]

The Ventura County paper said the transport van was too low and got the trailer portion stuck on one of the many train crossings around there. There were trains going by at the show every twenty or thirty minutes right behind the Rgruppe parking. The police called to stop any trains coming through but a freight train was already coming into that intersection in less than a minute. The driver was injured slightly when he bailed and ran. Paper estimated the damage at $250,000, that seems low to me.

I'm sure items like the Rudge wheels and drivetrain parts can be salvaged, but not much else. I know of others damaged in the hurricanes in Florida - not a good month for bathtubs............

[SandyI]

Check out Pelican Parts for a huge thread on this...

[911s911rs]

link to PP BBS:

PP BBS

[RSupdate]

Well amid all the speculation and mis information that seems to be circulating around this tragic occurance, I would like to share that the P-car shop my wife works at (22yrs) is very close to the shop (readwner) of all the victims. Y'day her boss spoke with the owner and got the facts, a few of which I will share here:

dollar value of loss: $370,000.00 usd

Owner insurance coverage: none

Transport company insurance coverage: none

Driver was taking an unapproved shortcut to access the southbound enterance point of the 101 fwy.

I don't want to get into the details of why there was no insurance coverage....it's complicated and I don't completely understand it.

I know one thing tho'....that auto transport co. is pretty much guaranteed to be out of biz permanently.....in addition to everything else they are liable for thr repair of the train too.....

There is a personal story behind each one of the destroyed cars...a couple of them make this an even worse tragady.

[Zeke]

I would never doubt what you say, but I have to wonder why a business that buys, sells, restores and parts out Porsches and apparently has a dealer's license, doesn't have a general policy covering inventory, even if it's being displayed off the premises. I guess we ought to all check our insurance coverage.

I am well and truely sorry for any loss, especially the privately owned cars aboard that transport. Even if the courts took every asset the transporter has, including personal residences and vehicles, there would not be enough money to give 10 cents on the dollar considering the bill to correct the train off the tracks, etc.

Someone is very likely to get real hurt, possibly murdered over this. You wait and see.

[69911T]

Thank you John and Sandy for the links and you to Riz for "part of the story".

I don't know if killing over lost sheet metal loves is appropriate punishment; personally I like staking people naked with their eyelids cut off to a red ant hill but I do agree with Zeke that something is fishy about the lack of insurance (not that anyone would ever collect a dime except the lawyers) so stay tuned folks for "the rest of the story".

[RSupdate]

No problem Ed....I wanted to at least provide the basic's of the magnitude of damage / loss incurred. Understand there is alot more to the picture than I have shared. Reason being is that I just don't think it would be appropriate for me to start saying things that aren't for me to say, even tho I have knowledge of it.

I will say this...one of the cars destroyed was a very recent gift from a husband to his wife.....

[69911T]

I'll pay for the complete storie!!! Only for the RGruppe Newsletter, period.
E.

[Zeke]

Thank you John and Sandy for the links and you to Riz for "part of the story".

I don't know if killing over lost sheet metal loves is appropriate punishment; personally I like staking people naked with their eyelids cut off to a red ant hill but I do agree with Zeke that something is fishy about the lack of insurance (not that anyone would ever collect a dime except the lawyers) so stay tuned folks for "the rest of the story".

I was not recommending tha anyone be killed. However, Mickey Thompson was murdered for a similar amount of money. At the time, it was worth more, but that's not the point.

These days, so many people are killed it's not even news. So you don't know what the motive is. I live in Long Beach and we average 50 homicides a year in a population of roughly 470,000. I'd say about 95% of it is random or gang related. Maybe I see things differently from the "Getto by the Sea," as Long Beach has been aptly named.

I wouldn't even come close to thinking that the profile of a Porsche owner would commit murder over bent metal. Sorry if it sounded that way. However, this thing goes deeper than the cars. I'm not trying to write a new episode of "Law and Order," yet I'm thinking, damn, there're a lot of people affected by this. As I said, we will just have to wait and see.