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Anyone waiting on the delivery of a new Porsche 997? It’s possible a few of you might end up waiting just a little while longer! Early this morning two heavily loaded freight trains collided just outside of Dillenberg, Germany (about 30 miles north west of Frankfurt.) While the cause of the accident is not yet known, one of the trains was transporting an unknown number of luxury brand vehicles, including at least 20 Porsche 997s.
My German is a bit rusty, so I might be a little off on the details. However, according the reports I read, it would seem that a major catastrophe was only narrowly avoided. Apparently, one of the two trains was ferrying tankers of very flammable liquids that thankfully they did not ignite or explode. Unfortunately, as the picture below attest too, the Porsches didn’t handle the rough ride quite so well.
The reports don’t make clear if these cars were out for local delivery or possibly on their way to a local port for further delivery. What is fairly clear is that the bulk of these cars will need to be scrapped as the liability just isn’t worth it for Porsche. Keep your eye on Craig’s list, maybe you can find a deal on a slightly “bent” 997. 
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[Source: Spiegel Frankfurter Rundschau]
Are those the new disc wheels?
I doubt they were coming to USA, most dealers have plenty on their lots.
@Kevin,
agreed there is lots of stock on the lot. My comment was mostly in jest. However, don’t forget there are some out there still placing orders and having their Porsche built to order. In fact, I just talked to someone today that is waiting on his. It had a build completion date of Nov 3rd, and now he’s concerned.
Like the ‘Cougar Ace’ Mazdas, they will certainly scrap those cars … better safe than sorry.
They have giant blenders for doing that, I guess … Porsche shake, anyone?
Will they really just eat the whole cost? Seems you can recoup at least some of your costs by spit-shining the cars and shipping them off to developing countries where most people would never notice. I live in one of those countries (Dominican Republic) and can tell you we receive all kinds of cars that were totaled in the states. Some of them were even “destroyed”….but somehow ended up here.
Big Bad Huey
Porsche would not risk besmirching their name by taking a junker, turning it around and reselling it to someone as new. I suspect (and hope, for their sake) that they release the VINs of each of the 20 cars to the public so people can verify that they aren’t receiving one of these cars. Better safe than sorry, indeed.
…Anyone would be disheartened at the idea that they bought a wrecker car as new, but can you imagine the more…. “particular” Porsche drivers’ reactions if they dropped six figures on a 911 that really had a carfax report of 0 owners, 1 accident?
@BigBadHuey,
As noted above, there is no way that Porsche would take the chance. Not for a couple of million bucks worth of cars. That’s what insurance is for. In 2006 Mazda had a exponentially larger incident (Paul referred to it above) involving over 4700 cars, THEY SCRAPPED THEM ALL.
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/15/mazda-scrapping-all-cars-aboard-capsized-cougar-ace/
Unless someone from Porsche stands there and watches all of the cars as they are destroyed I still have my doubts.
But, of course, Porsche is a company that can do not wrong in the minds of just about anyone who reads this blog.
Big Bad Huey
I’m sure, at some point, they will publish the VIN numbers and that will remove all doubts.
As for Porsche doing no wrong, have you read this post???
http://993c4s.com/category/cars/porsche-panamera/
Yes, I did. Now read my comment again:
“Porsche is a company that can do not wrong in the minds of just about anyone who reads this blog. ”
You wrote about how ugly the Panamera is and your readers – at least those who bothered to comment – disagreed.
Big Bad Huey
it is really too bad when something like this happens….so many great Porsches!!!
oh no! So sad.
Oh!
Das ist zer schlecht !!!!!
what a shame! looks like an orange sidemarker light on the black car on top. In europe they are clear/ white so maybe this was an US shipment after all…
@Felicitas,
I know that was the way with the air-cooled cars. Does it hold true for the new 997s?
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[...] just no way to get around it, Porsches and trains don’t seem to mix well. Wednesday’s train wreck in Dillenberg Germany brought out a lot of emotion in the online Porsche community. Seeing the finished product of our [...]