Here is the story of her salvage
Here is the story of her salvage
oh, you mean the failboat?
I can't click on that link. Crazy, but I can look at all those crazy poisonous Australian critters, planes and cars blowing up, snakes crawling on people... and all I think is "cool". But anything with boats sinking, or finding E36 M3 under water, and I actually feel faint. Those Titanic videos a few years ago gave me the shudders.
"For more than a year, the 4,703 Cougar Ace Mazdas sit in a huge parking lot in Portland, Oregon. Then, in February 2008, the cars are loaded one by one onto an 8-foot-wide conveyor belt. It lifts them 40 feet and drops them inside a Texas Shredder, a 50-foot-tall, hulking blue-and-yellow machine that sits on a 2.5-acre concrete pad. Inside the machine, 26 hammers — weighing 1,000 pounds each — smash each car into fist-sized pieces in two seconds. The chunks are then spit out the back side. Though most of the cars appeared to be unharmed, they had spent two weeks at a 60-degree angle. Mazda can't be sure that something isn't wrong with them. Will the air bags function properly? Will the engines work flawlessly throughout the warranty period? Rather than risk lawsuits down the line, Mazda has decided to scrap the entire shipment."
What a shame. But, I really can't blame them. 
Sounds like a lot of race cars to me. I remember it- I'm a Coast Guardsman, was stationed in HI at the time, but had lots of friends working that case.
I just came back to say thanks for posting this article. For me, it was good Sunday morning reading.
For others, there is a short video version in the link if you do not want the long version.
Others, might just like the pictures:
I have been next to these types of ships. Specifically, a Nissan ship in the Port of LA/Long Beach. Their sizes are amazing and dimensions quite odd, what with tall straight sides.
Also interesting the hear more about maritime salvage and the all or nothing pay scale.
Big risk, big pay.
To me, this could be a good movie with more character development because I am sure these guys are quite characters.
This is one of the careers that if I could go back 12 years and join the merchant marine at 18, I would have loved doing this.
if I could go back to 20.. I would have gotten into building wooden boats for a living. If only I had known then what I know now
mad_machine wrote: if I could go back to 20.. I would have gotten into building wooden boats for a living. If only I had known then what I know now
I knew some guys who did that. Didn't really make a living, or were so disenchanted by the product line nature of it they ended up doing home building instead. Maybe you know other examples.
I did not want to seem to negative but I too got a little chuckle out of the combination of "building wooden boats" and "for a living."
I have a friend well skilled at wooden boats but he ended working for Whaler in the R&D dept to "make a living."
There is an industry, it is just small.
Van Dam makes some awesome stuff out of Boyne City, MI
I was lucky enough last year to have been in the presence of this exact boat.
If wood gives you wood...watch this 45 minute video of Van Dam building this:
The video is actually a 1hr Discovery Channel show hosted by Steve Thomas, the newer "This Old House" guy.
Also a good Sunday morning read for me. At times I was wondering if I was reading about an actual salvage operation or something from a Clive Cussler novel. Makes me think a little differently about my desk job.
Oh, those critters. 
Lesley wrote: I can't click on that link. Crazy, but I can look at all those crazy poisonous Australian critters....
Fascinating read - thank you for posting that.
Teh E36 M3 wrote: Sounds like a lot of race cars to me. I remember it- I'm a Coast Guardsman, was stationed in HI at the time, but had lots of friends working that case.
I thought that some of the cars did get turned into competition vehicles. I could be wrong.
mad_machine wrote: if I could go back to 20.. I would have gotten into building wooden boats for a living. If only I had known then what I know now
I should have learned to play the guitar.
I shoulda learned to play them drums
carzan wrote: "For more than a year, the 4,703 Cougar Ace Mazdas sit in a huge parking lot in Portland, Oregon. Then, in February 2008, the cars are loaded one by one onto an 8-foot-wide conveyor belt. It lifts them 40 feet and drops them inside a Texas Shredder, a 50-foot-tall, hulking blue-and-yellow machine that sits on a 2.5-acre concrete pad. Inside the machine, 26 hammers — weighing 1,000 pounds each — smash each car into fist-sized pieces in two seconds. The chunks are then spit out the back side. Though most of the cars appeared to be unharmed, they had spent two weeks at a 60-degree angle. Mazda can't be sure that something isn't wrong with them. Will the air bags function properly? Will the engines work flawlessly throughout the warranty period? Rather than risk lawsuits down the line, Mazda has decided to scrap the entire shipment." What a shame. But, I really can't blame them.
Following up on the aftermath of the autos, I found this which has about 4 pages of photos.
I still remember the MV Tricolor. It went down full of Volvos IIRC. They used a version of a limb saw to cut the ship into pieces and take it away. You wouldn't believe such a thing was possible!
They cut right through the engines. How cool is this shot?
Knurled wrote: I should have learned to play the guitar.
AM I the only one with Dire Straits going through my head now?
keethrax wrote:Knurled wrote: I should have learned to play the guitar.AM I the only one with Dire Straits going through my head now?
Probably not.
In reply to keethrax:
No, all this talk of boats has got "Down to the waterline" stuck in my head.
Link to the article seems to be dead. Anyone have a working one?
You would have thought the entire cargo could have been scraped, drivestrains removed, and the rest of the cars used for replacements parts. Probably was cheaper just to shred them, though.
I know it’s not cool to thread jack but it looks like we’re happily all over the place here so hopefully, no one minds.
Anyway, I’m finishing up a twelve day business trip to Penang, Malaysia and my regular driver (super nice old Chinese guy that I’ve come to really enjoy talking to) was out on holiday so I had an alternate driver that used a different route to get me back to my hotel.
We round a corner in an old and E36 M3’y part of town (well, truthfully, old and E36 M3’y is pretty much the standard) and I was totally blown away by what I saw…a parking lot full of Mazda, quad-cab, smallish trucks…Think Nissan Frontier size and proportions but with 100% Mazda DNA.
Why, why, why doesn’t Mazda bring these to the US??? Ford is out of the light truck business and Mazda is decoupled from them anyway. Chevy is about to bring this class of vehicle to the US and they’re on the ground here already. I actually took a picture of one yesterday…they look in person much like they do in pictures so I doubt many folk's opinions will change either way.
To me, the Mazda looks better than the Chevy…refined without being flashy / logical without being utilitarian.
Bottom line, I totally want one. Seriously, I’m packing full wood over the thought.
Updated link?
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