F40 crash in Germany, Sunday 21st April 2024

The dealer:

https://www.mechatronik.de/en/

 

Saving money on the transporter?

Being a Sunday I assume he texted his boss the bad news about crashing the 2.9m F40, that text should never be deleted.

 

A similar story happened on a car I once owned, the dealer put the car on a ramp to inspect, and the car fell off.. It was classed as a write off by the insurance company, but is now in another owners hands on the roads. Another F40 that had a similar fate was Kevin Stanfords car.. test drive and ended up in a wall , similar damage as the F40 in Germany.

 

Mission Accomplished, just not the way it was intended to happen.

Sent from the X-31 Space Modulator using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

If you visit the dealer's website - link I posted -, you will be quite sure, that they have plenty of own transporters.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

Well that’s what it states.
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It looks to be a sizable upscale operation based on the pictures I saw of their facility. I would assume they have their own transporter. At the dealer we did. We had flatbed and enclosed and a full time driver.
You know as well as anyone what it takes to clean one of those up after driving on sloppy wet, dirty roads. It gets everywhere.

That text is an indelible moment in time for both I am sure.

 

It even was for me and dad, when I crashed/totalled his two years old daily driver in 1981, 10 days after I got my driving license :l
Similar road conditions, similar accident, although on an icy bridge. We were three inside the car. Luckily noone got hurt.
I still remember the conversation at home.

Best
Martin

 

Upscale is putting it mildly, and they do have their own transporter. This F40 incident is a weird error from them.
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Maybe this is he problem. These heavy trucks are not allowed to drive on Sundays in Germany. Except if there is a special permit. For instance delivery of fresh food, flowers, generally time sensitive goods.
But surely no luxury cars.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

Is this the ex-Stanford F40? www.ferrarichat.com

I know Mechatronik quite well, I was simply making light of a sorry situation, no doubt a conscious decision was made to drive the car, likely as you say because of the restriction on trucks on a Sunday.

 

Without derailing this thread too much... can you elaborate? Is it because of noise pollution, environmental concerns, or simply allowable work hours?

 

I was told it was to have less traffic on the Autobahn and therefore increase the quality of life for residents.

 

Since May 1956, there has been a driving ban for trucks on Sundays and public holidays in Germany. The reasons for this and other driving bans include noise and environmental protection as well as compliance with Sunday rest, but also to relieve congestion on the roads especially during the holiday season.
In addition we have a truck driving ban on Saturdays during July and August (summer holiday driving ban)

Best
Martin

 

Stupid. Just insures more truck traffic and worse congestion the other days. No different than commuter lanes. One lane no traffic, 3 lanes congested.

 

True. The worst time to drive on our Autobahn is Monday morning.
Anyway, the main reason is the compliance with Sunday rest, what's still important here. It was also a clerical thing back then.
But holiday driving ban is a wise thing. We have catastrophic traffic jams on the holiday weekends even with most trucks banned.
You cannot compare our Autobahn infrastructure with your interstate network.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

And why would trucks want to get into holiday traffic jams? They are trying to make money. If the roads are clogged they'll stay home.

 

That would be the perfect world. But unfortunately not the reality over here.
This is the reality. Day after day.

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A reality created by closing the roads on some days. The alternative your government has created is to just shut down commerce.
Cause and effect. Typical government created cluster ****.
If Sunday was available you could take 14% of those trucks off the road.

 

Another alternative, which would make sense would be putting more goods onto the railway. We have potatoes harvested in Hamburg/GER, driven to Milan/I to wash them and driven back to Frankfurt/GER to sell them. All by truck. No joke.

 

Very strange statement by the Mechatronik spokesman in the leading German motor magazine 'auto motor und sport': He states that there hasn’t been severe damage and that they have been lucky that the damage could be repaired with moderate effort ...

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/verkehr/ferrari-f40-crash-3-millionen-euro-sportwagen-geschrottet-v2/

Well, the numerous pictures and videos speak a different language.

 

I think, you misinterpret the interview. Nothing like that the spokesman said.
He said "it LOOKS like the damage might be manageable". But also said, that "they cannot give an estimate about the amount of damage yet". "Mostly body damage, but also damages of chassis/suspension and wheels". "But still it could have been worse".

But what I find interesting, is the statement, that they think, "it was no driver's fault".
What else? Technical failure? This would have a severe effect on the company's reputation.


Best
Martin

 

I stick to my view that his (German) words show a clear misjudgement of the situation and an attempt to play down the incident. Maybe, he is already preparing to offer the car later with "minor damage repair"

 

I am in South Africa I can read it after accepting all the cookies (from Sesame Street?).

 

By the way: In 2013, a 26-year-old employee (with an 18-year-old passenger) from Mechatronik crashed heavily in a Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing which was to be delivered to a customer.