Salvage of the Tricolor

[Big Daddy]

For those that do not get the Roundel, in the October 2003 issue is a short blurp about the salvage efforts regarding the auto transporter Tricolor. It seems all the cars on board will be destroyed. There is some interesting information on the site:

Slavage of the Tricolor

 

[wileycoyote]

Very interesting. One would think there would be some salvage value in the autos, if only for parts. Maybe it's to expensive, but with that many autos, maybe "pick-n-pull" (pull your own parts) would be an option.

 

[vlad]

Nah, I would think that the salt water would have destroyed just about everything by now.

 

[Big Daddy]

In the blurb in the Roundel it said something about liability should a part make it into a car in the US and fail after being submerged in salt water for eight months. According to the article BMW, with 300 cars aboard the Tricolor, was the most adamant about their cars and parst not reaching the public.

 

[Kirby]

That is a fascinating operation. I can understand why they want all vehicles destroyed. One time I was working on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay and dropped a Craftsman chrome ratchet. It was only about 3 feet of water so I wasn't worried about immediately retreiving the ratchet. It was in the water no more than 10 minutes. When I found it, it was already showing a few spots of corrosion where some seaweed had touched it.

Boat motors have something called a sacrificial anode which corrodes to help prevent corrosion of the motor itself. I can only imagine what 8 months of submersion in shallow, oxygenated, warm salt water would do to cars.

 

[BMWdude]

Why cant they just leave the cars there to rest in peace, like the titanic[joke]

 

[Big Daddy]

According to the article the water is too shallow and leaving the wreckage will create a hazard, plus the enviromental concerns.