How to Salvage a Sinking Ship Carrying 4,700 Cars

Wired has a pretty amazing article about the salvaging of the Cougar Ace, a 654 ft car transporter that tipped over in the Pacific while transporting 4,703 factory fresh Mazdas from Japan to America. The ship did not sink right away, it was merely listing heavily to one side due to a problem with its ballast, so Mazda called a salvage team that takes a percentage of whatever they rescue, and if they fail and the ship sinks, they get nothing. One guy died during the operation (the third since the firm has been in business), and the other guys will probably have a movie made about them...they saved the ship, and with the cargo being worth about $100 million and the ship itself worth another $100 million, this team of a few experts pocketed north of $10 million for a few days of (very dangerous, truly amazing) work.
:arrow: High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace

After you read that, check out what Mazda did with the cars. Even though none of them got wet, they worried that the cars might have suffered some adverse affects from being suspended sideways for several days, with engine fluids possibly seeping into places where they don't belong. Rather than risk damaging their brand through selling cars that might have serious problems, they decided to cash in their insurance check and scrap every one of the 4703 on the ship. The Wall Street Journal did a piece about Mazda's "disassembly line."
:arrow: A Crushing Issue: How to Destroy Brand New Cars

That is some really cool stuff, beginning to end.

I just sat and read that last night for about an hour. Great read. I love wired.