Valuable air-cooled classic was reportedly driven by an 81-year old who survived but was trapped in the wreck
https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/
by Chris Chilton
April 27, 2024 at 15:58
- Porsche 993 Turbo crashed off a bridge in Weiz, Germany.
- One man survived the plunge but was trapped inside the wrecked car.
- A report says the driver was airlifted to hospital.
As the first 911 Turbo to feature all-wheel drive, the blown 993 ought to be more secure on the road than the rear-wheel drive 964 it replaced. But with 402 hp (408 PS) on tap, as these pictures of a Turbo turned turtle in Germany prove, it can still land you in deep water.
Fortunately for the driver in this case, the water he came to rest in was only shallow. But he endured a hellish ride off the side of a bridge to get there, having lost control and crashed through the barriers on the road above the Weizbach River.
Related: New Porsche 911 GT3 RS On Temporary Plates Plunges Into Snoqualmie River
Weiz City Fire Service reported that the silver Porsche 993 smashed through a wooden railing on the top of the bridge, rolled over, and landed back on its wheels in the river. But although the car came to a rest the right way up, the driver, unsurprisingly, was injured, and was trapped inside his 911 when emergency services arrived at the scene.
The rescue was a fairly big operation requiring 26 men, a helicopter to airlift the driver – who one local Redditor claims was 81 years old – to hospital, and a crane to hoist the mangled Turbo back onto the road. Images taken at water level show that that 911’s roof was already distorted by the rollover, but that’s nothing compared with what the lifting straps had done to it by the time the car was back on the asphalt.
Photo Weiz City Fire Service
Most of the panels, except perhaps the hood and maybe the driver’s door appear to have sustained damage, and given the severity of the drop we would’t be surprised if there’s a world of structural trouble hiding beneath the surface. But with good examples of the 993 Turbo currently changing hands for over $200,000 on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s possible that this unwitting stunt vehicle might end up back on the road.
Weirdly, this is only the second 911 we’ve seen meet a sticky end in some water this week. Yesterday we reported about a brand new 911 GT3 RS that ended up fully submerged in the Snoqualmie River in Washington State after crashing off the road.
