Late last Friday night into early Saturday morning, the facilities of PM Motorsports at the corner of 34th and Stockton streets in Sacramento, California suffered significant fire damage. The fire, thankfully, did not injure or kill any humans, though it did take the lives of some significant collector Porsches that were housed inside when the blaze started. Several million dollars worth of vintage Porsche cars were absolutely destroyed in the July 18th fire, causing untold mental anguish to Porsche enthusiasts the world over.
According to a news report, the blaze raged and the local fire departments fought against it for about four hours. Being an automotive shop, the place was reported to have been filled with tires and chemicals, which exacerbated the long burning issue. At one point, the fire was escalated to a “three alarm blaze”, and the surrounding neighborhoods were feared to be in danger. Luckily they were able to contain the fire, and no damage was sustained outside of the walls of the shop.
Undoubtedly the most significant car lost in the blaze is this 1973 911 Carrera RSR, chassis number 911.360.1008, owned by the shop proprietor, Mr. John Skoien. RSR #1008 was originally brought into the country as one of two cars purchased by Volkswagen of America, presumably for promotional purposes. This car was later sold to a San Diego based Porsche dealer, Alan Johnson. Skoien was the first private owner of the car, and he has had it in his collection for a number of years. In 2001, the car was featured on the cover of Panorama Magazine, and touted as being the most pristine and original RSR, probably in the world.
The RSR, as you can see in the photo above, was mortally wounded in the fire, and its famed originality is now forever lost. Undoubtedly, the car will be restored to a facsimile of its former glory, but it will never have matching numbers, original paint, or any of its original accoutrements. There are other original RSRs in the world that come close, surely, but the significance of this one has now been diminished.
Since the fire was extinguished, a handful of local Porsche enthusiasts have stopped by to document the damage to share with the greater Porsche community. As you can see from these photos, the RSR is not the only significant Porsche loss in the melee. A few handfuls of 356s, including at least two Speedsters, a number of early long-hood 911s, and a couple of 914s were also in the shop at the time of the fire.
Is Your Porsche Adequately Insured?
While many enthusiasts have expressed anguish at the community’s loss, it is inspiring others to take a look at their own private collections. This great loss of sheet-metal has brought up a very good point; as Porsche collector prices continue to increase, it’s a good idea to revisit your existing insurance policies on a yearly basis. I have personally met a number of enthusiasts who were the original owners of their vintage P-cars, and if their insurance policy on a 356 Speedster hasn’t been updated in 5-10 years, and something catastrophic were to happen, they would likely be paying for much of the restoration/replacement costs out of pocket, which only adds insult to injury.
If we can take just a couple of things away from this great loss, the first has to be ‘Cars can be replaced, and humans can’t. It is good fortune that nobody was injured or killed in such a hellacious fire. The second must be ‘pay close attention to your insurance coverage and policies. Make sure you won’t be left holding the bill if something like this were to happen to your pride and joy.’
It has not been disclosed how many of the cars were from the shop-owner’s private collection, and how many of them belonged to customers either having their cars stored or serviced at PM Motorsports. No count has officially been made as to how many cars were involved, or how extensive the damage was. For the time being, we can simply wish the best for all parties involved. Dealing with insurance companies can certainly be a pain.
The cause of the fire has not been released, or is not known.
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[Sources: Early911Sregistry.org, and Sacramento CBS 13]
View Comments (25)
I would suggest adding one more to the lessons learned: if you are keeping millions of dollars worth of inventory, a fire suppression system might be a good idea.
:(
I know this area very well as I too have a work shop with cars in it on 34th. Many of the still standing buildings in this neighborhood are very old wooden trussed structures from another era of industry. Fire suppression systems would have to be an update opted for by the building owner. Which can be expensive to retrofit and a hassle with CA code inspectors. A possible contributing factor to the fire may be in the high level of transient population. Much of the street has open lots, secluded alleys and vacant dwellings. So sorry John!
I have to say Ca has so much BS regulations lead by evil (D) that I am wondering why there is still a profitable business ( in cars still there ) . The great custom cars business started there and now is being 'Burned out of Business " by eco terrorist and Demoncrats !
What has a fire to do with "Demoncrats" and "Eco Terrorists" ? Typos or simple dump ?
Is everybody on the level of Ronald McDonald ?
Wouldn't the shop's insurance have to take care of the customer's cars? Technically, it was the shop's fault so why should customers pay?
Have you ever had to deal with an Insurance company?
The shop if it is properly insured should have Garage Keepers legal liability. That is long term established law that only makes the shop liable if they are at fault, examples might be turing of a sprinkler system or leaving the car outside and running. The primary responsibility for all vehicles goes to the owner. as a forty year Insurance broker I echo the suggestion to carry coverage with a collector car Insurance company ie: Hagerty, Leland , or Chubb special risk. Also be sure the terms of the policy are adhered to. For example Hagerty requires garaging when the car isn't in use. if you leave it in the street at night instead of putting back in the garage , it could complicate or invalidate coverage.
Not all of Hagerty's policies require garage storage at night. It is dependent on the type of coverage you purchase. Our beach house does not have a garage and we pay a slightly higher premium with Hagerty in order to be able to have coverage when we are visiting that home with one of our cars insured with them.
The likelihood of the shop carrying adequate insurance to cover the losses sustained by these owners is remote.
The lesson to shop owners is to be certain that their customers who leave expensive cars for service have adequate insurance and that they look to their insurance and not the shop owner for protection.
The biggest problem for the underinsured owner is that the car could be declared a total loss, in which case the carrier would pay the face amount of the policy and then keep the car. Say you had a car worth $1 million on today's market, but it was only insured for $500,000. In a fire, the carrier might pay the loss, but then keep the car. On today's crazy market, that million dollar car might be worth a few hundred thousand as a restoration project. Salvage value could be very high, if only for the VIN.
Verry well spoken !
Hey guys, all assumptions aside, there was insurance, There was a fire sprinkler system, The cars themselves were insured. Lastly the majority of the cars belonged to John. Remember, you pay to have peace of mind with insurance, you are not paying for them to cover the loss of your possessions. Any beliefs other than this will end in disappointment as this case and may many others prove. As a collector and mechanic, all I can do is document, insure and prevent. There are forces other than spark, electronic failure and the host of automotive hazards that can not be avoided. Fire is incredibly destructive. There is little you can do to stop it (in an auto shop) when it starts.
A terrible tragedy indeed, a treasure of cars lost. I feel for the owners of those cars as while they may be replaceable, many memories and attachments to cars cannot. Months later the building is still there, many cars as well. If there was insurance I certainly wonder who the agent was as it would look like nothing has happened to clean up the loss. I also wonder who serviced the fire suppression system as it appears to have failed as well. Very sad.
My heart just skipped a beat. So very sad.
Who cares they are old Porches anyways,long as they were not the late models,no loss at all really.
You must be clueless about everthing other than your current thought "what can the Gov give me for free" . These cars are very special and this is no different than loosing a priceless painting done by a master .
Skinnypup--that's like saying a Rembrandt is just an old picture. You probably didn't get "The Monuments Men."
Listen pal everyone is entitled to their own opinion,if you don't like mine then don't read my comment.If I was moderating this place,I would perma ban you from posting on here....you just earned yourself a fail.
I am moderating "this place" and you, Skinnypup, are entitled to your opinions as even trolls have rights here on the interwebs. With that said, you've expressed your opinion, as warped as it may be, so let's leave it at that.
Please, no one else feed the trolls.
Why are you here Skinnypunk, ,you are the kind of person that is trying to destroy the future of America . You have no clue about an air cooled 911 and/or the thrill of driving a Turbo version .
He's just a troll from another forum looking for a fight. No need to feed him with more comments.
Just today I ran across the original article regarding the loss of so many historical Porsches in the 2014 Sacramento fire. Pepper Girl is absolutely correct in allowing an uninformed guest his opinion, as difficult as it is for us to read. The tragic loss of this extremely rare Porsche, only 49 of them were ever made, is close to that of loosing the Mona Lisa to theft or fire. Having won the 24 hours of Daytona in 1973 over every other car, including sports prototypes by Ferrari, Matra and Mirage/Ford , the 1973 Porsche 911 RSR was the greatest Porsche 911 ever made. The loss of one of them is tragic. Some will never understand this, so any conversation with them is futile.
Who cares about Porsche? GTR for the win.
Porsche has taught your favorite make all it knows and yet it still can't snatch the pebble from it's hand.