I’ve loaded and unloaded dozens of cars from trailers at this point in my life, and while I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it, there’s always a thought in the back of my mind that one little mistake or equipment failure can have disastrous consequences.
It was reportedly an equipment failure that caused the death of one man yesterday in Washington D.C. as he was helping to unload BMW’s most prized automotive possession: the BMW M1 Procar art car painted by Andy Warhol.
The car was set to be on display as part of Hagerty’s “Cars at the Capital” event happening September 17 to the 23. But before it could be put on display, the unthinkable occurred. From ABC7 in Washington:
Officials said a winch holding the vehicle gave way as the man unloaded what appeared to be the BMW M1 Procar from a flatbed truck, pinning the man down and later killing him at the scene. Life-saving efforts were taken
U.S. Park Police officials were also spotted at the scene, which remained active as of 5 p.m. The vehicle was spotted hours later being loaded up in a vehicle.
Here is that 1979 BMW M1. This was done by Andy Warhol and also raced in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans
It was scheduled to be exhibited here on the National Mall for next week #7newsdc pic.twitter.com/61NQlQ1Cak— Josh Chapin (@JoshChapinNews) September 17, 2025
The use of winches to get vehicles onto trailers is a common practice. Many higher-end trailers come with winches mounted to the front of their respective beds. They’re especially useful for getting cars onto trailers without having to drive them on, whether for mechanical or preservation reasons.
The man has yet to be identified, but going by the Reliable Carriers logo on the side of the single-vehicle, roll-off style flatbed truck shown in photos and videos from the scene, he was likely a driver for the vehicle delivery service. Reliable didn’t immediately respond to my request for comment. A perusal of Reliable’s different offerings shows what looks to be the truck used for the delivery:
Hagerty sent the following statement:
On Wednesday afternoon there was a tragic accident in Washington D.C. during which a truck driver died while unloading a car. Our sincere and heartfelt condolences go out to the individual’s family. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not comment further at this time and have cancelled the events planned for September 18-23.
BMW sent an identical, word-for-word statement, minus the event details:
On Wednesday afternoon there was a tragic accident in Washington D.C. during which a truck driver died while unloading a car. Our sincere and heartfelt condolences go out to the individual’s family. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not comment further at this time.
TRAGIC scene out on the National Mall as it appears there was an accident unloading this Andy Warhol designed BMW for the “Cars at the Capital” display, and a worker was killed.
New information shortly on @7NewsDC pic.twitter.com/oFS9PoyDZF— Scott Thuman (@ScottThuman) September 17, 2025
Hagerty’s Cars at the Capital was the latest stop in a world media tour for the Warhol M1, which has also included an appearance at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. I saw the car myself at Pebble Beach just a month ago, sat alongside Julie Mehretu’s BMW art car, the BMW M Hybrid V8 race car.
BMW has owned the M1 art car since new. It’s widely considered to be the most valuable of the 20 art cars made (BMW officials have suggested to me in the past that it could be worth up to $200 million on the open market). Warhol famously painted the entire thing in 28 minutes, before it went on to race in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car finished second in class and sixth overall. Just last month, it was added to the National Historic Vehicle Register, a federally recognized program that records the history of significant vehicles, according to Hagerty. It’s unclear from the available photos whether the Warhol-painted M1 was damaged in the incident.
Trailering cars is no joke, folks. Be careful out there.
Top image: screen capture of Josh Chapin video, @JoshChapinNews
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My condolences to that worker’s family and coworkers.
That said, and not to take away from the tragedy, I had never seen or heard of Julie Mehretu’s BMW art car, and having now seen it, I like it better.
Unsafe. That person should not have been in a position that allowed him to be pinned or crushed if something failed. That’s like walking under a suspended load or under a moving conveyor or standing on an elevated platform without fall protection. Very sad that he was killed, and so unnecessary. If I do something considered unsafe at a job site, I’m escorted off the site and not welcome to return. Safety is a serious matter, not a judgement call. Violate safety measures and get fired, for your own good.
Or crawling underneath a Metra train:
https://wgntv.com/news/traffic/video-shows-person-crawling-under-metra-train-before-it-leaves-station/
Meanwhile, for anybody actually interested in the CAR, not the “news:”
https://www.bmwartcarcollection.com/04-andy-warhol-bmw-art-car/
It looks like the strap snapped from the car rather than the winch itself breaking. That poor guy.
Condolences to the family, it said when anyone dies, but especially said when someone dies trying to bring bread home.
If I was there, I would probably had died too, not for being hit by the car, but having a heart attack for seeing the winch failing and thinking that I screwed a 200M car.
It’s just a thing. People might scream louder when if it is damaged, but the value is only what people place on it. I’m sure it is insured in some manner.
Sure it is a thing, sure it is insured, and sure value is relative.
Still, not a easy call to boss.
Good point, although you’ll find people yell just as loud whether you get their food order wrong or damage their collectable car.
Sad but true. What a strange time to be alive: so many cool stuff happening in almost every possible field, still the number of idiots seems to be increasing.
We are creating wonders and forgetting kindness and empathy.
So, I have to drop my wife off at the airport in DC this weekend and this perfectly aligns with my schedule to go view. Hagerty’s website this car is currently on display, but the comments from hagerty say the event’s cancelled.
I guess Dulles to the smithsonian is only a half hour drive
If you like aviation, the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy annex with all the big stuff (Space shuttle, SR-71, and much, much more) is a short Uber ride away from Dulles. I think it ran me about $15 two years ago. They even have lockers for stashing luggage you can’t leave at the airport. Admission is free.
Agreed, this is totally worth it, and if you are dropping someone off at Dulles, very easy to get to vs driving into the city.
Dulles to the Smithsonian is possibly a 30 minute drive at 2 am on a Sunday night, but don’t count on it even then.
Dulles to the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly is about 12 minutes; or much, much longer during rush hour.
I thought it was artistic license taking place when the article said the Warhol M1 is BMWs most prized automoblile possession. I still do not know if I would agree, I would think they must have more important historically important cars. I thought 200 million was an exageration – I mean, sure, maybe if it was a Clown Shoe painted by warhol, then 200 mil is reasonable! I stand corrected, I didn’t realize he was in the 100 million club for artists. I saw the sales of his other work so, yeah it is realistic it is 200 mil.
Don’t get me wrong, if i could have any BMW an M1 would be what I want..
This is a great time to remind people that one of the biggest causes of workplace accidents/death is complacency.
The safety measures may be annoying, but the tens of thousands that never made it home probably wished they’d taken the time.
Stay safe out there, fellow Autopians.
Retired fireman here: When the flatbed shows up at an accident, one of our duties is to keep everyone from getting behind the car being loaded onto the flatbed. We did have an incident where the flatbed had a malfunction and the car being loaded came flying off of the flatbed. Keep your head on a swivel and pay attention!
Yup I was working on my firebird last night (exhaust clamp came undone on the way home fun fun) when jacking up the car just left the jack under there with no stands but needed it higher and was at first telling myself ah it will be fine I am just looking it at but then also told myself no dumbass the jack stands are right there just put two under there to be safe.
Yup, I had to leave my Sorento up last night cause it needs a caliper. The jack has never failed me, but a stand under the control arm literally took me 10 seconds.
Been there. Any time I remove a wheel I put it under the car too, just in case.
Yep. Whenever I’m tempted by such shortcuts I think, “How would my dead self explain this lazy decision to my mourning family?”
The answer is to plan for failure and not be the subject of these stories.
And don’t let the Old Timers get away with being ignorant of survivorship bias when they complain that they got along fine before all the safety nannies.
It’s one of the biggest things I fight against. “Institutional knowledge”. The guys that say “I’ve been doing it that way for 20 years and nothing’s happened”.
I actually talk about it when I give WHMIS training. One of the most insane stories is that of Spencer Beach. His workplace accident was a result of Institutional knowledge, doing what the Old Timer told him.
I take safety seriously. I’m currently designing curriculum to keep our diesel techs from getting fried working on EV transit buses.
Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame? (Come on, someone had to say it.)
Too soon?
Yes. Way too soon. But a brilliant comment nonetheless, TK-421!
That’s not funny. Someone died. We wouldn’t make fun of you if you had been killed…
I guarantee there would have been a comment about TK-421 not being at their post.
Groan but also liked.
I don’t know… I laughed and cheered at a lot of stormtroopers when they got killed in Star Wars and I was just a kid then.
“That’s not funny. Someone died. We wouldn’t make fun of you if you had been killed…”
Hey- thanks for copying and pasting what I wrote. I’m glad you know how to use the copy and paste feature.
Apple users call it ‘Consume’ and ‘Regurgitate.’
Please be more inclusive of Tim Apple’s followers.
Unless they died from falling off the top level of the Anaheim Angels stadium and then being run over by a steamroller and a bus before the entire UCLA marching band walked over them.
Statistically…all of that…damn.
My father went the same way.
I thought about this for over a minute and my best guess is Naked Gun?
you…do understand where the “15 minutes of fame” concept came from, right?
What does that have to do with poking fun of a person crushed to death by a car?