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| Joined: | 07-01-2005 |
| Location: | San Diego, USA |
| Posts: | 184 |
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I took the cover off my baby, put the vino for the dinner party I was headed to on the passenger seat, and started her up.
3 blocks away the car stalled as I was pulling up to a stop sign. 'That's odd' I thought. I rolled back a little bit as I was on a slight incline and parked on the side of the road.
About that time I notice SMOKE coming out of the engine bay around the hood!!! Shite! I grab the extinguisher I keep handily attached to my roll bar and run to open the hood. Of course the catch has been a little sticky and with the heat I can't get it open. As I'm dialing 911 (ever dial 911? they actually ask you to 'press 1 if this is an emergency'!!! then the woman wanted to talk to me!!! maybe she was lonely and bored? Anyway, I gave the details - quickly I might add - ask her if she understood and hung up saying 'I don't have time to talk to you - MY CAR IS ON FIRE!!!!') I started throwing important things like the vino (numero UNO!), my ipod, etc out of the car onto the grass of my neighbor's lawn.
As might imagine, black smoke and flames coming from a car attract some attention. So, a neigbor runs out with an extra hose to put on his spigot in the front yard. Now I'm back in fire fighting instead of emptying the car mode. Two other neighbors show up. I was spraying water under the hood edge and crawling around to spray from the bottom, wheel wells, etc, trying to contain it as much as possible. With help (one guy pulling on the release, me spraying the hood to keep in cool, and one guy pulling on the hood, we got it open. I shouldn't forget to mention the slightly portly gentleman who carried the fire extinguisher around and around the car several times frantically trying to find a place to squirt it. We kept telling him 'don't use that!!' in case we get the hood open and need it.
With the hood open and the hose we quickly put the fire out - just as the fire truck pulled up.
I have no idea what happened. I drove the car about a week or so ago, parked it and put the cover on. I hadn't opened the hood since then. From the way the paint bubbled and spread I would guess it started at the carbs - Dell 40's. It had smelled a little rich under hard acceleration lately but the car wasn't even warmed up and I hadn't run it past an idle.
I recently put on the upgraded cam pulleys and belt. The car was running the best it's ever run. Over the last couple of years I've slowly gotten this girl dialed in. She was running like a top and with all new suspension components I was screaming around the corners with the Dells singing their pretty song.... Let's just say the neighbors all know me.
I'll post pictures soon but it's got to be a total loss. If it hadn't been for the hose the entire car would have gone up. It was a minute or two away from that in my opinion.
Let's see what Hagerty has to say.
Crazy day.