Well lve been working on the 38 Pontiac ,lve put in new brakes ,radiator installed a new fuel cell got the fly windows handled along with the garnish moldings. lnstalled a new fuel guage so l dont run out of fuel on the way up to Cactus Jalopies run in Osoyoos BC and did a bunch of other stuff. All in all things where looking up. But then l had a bad awakening today on the way to air-care l retarded the timing alittle and on the way to Air-care the car back fired a block away from the Air-care place and the old girl decided she wasnt going to make it and burnt down in the intersection. All l had for insurance was the basic coverage.... l thought l was going to lose her because the fire was out of control, One guy pulled over and gave me his jacket to beat the flames down but that wasnt working and the jacket got burnt up but l got lucky another guy pulled up and he had a few fire extinguishers that he needed to service. So he pulled them out and used 3 of those smaller ones that he was taking in to get serviced, and saved my day. Thank God for him being there. After a bit the fire trucks came but there wasnt much left for them to do. Heres the after shot of the damage from the fire. A Burnt up air cleaner fried carb,hoses and coil,linkage, wires and lead wires,distributor,guages,ect..... Maybe lm going to stay home now.
ouch. At least ya didn't lose the car or get hurt. The guy with the fire extinguishers, I think you owe him dinner. Now you get to look for new parts and re do it better. -W
Sorry to hear!! Bad*** Pontiac! You were on the Swindlers Poker Run (tm). Hope ya get it goin soon!..............OLDBEET
Dam..that ****s..I had a bad Holly carb start a small fire on my intake when i first started mine up after the new 327 transplant..****ed because i was in the garage with no tires on the car jacked up and ended up scratching the hell out of my p***enger fender with the fire extinguisher..my condolances go to you..but dont let this keep you down
I hope you re-emburse the guy who lost his jacket trying to help you. If not the next time he sees something like this happening he may just drive on by. Glad to here you saved your car.
Could have been a LOT worse! Still stinks though. I had a fire on my engine in the coupe but had a fire extiguisher handy and got it out before it did much real damage. Hang in there!!!
and a new jacket for somebody else, at least nobody got hurt and the car got saved. whew! lesson learned , carry an extinguisher
THis just made me realize that I have forgotten to put a rire extenguisher in the coupe. I know where I'm going today. Hopefully everyone that reads this will take the hint too. Sorry about your Pontiac but thanks for the reminder.
I did that in a jeep once. Burned up my jacket, my girlfriend's sweatshirt, and some other dudes stuff as well. Got it out finally by pouring coke and water and whatever on top of the shirts. After the tow came, the fire department showed up. I was pissed at them for even coming at that point! Good call on the dude with the extinguishers sounds like you had a guardian on your side that day. Long enough with the jacket to keep it from getting too far but enough for the other guy to step in. I think I'll get a couple of those for my trunk. By the way, I dig your car!
Damn bro, sorry to hear about car. Could have been much worse though, and you can at least chalk it up to a lesson hard learned. This thread should serve as a stark reminder: -keep gl*** filters away from hot components or don't use them at all -use quality fuel lines -use air filters that are flame retardant -carry an extinguisher
Sorry to hear the news but like others have said, it could have been alot worse. Learn from your own experience.........Costco has a set of two nice size fire extinguishers for $17.99...one for your car and one for the garage.
oh man. Awful luck. Looks like it'll be new again though. Glad to see it was saved. I wonder how many of us run around without fire extinguishers????
1st I'm glad you, the car and no one else was hurt...damage doesn't look too bad...I was expecting worse when I read it... I carry 3 fire extinguishers in my Tahoe ALL the time... I have a pair of nifty roll bar extinguishers for my Vicki, I've had more then one car fire and drove up on several... Oh yea, couldn't help but notice your signature line... I'd bet that's not the rubber ya mean huh!
wow, sorry to hear about your bad luck man. at least your ok, now quit moping and get that sweet car back on the road!
Thank God the whole car didn't go up. That's a good looking ride. This gives you a chance to do it even better the second time around. I have a QuadraJet you can have if you need it. It's in need of an accelerator pump, but the price is right.
Could you have cranked it over after the backfire, and ****ed the flame in or was it way out of control at that point? Glad you didn't loose the whole car.
l cranked it over when it first happened but it didnt work. Plus l offered the guy money for the jacket and he said," dont worry about it," which was really nice the same goes for the guy with the fire extinguishers he said they are expired and was taking them in to get serviced and didnt want my money. l wish he would have taken something... l want to drive something up to the Osoyoos run this weekend, l'll put over a thousand miles on. l dont have any thing that would make it up there or it would take way to long to get there with like 30 mph up the hills maybe and about 55 on the straight aways. You diffenitly wouldnt want to be traveling with me. Or l could tow something up there but its not the same... l'll have it fixed today,isnt that what its all about . Got all the wiring redone and soldered up yesterday with the new carb hooked up and a coil installed. Today l got to get some new radiator hose and a new carb linkage and some new guages from the store. Then install them with a fresh set of valve covers and air cleaner. So Wednesday l'll try the Air-car thing again to get insurance.
Don't forget about adding a second return spring there bud. AND picking up an extinguisher before you go anywhere else in it....right??
Hard to be a cynic after that experience, ain't it? You owe a couple of payments to the Good Karma Bank.
Bad deal. Good to hear you didnt have a total loss. Last year my husband was driving on a service road next to i-70 by jonesburg mo, and pulled off the road to help a man who's truck was on fire. My husband always has jugs of water in his truck, ... anyhow, they saved the guys truck from the fire but our was totaled in the process. Another driver was comming down the road watching them put the fire out on the truck, not watching the road crossed the lane and rearended our parked truck . It was an older man and he was life flighted to a local hospital and as far as we know made a full recovery, I had to drive the 3 hrs down south to pick him and our dog up , they waited at the tow yard for me. First thing he said was he doesnt mind helping anyone, but it could have been avoided if the owner of the burning truck had an extinguisher .
"Fire.......BAD!"- Frankenstein SNL........ Time to change your sig....... Good to hear it's fixable.....
Given the choice betweeen carrying a spare tire or an extinguisher, I'll take the extinguisher. It's probably the best 'sccessory' one can carry. Good to hear that some people stopped to help and that you'll be back on track soon.
Note to self: Order power-valve saver kit for carb...Carry 3 small fire extinguishers...I gotta remember that... I'm glad nobody got hurt, and thank God that guy with the fire extinguishers was around, what are the odds of that happening? It ****s that you wind up having to redo everything, but at least you still have a car to redo everything on...it could have gone much worse...best of luck to ya, and I hope it doesn't happen again...
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