I stopped by my mom's house on the way from work and found this sitting outside.  I helped the guy as best I could, called 911 and all.  Not much else to do but watch.

that'll buff right out.
should have bought a ford

Looks like my friends 78  Econoline when it burned down.

He said he was sitting there and some guy in a Miata who looked gay kept yelling your on fire, he just looked straight ahead  until he saw smoke coming through the dash

Quoted: that'll buff right out. should have bought a ford dodge

Fixed


ETA: see below

my ford mustang caught on fire about a year ago and destroyed the car, I was kind of glad because I got a new car

Relax, alright? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

Quoted: Quoted: that'll buff right out. should have bought a ford dodge Fixed ETA: see below

+1

I had an alternator fire in a chebby of mine.  I regretted putting it out for the next 150,000mi, as it already had 150,000 on it.

Nobody had a fire extinquisher?  Not sure how much help it would do though.

it must have had some re-cycled ford steel in it

Quoted: Nobody had a fire extinquisher?  Not sure how much help it would do though.

Apparently no one keeps a fire extinquisher in this neighborhood.  I'm not too sure I wanted to get close to that thing with flames shooting out the hood and under the fenders and all.

Quoted: Nobody had a fire extinquisher?  Not sure how much help it would do though.

Having some experience with this sort of thing, at the point shown in the pictures, the largest extinguisher would have done very little.  Without Nomex,  you would have some burns to show for an attempt to put it out.  I tried to put out a car fire once with a large extinguisher.  I couldn't put it out.  The FD rolled up within seconds and put massive gallonage on it to put it out.  Ironically, my 78 Chevy caught fire earlier this year.  If you get it really quick, you can stop it.  Mine was saved with very minor damage.  Three fire extinguishers in the cab of the truck.  

Quoted: Three fire extinguishers in the cab of the truck.

Yep. The vehicle I save may be my own!

"dude, my dad is a TV repairman and he has lots of tools"

Quoted: some guy in a Miata who looked gay kept yelling your on fire

bwahahahahahaha.......oh shit, I cant take it anymore. You guys are a riot.

Burn baby burn. Unless the vehicle fire is a threat to humans, forget it let it burn. If you sucessfully put out that raging fire, the car will always have that burnt plastic smell, and there is nothing you can do to get rid of it. Some insurance companies will try to fix & repair such a vehicle, and you will be stuck with a vehicle that smells like burning plastics.

dad always used to tell a story of a guy he knew who bought a brand new corvette (in the 70s, sometime) and was driving it home when it broke down...the guy walked home and by the time he got back, he found that the vehicle had caught fire and practically nothing remained of the fiberglass bodied car...talk about a bad day.

eta: great pics btw

ive personally watched a ford aerostar van, an old lincoln land boat, a chevy corsica and a peterbilt all burn to the ground..................

the peterbilt got so fucking hot it melted the front bumper off of it, i.e. there was NO bumper left by the time the fire dept. got there and there is still a huge black spot on the asphalt where it ended up

That happened to my uncle. Bout a new Chevy van about three years ago. The battery cooked, and started a fire. The whole damn thing burned to the ground. G.M. tried to blame him for it. But, he finally got a new one for free about 6 months later.

Quoted: should have bought a ford

+1

These fires expand very fast and most people are not equipped , mentally or equipment-wise to handle it.  Unless it is in a building or row of other vehicles, leave it for the FD.  They'll have it out in less than a minute.

I'm often reminded of a car fire I was called to.  This sweet young thing's 5 year old immaculate Mustang II was tuned up by her boyfriend as a favor.  He left a shop rag on the exhaust manifold.

I've had TWO car-b-ques

1993 Chevy s10 Blazer
Audi GT Quattro

I've seen many vehicle fires and they don't discriminate by manufacturer.  You wouldn't think there's much on a vehicle to burn with all the steel and metal (older cars) but they will burn to the frame rails if you let it.

Quoted: that'll buff right out. should have bought a ford

If you say so:


It only had 42,000 miles on it and yes, I know it's really a Mazda.

Quoted: eta: great pics btw

Thanks, these pics came from a camera phone.  I didn't have time my digital or SLR on me and thought the guys on ARFCOM would like it.

My uncle had a VW van that burnt. Luckily, it had stalled, and he had walked home to get some tools, and was on his way back when it burst into flames, then exploded shortly afterwards. Nothing left.

My '87 Silverado caught fire under the hood while driving down the highway. Saw smoke coming out from underneath the hood, pulled over and popped it, there was a small fire on the exhaust manifold. Had a bottle of coke in my hand...so I dumped it! Put it right out...had an extinguisher, didn't even think to grab it. It had an oil leak, looked like oil had gathered on the manifold and caught fire. Only thing I could figure....

Tagged. Anecdote inbound.

Was that an 85 Chebby? If so it's the 3rd or 4th one I've either seen first hand or heard about catching on fire and burning the vehicle to a hulk. Something about the wiring in the dash.

OK, I'll try to keep it brief.

In 1984, I had a '67 LeMans. Cool car: 2-door post, '73 400, TH400, go-fast. I'm tooling around one afternoon after having replaced a distributor the night before - HEI! OK, so I'm heading up the road, and she starts running a little rough. Then a lot rough. Then backfiring like, well, me on chili. Finally, she conks out and I ease her to the side of the road. Then I hotis something rather peculiar. As smoke begins to creep from the sides of the hood, the center of the hood is rapidly going all chameleon on me.

Well, I'm smart enough to not open the hood. I'm also lucky enough to be less than a block from a fire station. So I trot (not run, because, well, I've got insurance) to the fire house. The doors are open because it's a lovely fall day. Except, there's nobody around downstairs. After a few seconds, I start, "Hello? Hell-oooooooo?" and a firefighter comes around.

FF: "Hi. Can I help you?"
DB: "Yeah. My car's on fire."
FF: "Ha."
DB: "No, really. My car's on fire. Right now."
FF: "Yeah? Well, where is it?"
DB: "Right out there."
FF: "At the grocery store up the street?"
DB: "No, in the street. Right out front, almost."

So he gives me a sideways glance, and walks to the open overhead door.

DB: (Points to smoking blue Pontiac) "See?"

At this point, he nearly flattens me running back into the guts of the station.

FF: "Ron? Ron! We got a call, man!"

Within about 10 seconds, 5 more FFs come from nowhere, board the pumper and split - lights, sirens, the whole she-bang. So fast, in fact, that I'm still standing there. So I flat-foot my skinny ass back to the car, getting there just as one FF raises the hood. At the same instant, another FF hits it with like a 1.5" hose, and the fire is out. It takes them longer to roll the hose back up than to do anything else.

I got a new intake, carb, HEI, wires, battery and some other stuff, plus repainted hood and fenders. The paint guy color-sanded the whole car, and she was gorgeous! I took a trunkload of BBQ to the FFs.