Ya just never know.........

........................what the next email will bring.
Some of the longer term hands here might remember the light grey '36 Ford 3w coupe I had some years back. Well, as with all of them eventually, she went down the road just over 2 1/2 years ago to a good fellow down in Phoenix. After he got the car I hadn't heard much from him. I kept an eye out for pictures in various photo collections of rod events in that area, but never saw anything. Now, keeping track of former cars owned isn't high on my activity list, but it's fun to see one now and again. As a side note, I even found some pics of the '30 roadster I sent to Japan last year as it won a trophy at a big show in Yokohama near last Christmas. But I digress....

So, yesterday I get an email from Dave, the buyer of the '36 coupe, asking what size the tires were as they had no markings on them. I had gotten those from Diamond Back and apparently they grind off that info when the bond the white wall. Fortunately I had that info on file, wrote him back, and asked how he had been enjoying the car and what if any changes he'd made. This morning I got his reply. He'd been driving the car quite a bit, was at Hot August Nights a couple weeks ago even. However, while he was there the battery died. He said he'd never had a problem with it holding a charge before, but for the mean time they just got it up on a trailer and brought it home. He put a charger on it and all was well..............until.......... He said he was working out in the driveway when he heard a loud bang noise. He went around the end of the garage to see the coupe and an adjoining '36 pickup in flames! Holy crap! Something inside the battery must have failed and shorted causing it to blow and of course ignite. Fortunately for him it hadn't happened while he was driving the car. Insurance will help going forward and he plans to mostly replicate what he had.....which is why he wanted the tire sizes. Hated to see it, but it is what it is....

Well-at least it probably didn't melt the welds on the suspension or grill or the bondo hair around the door jambs-----------I know, go get a second cup of coffee

Oh my goodness - how sad. Glad no one was hurt and that the damage was quickly contained. Thankfully someone was home adn FD responded quickly. Insurance should help remake beauties.

As much as we dislike paying for insurance, this is an example of why insurance is absolutely necessary. Hope he had one of the agreed value policies for these two cars.

as for the fire damage-lucky it wasn't in an attached garage, hooked to a house with an attic,etc---------just a simple open car port? easy for fire department to get to and he was outside in the yard and heard the bang--------

That's a terrible story, especially when you had a stake in making one of the cars special in it's earlier life. Hoping his insurance claim process goes smoothly, and without any pain. Glad he was home, and that he was working nearby outside! Hope we get to see some "After" pictures in a few months....;)

Someone said no one was hurt....I beg to differ:eek:...I was hurt just looking at the pics!! Ouch!!! That's awful! We can take all precautions but can't always guarantee the outcome. Hope things work out for the rebuild.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DennyW

What type of battery was used ?

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He said it was the same one when I sold it to him, if I remember correctly a typical 12v lead/acid. I had the car for about 4 years, he 2 1/2, and it was in the car when I got it so it was at least 7 years old, probably more.

As for remediation, I forgot to ask him if the insurance was going to declare it a total loss or go for repair (if they've made that determination yet). I did make some suggestions for pieces he might want to keep that were either unique to that car or of such higher quality than norm (e.g. grille) and replace with lesser quality ones if they were going to tow it away. Or he could buy the salvage.............again, if it's a total loss. I expect he'll reply to my morning email and fill in some more blanks.

Well that just does it Bob! Now I'm removing the battery outside somewhere way the hell away from anything flammable when I charge it!:eek::HMMM::( By the way what brand of battery was it? Also as stated above wonder what kind of charger and what amount of amps he was running to the battery? Really sad to see two such nice vehicles get burned. Must be hard to see even after you let them go, there is still an emotional investment from the time you start working on any project that always stays with you, unless you learn to hate that project!
Please keep us updated if he gets it fixed!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

as for the fire damage-lucky it wasn't in an attached garage, hooked to a house with an attic,etc---------just a simple open car port? easy for fire department to get to and he was outside in the yard and heard the bang--------

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Luck helps at times. He said he normally has it in the attached garage, but had the coupe in the carport because he was getting the regular stall ready for a 4 post lift install.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stovens

Well that just does it Bob! Now I'm removing the battery outside somewhere way the hell away from anything flammable when I charge it!:eek::HMMM::( By the way what brand of battery was it? Also as stated above wonder what kind of charger and what amount of amps he was running to the battery? Really sad to see two such nice vehicles get burned. Must be hard to see even after you let them go, there is still an emotional investment from the time you start working on any project that always stays with you, unless you learn to hate that project!
Please keep us updated if he gets it fixed!

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I chose not to try to go into much more detail than he offered..........seemed like picking at a scab.

As for emotional attachment I'm of mixed feelings there. I've gone through so many cars over the past 50+ years that I really don't have much of an umbilical cord to any of them. However, some post sale contact/discovery is always entertaining if nothing else........or tragic as in this case. As examples, it was nice to see the above mentioned '30 roadster doing well in Japan and the new owner getting and giving so much attention to it. A couple years ago I saw a picture of one of my old '55 Chevs on a forum, dropped the guy a note, and enjoyed hearing of the improvements he's made while sending him some old pics of what it looked like before I worked it over. He seemed to enjoy that. And then there was one of the very few cars I ever regretted selling. My '64 Plymouth Savoy S/S clone. About a year after I let it go I asked a mutual friend if the guy who'd bought it might be ready to sell it back to me. His reply; "You don't want it now." My reply: "Why?". His response: "He got liquored up one night and totaled it!" Sigh..........................

I'm glad no one was hurt...but it is a bummer to see a past special ride destroyed. I went through that years ago with the last MG I restored/customized. After 5+ years spent redoing the car, and with no intent of ever selling it, someone made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Within a few months the guy's girlfriend wrapped it around a tree. I was glad she was OK, but it made me sick when I saw a pic of what was left of the car.

Ex cars are like ex girlfriends.....there is a reason you don't have them anymore so move on to the next one. I agree with Uncle Bob, I've never got emotionally attached to a car, gun, shoes, or whatever. I am emotionally attached to my body parts however.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by robot

Ex cars are like ex girlfriends.....there is a reason you don't have them anymore so move on to the next one. I agree with Uncle Bob, I've never got emotionally attached to a car, gun, shoes, or whatever. I am emotionally attached to my body parts however.

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Not being emotionally involved with things is a lesson that frequently takes years of life's lessons to learn...in my case, another 20 years or so. Nowdays, the only things I'm attached to are by medical necessity.

I had a '57 Hillman Minx...the second car I ever owned.
I did a lot to that car and was terribly proud of it.
Sold it before we got married...we've been married 48 years now...and I still feel a pang about what the next owner did to that car.

He married a concrete wall side on, front left hitting first, the left side a split second later.

And that was fifty years ago. Left to a natural life-span the car would be well and truly dead by now...but to die like that...it still hurts...

How sad for the start of the day to see such tragic photos Uncle Bob. I think I will be following Steve now when I need to bring a battery up to full charge, it will be removed from vehicle and place out doors away from anything inflammable. I would think most " Petrolheads " would be able to tell a story of a lost loved one which got destroyed to soon after leaving ones home. I know I do which still brings a tear to my eye.

Man, that is a bad day for sure! But like already mentioned, it could have been a lot worse. It sure makes a person re-think not having insurance on a ride that is being stored. (That's me, I don't have replacement value insurance on my Vette or my 72 K30.) This is a good reminder for me as why I need to get off my duff and get it put on it.

About a month after I sold my pride-and-joy '68 GTO, which I had upgraded and painted over a 15 year period, the young man I sold it to was hit from behind at high speed by a drunk driver. The hit was so hard that the car was crushed from the rear clear up to the front seat, the front seat was pushed into the dash, and the rear bumper ended up in the driver's seat. Neither driver survived.

Brings back memories of the afternoon I got rear ended, Jack! Nothing like glancing up toward the rear view mirror only to see it go to full body color with the trunk lid folding up against the back window, as your neck begins to scream in pain from the whiplash.... Ahhhh, the memories of our youth.

Yeah, that getting plowed into from behind can be a "fun" ride.
About 25ish years ago some guy made my company car into the meat in a sandwich of the back of a stopped 18 wheeler and his full size Bronco. One of the officers on the scene estimated he'd been doing around 60 when he slammed on the brakes............about 4 feet from my rear bumper.....

he had already hit you before those marks started-----

Yep getting rear ended is no fun. About the third time our Toyota 4x4 truck got rear ended I was on Hwy 101 going to work at the Hospital. The traffic suddenly came to a stop due to some road construction. I was in the fast lane but easily came to a stop well behind the car in front of me, the car behind me did too. It was the young driver in her mom's car, late for the airport playing on her phone who looked up just as she hit the car behind me, throwing it into the truck. The weird thing was I got distinctly hit twice, as her momentum was such that after her fir contact with the car behind me(throwing it forward) she still didn't stop so she hit it a second time throwing it into me a second time. Well 20 minutes later I'm at work taking report on my patients when the neck pain starts! Yep I was lucky mine was minor, just a few days sore , can't imagine what the person in the car behind me was feeling like!

The irony of the truck is, 2 weeks after my wife bought it new, it was rear ended at a traffic light denting the bumper. I don't recall why my wife didn't have it fixed, but it remained that way for years, until one day a thief steals the dented bumper. So insurance replaces it with #2 new bumper. So sometime while parked in front of the house somebody smacks the truck enough to dent the new bumper within months of it being replaced. Then a few years later, on the way to work it was rear ended again, this time getting yet another new bumper #3. Several weeks after the new bumper, she runs out of gas on the hwy, and a CHP officer pushes her off the HWY to the shoulder, denting this new bumper. After all these incidents, I get rear ended on the way to work (as mentioned at the beginning of this long post) and thus new bumper #4 at this point. So far it's still straight, but I guess that truck just doesn't want a straight rear bumper!
She gets to keep it in the divorce maybe the saga will continue! :)

Battery blew up in a local diesel shop a couple months ago. Same thing charging and bang. Fireball. Had like 5 departments on the scene

The first ambulance call I ever went on was a battery blowing up in the owners face. He was covered with battery acid on his face and hands. Ever since then I charge on the lowest setting, unless I'm cranking it over, then use the boost setting just while doing that, never on a fast high amp rate. Hopefully will never have to face one of these situations