Brian S.

The good news is that it wasn't Dan's car. The bad news is that it was mine. An '89 turbo in very good condition. Velvet Red Metallic exterior, linen interior. My wife and I had just gotten back from a Porsche/VW show & swap meet. We had an hour or so to kill, so we drove out to some remote property her father had recently purchased to check it out. We turned off the main road onto the dirt drive that was covered with dry leaves & debris. After only about 40' into it, we started to smell burning "stuff". I stopped the car & popped the hood, a fire had started under the engine. I backed out the same way I pulled in, hoping that the debris would fall out. Again I popped the hood to check it out, by now it was burning hotter. I attempted to drive down the road, hoping the burning debris would fall out. After about 200' I stopped to check it again. This time the fire was more massive, pretty much wrapping itself around the entire engine. I was worried about a gas line bursting, so all we could do was call 911 & watch her burn......it was terrible.

Because we were so far out, the fire trucks took 12-15minutes to arrive. As you can see, it burnt for quite a while.

There is a small dip at the entrance to the property. I think as I drove over the dip somehow quite a few leaves, and possibly even small branches became caught between the lower part of the engine and the plastic "pan" underneath it. The car was hot, and ignited the leaves.

I have thought several times since then about what I could have done differenty, and other than not drive up there, there's really not much, other than have a fire extinguisher with me. There were no houses close by, no pond I could drive into. I'm glad I drove out of the wooded area....the whole thing would have gone up.

My insurance agent says that this is not totally uncommon, he's had 3-4 others have a similar incident happen to them. Usually it's someone parking a hot car right on top of dry leaves, not driving over them.

He even had a cop who was chasing a guy park his car & run after him on foot. He caught the guy, but when he got back to the car it was in flames.....parked it on some leaves.

I hope this story saves someone else from losing their car or worse, getting hurt from something as stupid as this.

I was in shock when it happened, but the reality is that it's just a car, no one got hurt, and I can always get another one. (maybe)

-Brian Schmidt

GOBOGIE

I'm wanting to kick Dan in the butt for making me think for a few minutes (until I read on further) that this was the 944Fest host car!!!! Sad but glad...

Here's a direct link to Dan's website with a picture to put the face (Brian's) to the story
http://home.earthlink.net/~944fest/people.html

ODUporschegurl

OMG. thats all i can say.

Travis - sflraver

Wow, I haven't gotten around to putting my pan back on the turbo yet... maybe I 'll just leave it off.

faithless

leaves.....

I'll bet that the bottom of the car had some oil residue on it. The leaves were just dry enough to ignite from the heat, and the flame was enough to start the oil burning. I can't believe how burned away everything is. There is nothing left, not even the dashboard and plastics... all burned away. That is insane.
Brian, you've gotta take some damage from the accident, because I'm sure unless you have Hagerty collector car insurance, those bastards won't pay you the full price. But all in all it could have been much worse. If someone had been injured baddly, being out in the middle of nowhere would have really made it bad. It's just a possesion, life isn't about that. I'm sure another one will come in time. Good luck in the mean time sorting it all out.
-Sean

Serge944

Most unfortunate. But after all, its only a material possession. Good luck finding a replacement.

Blue S2

I am soooooo sorry to see that! I think we should post a sticky thread up top about fire extinguishers, their use, and mounting places for our cars. I think we can all benefit from this knowledge.

Im glad no one was hurt. Good luck with everything.

Nabeel

Just damn. Thank goodness nobody was hurt. Velvet Red was a rare color also. Oh well, in the end its only a car, lives are much more important. Hopefully you can be behind the wheel of another P-car soon!

xsboost90

next on my checklist of things to buy-fire extinguisher-check.

tifosiman

If you have the factory batwing (or splitter) that overlaps the belly pan, wouldn't that prevent the leaf scooping effect? I can't see how it could scoop them up if the batwing or splitter is on there.

Did this car have the batwing on it?

Matt H

Wow, that sucks.

I agree with your insurance man, in college, I parked my NA on the shoulder of the road, I smelled the burn and moved the car, put out the small grass fire I had started and said, thank God I carry an FE.

Best of luck finding a new one.
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Tom R.

Dan,
Is Brian the guy you hooked me up with that looked at the blue 89 in Mansfield at UpstairsDownstairs for me?

Brian,
Send me a PM or email with your email address. I will send you the excel spreadsheet I used to value my S2 when it was stolen along with the letter I wrote to Geico.

It is going to be an uphill climb with the insurance company.

People that bought a 88 951S or 89 951 within the last year gather your information on the car. If the insurance company tries to lowball Brian there may be a sticky questionaire posted soon for information to use in valuing the car.

Fishey

My eyes hurt and I am depressed all over one picture. I really cannot blame anyone as its my own fault. I had proper warning but I was really hoping it was a joke

Tony K

Hang in there, Brian.

Geo

Brian, so sorry to hear/see your loss.

And I think you should hold onto that Saratoga top. You'll need it for your next 944.