Also on Youtube,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qx5AODq5otw

It was a Japanese import from Vancouver Canada that was for sale last year. The ad said it only had 50,000 KMS but the pics told a different story

 

the wheels look like strosek 3 piece. i need to put an extinguisher in my 79, this is terrible!

 

Very sad. The fire may or may not have been able to be stopped with a small fire extinguisher. Car fires are sometimes very hard to stop and re-ignite, all depends on where the fire is, what was burning and the extinguisher agent. I did not have the sound on and thankfully did not hear the guy filming laughing.

A great video to make one start thinking about a extinguisher for the car. Halon is great but after the gas goes away re-ignition is possible. AFFF (liquid foam) blankets the area sprayed and keeps re-ignition to a minimum but residue clean up can get messy. Other more common hand held extinguishers have chemical agents that are very caustic to materials in a car's engine bay.

Constantine

 

The world neeeds losers too you know. I think maybe putting out the fire may have been the thing to do, and not just taping it.

 

You can see the fire department had a bit of trouble getting the source to go out. I don't think a fire extinguisher would have made any difference. Thinking to remove the battery ground might have helped, as it appeared to be electrical in origin. It reminded me of burning magnesium engine cases on early 70s VW buses - fires start from leaky fuel lines, but once the mag case ignites, the bus is doomed.

 

I had a fire exstinguisher in mine when it caught on fire, and it still wasn't enough. I ended up putting it out with bucket after bucket of water, but at least I saved it from the windscreen back.

I now carry two exstinguishers, one 2.5# and one 5# in the back.

 

That looks painfully familiar, but our story had a much happier ending.

Bingo, but remove both lines because once the insulation is burned off a positive... Also, when that sound deadening material gets going you really need water to get it cooled down.

Regardless, get a pair of battery disconnects and a 2.5lb Halon extinguisher at a minimum. The rear battery location makes for perfect access, unless you carry a bunch of crap around in the hatch. As with any emergency planning, think through how you would deal with this, don't take for granted you will be lucky enough to have somebody around for help.