Hey Joey,

What a terrifying experience, glad you had the peace of mind to be able to get yourself out of the car.

When you get your next one, I'd just leave the doors unlocked when your driving. I used to drive my kids around in the back seats back when they would fit back there and the thought of them having to try to scramble to the front to hit the master lock button or fumble with unlock ***** just didnt' make sense if I was K/O in the driver seat for whatever reason.

I'd rather take my chances that I'm not going to see some carjacker approaching my car at a stop light than put myself or passengers in danger of being trapped in the car.

Did your car have the cats on it or did you have an X pipe?

 

One question though. You said it started in the car under the rear A/C why does your shaky picture show the fire damage in the motor area?

 

Obviously I've lived in the country for too long as I was questioning why the car was locked in the first place.

Adams carjacking comments cured the curiosity.

 

As someone who broke a window or two, it takes a sharp object. Unless you strike with the handle, it won't break, and then your chancing getting a ghost face. Isn't there a thread about that right now?
The "miami auto theft tool" is a little bitty piece of spark plug insulator - throw it at the window and it shatters without setting off the alarm.
Invest in the $5 auto punch - and hope you never need it.

 

Wow, sorry to hear that. It really sucks you lost your shark. However, count your blessings, you came out without major damage. That is a huge relief. Sometimes tough **** happens. You experience it, come out better and go on. Do you know what happened?

 

Man that just sucks. Guess I'll be buying the little hammer thing for all cars now. Hope all works out for you.

 

Sorry to hear of your shark Joey, but at least you kept your wits & made it out alive. I'd like to think that I would be as clear headed. That had to be very scary. Fire escalates dramatically & in an enclosed area, you can succumb quickly. Makes me concerned knowing my wife drives her S4 daily, no matter how good of condition it is in. I'll have a conversation with her tonight. Hope you are back in a shark again soon.

My understanding is that a 928 windshield will crack more easily from the inside with not too much pressure. I've been told that by my mechanic & also by the head of service at Brumos. They should know 'cause they cracked the windshield on my previous '85 for the PO when they were installing dash & pod covers for him.

 

I wish mine would burn down 2, so i can stop the bleeding of fix after fix,think of it as a way out,glad you werent burned alive, wow what a safe car these are for us and are famillies.

 

fixed it for you.

 

Sorry for the lengthy post - but it does come with the job
I would like to get a view of the car.....

"it started from the bottom middle"
This would be the flash over, as it is known - the point where the heat is great enough that the materials have reached the point of ignition and "flash" and your fire began inside the vehicle from convection and radiant heat with a source elsewhere. If it started on the cats, this would explain also why you had so much flame and heat inside the vehicle so fast - and the fire would have been traveling to the engine compartment as the plastic, and flammable liquids, would be the "fire fuel source" needed to continue the combustion process.
Had the fire started in the engine compartment it would normally start the forward floor carpeting, dash, or any forward plastic on fire from the same heat transfer methods. It sounds as if the fire didn't start in the engine compartment - it just traveled to it.

As the fire marshal has no idea about the cars construction, and he didn't think it was a fuel fire because it didn't start quickly in the engine compartment, the primary source of heat, to him, would have been electrical wiring that is normally present in American cars. Had this been a electrical fire in a 928, which has the majority of the wires in the passenger floor, you would most likely have smelled it and had a longer period to evacuate.
As the locking wires are also connected to the rear hatch with wires that run along the outside of the floor, as sufficient enough heat was building to flash over inside the car, your wires insulation was compromised and the fuse was blown before your inside portion of the fire even occurred.
Now - knowing these cars, and the description of 6,000 RPM and the car moving 20 mph, I would venture that a transmission cooling line started leaking, the transmission started slipping as the fluid dumped on top of hot cats and your car was burning for a few seconds before you realized it.

Like everyone has stated Joey, we are very glad you made it out alive - it was your quick thinking, and the proper use of the iPod that saved your ***.
I must ask, was it "rap music" before you struck the window?

 

I'm sure no one has a gun to your head forcing you to keep it

 

Ha ha no I was listening to the Outfield - Your Love I admit it I was going to a girls house actually I guess things got hot early

 

George-

Plan carefully if you're going to burn a car to the ground to get out from under it, there's been an epidemic of burning SUV's that just happen to belong to owners who are underwater (Hoocoodanode?) and the insurance folks' ears are perked up a little more than usual these days.......

 

Does anyone know of a silver 85-86 for sale preferably a 86.5??

 

Does that mean you don't care for a 85 or 86.5 if it isn't silver?