It will be ready later disasters

[meggersdog]

many years ago a fella i knew was gas welding a marina when he set fire to the interior.

after dowsing he flames he rushed off to the scappy and returned with another interior,well carpets and seats.he then phoned the customer and told them the car would be ready the next day.after removing the burnt interior he continued welding then fitted the scrapyard find interior ready for the customer to collect.everything went smoothly and the customer collected the car none the wiser, until.......

a couple of weeks later the customer rolls up. "mick,can you settle an argument for me ?" "my wife insists the interior used to be blue but i've told her, no it's brown always has been" "can you remember what colour it was when you had it in for that welding?"

[New POD]

whats the worst to befall your pile of metal , one small patch later     or not as the case may be .......

 

0811_aug11_00.jpg

 

Is that Charlotte's old one, at Caterall Motors in Formby.

The only garage I know that only takes cash and cheques.

 

We had a yellow mini 850 that a firm in Solihull set fire to the drivers seat whilst doing the sills. 

They got hold of the nicest navy velour seats from a clubman, and seemed relived when I said they'd be fine. In retrospect I should have asked for matching door cars, because it always pissed me off that they were still black.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Yes been there, done that. Made the front page of the Express and Star...

 

XJ40 wedding car that had three days to get a re-test before its next booking.

 

Answered phone and after a few minutes heard a crackling noise...

 

Lowered ramp and tried to open it. Metal door handles were red hot, but it was OK because the windscreen melted so sprayed the extinguisher through there.

 

Interior totally ruined. Was thinking if repairing it but eventually the owner claimed on their insurance. After a few months it got removed. Our storage bill got paid though which was I nice bonus ☺

[cort16]

When i lived in the borders we had a guy who worked on our cars. He charged £5 an hour and worked in a big garage out the back of house. He was a nice chap and all our shite cars kept him busy.

My Dad was a Fireman and on his first week on shift he went to this guys garage as he set it on Fire. Queue 30 year later and my Dad's about to retire and on his last week on shift he gets called out to the same garage and he's flippin burn't it down again. He also let a taxi slip off his lift and the back of the car went up through the roof of his garage.

[Timewaster]

I've heard stories from a stereo and security workshop.

The Sierra with the soldering iron burn on the seat which was kept until they could find a second had seat to match, several washer bottles which got a self tapping screw through the side but the best was the brand new Shogun that got a self tapper through the ecu.

I think they were a bit more careful where they drilled after that one!

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

The twatting Spitfire - that is still in the garage......... I'd taken it in lieu of monies owed, but years later it needed a lot of work so into the corner. It had previously been 'restored' by a well known 'specialist' apparently. A sheaf of receipts backed this up, as well as multi coloured panels under the recently installed brand new interior.

Sills were toast - so grinder came out and slicing commenced to see the extent of the mess behind.

 

'Specialist' had stuffed the sills with oiled paper....... I only noticed when the passenger side of the car went up big style. Luckily the fire extinguisher stash I had in the corner yielded a suitable saviour. I went out and purchased a couple of new ones immediately after, I got lucky. Spit sat in the corner in disgrace for a while after that.......

 

I burned down my parents garage when 15 - spare Cortina engine and I set up (with pops) a temp rig to hear it running before we went ahead with the swap...... muggins here then knocked the fuel can over and it all went up. No fire stuff to hand, pushed dads Mk3 outside and watched it all go up in smoke........ he never forgave me for that one.

[New POD]

 

 

 

 

I burned down my parents garage when 15 - spare Cortina engine and I set up (with pops) a temp rig to hear it running before we went ahead with the swap...... muggins here then knocked the fuel can over and it all went up. No fire stuff to hand, pushed dads Mk3 outside and watched it all go up in smoke........ he never forgave me for that one.

 

He forgave you.  Just chose not to let you know. It's what Dads do.  Your Mothers probably never forgiven him for allowing you so much freedom to put your own life in mortal danger, and he's probably never forgiven himself for not training you properly, But be assured he knew that you were not totally to blame. I mean what idiot lets a 15 year old set up a temporary fuel tank and play about with petrol cans without supervision ?  

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Many years ago my neighbour decided to weld his Montego whilst lying on an old sleeping bag ...

 

The first I knew was when the controller radioed me just as I was going onto the M1 with a Granada load of passengers going to Heathrow; " Don't want to worry you love, but your wife has called to say your house is on fire" !

A 2.0i Pinto engined Mark3 Granny can still do 120 with 5 people and a boot full of cases, apparentlly. By the time I got to the end of my street, which was blocked by Police cars and Fire engines, the fire was out .

Mrs N and the kids were in another neighbour's house and the Fire Brigade had done their job and saved the house, although it was pretty scorched and all the windows and frames were destroyed, lot of smoke and water in their too.

The main casualties were Mrs N's Montego VdP Efi estate, another Montego saloon that was for sale, a 1500 GT 105e and an A35. All gutted when the fire spread from the idiots Montego to the connected car ports .

 

The damage to the house was all taken care of by insurance, our loss adjuster was brilliant , sorted everything , the house was stripped top to bottom and everything replaced, also we spent 4 months in a posh country house hotel .

The cars were all on my Traders policy, which in those days was Road Risks only, hence nothing.

Neighbour got rid of any evidence of welding before the Fire people came back next day to investigate and denied everything. I spent a night in a cell and 2 months on bail before the Police not proceeding with assault and threats to kill charges. Apparently the mental ex-South African Policeman and failed welder didn't want to look like a wuss- result.

We sold a up and moved almost as soon as the paint dried.

3 Montegos ( including Nimrod's)

1 A35

1 Anglia ( although at the time the Classic Capri front struts were the biggest loss)

All gone because of one little spark.

[bunglebus]

I've been lucky enough to never set fire to anything for more than a few seconds while welding, but my friend make a similar Waxoil mistake to the one about the Cavalier up there ^

He'd done a load of repairs to his '78 Cadillac and waxoiled inside the rear quarters. Last job was a small patch at the bottom of the rear windscreen surround. Apparently fresh waxoil goes up like billyo and is not the easiest thing to put out!

My dad always insisted on fire extinguishers in his cars, and I've had one in everything starting with my old VW van, they're notorious for fires anyway and with the usual oil leaks dripping onto the exhaust and getting blown through the heater into the cab, it seemed like a good idea.

I tried to put out a BMW on the side of the A12 a few months ago, it was only the undertray burning but the normal car sized fire extinguisher only lasted a few seconds and didn't quite put it out properly - within two minutes it was engulfed. Never did find out the guy's name (or get my extinguisher paid for!) as he ended up behind the car while I was in front. Fire brigade put it out after stopping the traffic so I did at least get the A12 completely to myself for a few miles...nice that no other fucker stopped, and just drove through the thickening smoke rather than trying to help.

I now have a much bigger extinguisher in my boot, which comes out to accompany me when I'm welding anything.

[sierraman]

Waxoyling the inside of the sills is one of the worst things you can do on a 10-15 year old car. Difficult without a compressor to get the coverage and any subsequent grinding runs a fire risk.