today, my car turned into "another toy"

[amzamz]

... my God, I am still shaking! This morning I drove to work, parked my BMW and 5 minutes later I got a phone call. "Your car is on fire!". It was burning 20 minutes, firefighters came and it's simply all gone! Is that normal? I am completely shocked. This is the first time I see such a thing... an expensive firework!

[SpykerOwner]

Are you serious????

[amzamz]

... yes of course, as you know, I am always serious ! Well, the car had 11 years and 250,000km on the clock... but it was doing just fine, and I used it as my everyday workhorse...

[Laviolette GT2R]

Glad you're o.k.!

[IVR007]

Glad you're o.k.!

+1. Looks like the fire started at the front... Was it your engine?

[SpykerOwner]

Too bad a straight six goes up in smoke

But the important thing is, you are okay!

[amzamz]

... it looked like it started from under the dashboard / front legroom area... could have been a faulty gas pipe... the front half of the engine looked undisturbed, and in the trunk we saved a dozen maps, a cardboard box and a spare wheel.

The scary bit is: minutes before, I was on the autobahn, doing 200km/h... and half an hour before, the car was near a historic wooden building from 1790, which would have burnt like hell!

I will start using my bicycle again... or just walk...

[OnTheLam]

Amzamz, I hope your insurance will cover this unfortunate event and you are soon back on the road in a shiny new car. I'm glad you weren't driving it at the time!

[F Spider]

holy moly

[SpykerOwner]

.. I hope your insurance will cover this unfortunate event ..

Given the fact the Beemer is 11 years / 250k km old the resale value of this car was not so high (before the fire). So I wouldn't expect too much from the insurance company.

[amzamz]

... got my next car today. Again a BMW 330Ci, 10 years old and 125k on the clock. As nice or nicer than the lost one...

[amzamz]

... what is the reason for such a fire? Look where it is burning? The intensity is due to burning gas (petrol), but it is not in the engine, and very little is under the car, where I would expect a fuel leak... electric circuits should all be having a fuse (shorting nearly impossible), and I didn't smell anything at around 09:05 when I parked the car. ...pictures are in sequence, the first two at 09:13, then 09:16, 09:19, 09:20, 09:23. To me the whole thing looks very suspicious... arson?

[amzamz]

...of course I parked the car open, as I am used to. It was a very nice day, no chances of rain, and the building on the left is my laboratory, the parking is behind a remote control barrier. The forest on the right is public ground... ( no monkeys in Europe!!!)

The car's battery is in the trunk which was left untouched by fire. I had 2 gadgets with probably Li ion batteries in the glove box: a navi system and an mp3 player.



(...as you can imagine, I am now staring at every parking lot, and wondering why all those cars don't go up in flames altogether??!! :lol

... and now the scary bit: I am normally parking my Spyker in exactly that location. Of course: open . Do you think I should park the Spyker at work ever again? I have chosen that spot, because it can be seen from ground floor, 1st and 2nd floors of my institute quite easily.

[fiona]

Are there any security cameras on the building that may have captured the incident? It does all seem very strange, a friends 911 did the same thing but the fire started under the bonnet while he was driving it!!

[fiona]

Can the fire brigade shed any light on where it started? They're normally pretty good at investigating these things.
It could have been a passer by casually disgarding a cigarette end.....or maliciously, I was once driving my old Austin Healey Sprite with the roof off when some complete morons drove alongside and deliberately threw a lit cigarette into my car!