This Z11 belongs to a local friend of mine that had put old used green carpet on the ground under his cars. He had an early 60's Pontiac and his pace car parked together and would go out and start them once in a while when they weren't being driven much. One day he went out and tried to start the Pontiac. It flooded and backfired and caught on fire. Some of the gas had dripped on the carpet and you can see what happened before he could get the fire out. It's not a good idea to put cardboard, newspapers, plastic or anything under your car that could burn.
The good part of this story is that both cars were able to be repaired and are in good condition now. The paint and body man said the pace car wasn't damaged too bad. To me, if I had to have the interior and top replaced and a good part of the car painted I would consider that real bad.
What a shame. Your friend must have acted quickly since that fire could have taken out both cars and the garage.
I did have an old industrial grade carpet remnant under my car but after seeing more surface rust on the underside after only one winter, I thru the carpet away. Cardboard will also retain moisture so I don't use that anymore.
Wow. I park mine on an old 12x14 rug in the winter to stop the moisture. I actually just got another one from the in laws as the old one is getting dirty. Its just so warm to lay on under the car. Makes me think.
Nobody got hurt! The cars can be repaired. Thanks for the heads up. My cars headers sit so low I never put anything under the car but a gas fire does not even need carpet to burn.
A carb flood and backfire fire is normally under the hood. The fire appeared to be under the exhaust. How bad would the carb have to flood to push enough fuel through the exhaust to saturate the carpet to cause this fire?
The best outside storage solution to me is to dig down six inches and put a layer of landscape fabric then six inches of quality gravel compacted. Then any moisture can run off. No weeds. And use cardboard to protect your back when working but remove when done. If you need to jack either end embed stacked large concrete paver stones as a platform for jack stands and jack positions.
In the garage I use a piece of closed cell foam then cardboard on top to lay on when working on her in the winter since my garage is unheated.
The painter said that the quarter didn't warp so he was happy about that. I think that is why he didn't think the damage was as bad as it all looked. No one was hurt but I would have been pretty sick about the damage if it was mine. I'm not sure how he got the fire out but I keep a good fire extinguisher nearby now. I learned from this that a fire can start anywhere caused by anything. So be prepared.
To clarify how the fire started, I was told that the old Pontiac flooded fuel out of the carburetor and some was running down the engine when it backfired through the carb. The fire started in the engine compartment and then under the front of the Pontiac and spread because of the burning carpet.
I have seen several cars burn down here from owners parking them on the grass.
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