Some of you might remember that I bought a 1988 944 Turbo a few years ago. In short order, it was given to my older son. He loved the car because it was reasonably quick, handled well, and in his words - "it didn't look like an old man's car". He took it to the track a few times but its been his daily driver thru college.
Yesterday morning, he text me saying, "Dad, my car caught fire, call me"!
He drove the car in the morning and all was well. He went out mid-morning, started it up, heard a "pop" from the engine compartment, and saw smoke. He pulled the hood latch and got out and could see flames coming out from under the hood. He pushed the hood back down and called the fire dept. Fire dept arrived in less than 5 mins (the station is just around the corner from where he lives) and they put it out.
No idea what really caused the fire. Car has been running fine for months and he's been driving it almost every day. I am going to take a look at the car tomorrow to see if I can come up with any theories.
The good news is that he's safe and was never in any real danger. That is all a parent really cares about.
As you can see from the photos, it looks like a total loss. My son is kinda bummed out because he really loved that car and because he doesn't really have time to shop for another car since he's getting married in 4 weeks, then going on his honeymoon, then moving - all in time for him to start medical school the first week of August.
He's coming by tomorrow to pick up the spare 325i (so he won't be lacking for something decent to drive) and I'll find out what car he might be thinking of next. Of course, I love car shopping...
