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The Definition of Irony
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HamburgerBrad
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 4:25 pm    Post subject: The Definition of Irony Reply with quote

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship...

Here's the story of my former pride and joy, an early 1973 Super Beetle, "The Bradmobile". It's a long story, but worth the read.

The car began it's life on February 16, 1973 and I know nothing of its life between then and September of 2001. It had been in my possession since the beginning of my senior year in high school. The car came from some guy in Canyon Lake, CA (out by Lake Elsinore) looking for more room in his garage after moving to a gated community. At the time this car fell into my hands, I had currently owned two 1974 Supers that had plenty of rust and about three year past due registration. The '73, which we spotted in the Recycler Classifieds was advertised as having an engine and not much more. The car turned out to be complete with the registration only about one month past due, mostly rust free with a clean pan, and the engine barely ran and a rattle-canned black paint job on top of a maroon metal flake paint job on top of the original yellow which was visible in a few places. A few weeks of tearing out the interior and installing a new headliner, switching the hood, a door and i believe the decklid with non-dented units from one of my red '74s, and painting cheesy yellow flames on the black paint job (after seeing the first Discovery Channel special on West Coast Choppers) as well as painting "BRAD" on the drivers side door and "THE BRADMOBILE" on the passenger side front fender. After driving the car for a few months, we sanded it down to its second paintjob, replaced the front apron with a repro one, replaced the rear apron with a repro that had no exhaust cut-outs, and primered the entire car gray. About week later, I realized how plain the gray was by itself and decided to spruce it up with some nice flames reminiscent of the original paint scheme this car sported - this paint job later became what I was known for at my high school. The car remained mainly untouched until I entered college when I swapped the stock piston/cylinder set for an 87mm set for a mostly stock 1641 cc displacement engine.

I had spent most of February of 2003 tinkering with the engine, getting it to run right and whatnot. The carb had come off a few times along with removing the engine itself on numerous occasions. Toward the end of the month, I was getting closer to having a smooth running, fuel efficient, reliable 1641cc engine. I could put more time than money into the car as I was in my second semester of college and unemployed. Commuting eleven miles to school through the hills of Chino Hills and Diamond Bar was an enjoyable drive with peppy car that handled like it was on rails.

The evening of February 20th, 2003 I had left class a bit earlier than usual. By 6:00 PM, the sun was well over the horizon and my car and I were on our fateful drive back home. After a few minutes we were about to climb the first of the small hills on the drive. Half way up the grade, the car seemed to have a very strong misfire, which jostled the entire car and startled me. A few seconds later, there was another misfire equally as strong as the first. I had a very bad feeling so I decided to pull over and check out the engine. In all honesty, I had no idea what I was going to look for; I guess it was just anything out of the ordinary. I shoved in the clutch pedal to coast to a stop and the engine stalled before it traveled five more feet. Shortly after I came to a stop, the car behind me honked (to this day I freak out when anyone honks at me). Instincts told me to look behind me in the direction of the honk where a dull orange light mixed with dark smoke greeted me just behind the rear window. I was quick to then stomp hard on the brakes and come to a stop. I panicked and ran around to the back of the car where I pulled up the decklid to see fire around the distributor and air cleaner. I knocked the air cleaner off the carb onto the pavement with my hand and pulled out my cell phone to dial 9-1-1. Unfortunately I was prompted with five minutes of "We're sorry. All operators are currently busy. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you soon." All I managed to pull out of the car were my keys and my backpack - and that was only to grab an AutoCAD book for use in beating out the flames (which obviously failed). An Asian gentleman had pulled up behind where my car was parked where he was asking if he should call 9-1-1 as well. To tell the truth, I wasn't even aware of when he left.

Ten minutes into the fire, the entire ass end of the car was engulfed in four-foot high flames and it was finally starting to spread into the passenger compartment. To my surprise, an El Monte (?) police officer on his way home from work pulled over to check on the situation. As he got out of the black and white, the admitted to thinking this was some kids having a bon fire on the side of Grand Avenue. For some reason, he was unable to contact the local Fire Dept. on his radio so he also (unsuccessfully) attempted to get a hold of 9-1-1 on his cell phone. After the futile attempt at help, he proceeded to pull his car out into one lane of traffic and flash his lights keeping other vehicles away from the flaming Super Beetle. Another five minutes into the fire (approximately fifteen minutes elapsed time) a local LA County Sherriff Deputy pulled up and immediately contacted the fire department. A quick conversation later, both lanes of southbound traffic were blocked off by the two law enforcement vehicles and traffic on Grand quickly backed up well into Walnut (at least a mile). Another five minutes into the fire (twenty minutes elapsed time) the LA County fire department triumphantly arrived on the scene - just in time for the engine case to get hot enough to burn.

I watched the fire fighters do their civic duty and extinguish the fire which had now spread to the front of the passenger compartment. They later took their report, thanked me for the opportunity to fight a magnesium fire, and commented that the flames were painted on the wrong end of the vehicle: a mistake I will never make again...

To this day I can still think of the fire and see it when I close my eyes.

PLEASE CARRY A FIRE EXTINGUISHER IN YOUR VEHICLE


after primer, before flames

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in its prime, the Original Bradmobile

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the #1 viewed Super Beetle picture on TheSamba.com

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Last edited by HamburgerBrad on Fri Oct 29, 2004 4:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Jessica
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for sharing that story, Brad. It's sad to see VWs burn. Crying or Very sad It sucks that you (or anyone else for that matter) couldn't get a hold of the fire department for so long. I think that would have been one of the most frustrating things...
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jerry.t
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

what the hell, police officers usually carry fire extinguishers.
if at all possible pull into a gas station, as they will be more than happy
to loan you a fire extinguisher.
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HamburgerBrad
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

yeah, it suprised me that niether of the two officers had extinguishers. or at least thats what they said. they probably wanted a free show
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jeremyrockjock
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My oval caught fire in a similar fashion but I was lucky to have stopped in from of a house with a very long garden hose and had it out in 2 minutes. I had the car running that afternoon and immediatly went and bought an extinguster.
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timp
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

on the plus side, your hubcaps still look nice and shiny.
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biggene
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

did you ever find out what caused the fire to begin with or was it just a moot point after the car burned up??
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HamburgerBrad
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

with all the times i had the carb off within the previous month, my guess is that the fitting came out. there wasnt much left of the engine to do a proper analysis. i'll have to look through my pictures i have and check them out. and maybe post some of the better ones here...
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HamburgerBrad
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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lonslo
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry to hear about your car. Crying or Very sad Sad I'm gonna go out and buy a fire 'stinguisher today.
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TimGud
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Buy new german braided fuel line too while your at it!
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later
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ive always thought that an automatic fire suppression system would be easy to hook up in the engine bay. I wonder................has anyone ever done this to a bus?
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bill may
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 1:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

usually caused by a clear plastic fuel filter beween the fuel pump and carb.. or the brass tube on carb coming loose and hose sprays gas as long as pump is pumping...
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HamburgerBrad
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bill may wrote:
usually caused by a clear plastic fuel filter beween the fuel pump and carb.. or the brass tube on carb coming loose and hose sprays gas as long as pump is pumping...


1. i dont believe in those clear plastic fuel filters. there wasnt one on the car
2. brass fitting is the most likely suspect
3. the pump is mechanical. the engine died and therefore quit pumping. but since the fuel tank is higher than the carb when i was on the hill, gravity fed the fire
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Macca_nzl
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My car is currently running one of those plastic fuel filters, should i change this?, oh and it also has rubber hosing is that better or worse than the german braided stuff, they are secured but only with wire. wheres the best place to get the german hosing. and then just use hoseclamps from the depo store?

Oh and i have got a Fire Extinguisher, but i am thinking of upgrading to a larger size.
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HamburgerBrad
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

personally, i wouldnt run one of those plastic fuel filters, but others may disagree and they are entitled to their opinions. my filter is a stainless one i have mounted next to the transmission.

as far as the fuel line goes, as long as you buy the right stuff from any auto parts store, it should be internally braided lines.
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Miguel Arroyo
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry about the damage to your car.

I run a plastic fuel filter in my car. However at every end of a fuel line I use an stainless steel hose clamp and I change my rubber fuel lines every year in my car. Every week when I wash my car I check all fuel line connections for tighteness.

I also carry a fire extinquiser.
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Macca_nzl
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 12:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sweet as man, i'm gonna change the filter this weekend.
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ratlook63
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

plastic filters are fine. The problem is location. Mount it either below the gas tank or next to the tranny, not in the engine bay.
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

your story brings a tear to my eye. i'm borrowing the kitchen extinguisher until I get my own. Smile
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