Corvette Fire 63 Coupe

Several years ago my son was working in a gas station in East Northport NY...in came a mint 1993 Split window coupe owned by a close friend of the mechanic.and the only one ever allowed to work on this Vette.

The mechanic made an fatal mistake..he left the ignition switch on and disconnected the fuel line to the carb..Gas came pouring out as he tried to reconnect the line..My son Jeff ran to shut off the switch but some fuel hit the red hot drop lamp and set the car and the mechanic on fire..Jeff saved the mechanic but the Vette was totaled..melted into a pile of nothing..only thing left unburned was the left rear hubcap and even that was discolored.

Building and mechanic did survive..IF ANY ONE HERE OWNED THAT VETTE LET US KNOW.....Larkfield Rd East Northport, New York but about 20 years ago. ( boy does time fly )

Reply to
Lone Wolf
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never owned that vette but here is a link to some great history on vettes.

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g'day

Reply to
'Key

Your highly skilled and brave, gas station attendant, son must have received some kind of citation for bravery, maybe that will help you trace it down, go look at his award. Maybe just an old news paper account of his bravery that he kept?

Minimal fuel will come out when you disconnect the fuel line on a mechanical fuel pump unless someone turned the engine over and then he could have turned it off, your son wouldn't have had to. Wait, was it your son that turned it over while someone was under the hood? In most cases the burn will be no worse that this -

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of course that's if there is anyone smart enough to put the fire out.

Odd that ol 327 just disappeared, along with the frame, seat springs and the bird cage? The fiber glass back then expanded and did not melt. Normally the rear bumpers survive quite nicely even with a full tank of fuel. You're putting us on, right?

Reply to
Dad

Perhaps an electric fuel pump had been installed in place of the mechanical pump. If so, with the ignition switch on and the pump running that would fit a little better in this tragic story.

Reply to
tww

There are some that would bastardize a "mint" 1993 split window, (1963 actually) but not normally the case. The next question is why would anyone allow a car to burn up in a garage environment and not have fire extinguishers around? Not the place I would take my "mint" Corvette to have it worked on.

Reply to
Dad

I was a senior in college in 63-64 and had the opportunity at a beer blast to drive a 63 split window. As I recall it was a 327/340 hp and absolutely blew me away with how powerful it was. At the time I had one of those 110 hp 4 speed Corvairs. It set a new performance standard at that time -- at least I thought so.

Reply to
tww

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