About 2pm EST today something in the engine bay caused a fire in the Bug and now it's future is up in the air. I'm sorry Beetle. I had spent a couple hours this morning washing and cleaning up both the Bug and the GTI. Afterwards I parked them behind my building for a couple hours. Around 2pm I came home from running some errands and decided to move them back around to their normal parking spaces. Started with the Bug. It didn't want to start and then I realized that the gas pedal was all the way down on the floor. Then I saw smoke coming into the car, got out, and saw more pouring out from around the engine. Reached inside quickly, grabbed my fire extinguisher and fired it but that was about effective as a can of soda being thrown on the Broad Street Fire of months ago. (A major fire that spread over multiple city blocks that we had in Richmond back in March.) So I quickly moved the GTI which by then was and still is covered in the powdery shit from the fire extinguisher. Pulled it out of the way across the street and then headed back to the car. Tried using the hose from the car washing station nearby but the hose wouldn't reach. So I called 911. Took me 3 or 4 tries before the goddamn phone would put the call through. (Fuck Verizon.) By this time, my mom who had just come home and seen the fire as she came in, also couldn't get her phone to reach 911 called inside the house to my brother (This call incidentally went right through.) and told him to call 911. Evidentally reached them and after what seemed like forever the Fire Department showed up and put the fire out (I'm not ashamed to it admit it - I sat on the curb and cried while they put it out.) and soaked up fuel that was leaking everywhere. I ended up having it towed up VW Motor Rebuilders in Ashland so they can assess the damage. From my preliminary check it looks like the engine is completely gone (obviously), the rear window blew out from the heat, paint is peeled back back, decklid is gone, headliner is gone, and some smoke and water damage to the rest of the interior. Assuming the metal on the rear apron isn't warped, it looks like it can be repaired eventually. Unfortunately I didn't have insurance to cover something like this (only liability) and even if it had, its doubtful the insurance company would have given me much at all for it. Its probably not worth it to fix it but this car has never been about the money. Sentimental value is a strong thing and I'll be damned if I'm going to give this car up without a fight. I just graduated from college though and money tight right now so it might be a while before I can do much about it. Pictures of the damage can be found here:
-Jeff