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BUT it's less than 1/2 a car! Square tube frame is really the CMC subframe. Even the dash is burnt away! Could part it out over a couple of years for maybe $1500 but that's about it. Looks like the owner is trying to rebuild with Bondo.
How'd the back bumper survive?
How do they say, GLWTA. That's one for the scrap heap.
But it has a useable front clip! And two decent CMC/early IM doors!
Several times on here in the past ten years we've heard of someone looking for a frunk hood or a fender or door. Here they are!
So as @Wolfgang says, it's half a car, but for the right person, it's the right half of the car!
Would I shell out $4,300 for it? Hell, NO! But for someone needing a front fender, door or hood, a couple Grand might look pretty good verses the alternative of Bupka.
The doors are both cooked, IMHO. The hood's probably OK. The front fenders could be grafted on a crashed car. The front bumper. Some trim parts. I think the Pan's probably OK. Maybe the transaxle is salvageable?
Looks like the engine had Kadrons.
What would it be worth if it were a Porsche product?
@Teammccalla posted:What would it be worth if it were a Porsche product?
$20-$30K. Maybe as high as $60K if a proper feeding frenzy broke out in the last hour.
I'm not involved at all. Just wanted to document for future, searches. The ebay link will be gone by then.
-=theron
Be curious to see similar damage to real one. Steel doesn't ignite and spread. Lead filler would melt at 600 degrees but that is. This was a hot one for sure to get all way to interior and dash. Probably no fire extinguisher at all.
@WOLFGANG posted:Be curious to see similar damage to real one. Steel doesn't ignite and spread. Lead filler would melt at 600 degrees but that is. This was a hot one for sure to get all way to interior and dash. Probably no fire extinguisher at all.
I had an engine fire on a beetle back in 1988. Cooked the paint off the rear deck lid and under the rear window. The glass was fine, but melted the rubber a bit. The headliner was fine, so that tells me it didn't get too hot inside. A guy came running out of a shop right where it happened with a fire extinguisher. The fire was out in less than one minute from when I noticed the smoke in the rearview mirror. I replaced the fuel lines, the ignition wires and spliced in new wires in the rear harness. I was back up and running in a few hours.
I think it cost me $20 to have his fire extinguisher refilled.
Here’s a real speedster that caught fire.
https://www.canberratimes.com....lm-basement-carpark/
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that real Speedster is an "easy" fix , well compared to the fire damage we get in Malibu fires .
But I wonder what caught fire ?
@LeadPedal posted:Here’s a real speedster that caught fire.
https://www.canberratimes.com....lm-basement-carpark/
Something looks fishy with this fire. What is in the can at the front of the car? Engine fire, but the soft top and side curtains did not burn, but the front of the car is toast. Looks like an insurance job.
@LI-Rick posted:So etching looks fishy with this fire. What is in the can at the front of the car? Engine fire, but the soft top and side curtains did not burn, but the front of the car is toast. Looks like an insurance job.
Or a "Why is your car parked at Her apartment?" fire.
Could the "can" be a gas heater?
The front tank area of speedsters are a fire hazard. Loose or leaking gas cap or ruptured tank, paired with a spark from a short or battery related issue and boom. Fires aren’t isolated to the engine compartment on these cars. I cringe when I see uncovered batteries in the front as well as unsecured toolboxes or other conductive things that can fall across the battery terminals. This was probably the case here, and the paper reported the story wrong.
I'm with Rick. Looks a little weird and could easily have been an insurance job.
I must have spent 5 minutes looking at those two photos and I don't see a gas heater. Just the gas tank (big, rectangular thing at the rear of the Frunk) and some carpeting that has flopped over from the heat.
Just as a reference and for those who have heard about Eberspachaer Gas Heaters but have no first-hand experience with them, here is mine:
First, on the bench with dimensions. The heater is the dark tube. The big gray box on top contains the safety and operational relays as well as the flame detect switch and over-temp power/gas cut-off switch. The actual fuel pump is located away from the heater, under the frunk floor:
And next, my heater mounted in the nose of the car. The heater is the dark tube with the gray box full of relays on top. The smallish car battery is right in front of it. There are a ton of safety features built in to this heater to prevent it from running and/or pumping gas when turned off (either the heater or the car). It is probably as safe as the oil burner or gas furnace in your home.
I have seen only two gas heaters mounted in original 356 cars, one in the nose, like mine, and the other at the top of and across the Frunk. All of those I've seen mounted in VW Type 1 sedans were mounted above the gas tank against the front bulkhead (firewall in front engine cars) pulling cold cabin air in from the passenger side and exiting it hot back in on the driver's side.
There is no gas heater in that car.
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@WOLFGANG posted:Be curious to see similar damage to real one. Steel doesn't ignite and spread. Lead filler would melt at 600 degrees but that is. This was a hot one for sure to get all way to interior and dash. Probably no fire extinguisher at all.
This is what an engine bay fire aftermath looks like in a 356. The fiberglass ones are quick to burn to the ground.
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Burnt the carbs right off!
@LI-Rick posted:Something looks fishy with this fire. What is in the can at the front of the car? Engine fire, but the soft top and side curtains did not burn, but the front of the car is toast. Looks like an insurance job.
Filling tank with fresh gas, hook up battery: poof.
I’m so glad it’s not recent. I saw the pic scrolling up from the bottom and had a heart attack when I thought it was one of our own (speedster, parking garage) that just finished his.
@dlearl476 By “one of our own” and “parking garage,” I bet you mean @JoelP. His Speedster is alive and well as of a couple days ago. We have been communicating about dash switches and other goodies as usual.
@Teammccalla posted:@dlearl476 By “one of our own” and “parking garage,” I bet you mean @JoelP. His Speedster is alive and well as of a couple days ago. We have been communicating about dash switches and other goodies as usual.
Yes, indeed.