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I’ve got many of these but this one still sits at #1
Feb 1989 - I’m 31, still single, driving a 86 Nissan 300ZX & working the flight line at FDX at night. I hold 2 FAA certifications, airframe & powerplant (A&P) that allows me to work on aircraft as an aircraft mechanic with the title aircraft maintenance technician (AMT). I was living at the Arbors apartments on Germantown Rd. Under a new name now, they are across the street from WalMart on G’town Pkwy & Trinity. Germantown rd was being 4 lane’d & there wasn’t a lot out there then.
Got a call from a female neighbor saying she lent her car to her brother so he & his family could go on vacation. She has his car, it won’t start & could I take her to work. I could. She was 28 & single from a divorce. Met her at the complex. We both had a slight interest in each other that never materialized. Never anything physical. We hung out when we could. She worked for some attorneys on Poplar near Ridgeway. Don’t know what she did but she always dressed nice. She was a very solid looking lady & most defiantly hittin on all 8
I let her know on the drive to work that I’d get the car going. Driving back I was making my fix plans. Turning in the drive to the apartments, I see a buddy’s jeep at his place. He worked for the fire department & was home that day.
Soon as I it get it fixed, I’m hittin the bed. Car’s parked by her building between 2 cars. I put it in neutral & pushed it straight across from where it was. I did this so I could work under the hood from either fender vs leaning over from the front.
I would have been standing up on a curb if I didn’t move it. Being up high bending over is not good, I’m too tall.
First thing I’m looking at on the car is the carburetor area. That’s the area where a lot of “won’t start” problems exist. I pull the breather top off, carb is filthy & oily. Never a good sign with the oil present like that. Remove the rest of the filter assembly & laid it on passenger side engine bay by the fire wall. Spray some carb cleaner on the carb & started it. It started & shot out a flame. No biggie, its the fumes from the carb spray & will burn itself out. I’m in the driver seat with my feet out the door waiting for the carb “flame out”. I can see what’s goin on looking thru the windshield under the rear of the hood. The flame is not goin out, getting bigger & I exit the car pulling the key. Started attacking the fire with the shirt I had on & it ain’t helping. Oil on the passenger side of the intake manifold caught fire which caught the wiring harness right there on fire, SHEET!! I gotta do something right now. No water near by, no cell phones & no one outside. Grab the breather housing from under the hood & threw it in the grass. Let the hood down & hauled ass to my buddies with the jeep. He answers the door in just a towel fixin to shower. Awesome!! Tell him “I gotta fire down here”, the door closes & a few seconds later he’s dressed & we’re running back to the car. Wasn’t far. We get there & there’s a bunch of lookers. He hollers for someone to call the fire department. When I threw the breather housing it was on fire & I didn’t know it. That caught the grass on fire near the front passenger side. He & I put that out with our feet. Grass fires out but car is “well involved” at the engine area near the firewall & hasn’t made it in to the cloth interior yet. We have a good crowd now. He & I are now doing nothing but watching it burn & waiting on the truck to get there. It came from hiway 64 & chimney rock (for the locals). It was along ass way thru construction on G’town rd. Buddy tells me to watch what happens to the crowd when the fire hits a tire. He said “watch em run”. Front left tire explodes that sounded like a cannon. LMAO at those people running like a pack of wild bears was after em. About 30 was “observing”. Truck arrives, fires put out, Lt on the truck makes sure it wasn’t intentional, I thank fire guys & truck leaves. Buddy left & now it’s time to present the news to her.
Call her & “hey you gotta minute” sure what’s up, “I just burnt your brothers car up”. Got a long silence then a guy gets on the phone telling me she’s crying & she would call me back. Great now I’m dealing with a brunt up car that ain’t mine & a girls emotions. Brunt up car was done, I was more concerned for her. Picked her up from work that afternoon & she was good by then. She still didn’t believe me till she saw it. Then she busted out laughing. I was in the clear then!!
Her bother was a preacher, had a wife & 2 young kids. I paid him $2500 for allowing me to roast his chit. Told him how to contact a salvage yard to have the car removed & that they would pay him something for it. He could keep that too. Car set out 3 weeks & continued to rust while I was known as the apartment arsonist.
Nobody got hurt & that’s priority 1 when something like this happens. Wish it hadn’t happened but I never questioned my abilities. I’ve done this procedure a whole bunch of times before & after & this was never repeated. My motto ain’t nothing money won’t fix. Moving the car back away from the building was a good idea. It probably saved me from buying 2 more cars. I bought a house later that year & she & I talked a few times shortly after that & then it faded.
I think the ole preacher slipped one in on me. That engine was in bad shape & it was going cost a lot to have it fixed. I believe he was praying for a another car & I was the chosen one to help him get it
That’s me in the pics a few days later. Breather grass fire damage in pics 1 & 3. Pics of front & back of my A&P certifications with some of my credentials. Date of Issue on it changes every time I request a new one when I move. That was my car in the yard of the house I bought.
I bought a car I never got to drive
What’d You Do
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