Yeah, I know I posted this some time ago but its still my favorite "What a
dumbass I was then" story from my past.
I mounted a pair of Spitfire seats to two-by-fours nailed to the wooden
floorboards of the MGA I had in college. One of the nails poked through far
enough to touch the exhaust pipe. One day, driving home for the weekend to
do laundry, the vibration finally allowed the tip of the nail to puncture
the pipe. The nail became red hot and ignited the floorboard right at the
front edge of the driver's seat. I'm flying down the Riverside freeway with
flames shooting up in front of my crotch. I pulled over and went for the
half gallon of leftover wine in the trunk (hey, I said I was in college). I
was just managing to get the flames under control when a Highway Patrol
pulled up behind me, saw I was running out of wine, and got the gallon of
water from his trunk and finished off the flames. After assuring him the
wine had been in the trunk prior to the fire, he accepted my thanks and sent
me on my way. I never fixed the floorboard after that, as the 2" charred
hole made for some nice local cooling in a car that always ran with the
heater on FULL. I just bashed the end of the nail over with a rock so it
wouldn't hit the exhaust pipe anymore.
The arrival of my two daughters later in life assured me that I had either
escaped the flames in time or had a very sneaky mailman.
Regards,
Glen Byrns
'59 Bugeye
'59 Morris Traveller
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