Had a wagon in the shop to have an engine knock diagnosed and a fire broke in the vehicle storage area last night.

I guess I am lucky....5-6 other cars are just burnt gutted shells. A couple of cool hard to find cars are gone forever. The heat must have been very intense. I had some pristine 190 seats in the back of the wagon and they started to melt. Luckily they did not combust or it would have been a gutted shell. Back tire melted, entire driver side from driver front door to back of car has the paint blistered off to bare steel. Molding melted. Taillight melted. The pics show the extent. My fear is the driver rear suspension and brake components might be melted as well.

The henna interior seems ok except for the spare tire cover is toasty. I wonder if the rear side window is compromised although it did not break. I can't open the driver passenger door. I think the door striker melted and is holding the door shut. I'll know more when I can get the car out of the area to where I can further inspect it.

Attached Thumbnails

         

Man I hate to see that for you.

__________________
Jim

More pics

Attached Thumbnails

         

Thanks for the note

More

Attached Thumbnails

   

New paint and suspension and tire time!

__________________

Wow, what is it about wagons these days? That's two bunged up by accidents today.

__________________
Codifex
1981 240D ChinaBlue (One day this car may run again.)
1983 300DTurbo w/sunroof.
1984 300TD manual sunroof.

Wow... that wont just buff out.

Looks like the other cars shielded yours. Amazing.

__________________
1985 300D 198K
1982 300D 202K

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Thomas Jefferson

I'm afraid your car is gone. Imagine the temper removed from steel at thistemperature, not to mention the fluids, etc. All the tires will need replacing due to extreme temp exposure, and the glass may be compromised (especially the seals). Vehicles do not weather fire/extreme temps very well. Sorry...

__________________
RM Smith
1988 560SL

"Where is it again that we are going, and why are we in this handbasket"?

Yeah the z24 rare optioned car next to me is a burned out shell and the 5 series also next and in front is totaled from the rear window back. In back of the z24 was a very nice Monte Carlo that will definitely be mourned for. There was a lesabre next to the z24 and that is also melted down. A few other cars are probably totals as well. I have hope for the wagon.

They were lucky the fire did not spread to the main building about 25-30 feet away. It almost did as some of the soffits were blistered and peeling from the heat. A few more minutes and they outcome would have been way worse. Quite a few 40's - 60's classics in the property. A lucky day in some respects. Most importantly know one was hurt and it was just property damage. Cars can be replaced friends and family cannot.

That's not a nice thing to have happened.

Did it get so hot that the underseal started to melt and drip out of the rear wheel arch?

I guess it is early days - but do you intend to have it repaired?

__________________
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone

Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

looks like someone is gonna be spending a lot of cash

__________________
1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(113k)
1983 300D(280k)
1977 300D(207K)
Other piece of craps

Glad no one was hurt.

Mad Max it! New tires, hit the burned spot with some steel wool, and a can of matte clear coating.

__________________
617.952-220k-Ported head, 2056V, No ALDA/SALSA/vac
1990 Kawasaki Ninja 600 (80hp; 400lb bike). 1981 KZ440 on E85.

I Can Fix It - YouTube

__________________
'81 300D sold
'87 560SL sold
'85 300CD sold
'85 300D Parted
'82 300TD restored Sold

'99 E320 Wagon
'87 300D
'95 Land Rover 5 Speed Om617
'00 Land Rover D2
'85 300TD Euro

For Sale - blue seats from an 85 300D Complete and really nice.

I think you should be able to repair that, seems you got pretty lucky, that must have been a crazy blaze!

Imagine what would have happened if that RV in the backround full of combustibles caught fire!

regarding the tempered steel issue, says on wikipedia that one step embrittlement of steel occurs between 445-554 degrees F.

Two step embrittlement between 690-1040 degrees F.

The real question is how they put the fire out, did they shoot the wagon with cold water? or chemical or what? If it died out, maybe the steel is normalized. You could probably find out the temperature at which rubber burns and see at what temp the steel was, then take the average temp of whatever water source, and find out approximately what kind of temper is now in that body panel.

Personally, even though it would have to be awful hot to destroy the paint, the fact that your interior did not combust, the undercoating didn't catch fire and spread, your fuel tank right there didn't catch fire, and that most of the rear taillight is still there makes me think that it should be fixable, but I wouldn't be surprised if you had to replace a lot of suspension/brake components as well.

Worse case scenario, you could theoretically use a torch and specific water quenching processes to heat up the body panel and re-temper it if you remove everything around it.

Id probably just paint it and be done though, worst damage looks like the outer fender arch, not the entire structure of the car, otherwise it would have burned to the ground.

how was the place insured?

__________________
1974 240D 4-speed
1983 240D 4-speed DD
1989 Chevy Astro