On.....Burning Cars!

1967 VW VAN INTERIOR

In 1975 when was only 16 years old and had just gotten my license to drive, my dad bought me a beautiful, white, 1967 Volkswagen Van. It had a camper style interior with a foldout bed, small sink, small refrigerator, etc. 
It was one sweet buggy! I had it all equipped with my Hallicrafter SR46 CB Radio and a 12 foot whip antenna attached to the rear bumper. 

HALLICRAFTER SR46

In those days, you didn't have a "real" car unless you had a CB Radio with a "whip" and an 8 Track Stereo under the dash. I loved that van! Also, in one of the cabinets I had over 300 "CB Radio Calling Cards" that I had collected. 

8 TRACK PLAYER

I only had the van for a few weeks when I had taken a ride out to Juvenile Settlement. On my way back to Hoyt I could smell a strong gasoline smell. So I stopped the van and went to the back and lifted the engine door. I could see gas on one of the gas lines. It appeared that it had been taped up with black electrical tape to stop a leak. I drove on home and forgot about the gas leak. 

That evening, dad said, "Steve, tomorrow I want you to clean up all the garbage in the garage and take it all to the dump down in Wirral." which was only about 6 miles away. I said I would do it. The next morning I loaded the garbage into the van and headed out to the dump. About halfway there on a long flat, straight, stretch, I glanced in my side mirror and saw what appeared to be flames shooting out of the side air louvers. I hit the brakes, jumped out and started to run toward the back of the van. When I saw the orange flames shooting out from under the van, something told me to run the other direction! So I did! I ran about 20 to 30 feet from the van and there was this huge explosion!! It was the gas tank!! I stood there in shock as my van erupted into an inferno!! 

THE DAY THE VW BURNT

There were no houses in sight, so I continued to run. I knew I had to call dad. I'm not sure how far I ran, but finally I came upon a house and went to the door and asked if I could use their telephone. I called dad and told him what had happened. His first frantic question was, "Are you out of the van?" The question still puzzles me to this day since we didn't have cell phones. HA! Dad said he was on his way. 

When I got back to the van, the fire had pretty much died out leaving nothing but a burnt shell. The fire was so hot that the rear wheels were completely gone. Under the van the aluminium engine was just a melted puddle with four metal pistons lying in the middle of it. My CB was totally gone as was my 8 track player and the entire interior. Only the steel wire and springs of the seats were  still intact. All of the windows were gone! I think they blew out when the van exploded. I was still in disbelief! 

TOWING THE VW AWAY

I can still take you to exact place where it happened. For many months afterward there was a huge black spot on the road reminding me of that dreadful day!! I'm glad I got out of the van when I did!

PS: If dad hadn't made this 16 year old do all that hard labor of taking the garbage to the dump, none of this would have happened!....just sayin'!   HAAAA!