Listen up--Report from the Fire Zone

[Historybuff]

"Operational Readiness"

That's an Air Force term. It is used to describe how many aircraft at a given base are "ready to fly" at any given point in time Vs.how many are all apart, or damaged beyond repairability.

So what does that have to do with cars?

Well, I live near the Fire Zone of Los Angeles which is basically anything not close to the ocean or in the flatlands.

Upwards of 1000 homes have burned in the past few weeks, with something like 19 fires marching across the hills.

I am sure when the news media shows the burned-out neighborhoods, here and there I will see a collector car, i.e. some already restored, but others that were on blocks or jackstands, awaiting a restoration.

In other words, if they weren't on wheels, they weren't quickly evacuable.
So that's what I am urging car collectors to consider a plan--to keep wheels on your collector car, whether it's got an engine in it or not so that, if fire threatens the neighorhood you can wheel the car out onto the curb where it will have a better chance of surviving than being in a wooden box that
burns (otherwise known as a garage).

And the car should be pointed straight out. With no boxes of old cltohes and stuff stacked between it and the garage door.

If you have a wife or girlfriend who lives with you and she doesn't know how to drive a stick shift, show her how to drive it so if you aren't home, she can get it out of the garage. I wonder how many collector cars burned
in the fires of October because the wife didn't know how to drive a manual and get it into reverse?

This also applies to your collector car if you take it to a repair or paint shop. If the car is up on jackstands and the shop catches fire, you can bet the shop employees are not going to take the time to put the tires and wheels back on if the shop is about to explode! Tell them you want your car to be kept ready to roll out at a moment's notice, and nothing put in the way between it and the door.

I speak from experience. I once drove my Mercedes 300SL out of a shop that was on fire once. I had my doubts about the shop when I dropped it off but as I was leaving in another car, my fears were confirmed as an adjoining shop caught fire. I jumped out of the car I was in,
ran back and drove out the Mercedes. I don't know if the fire spread to the shop where they were about to work on my car but don't allow your car to sit for years at a shop without being worked on because automotive shops are prone to fires,what with leaking gas tanks, sparks flying off welding equipment, etc. And you can bet most don't have insurance to cover the value of the various collector cars they are working on.

Am I being paranoid? After two days of watching mind-numbing fire coverage on TV, I think not. The point is that houses catch
fire and even if you have a half-baked (no pun intended) evacuation plan for the family, you should also have a plan for evacuation of the car--somebody in the family or a neighbor who will roll it out if the fire comes marching down the street.

I have inveighed before inprint against letting collector cars sit
as unfinished projects. I know some owners say "My car keeps going up in value even if I never restore it." But now , because of the recent fires, I advise having at least having them be "operationally ready." Not necessarily in running order, but in "rolling order" or you might be watching the TV coverage of your neighborhood burning and have to say "there goes my investment ."

The irony is that, if you save your collector car,it might be worth enough to rebuld part of your house, so why let that go up with the house!

And so it is--we love our toys but they, along with our family, children and pets--have to be protected from the coming fire that is always waiting for an opportunity to teach us a bitter lesson about unpreparedness.....
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Wallace Wyss is the author of several books on Shelby history

[MaSnaka]

Historybuff has a valid point to make. S*** happens. When I was a kid back in 1970 our house was threatened by wild fires in a very similar situation as today. My Dad was at work in Culver City, CA and my Mom picked my sister and me up at school to bring us home (we lived in the San Fernando Valley)to make a last ditch effort to save some personal stuff from our home. The fire was at our back yard and burning throughout the neighborhood. We jumped into my Dad's Dual Gia (anybody remember those?) and fled. Upon returning to the house a few hours later it was leveled and the old late 40's Jag restoration project had been destroyed in the garage/car port. I remember seeing the aluminum valve cover melted over the head exposing rockers and the timing chain. Total loss. If talking about cars only, yes be prepared. When something rare is lost history suffers. Just don't die trying to push your car to safety.

37 years later...Life goes on just fine.

John

[HI Cobra]

Muy goodo advice. Thanks. My house has a fire sprinkler system, but
the neighbors sure don't.