Sad Farwell

[sirreal]

Farewell
Last night my car was at a friend’s garage for some work on the tail lights, after starting the care he smelled smoke and turned it off only to see some smoke and flames coming from the engine compartment, he quickly turned the ignition off and grabbed a fire extinguisher trying to put out the flames but the fire was getting worse, he ran inside his house to get the keys to his car that was parked outside the garage directly behind my car, after moving his car he ran back into the garage and pushed my cobra outside but the fire was out of control. Fortunately he only received a minor burn on his hand from pushing the car outside, the house suffered minor damage to the vinyl siding from the heat of the burning Cobra, and sadly to say the Cobra was not lucky and burned!
I am still in shock since his call last night, and will miss my little Cobra and what was once a Sir Real experience. Today going back to his house to see the remains of the Cobra was like going to a funeral for your best friend, unfortunately no “closed casket”, for a friend one that was loyal, fun and always there for you when you felt down, a friend that could QUICKLY get you into another world that was always sirreal. I will miss my weekly Sunday drive to the beach no matter what the temperature, I will even miss, “is that a real Cobra?” mostly I will miss just standing in the garage and admiring the beauty of this incredible beast.

I never learned to post a picture to a Thread, I will try to post some pictures to my Gallery.

[bnewell]

That totally Svcks!!!!! Will you be finding a replacement??

[mrmustang]

If you need assistance in finding a replacement, let me know as I always have people emailing me with cars for sale that are not always listed on the forums.


Bill S.

[sirreal]

I am very upset and not sure what I will be doing, I am still in total shock
I most deffinatly will give you a shot out

[Powershift1038]

Wow... very sorry. Looks like it was a beautiful car.

[mrmustang]

While this is indeed painful to look at, be thankful that it was just the car that was lost as things could have been a lot worse. I wish your friend the best with his burns, went through something like that back in 1983 when a neighbors car caught fire in their garage, painful recovery that makes me wince just to think about it....

[Kzof]

So sorry to hear.

[ROUSHAC]

Sorry to hear this, but glad that no one was seriously hurt.

Hopefully the insurance will cover it, and you can have a new Cobra "friend" soon to help dull the sad memory.

[Dangerous Doug]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Did you do any forensics to determine the source of the fire? If your insurance company finds anything, post it hear. Maybe we can learn something from your experience.

Again, sorry for you loss. Nobody likes to see someone's toy get destroyed.

DD

[Kramer]

I am so sorry for your loss. In the spirit of learning for us other cobra owners out there, do you know what caused the fire and for it to get our control so quickly?

[RICK LAKE]

sirreal The most important thing is you and your friend are both alive and going to be OK. If the gas tank had blown you could both be in boxes today. There are cobras out there for sale. I'm sure like Mr Mustang said we can find one in a couple of days. Guessing a fuel line leaked and set the fire off. I have been lucky and only smaoked my car from a similar problem. I had a 20lb extinguish of CO2 to get my fire out. I have on the list of things to do and extinguisher for a Halon system is #2 with the bigger bottle. I'm sure you can save some of the parts for a new car, motor trans rearend. Rick L.

[undy]

So sorry.. absolutely devastating.. Not that it would've save anything in a situation like that, but I'm thankful for my fixed halon system w/a hand-help extinguisher in the trunk. God speed in "resurrecting" your dream.

Dave

[sirreal]

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words, if I find the cause I will certainly post it. I also suspect a fuel leak.

[Clois Harlan]

Sirreal,

I think you have a fixable Cobra. I have seen worse things brought back to life. Check with your builder. As far as the insurance company is concerned they will probably want to total your car. Try and buy it back or at least find out what it would take to buy it back. You have a lot of salvagable expensive parts left.

Clois

[sirreal]

the car was totaled, I did not inquire as to what the salvage price would be, I am so upset that I just what to get another one, and I have no answear as to the cause of the fire.

The reason I am writing again is that on my insurance policy I have an agreed upon value, the company American Reliable, sent me the settlement papers and there was a clause that i was not awear of and I am just letting everyone know what it is and to look at your policy to see if you have the smae clause.

The insurance comp. actually gave me MORE money then what I thought I had insured the Cobra for- the clause is an INFLATION Clause-they gave me nearly 5% more then the agreed upon value!!!!!

There has been a lot of discussion lately on this site that our Cobras are depreciating in value, I thought this as well and did not increase its value when the policy came do, thinking that with the “market depreciating” I would be OK, however since my unfortunate mishap, I am finding it very difficult to replace my Cobra for what I had it valued at. I recommend that every one out there reevaluate their policy and get the max that your insurance company will agree on.

On another note American Reliable has been great to me, not a single hassle to date and very sympathetic to my plight. I recommend them.

[eschaider]

Originally Posted by Clois Harlan

Sirreal,

I think you have a fixable Cobra. I have seen worse things brought back to life. Check with your builder. As far as the insurance company is concerned they will probably want to total your car. Try and buy it back or at least find out what it would take to buy it back. You have a lot of salvagable expensive parts left.

Clois

+1

Sirreal,

Clois hit the nail on the head. Fire damage frequently appears worse than it really is. You very likely have a very rebuildable Cobra there!!


Ed

[RICK LAKE]

Sirreal Ed and Clois Both have good ideas about the car. You could recover some money from parting the car out. The whole rear body looks OK. The motor will still run, trans and rearend OK. These are big price pieces. Pass door looks OK. Side pipes need a cleaning. I doubt that the frame is warped from the heat. Find out what a nose cost from the company in rough form or send the car and let them install a new front nose clip. Stop crying, Get on the phone and make some calls, and less get to fixing the car. You might even come out with some money left over from the damage if you shop HARD. The car is very fixable. Hood nose cone, tires (2) Carb for motor, windshield and frame, steering parts, maybe bushings for the control arms, dash and rug for the insides. new paint job, this one is jinxed. Rick L.

[4RE KLR]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I to can tell you that every person needs to read their insurance policies. All of them not just the car policies. We had an arson on a home and the insurance adjuster told me, and I QUOTE:

"The big words giveth, and the little ones taketh away"