Something else, neighbor's '88 Grand Marquis caught fire

[John_Maine]

My 90 year old neighbor has an '88 Grand Marquis. He also has a '00 F-150. He hasn't been able to use the F-150 all summer because the gas tank has rusted around the straps, but the straps themselves are fine. Anyway, he's been waiting to get it fixed so it's been parked in his yard. Well yesterday, he backed the GM out of his garage, forgot he moved his truck to a different spot and backed the car around into the truck. The right taillight hit the rear bumper of the truck and lost. Said he picked up the broken glass/plastic, then continued on down the street to visit a friend - about a mile. On the way to his friends, he said he started to smell smoke and by the time he got to his friends, the car was filling up with smoke pretty good. He stopped in his friends driveway, shut the car off and when he looked, there were flames shooting out the back of the car 3-4' high. His friend called the FD but a police officer arrived first and used his extinguisher which helped save the car. Anyway, the right rear corner of the car up to the base of the rear window is burned. Seems strange that a minor fender bender would cause a fire. My guess is that a wire shorted out (brake lights?) because it appears the fire followed the wires from the taillight area around the right side of the trunk and under the package shelf. After the fire was out, one of the firemen reached under the shelf and cut the remaining wires. There's a little bit of damage to the right rear corner of the window, the headliner, and the package shelf. My neighbor drove the car home. It appears to need new taillights and rear fascia, trunk weather strip, trunk liner, back glass, wiring and of course, paint. The car has 71K on it and has not been driven winters. It's had good care mechanically but could have used a good detailing. I'm sure his insurance will total it but it seems to me that it could be fixed for not a lot of money. However, there are a lot of other 80's Grand Marquis out there, so might not be worth the effort.

[junkyardjeff]

You might want to your neighbor Ford is having some kind of recall on the gas tanks or straps,I dont know what years it covers but heard it on the news the other day. I might be interested in the grand marquis if you are not too far away.

Edited August 7, 2011 by junkyardjeff
added more words (see edit history)

[John_Maine]

We're in Maine, a long way from Ohio, I don't think it would be worth your effort. I do think his truck is one that was recalled because of the gas tank straps, but his straps are fine. The tank rusted underneath one of them.