this was my first Z28. I was 16. I had about $6K into it and one christmas night, a drunk driver pulled right in front of me and this is the end result. the bumper cover is just resting there. it got ripped right off and the hatch was jammed shut after this too.

 

so sad..

I hope you got a nice settlement

 

My settlement bought me a 1991 z28 350tpi with 23K miles on it. 1 year later, it burnt to the ground

 

another

 

what happened to make it burn? any settlement out of that?

 

no settlement on the burnt one. it had to be something electrical in the dash behind the cluster. thats where the smoke started coming from and the firewall there is white from being the hottest part of the fire. the insuance company charged me with arson and told me I wanst getting a dime for it. I was like WTF. well, after 3 months, 2 lawyers, and 2 lie detector test, I finnally got my money for it. They wanted to give me $9K atthe beginning and I told them no way. thats when the charged me. I ended up getting $12,500 for it. this was in 1999. the car had 40K miles on it and about $20K in receipts. I didnt justloose my shirt on that car, I lost my entire wardrobe. all I could save out of that car was a nitous bottle, strut tower brace, exhaust and wheels. there is more pics at this link.......if it works. http://www.fbody.com/members/brads91z28/burnt.htm

 

your luck with 3rd gens hasnt been so good


good luck with this one, she's a beauty

 

man thats really sad, your poor car! Both of them!!

 

I remember when that car burned. Man, what a shame.

 

Ya I have no luck at all. The red one was the first one, then I bought a 1989 red GTA. I had that car 1 week and took the whole rear quarter off. The right rear wheel lock up on me while I was doing about 70MPH and I couldnt keep it straight and hit a huge fence. Then 9 months later, I slid on black ice and rolled it over down an embackment. totaled it then. then i bought the 91z that burnt, then I bought a 97 trans am WS6. I had that car a year, hated it and sold it. Then I bought the car I have now off my buddy. We will see how long I can keep it. so far so good. knock knock

 

I remember before I even had a Camaro, I was 15 looking at Camaro pages online and I saw your page with your old silver Z on it. Then I saw that is was no more

Hopefully you'll have better luck with this car

 

holy cow. what is your insurance like after all of this? how many times have you been dropped?

 

My insuranace isnt bad at all. I pay $1100 a year with full coverage, glass, free towing.

 

sorry to hear about all that stuff man

what didnt you like about the 97 trans am?

 

Sorry to hear about your luck with Z's.

But it's all worth it right?? Look at what you have now! That's a sweet ride.

My new desktop!! That's the exact color I'm painting my '83, except I'm sticking with my stock fiberglass hood, and I'll be running 15" Centerlines. Looking at your Z28 makes me want to get mine painted real soon!!

 

sad pics!

i wrecked my first car (88 camaro iroc-z 5.7)
then someone hit me and wrecked my 88 formula 88.

so i have not had much luck with thirdgens neither..

 

sure hope you switched insurance companies after being charged with arson by that one , lol

 

I didnt like my 4th gen because the engine is half way under the windshield and the stupid SES light came on for every single mod I did to it. I just got sick of dealing with the OBD 2 computer and tight engine bay.
Yes I dropped the insuance company I had at the time of the fire.

 

if you had had an extinguisher would you have been able to save the car?

i worry about those types of electrical problems all the time, i keep an extinguisher in the car for just such a reason since you never know. who knows if it would do any good though.

 

dammm man i thought i had bad luck....

 

I think keeping a fire extinguisher in the back of your car is a great idea...A few years ago my z caught fire 2 days after finishing the new engine...thankfully, i had a fire extinguisher with me and put it out quickly w/o too much of a mess

 

dude, that sucks about your cars... good luck with the new one!but, i think i need to go get a fire extinguisher. :-D never really thought about it.

i had my old dodge d-100 catch on fire one morning while i was warming it up... i went outisde and there was a guy with a water hose spraying down my engine... i had no idea what he was doing at first but i figured it out pretty quick. said he was driving by and saw it smoking....

i just hope it never happens to my car!

doc

 

i dont know if I could have saved it if I had an extingusher. the fire was behind the dash and it stayed back there for a while and then really got big in a hurry. I couldnt even breath the smoke was so thick and black. The smell of plastic burning isnt too good on the lungs. I had to go back inside to get the nitrous bottle and my keys out. Hey, I had a lot of important keys on there. They would have burnt too. the fire was so hot that the glass actually melted over the top of the doors. There was a puddle of cooled alumiunum under the car after they moved it. Im guessing the case of the tranny started to melt and liquify and drip aluminum on the ground. The fire was intense. It even blew the tops out. not sure if you can see from the pics but the T bar actually bent down some from the heat.

 

not the best of luck maybe it was a good thing i love your new Z i think its one of the best looking cars on this website

 

Was the cause of the fire ever determined? I keep blowing the 10 Amp "Guages" fuse and am getting a little nervous right about now...

 

The actual cause was never found. Im guessing it was either the wiper motor since it was raining out or the automatic start.

 

well i learned 2 things from reading this thread. one,,,seems like a lot of thirdgen lovers haven't had very good luck with 'em (i've previously owned 2 thirdgens and they both suffered front end damage from accidents).

two,,,i need to get me a fire extinguisher.

sorry about your rides. hope you have better luck with this one.

 

DAMN! ll that and your only 25.....WOW!

 

Your not the only one with bad luck! Heres mine. Damn Audi TT's always getting in the way.

 

i think the cause of the fire was the remote or aumtomatic start. becuz i know ive heard stories about them not being installed correctly and the cars goin up in flames.

 

Im thinking it was that too because when I pulled over and shut the car off, it didnt turn off. It just kept on running. I even tried starting it again and all I did was grind the starter. I turned the key to the off position again and got out. I then went back to get my keys and the car was still running. It then died and about 5 seconds later, it started on its own. it shut off again and kept repeating this about 10 times before the fire finally got to the rubber fuel lines under thre hood. It was pretty freaky. the windows where rolling up and down and the horn was blowing. reverse lights came on for a short time too. When the car finnaly shut off I guess the windows where open a little and after the glass broke, the insurance company said that I set it on fire and kept the windows open a little to help the fire breathe. I was like WTF. They also told me that they found trace amounts of gasoline in the passenger side foot area. ya ok Im sure of that. They told me there was enough to prove that I had about 3 gallons of gas in the car at the time of the fire and that it started in the passenger side foot area. I know for a damn fact that is a lie. I could keep going on and on about what they said. Let me dig up the reports from the forencis(sp) lab.

 

yup sure sounds like the remote start did it. i know now never to put one in any cars i get even if its factory. i just dont like have computers start stuff with out u actually turning a key to do it.

 

Oh man, this is sure bringing back bad memories.

3 years ago my GTA caught fire.Bad garage inspection, fire caught in the passenger side wiring harness. The *** dammm insurrance tried to convict me of arson, same as you. Like you, i had to get a lawyer, 1 year and 1000 $ of laywer fees, got my car back better then new with 9000$ of repair damage, and upgrades. The GM dealer put in my headers and alll new wiring+paint job. Funny thing is i had a great allobye for the fire. You see i was in the car going to work, driving at 110km/70 mph on the freeway! I had flames going over the windsheild. I remember seing a huge plume of white smoke trailing behing me in my rear view mirror. I managed to cut 3 lanes of traffic ( people got out of the way fast ) park on the emergency lane.

Now the same car, that has such a coloful history is waiting for another summer of adventure, peacefull advanture... no more bs! I had enough for a lifetime.

 

If that happened to my car i would be in mourning forever. Since she's my baby.

 

It is really sad to read all of these stories. I am so glad that my car has a fire extinguisher on the passenger side of the consule. It will always be there.

Well, this thread has been open long enough. Seeing as most have told their story, I do think it is time to close this topic. Although, if it had tech content I would have left it open.

Sorry guys, I dont mean to be a "lock-down ****", but I must follow a higher authority (Dirk).