Karmann Ghia convertibles just got a bit more scarce.
 

This was about half a mile from my house. Feel sorry for the high school kid who owned it. It was a bit ratty, but still pretty unique compared to what most kids are driving. It always smelled rich and backfired a lot. :rolleyes:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1447387289.jpg

Sad - I hope the driver and any passengers are OK.

Note to self - check all fuel lines this weekend...

Pity. I feel sorry for the school kid.

One of my favorite cars.

He was fine. That thing must have gone up REALLY fast. See the Chevron sign through the trees? There's a fire station right behind the gas station!

Shame. :(. Fuel filter in the engine bay fire. Looks like a scorcher.

Bummer. I have a list of Cars I want to restore after I finish the Corvair. A Karmann Ghia convertible is on that list. But the prices for a rust free body are insane on them right now. This doesn't help!

One of the A&P mechanics I used to work with had a 914. He would make comments about fuel smells and something leaking in the engine compartment. One day he drove up in something different and I asked him about his 914. He said it caught fire and burned up.

I couldn't believe it - he was a mechanic and completely aware of a fuel leak but never bothered to take care of it. Fortunately he didn't maintain the aircraft in the same manner.

That's a bummer, those are very cool cars and I'm sure he had the best car in the high school parking lot.

One of the first things I did when I brought my 62 beetle back from long term storage was to move the fuel filter out of the engine bay. That was the preferred set up back in the day, but over time it's caused more than one disaster like this....

Yeah, paranoia over fuel smells in cars is well founded.

i had a 74 back in the late 80's

I feel bad for the kid! I hope everyone's okay. I had a '65 coupe in my first year of college. I was restoring it as I drove (my only transportation). I had just paid a shop to finish the last of the cancer repairs with all new metal. The car was in primer and would have gone to paint in the coming weeks/months...that is until the Ghia met it's demise from an old lady who ran a stop sign. TOTALED! Insurance gave me $1,200 plus the car. I let it go...

From what I recall, the battery is in the engine compartment.

Had a girlfriend who drove one back in the day. Easiest car to work on ever!

You may have heard my experience of gas and explosions before but funnily it ties in Karmann Ghia, gas and explosion. If this old fart can enlighten a young un on this forum then it is worth the read....

Back in the late 60's my grandmother left me a small amount of money. Being single then I did not consult anybody, had no wife, no PPI's then. I looked at a used Karman Ghia. Nope too plain jane. Austin Healey 3000. Drove nicely but had rust. Triumph TR3. Yeah fun car, drove well. Bought it and was happy. After a while I noticed the smell of gas in the car. Did not do anything about it for months and I cannot remember anybody smoking in the car which was just as well. Anyway I isolated it to the gas tank. Removed the gas tank and as I worked at a gas station(pumping gas) I got the mechanic to weld the gas tank where it was leaking. He was just putting the finishing touches on it and kaboom the gas tank blew up. The post mortem on the gas tank was that you are supposed to fill it full of water when you weld it. Anyway the gas tank was now a flat piece of metal. Got another gas tank, got hit by a snow plough and the TR3 was rusting on the rocker panels.
Bye bye TR3. It was a fun car though....:D

Alcohol in gas destroying fuel lines.

Tech 101 – Ethanol in gasoline and its effects on collector cars | Hemmings Daily

My dad drove a VW 411 for a few years. He bought it new. One day he noticed a smell of gas so he stopped at a service station. He left it running and the mechanic walked up and opened the engine compartment lid and JUMPED BACK!

He started yelling to "shut it off shut it off!"

There was a fine mist of gas coming from one of the fuel injector seals. My brother was close by so he came down and replaced the seal in no time and all was fine. It is just luck that it did not ignite.

My 914 would do the same thing. Several times over the years I would get the strong odor of gas and have to replace the injector seals. I always did all four injectors as soon as one started leaking.

Or exhaust gas....

Maybe the Gia can be salvaged.

This.

I lost my much beloved 951 to fire a few years back (long-ish time Pelicans probably remember it). I'm 99% sure the root cause was ethanol degradation of the rubber portion of the fuel lines (which inexplicably run directly over the exhaust headers on the 85.5+ 944s including the 951s instead of straight up over the back of the engine as with the pre-85.5 cars, not that it would have necessarily mattered but it might have).

The fuel line was notorious for slipping off the carb, filter or fuel pump barbs. Battery is under the rear passenger seat in my 1960.

Your car is why mine got new fuel lines and fire sleeve get over them so if they do leak it will run down and out the fender not on the header.

1972 VW Karmann Ghia