Wow. That sucks. Apparently the front condenser fan is known to have problems that lead to meltdowns/fires when the motor seizes. There is a concensus that this non-fused blower needs to be fused (I plan to next season), yet in most of the pics of the carnage I have seen the wires are intact. It wasn't the wires overheating but the motor brushes. If that is the case having a fuse won't necessarily help as the motor burned up before the wires overheated. I'm curious.. if it's not too painful could you post some pics of your melted motor so we can see if the fire started in the wires or the motor brush area? Was it already fused by any chance?
I wouldn't get rid of it because of this, however! New fan (fused), new battery, new paint and it'll never happen again (especially if you disconnect it if it's not being used. Strange that it was on if you have no AC, or were you using the AC system just for a breeze?) There are more expensive fixes to be done than this, so chin up!
