Firing up the E-Type, literally - Faine 460

By: Jon Faine

Date: 05.02.2022

Jon dodges a complete disaster thanks to the extinguishers in his shed

It started like any other day. I decided to go for a post-lockdown spin in the E type, just to blow some cobwebs out. The car started instantly, as it has since I spent more than a few dollars at the carburettor specialists and got the triple SUs overhauled and fettled properly. Before I filled in my logbook, and while the choke was on full extension, I remembered that last time I drove my beloved Jaguar there was something weird about high beam – when the indicator was used, one headlight went out but I could not remember which one.

I turned on the lights and checked that all was working, then started to try different combinations – dash lights on, dash lights off, indicator on left, indicator on right, and slowly worked through all possible combinations to try to narrow down where the problem was. The radio was off, the heater was off.

Within moments, I noticed a faint smell then a wisp of white smoke drift from the demister vent in front of me. Curses were uttered and I snapped off all the switches and turned off the ignition. The wisp became a stream, and then spread from but one vent to all of them. The smell became unpleasant and I rolled down the window, undid the bonnet catches from each ‘A’ post and got out of the car. It seemed prudent to first check under the bonnet to ensure there was nothing happening on the other side of the firewall, where petrol lives. A quick look settled my fears. Nothing untoward in there, but the white columns of smoke coming from the vents were getting stronger, despite everything being turned off.

This is the ‘before’ shot

I raced across to the workbench and grabbed a 13mm spanner to undo the battery terminals. Now seriously unhappy, I got one battery clamp off and discovered that the second terminal had a smaller nut. I raced back to the bench and grabbed 12mm, 11mm and a 10mm just in case, ripped the nut off and then I looked up and saw actual orange flames licking up the inside of the windscreen towards the rear vision mirror. This was now a catastrophe.

Calling the fire brigade took a lot longer than you think – I was cradling the phone on my chin as at the same time unclipping my small fire extinguisher off the wall. It was hard not to scream. "My car is on fire inside the garage… there are five cars in here and fuel and and… and… and…". The description of my problem and explaining the address "nearest cross street please…" took what seemed an eternity. As soon as the call ended, I leant gingerly through the driver’s door window, the flames vigorously licking the windscreen and dash, spreading across several demisting vents and triggered the fire extinguisher, scared and in shock.

And sadly, this is the ‘after’ shot

Only a small amount of white powder was expelled, with little pressure and it made no impression on the flames. I cursed, stopped for a moment and thought that in order to save the garage and the other cars, parts, tools and accumulated crap of forty years ought I open the roller door and push the Jaguar out into the lane and let it burn out there? Sacrifice my baby to save the rest?

Then I remembered I had a second extinguisher, but at the other end of the shed – at the door from the garden into the garage. I raced across, grabbed it and instinctively shook it vigorously as I ran back to my burning Jaguar. Taking a deep breath, I put my knee on the driver’s sill, leant deep into the cabin and released the trigger this time with the nozzle almost in the flames. I could feel my hands getting hot and the hair on my fingers burning but the effect was instant – the flames just vanished. This second extinguisher was a size bigger than the first and lasted for around 15 seconds, but after the first ten it was clearly doing its job so until it ran out, I sprayed the powder directly at the instruments, the obvious source of the fire. It was out.

With weak knees, I stood back and wondered what else I could do. I had a third extinguisher but it was in my Toyota Prado and would require me to leave the shed and run through the garden and house to the street and back and I thought that unwise. Instead, I opened the Jaguar’s Webasto sunroof to get the thick, dark and dense smoke out of the cabin and opened the roller door to get the fumes out of the shed, as I was by now coughing heavily. I waited what seemed an eternity for the fire brigade. I phoned Jan and my wife rushed home from the local shops.

We are 3km from the nearest fire station and it seemed to take three hours for them to arrive, but in truth it was probably 10 long slow minutes. In full breathing apparatus they instantly assessed the situation and the first fireman out of the truck was about to release some super-dooper foam when the captain stopped him and said "you’ll do more harm than good, not needed" which avoided the other cars and my shed being coated in and ruined by fire-fighting foam. I was given a ten second health check and the ambulance already despatched was cancelled. When the second fire truck arrived at our front door a minute later, fearing a structure fire, they ran through our house and garden and appeared in a now crowded shed, to be told they were not needed. Thankfully Jan had just arrived home and had opened the front door so they did not smash it down.

With the calm and methodical approach that only can come with deep training, the fireteam stood around cracking jokes and asking me about my cars while they used an infra-red camera to measure and in real time constantly monitor the hotspot on the dash and look for other sources of danger. As the temperature inside the dash slowly dropped, the emergency was over, and my car was saved albeit singed.

I am not ashamed to admit I wept. My beautiful E-type is a car with some significant history. Bought from John Bryson himself only a few years ago, it is a hotted up Series 2 with triple laced wires and the factory power steering – an exceptionally rare end of series option in right hand drive. I love the Webasto sunroof, have just spent a kidnapper’s ransom on new leather seats and mechanical reconditioning and was loving every drive. Unrestored original E-types are now hard to find and to my eye more desirable than a fully restored car.

After half an hour, when I had reached in and unscrewed the instrument binnacle so we could see behind the dash, and confirmed there was no more trouble brewing, the fire brigade said goodbye, and I shut my garage door and surveyed the scene. The extinguisher powder disguised the damage, but it was clear that the ammeter, the gauge furthest from the steering wheel, was the hottest part and the source of the fire. Just a month ago, when I noticed the ammeter needle was showing ‘discharge’ all the time, a multi-meter proved it wrong. I thought nothing of leaving the broken ammeter alone, simply ignoring its’ false reading. But now it would seem probable that there was some internal short, and I wish I had removed and repaired it.

I next called Shannons insurance, and a few days later the car was taken to my chosen repairer and is being assessed. Clearly, I need a new dash, instruments, switches and a wiring loom, but how much more is unclear. In order to establish the full extent of damage to interior trim, and elsewhere, it will be professionally cleaned, and detailed, despite the barbequed dash. Then I can work out what to do next.

It took two to save the Jag

I am already responsible for a mini-boom in fire extinguishers sales, as my car friends heard about my misfortune. May this serve as an urgent warning to every reader of this fine magazine – get a fire extinguisher into your shed. And check it stays pressurised, which the fire brigade tells me means giving it an annual shake, recommended to be done at the same time as checking the battery on the smoke alarm that everyone no doubt has inside the garage, not just the house. That simple annual shake ensures that when you reach for the extinguisher in an emergency, it will do the job.

A $20 fire extinguisher saved my garage, avoided the E-type becoming a burnt shell as well as four other precious old cars. If the fire had started after I left the garage and was out on the street, I would have been helpless. If you can afford an old car, you can afford a fire extinguisher. Get one today.

From Unique Cars #460, December 2021

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