….Before The Fire Storm

4/2/16 Part 2

…. As I walked to the garage, I realized something was very wrong.  The Targa was on fire!  I freaked out, essentially not believing what I was seeing.  I knew enough not to put water on the fire, so I ran inside and called 911.  One day I would like to hear a tape of that call, as I am sure I sounded pretty stressed.  While I was waiting, I ran inside and got Pam’s keys and put her car back on the street.  When that was done, I looked back up the driveway.  The flames and smoke were clearly visible from the street.  At that point, I knew the car was gone, and I began to fear the garage would go too.  So after waiting at least 2 minutes from my first 911 call, I called again.

About a minute later the fire engines could be seen up the block.

They parked and quickly set up operations.  My neighbors all came out to see what was causing the commotion.  I have never experienced anything like it.  On one hand I was exstatic that the firemen were saving my garage, that no other structures were envolved (like my house) and no one was hurt.  On the other hand I felt an incredible sense of loss.

Soon Pam came walking up the street with Jake, our golden retriever.  She could not believe the commotion on the street, and could not believe what had happened.  I had a hard time believing it, too.  One minute I had a great project car, the next I had a project too far.

Once the fire was out, the reality of the situation began to sink in.  I was pretty devastated.  Of course I blamed myself and began second guessing just about everything.  I called Mark and expressed my feelings, and he reminded me that new cars and completely restored cars burn.  To drive his point home, he sent me a video taken two days earlier of a 911 Turbo bursting into flames at the New York Auto Show.  Of course, there were many people with fire extinguishers on hand to put that one out.

A little later I called my friend John, who was with his wife Kristin in Mammoth for the weekend.  I actually face timed him and was busy showing him pictures of the car, the garage, the mess.  Of course the phone was pointed at the computer screen so he could see the carnage (no pun intended).  After he expressed the appropriate level of concern and amazement, he told me to turn the phone around and take a look at him and his surroundings.  I did.  Oops.  There I was going on about the car not even realizing he was waiting for an x-ray at the Mammoth Hospital after suffering a shoulder injury while skiing.  I was so consumed by the car fire, I had not even looked at him before showing him the pictures.  Then I felt even worse.

That night Pam and I had plans to have a BBQ with several friends who are avid Porsche owners and collectors.  Pam, who was not pleased with anything about this, quipped, “Do we have to go?  I don’t want to go to another Porsche BBQ today!”  That did not make me feel any better, either.