YOU ASKED FOR IT, SO HERE GOES
THE SAGA OF 1G1YY2184H5119074:
It was late summer of 89. I received a notice from Callaway about a week before the fire, about the hydraulic clutch hose that could rupture. I didn't act fast enough. As I was driving home from work I started to lose the function of the clutch. Being only a mile away I was able to shift without the clutch by synching the engine to the drive shaft speed. Pulled into my driveway and for the first time in years I for some unknown lucky reason, left the car outside in the driveway and not in the garage. After about 30 minutes I saw smoke going towards the back of the house and went to investigate.......my beautiful 87 black TT was in flames. I called the Fire Dept. and then tried to extinguish the flames with a puny hose. The F.D. was there in 2-3 minutes. They asked if I could open the hood as they didn't want to use their ax. I couldn't do it. The hood was melted and distorted. They cracked it open with their ax, quickly extinguishing the fire......... too late though. The tires even melted onto the asphalt. The car was a total loss. I Had bought it brand new. The culprit was the clutch hose spraying its fluid onto the hot turbo surfaces and igniting. The only plus was the insurance co. paid me about 10K more than I paid for the car. They sold the car to a guy in Montana whom I had contact with and had given him all of the info I could. He said it would take him time, but he wanted to rebuild it. It was in bad shape. Everything under the hood and through out the vent system that could burn or melt did.It was toast.
And in March of 90 I took delivery of the infamous 1990 #024 and the rest is another long story.
Ike
