'68 assistance

Taken Sunday morning...

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...just a couple hours before this happened.

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Even among collector car aficianados , vintage hearse enthusiasts are a small, niche group. We're a tightly nit bunch however, lending a hand when needed.

Vincent & Barbara Druid devastatingly lost their beloved original '68 Superior on Sunday, May 3 traveling home to Chester, VA from attending a weekend car show in Asheville, NC. Their coach sadly burned to the ground on the side of 40 not far from Hickory, NC after a blown tire caught fire. Their attempts at containing & extinguishing fire proved feeble as each passing semi stoked flames.

While the Druids (and their 3 month old puppy traveling companion) are safe, '68 Superior is a total loss. Immediately other procar friends and clubmates started coming to their aid, ensuring they arrived at a hotel, transported '68 off highway, and found a ride home. So many who know Vincent & Barbara want to help. They're great, quality, stand up, salt of the earth types who would bend over backwards to help another in need.

Ball is now in our court to return the favor.

Insurance payout does not cover what was lost. Please consider a small donation to replace the Druid's '68. Every dollar generated (other than automatically deducted site fees) is going to them. Once combined with insurance check, the goal is to afford another '68 which has been sourced, buying their '68 back from insurance company as a parts donor, transport for both coaches, having mechanical work done, then paint and vinyl. While the goal is set low, going over will enable more finish work on 'new' '68.

Doing so won't come close to replacing sentimental value lost. Should greatly help physical replacement while relieving stress and providing a light at end of tunnel. This crowd funding campaign should not be confused with an Ecto building pipe dream or someone lazy who assumes others will fund their restoration. Consider this on par with underinsured motorist coverage, merely helping regain what was already established. This has been a traumatic, horrible experience for the Druids which could have happened to any of us. Thanks to each and every one of you in advance.

Crowd funding link:: http://www.gofundme.com/ttvxkf7
 
68

I have had a few wrecked but never burned ,that would be hard to deal with watching it burn down .Good thing they are all okay. Hope it all works out for them.
 
It was a beautiful coach! As badly as the owners probably feel about their beloved car, at least they are safe and had a number of friends to help them in their time of need.
 
I was sickened when I saw these pictures on Facebook yesterday. I truly do not know how I would react or my ability to take watching my beloved coach burn like that. To some od us our cars ARE part of our family. I really hope they get through the emotional loss as well as the physical one without too much stress, and know there are many other collectors and enthusiasts thinking of them. Im so glad to hear others stepped up and made sure they got home safely.
 
Terrible loss, but thankfully no one got hurt. I enjoyed talking w/ the Druids on Saturday about their very nice car. Hope this helps them out w/ the replacement.
 
Radial tires will kill us all. Keep a good fire extingusher were you can get to it.

Would you please educate me (us); why are radials bad? I feel awful for the folks who lost their coach! I would like to learn from this horrible experience if I can. If a radial is a heavy duty tire, rated for the weight, would it be okay? After seeing this, I am going to put a fire extinguisher in each of my vehicles.

Thank you in advance for any answers you may provide.
 
A radial may have come into play causing fire.

1. Gas leak would have been obvious culprit. Several of us were in close proximity to coach however and one of us would have likely smelled it.

2. Wheel could have thrown sparks on cement, igniting, built up axle grease perhaps.

3. Once tire was coming apart, a spinning chunk containing steel belts could have ruptured fuel line or even tank.

Druids hope to have burned hulk moved within next couple weeks after buying back from Haggerty. Few of us plan on getting together and removing remaining usable parts for them. We'll try to isolate what went wrong.
 
I have been buying total loss vehicles from Ins. Cos. for many years, Had a Mercury Colony Park wagon once. The axel bearing failed and allowed the tire and wheel to move outward and rub on the wheel house setting the undercoat alight. We all know undercoat burns like time. Same could be true here, tire blows, flapping tire shreds hits heavy undercoat , heat, fire bye bye coach. I have doubts about anything to do with gas tank as fire would have been more severe.
 
Just how many of us have had a good looking radial tire blow out at hy speeds going to or coming from an event. It's not uncommon for 3 or 4 people at the meet to have tire difficulties. Car or trailer. The problem is you never know when a radial tire is going to have that tread separation problem. But if they are 5 years old it can happen at any time. If the tread doesn't fly off, then the side wall just blows out. One will never know what caught on fire first. at this point it had all the rubber burnt and 20 gl of gas running out from the tank.
 
Attila,
I see that they had different rims on the rear which look to be wire wheels. Do you happen to know if they were true wire wheels on the back, or just wire baskets?
 
When my friend was bringing my six door from Tenn. one of the five excellent Jap radials blew sky high with NO warning, When he arrived here I checked the rest and all were cracking in the tread so they would not have been far behind the first one. Replaced all with a set of Vogues. Quite a few years ago I bought a Ford Cube van/mobile incident command vehicle from the state of N.J. vehicle 7 years old with 5700 miles and Michelin radials on all wheels. I set out loaded with radio gear for the Dayton Hamvention (720 miles) first blow out (tread fly off) at 525 miles. Second now no spare tire service and pay their price at 610 miles. Third at 680 miles tire service again now a very expensive trip. Upon arrival in Dayton went to a big Michelin tire store for warranty. I was told "Oh no they are only guaranteed for five years you were foolish to try the trip on the "expired tires" they should have been replaced before you left home base. They did give me a husky discount on three more new tires as customer perk. I just went and looked at my Masterpiece and the Michelins on it are starting to show some light cracks so replacement is in order before any long trip. My 56 Packard Caribbean has bias wide whites 10 years old at least and NO cracks. Another pearl the Pennsylvania State Police, if a flat occurs the tire is replaced not patched or plugged no matter how new. This is true of many other law enforcement agencies.`Overall point of this is check your load range on the tire before you buy all radials are not created equal your vehicles are heavy so high load range a must. Look for cracks in the tire they mean failure is on the horizon usually with a bib bang and maintain proper inflation this helps stave off cracking and sidewall failure. Another thing I have found and this is personal and should provoke some comments Radials tend to fail if you switch sides (right to left or vise versa) again the sidewall failure.
 
I have never understood why folks with 1970 and older coaches would want to put radials on them anyway. Not only do the radials cause to coach to sit incorrectly and look odd, but you also have to deal with all of the blow-out issues. I thought that it was pretty much common knowledge that you should never switch sides with radials?
 
Attila,
I see that they had different rims on the rear which look to be wire wheels. Do you happen to know if they were true wire wheels on the back, or just wire baskets?

Kurt, when I talked w/ the Druids they told me the wires were aftermarket reproductions of an older Cadillac wheel- I was thinking maybe the "Sabre" wheels from the 50s. I think but am not sure they said they were on the car when they bought it.
 
They must be the Kelsey Hayes reproductions, which are true wire wheels. I was just curious as to whether the wire wheels may have contributed to the fire. I like the look a lot(far better than later Cad wire wheel covers), but I question whether they should be used on a car that heavy. Such a beautiful coach and was it a combination??
 
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