VEL 500

Well. I guess I am going to have to blog about our slightly tramatic experience lately.

Remember the 1991 Ford Mustang I drove around town? My FIRST vehicle? It died!!!
A tramatic death a couple fridays ago on the 10th of July.

Here is what happened:

We had been home from camping about an hour. We had been gone for a week. It was 5:15pm. We were giving Matthew a bath upstairs, and someone came knocking on our front door. JOn and I were dog tired, and were "disagreeing" on who would answer the door. Turns out it was our next door neighbor, who threw the front door open, and said" Hello? Someone needs to call 911, your car is on fire." Jon and I look at each other and say, "No way...." and run down the stairs. Jon looks out the front door and there is brown/greenish smoke billowing from the car. The windows were all up and we couldn't see anything inside. So, I went back up to the bathroom grabbed Matthew in a towel and told him we would take a bath later. I called my dad on my cell phone, and Jon called 911. He told the 911 dispatcher that it was just smoking really bad. She made the judgment to send the firetruck regardless. So, Jon gets off the phone with 911, and the car goes up in intense flames. Within a 2 minute time span, the car's interior was completely gone. The firetruck got to the house, and totally covered the car in TONS of water and left it going for awhile.

Matthew and I were in June and Jerry's upstairs back bedroom bathroom because we were unsure if the car was going to blow. I could see the flames from the car from their bedroom window. My dad did eventually come, and saw the car burning, and luckily brought a fire extinguisher. LOL.

It was CRAZY! Here are some pics from the aftermath.

Steering Wheel

Carseat or what's left

Back Passenger seat, Where Matthew was sittting.

Where Guss was, and where the fire started. Back Drivers seat: BTW, there is NO CLOTH to be found. It burnt all the way down to the metal below the car.

Front window. Melted, not broken.
Other side front window.
Back window, the only one that didn't get browken or melted. The "white-ish" spot is where our brand new pack of diapers melted to the window.
Passenger Seat. Looks padded huh?

This is also where Matthew was. If you look on the bottom (of the pic) that is where his wipes, and toys were. They were melted into the seat. The Lizzard's head is on the left, and the spoon is right next to it.

Front Windsheild from the top.

Some things that survived, KINDOF:

Funny thing. This is "Chicky" Matthew loves this toy. And through all of this he still chirps when you push on his belly. I'll say that is a good toy.
And.... Grrrr. Matthew's favorite blankey. It had elephants on it. June made it for him. It was quilted. When I realized this was in the car I balled my eyes out. I think that's when it hit me the most.

All I have to say, after this whole post is Thank you Heavenly Father that we were not in the car and that we are all safe. That in itself is the biggest blessing. Even though this looks gruesome, I see it everyday and it is a constant reminder of how blessed I really am to know.
And, also the cause was an exhaust leak/ the catalytic converter. And the smell resonates in my nose just looking at pics.