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Replace 90 Turbo R after engine bay fire, possible parting out

2K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  Jean7 
#1 ·
Hi all

a few weeks ago my 1990 Turbo R suffered a catastrophic engine bay fire that then burnt though the fire wall and took out the dashboard etc, melted the windscreen, and so on. Car is a write off. I have a settlement offer from the insurance company that is not nearly enough for what I have into the car, and have to decide whether to accept the offer, with or without salvage rights on the car..

car had 51,000 kms, was in great mechanical and cosmetic shape, and I had just finished fixing everything over a two year period. Unfortunately the car was in my home garage/shop when it caught fire, gutted my garage as well.

decision to be made is to whether to buy it back from the insurance company for parts. Everything under the hood is ruined except the basic engine itself, all ancillaries under the hood are literally "toast". Hydraulic reservoirs are melted. Both front tires exploded when they burnt, although the front rims might be salvageable. Hood itself is now warped, both front fenders are warped and bare of paint, Interior was mint but now heavily smoke damaged.

for parts, engine block complete, transmission, rest of the drive train, lots of little parts, most things pretty much from the fire wall back would be salvageable.

opinions on buying it back from the insurance? Not to repair it, but to break and sell off parts to recoup some of my loses if I take the insurers best offer? Is there a market for used parts, and what parts have value, or should I just let the insurer keep the car and move on? I might buy the car back if I found a similar car with a blown motor/trans for example, then swap in this drive train from my burnt car. Any cars like that presently available?

Next, I am looking for a replacement car. Last time around I decided on a Turbo R as being something modern enough to drive on long trips with decent handling and performance, but not so complicated that I could still fix things myself as required. I had decided against the later Turbo R's as being progressively more complicated and possibly prone to head gasket issues, etc. so I wound up looking for 89/90 cars and found a really nice 1990 that I bought.

now I am wondering about looking at later cars, Bentley or RR. At what year/model do they become so complicated that a home mechanic can no longer look after them? Higher mileage would not be a bad thing, would look at higher mileage well maintained cars, after my recent experience recommissioning a low mileage car.

Suggestions and opinions welcome as to what to buy next! I am in western Canada, buying in Canadian dollars, currently weak against the USD.

Paul LeClair

ps, no I do not intend to post any photos of burnt out car and burnt out garage, too depressing, nor will I speculate on possible causes of the engine bay fire on an open forum. It is burnt up, I need to get on with dealing with the situation and buying another car.
 
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#2 ·
I dismantle cars all the time, never solely to make money on them but it sometimes makes sense to buy a whole car to fix other cars and selling off the parts you don't need feeds the hobby. My opinion on your situation?

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about this, I enjoyed reading your posts and feel terrible about this.
Should you dismantle it yourself and see if you can recover your costs? Unless your planning to buy another 1990 Turbo R and using this as a parts car, I would advice against it. What you'll tend to find is that fast moving parts like headlight, tail lights and grill will sell quickly but other parts take forever to unload. Unless you have the space to store it for years while you're picking it over, you're not going to make your money back.

I have a building full of Mercedes Benz parts. Some of the doors, hoods, fenders that I still own came off cars I dismantled in 2007. It's a slow process. If you're planning to get another, it's always good to have a parts car.
 
#3 ·
Hi Paul
Sorry to hear your bad news.
My car is in a an integral garage so my house would have gone too😳.
I will always use my isolation switch from now on!

I don't think I would buy the salvage on such a damaged car, but it's up to you.
Later cars have zytec injection and more computers, don't know what the arnage era use?
Good luck
Mike
 
#4 ·
Paul,
What a so sad news for you, after all what you have done and all what you have personnally been through.
So unfair

My opinion is based on some personnal details you gave me some time ago :

  • forget this car, get the money from the insurance, buy a new one in very good conditions and warranty
  • get the more money you can from the insurance, then either they take it out, either you try to sell it to a professional for parts very fast if you have somebody in mind.

But choose the fastest and most simple for you. Do not get headache just to make few cents more.

Keeping the car, dismantling it, stocking parts to sell them is a huge job, I don't think you should do that.

If you can afford a new car, do it and go to the simpliest.
You have waste enough time and energy and this Turbo R without enjoying the car really.

This car has gone by itself, that is a sign that you must passed to another one which will bring satisfaction.
Just try to get the maximum Now from the Insurance company.

Would you just tell us what is the reason in your opinion of the fire, in order we maybe use your experience for us ?
Is it linked to recent works in your opinion ?

Paul, You have much more important battles than this car. You need to enjoy and have pleasure and not spend time fixing, dismantling, selling parts.
There is a time for everything in life, your time is leasure, not more complications.
 
#5 ·
Hi Paul, so sorry to read the news. Your various posts on the ups and downs and up again with your Turbo R gave me encouragement to keep working away on my 1989. It must be very tough to take after all the hard work and investment on your part. At least nobody was injured in the fire. I'd agree with the sentiments of the previous posters - get the best deal you can from insurance and move on, hopefully to another car that will give you lots of pleasure - you deserve the next one to be faultless but wheres the fun in that! Kevin
 
#7 ·
Hi all

a few weeks ago my 1990 Turbo R suffered a catastrophic engine bay fire that then burnt though the fire wall and took out the dashboard etc, melted the windscreen, and so on. Car is a write off. I have a settlement offer from the insurance company that is not nearly enough for what I have into the car, and have to decide whether to accept the offer, with or without salvage rights on the car..

car had 51,000 kms, was in great mechanical and cosmetic shape, and I had just finished fixing everything over a two year period. Unfortunately the car was in my home garage/shop when it caught fire, gutted my garage as well.

decision to be made is to whether to buy it back from the insurance company for parts. Everything under the hood is ruined except the basic engine itself, all ancillaries under the hood are literally "toast". Hydraulic reservoirs are melted. Both front tires exploded when they burnt, although the front rims might be salvageable. Hood itself is now warped, both front fenders are warped and bare of paint, Interior was mint but now heavily smoke damaged.

for parts, engine block complete, transmission, rest of the drive train, lots of little parts, most things pretty much from the fire wall back would be salvageable.

opinions on buying it back from the insurance? Not to repair it, but to break and sell off parts to recoup some of my loses if I take the insurers best offer? Is there a market for used parts, and what parts have value, or should I just let the insurer keep the car and move on? I might buy the car back if I found a similar car with a blown motor/trans for example, then swap in this drive train from my burnt car. Any cars like that presently available?

Next, I am looking for a replacement car. Last time around I decided on a Turbo R as being something modern enough to drive on long trips with decent handling and performance, but not so complicated that I could still fix things myself as required. I had decided against the later Turbo R's as being progressively more complicated and possibly prone to head gasket issues, etc. so I wound up looking for 89/90 cars and found a really nice 1990 that I bought.

now I am wondering about looking at later cars, Bentley or RR. At what year/model do they become so complicated that a home mechanic can no longer look after them? Higher mileage would not be a bad thing, would look at higher mileage well maintained cars, after my recent experience recommissioning a low mileage car.

Suggestions and opinions welcome as to what to buy next! I am in western Canada, buying in Canadian dollars, currently weak against the USD.

Paul LeClair

ps, no I do not intend to post any photos of burnt out car and burnt out garage, too depressing, nor will I speculate on possible causes of the engine bay fire on an open forum. It is burnt up, I need to get on with dealing with the situation and buying another car.
I would suggest you do not take the initial offer; ask them to reconsider.
 
#8 ·
insurer knows the value of the car is much greater than they are offering. They are claiming that there is a cap on the total dollar value coverage on the car, and that they have offered 100 percent of actual coverage. Actual coverage and relevant documents under review right now.

the car is unfortunately very badly damaged, and as my garage with all my tools accumulated over a lifetime was gutted by the fire, with garage and contents covered by same insurer, I suspect I may be a while before I have overall insurance claims resolved, so I may be better off to just leave the car to the insurer....

the garage rebuild is moving along quickly. The overall structure was salvageable, has been stripped out back to bare studs, sprayed with Kilz primer to block smoke odour, electrician has put in a new panel and completely rewired, I ran a new compressed air distribution system in the bare walls, all new insulation has been going in for past two days and should be ready for drywall by end of the week. Then new gas furnace has to be installed before drywall taping and mudding, paint, etc..

I am shopping for a replacement air compressor, my existing 80 gallon three cylinder single stage got cooked. As it has to be replaced anyway I will probably throw in the extra cash to go dual stage. I have to deal with what kind of flooring to use, my existing floor was 3/4 inch rubber 6 ft by 4 ft interlocking panels which I really liked but apparently are no longer available. Firemen cut out my heavy duty security shutter garage door when the fusible link in it resulted in it coming down with firemen in the garage and resulted in them cutting the door out with a huge powered saw. I have a new security shutter door on order but at the moment one of the single garage door openings is filled with plywood, etc., etc..

It is going to take some time to be back up and ready to get back to my hobbies. I have not yet even made time to even look at the eight motorcycles which were in the second garage bay (including three Laverda triples) and are now in a neighbor's garage stinking up his garage with an overwhelming smoky odour . All eight of the bikes were registered and insured (all with the same insurer as the Bentley and the garage), each motorcycle apparently will be a separate claim with a separate deductible, I don't even want to think about this any more for now............:cry:
 
#10 ·
shopping for replacement for my 90 Turbo R, I have looked at and decided against three cars so far. Then this ad just popped up local to me Rolls Royce. Just out of very long term storage As new | Classic Cars | Calgary | Kijiji

have not contacted the seller yet. Would need inspection, and the price seems high, but anyone have any thoughts on what to look for on a car "Just out of very long term storage"? Not really a selling feature for me, assuming I would have to do tires, various other rubber bits, brake and suspension hydraulics, etc....

Paul LeClair
 
#12 ·
It looks stunning, but as you say the “Just out of long term storage” line is a concern.

Sounds like he has a few “toys” thus its likely it’s not been run up regularly, and we all know the havoc this wreaks on the hydraulics, seals etc. It’s always a lottery but generally would be less risky buying one that has been in somewhat regular use.
 
#13 ·
spoke to current owner, he says he bought it 9 months ago out of long term storage and did some basics to recommission it and have it pass our government safety mechanical inspection to get it registerable. Claims the tires are OK as they car was on blocks and tires off the ground for however many years it was in storage, raising more concerns that he thinks old tires are fine. Anyway, it looks great cosmetically in the photos, and it is local to me. I am going to arrange to see it, and if I decide to proceed will have it fully inspected by the local Rolls dealer. I have also found two Turbo R's to look at. I have only ever driven my own Turbo R, no idea what a non turbo car like this Spirit will be like.
 
#14 ·
How many years stopped ? Completely stopped or started sometime ?
Globally, if you do all fluids, chack hoses, replace all filters, replace spheres, it seems attractive.
I like low mileage cars. If they have been just started sometime thats ok.to keep them.
A major service and few repairs and it shiuld bring pleasure.

What you may look is if there is an oil leak between engine and transmission under.
Check if A/C is working, break leaks ....

Make an offer at your price.
1989 is a good year with good power, you will enjoy.
 
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