No need for a translation... photos will speak for themselves. (on the 7th photo you will find the probable cause) http://www.waldnet.nl/wn/fotonieuws/7798/Autobrand_Waldwei.html
Shortly after the bearing failed, overheated and started the fire. Very sad to see a nice VC burn to the ground.
I feel for the owner, man that would rip your guts out! At least by the pics everyone got out OK, I'm sure there would have been alot more comotion cout in the pics if people were hurt.
last time I came upon a car fire it just happened to be a cab with a samalian driver and i had to pull the guy out of the car as it was ready to burst into flames and this fool was trying to get into the car safe where they trow their big denomination bills, instead of hiding them in their jockey shorts or loin clothes. As I pulled this dumb fxxx out the car he started swinging at me and the car whooshed into flames and he got distracted from swinging at me and decided he could still reach into the car and continue scooping out his personal property. So much for Minnesota nice. Never even Thanked me. That olds wagon will truly be missed except all nice cars get recycled here in MN and the sky window will find its way onto the top of a nice VW bus I am certain.
I don't think the crispy roof, let alone the roof windows, will be finding their way on to anything. What is that weird trailer used for? Fire extinguisher? I saw pics of one that did the same thing but the wheel came off and hit the tank, another where a piece of steel angle iron kicked up and punctured the tank. If you drive fast enough with the flames trailing behind you'll outrun them when the car finally runs out of gas. The same technique as the movie "Speed" but the tank is the bomb that will go off if you slow down or stop. A bus gets way better mileage than a Vista Cruiser so it would be a short film. I'll have to post this on the Olds site, they'll flip out.
All I can say is that given the bolt-in design of the Type O axles and the larger VC wheel bearings, this bearing had to be making LOTS of noise for a long time before it came off like that.
