CAR ON FIRE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5070, 31 December 1926, Page 2

CAR ON FIRE.

BENZINE PIPE IGNITES. 4 NEW ESSEX DAMAGED. » At one o’clock on Tuesday morning the slumber of local residents was rudely broken by the ringing pf the, flrebell. The conflagration proved to be a 1926 model five-seater Essex motor-car, whibh had caught firs, whe.re it stood near .the- old gold refinery bolding in Willoughby Street. / It .appears that Mr W. Foley, buildea", Paeroa, had just driven the car through from Auckland, and was in the act of taking his packages out of the back when the front, portion of the. car burst into flames’. The fire appeared to originate near the vacuum tank, and it quickly spread round the engine and dashboard. Mr Foley seized a sack and managed to smother the flames, but in the act his left hand was painfully burned. The fire brigade, under Captain W. Moore, was quick on the. scene, but its services were not required. The damage to the ca'r was ’Coin-’ paratively slight, the wiring and bQn-: zine control being burned through and the bonnet and engine scorched. , The cause of the outbreak is thought to have been a short circuit, which by some means ignited the benzine feed-pipe. ‘ The car, which was a new one, had only been purchased by'Mr Foley at Auckland on Thursday last. The owner is not yet certain i’f his car is covered by insurance.