Disaster!!
 

Looks like I'll be starting over from almost stage one. Had my truck at a friends shop so he could install the VintageAir system and his heater decided to explode and burn up his shop. Once we get it moved into a dry facility we can start removing everything from the frame for blast and re-powder coat. The cab will need to be stripped, seam sealed and undercoated again. The engine is suspect as are most of the front suspension components and brakes.
The left front tire was burned off the rim so it was replaced so it could be rolled around. Lucky for my friend that he had gone inside his house for 5 minutes when something blew. He would have been right in the middle of the blast and burned very badly or worse. I'm extremely thankfull that he is OK. Trucks can be rebuilt or replaced but not friends.
Keep the worst case scenario in your mind when you leave your trucks with anyone. I'm lucky that he has good insurance and a lot of this will be paid by his insurance. Labor is another story. Oh well, I have nothing better to do with my spare time anyway.

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Holy crap, Batman

That has gotta sux , Glad to hear everyone was ok

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Let me know if I can try to find some parts for you. Good to hear your friend is ok! Much rather have the friend than the truck any day!

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Wow. Im glad to hear your buddy is uninjured. And sorry to hear about the truck. I hope everything goes ok during the rebuild. Let me know if theres any parts you need Ill give ya a fantastic deal.
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Ouch!! Oh man that's horrible! Glad your friend is ok and like you said, the truck can be rebuilt. If you make a list of parts you'll need I'm sure plenty of guys on here would be glad to donate parts to help you out!
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That's what I'm sayin....
We're really sorry .....an glad fer yer buddy.
Coulda been bad for him & his peeps.

I know I'm not right up the road, but I have quite a collection of goodies if you come up short on any components.
Don't be shy bout calling me or sending out a pm.

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Oh man, that really sucks. After all the work that’s gone into it. But as you’ve said it could have been much worse. Sad part of life is that things can change overnight for no reason, and can’t always be prevented. Thank goodness the car above didn’t fall on it.

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That stinks big time. Glad everyone is ok.
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Good point, Mark.

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that sucks but you and your friend got lucky......mine was a little more toasted......as long as nothing warped bad it should not be to bad to fix

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Man it's a good thing no one was hurt! The first time that I fired up my Harley after a long rebuild, it caught fire and burned the paint clean off. Square one. I know where you're at and feel for you. On a more positive note though, you've already figured out the hard stuff and it should go together faster this time. Good luck

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Now there's some live action fer ya...
That's too much excitement for me, right there...

Wrecker.......
Hope that one had a happy ending..or at least as close as you can get.

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eesh; that sucks dude.

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That's not cool.

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Wow!!! Glad no one got hurt nor did your friend lose his house. You are definitely correct, trucks can be rebuilt/bought but good friends never can!!!

Hope things get sorted out quickly and you can get restarted on your "new" project.

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dang, so sorry to hear...also glad you're friend is okay....good luck with the rebuild of the rebuild

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That is a disaster.
I hope you get things back on track.
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Wow, that does suck, but at the same time it looks like you got lucky as it appears the car above wasn't so lucky. Good thing your friend was lucky enough to not be in the shop, but close enough to get the situation handled. What knd of heater was it that blew up?

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This is a good reminder that sometimes our hobby can turn dangerous unexpectedly. Glad to hear no one was hurt.

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Thanks to everyone for your concern and generous offers of help. I think I'll be OK. None of the sheetmetal looks warped so I just have to restrip/clean all of it again. Same with the frame. All the front suspension and brakes will be re-done and the engine/trans will be gone thru. Mostly a lot of labor.

The car above mine was a '64' Comet convertible that my friend was restoring for himself. It appears to be totalled. Most of the flame and heat went straight up to his car. The hoist dropped about 4 inches to the safety stops and about 2 inches from the top of my truck so I was lucky that the entire load didn't crush my truck.

The heater was a diesel fueled space heater that he had used for years. There were also 2 small gasoline cans close by so I don't know what caused the explosion for sure but he was very lucky not to be hurt. I'm sure he will re-think his heating situation when he rebuilds the shop. This is a good reminder to all of us to look at all our flamable storage issues before an accident happens.

No matter how bad something seems there is always someone else that has a worse situation (like wrecker55). No one died or was injured and the rebuild will go on. Thanks again for all your concern.
Dean

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I'm glad know one was hurt.
Things like this are unfortunate, but I'm thankful that you shared your story here. I know from now on that I, and probably others, will take some extra precautions in our workspace. I plan on keeping a garden hose on standby near the garage from now on when I'm working with flammable things.

Glad the truck can be salvaged!

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Wow, Dean didn't think it was that bad. glad nobody got hurt. Let me know if your looking for anything else.

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That makes me sick to my stomach. I actually gasped when I first looked at your pictures... I too am very glad you are all safe, though!

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Bump for support to get this one back together! Let's see what all Dean needs and hopefully the board members will have the parts and be generous enough to donate them! Dean's been active in the classifieds lately, but lets help him get it back together without him having to shell out a ton of cash for parts that were ruined in the fire.

Dean, if you'll post a list of parts you need we'll do our best to get them to you!
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I'm in on that. Don't know that I have that he might need but if I have it and am not needing it then it's his.

Just let me know.