Farewell to the Dear Departed Olsmobile '98

So we were driving the "boat" (i.e. 1967 Oldsmobile 98--David's pride and joy) home from a show in Broomfield a couple of weeks ago, and it caught on fire. Then it burned up. Now it is gone forever.

Our friends were following us that night; they were going to stay at our house. At first they thought it was a trick when they saw the flames. Ron said later that he remarked, "Boy, Dave really has that car tricked out like the batmobile." Then they started to become concerned.

We, on the other hand were sailing along, unaware that flames were blazing underneath the car. As we headed for a downhill stretch, there was a popping sound and the car lost power. Dave said, "Uh oh" and started wrestling with it to get it into a grocery store parking lot. He rolled it up to a parking curb away from the other vehicles in the lot and only then could I see the flames. We jumped out and Dave pulled out his banjo from the back seat and then we stepped away from the car, but stopped to look at it. A young guy ran by saying he was going to try to find a fire extinguisher.

Our friends pulled in and parked a little ways away and yelled at us to get away from the car. So I picked up the banjo and trudged over to them. The car continued to blaze. Dave stood a little ways away and watched his baby go up in flames. I kept waiting for the car to explode but it never did. I never saw a car on fire before--it's a scary thing with the potential for explosion.

The police roared in and a couple of minutes later, the fire department followed and started hosing the hell out of the car. I knew that was pretty much the end of that car.

I have thought a few times about how we drove to the show that night and there was just nothing like the way the car smelled. It was just so awesome.

We don't know why the car caught on fire. It had been driven recently. It had been serviced in the last couple of months. I guess it was just one of those fluke things. The garage sure seems huge without it in there.

The only time I ever drove it was when I first got my bass and that was the only vehicle we had at the time that the bass would fit into. I drove that car out to Niwot to Dan and Gail's house for a jam. The other cars coming toward me on the road swerved when they saw me coming. It was a monster.