WTF? OMG! (*)

Last week you read about the saga of retrieving the Peugeot - pictured in all its glory left, from the dealer I had left it with. Satisfactorily fitted with another new battery, we took it home and wedged it moderately successfully into the non-existent fourth spot in the driveway.

We stuck it in the Trading Post and got three calls before the print edition even came out. Not wanting to go through the hassle of finding out what it needs for roadworthy, we suggested it needed an enthusiast prepared to get a bit dirty and were selling it unregistered (ie I take back the plates once it was sold). And that was exactly what we got (in fact the third caller also sounded ultra keen but realistic about what the deal was).

However, the first caller lives up the top end of the Sunshine Coast so there was some to-ing and fro-ing about would I let him post the number plates back. As it seemed like today would be a nice day, and offspring number 2 offered to forgo a day's pay to come up with me, I said I'd bring it to him as I was pretty sure he'd take it.

And he did. He gave it pretty good going over but suggested that it was in far better condition than he expected (the picture is misleading as it dates from when I first got it, in 1998). We did the deal and offspring and I started back. We stopped by the Maroochydore Surf Club for lunch and after an hour or so, we hit the Bruce Highway back to Brissie. Just after Aussie World we saw a plume of smoke up ahead and as we neared, it seemed pretty strong. It was car on fire on the northbound side. It was a red car. It was a red Peugeot 405 Mi16...

So what were the chances? Had he whacked some plates on it and taken it for a fang? Offspring no 2 and I agreed that this was exactly what either of us would have done. I had rabbitted on a bit to him about what a superb road car it was, including a few brief spurts well over the posted limit on the way up, and so he'd have had plenty of time to do it. We couldn't use the easiest indicator to check if it was our old one - a slightly faded offside front guard - because the flames were all over it from the windscreen forward. The wheels looked like series 2, not series 1, but....

Well, we had to go back and check, didn't we? It took us 10 minutes to get to a place we could turn. By the time we got back there was a substantial traffic bank-up....and the whole car was well alight - utterly engulfed in flames. But it was not the car we had just sold - the driver and his passenger were standing helplessly looking on and it wasn't our buyer.

There are a few of those red Mi16s about, but not too many. Who'd believe it, eh?

(*) I don't think this a song title. But it's what offspring no 2 and I agreed was a suitable expression of (first) alarm and (second) that sinking feeling.