Howard Freeman sent us the photo above of a car (or what used to be a car) at the corner of 84th street and West End Avenue.
Update: Council member Helen Rosenthal says it was a “mechanical failure.” The car was pulled over at that spot and “no criminal mischief” is suspected.
If anyone has any more information, please do let us know at info at westsiderag dot com.
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Could just be a regular car fire. Modern cars with lots of wiring and computers and alternators tend to catch up in the rain. If it suspected arson it would probably be roped off, or at least flat bedded to the arson investigation lot in Red Hook.
Horrible! How is it that there are no surveillance cameras in the area. Most buildings on West End Ave. have them all over the place. And what about the doormen in this and neighboring buildings? I certainly hope they are being questioned by the police.
Looks like someone got coal this year
Hoverboard
It’s a Range Rover. A truck, not a car. It’s British. You buy a British car out of love for the marque, not because it will serve you well, mechanically. British automotive electrics are the worst. There’s the old joke, why do the British like warm beer? Cuz they have Lucas refrigerators. A car joke.
The main reason Jaguars got a lot more reliable in the mid-90s was that Ford bought them. Ford did a lot of things wrong, but they could build a reliable wiring harness, and that made the cars more reliable.
On 12/23 in front of Fred’s (83rd & Amsterdam) saw a lady shouting her head off (hadn’t seen someone shout like that in a long time!) to a man in a Range Rover.
For the life of me couldn’t remember the color (might have been silver), but do remember it had NJ plates. Can give more details if this is the car – just send me an email (admin) left with this comment.
Usually it’s a Ferrari or Lamborghini that self-immolates. But earlier RRs are not known for their reliability.
Egad! And I thought it was just those darn Hoverboards that self-immolate!
This Range Rover car exploded after 2:00 AM on the morning of December 26th. The occupants told a doorman in my apartment building that they parked the car, got out, noticed a smell, and then the car exploded and burned. The location is on 84th between West End and Broadway, not West End Avenue. No one was hurt, and adjacent cars do not seem to be affected.
Someone put a sign on it that it was an electrical fire and no one was hurt. The car was removed sometime yesterday afternoon. Fortunately I don’t think it spread to adjacent cars or buildings. Amazingly, the tires seemed to be in perfect condition.