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Rare muscle car 'erupts' in flames at petrol station

Ethan GudgeSouth of England
News imageAlan Mutton Composite image. On the left is a bright blue Pontiac Firebird with an eagle painted on its bonnet. On the right is a man with a fire extinguisher running towards the Pontiac Firebird which is on fire. There is a lot of smoke.Alan Mutton
The rare Pontiac Firebird caught light at Tesco Petrol Station in Abingdon

An onlooker has described the moment a vintage American muscle car "erupted" into flames at a petrol station.

Alan Mutton, from Kennington in Oxfordshire, said he had been admiring the 1979 Pontiac Firebird at Tesco petrol station in Abingdon on Saturday.

Having headed back to his own vehicle to fill it up, Mutton said he saw "flames erupt from underneath" the vintage vehicle.

Mutton, alongside the vehicle's owner and fellow onlookers, tackled the blaze, extinguishing it before crews from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue arrived.

"As I was filling up my car, this chap arrives in this big American heavy Trans Am, so we got out, had a look at it and took some photographs," Mutton explained.

"It's not something you see often and it was obviously this guy's pride and joy, so he was pleased to show us."

News imageGetty Images American actor Burt Reynolds as Bo 'Bandit' Darville, in 'Smokey And The Bandit', 1977.Getty Images
The Pontiac Firebird was made famous in the Burt Reynolds film Smokey and the Bandit

Pontiac began making the Firebird in the mid-1960s and it achieved global fame in the 1970s when Burt Reynolds drove a black and gold one in the hit film Smokey and the Bandit.

The cars were never officially sold in the UK market - those seen on British roads are mostly rare private imports.

Mutton said he and the 1979 Firebird's owner had finished filling up when "I looked across and the flames erupted".

"I could feel the blasts of the heat from the flames," he said. "I drove my car away, up near the fire extinguishers, jumped out of the car, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and ran back and started to have a go at putting the flames out.

"We emptied every extinguisher that we had we could see and luckily, by the last one, the flames had thankfully gone out because they kept reigniting."

News imageAlan Mutton A fire damaged blue pontiac firebird. It has lost much of its colour and is grey, and covered in the contents of fire extinguishers.Alan Mutton
The fire was extinguished by the car's owner, alongside Alan Mutton and other onlookers

Mutton added petrol station staff had been "really good" and helped to evacuate people from the forecourt during the blaze.

In a statement, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had received reports of the car fire at the petrol station, on Marcham Road, at about 08:30 BST on 30 May.

It said three crews from Abingdon, Didcot and Rewley Road fire stations had been sent to the scene.

"On arrival crews found that the fire had already been extinguished," the service added.

The BBC has contacted Tesco for a comment.

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