has this car caught fire?

[valerio]

Hello,
I would like to know your opinion as I have never see something like that before.
The resin looks damaged in the engine bay.

[valerio]

here

[valerio]

here

[valerio]

here

[snowyelan]

If you're referring to the bits of resin soaked glass hairs, like in pic 6, that aren't stuck down to the shell its normal. Having said that, most of what you show appears to be repairs, poorly done. Hard to tell if it is fire or accident that caused the damage.

[Andy8421]

If you're referring to the bits of resin soaked glass hairs, like in pic 6, that aren't stuck down to the shell its normal. Having said that, most of what you show appears to be repairs, poorly done. Hard to tell if it is fire or accident that caused the damage.

+1
It is difficult to see, but it looks as if part the front nearside wing may have been grafted on. With this and the patched damage to the interior panels, I would have guessed the car was subject to a front nearside impact. Pretty typical given the car's sporty nature. My Sprint has a new front which joins just in front of the wing repeaters which has not been fitted very well. Given the chassis (frame) was replace at the same time (early 80s) I suspect the car had a prang - it is very possible your car had the same fate.

If there had been a fire (which is always possible) it is usually over on the carburettor side of the engine.

[rgh0]

Some of it looks like heat damage from the exhaust being to close to the fibreglass

cheers
Rohan

[Donels]

It just looks like a very bad repair. It needs a proper repair by someone who knows what they’re doing and it doesn’t really matter whether it was accident or fire. In some ways fire would be better, as accident damage can appear in other unexpected areas.