I drove a burning car without knowing it once. I had an old Cadillac, and had to replace the in-tank fuel pump (nasty job). I took it for a drive for several miles and was headed home down a residential street when I passed a house with some people out in the yard. They started yelling “Your car is on fire!”, so naturally I stopped and jumped out. Apparently, one of the fuel lines wasn’t tight enough and leaked gas on the tailpipe or caused a spark or some other cause, but my beater ‘81 Caddy burned to the ground while the cops and firemen watched. I was actually disappointed when the gas tank blew, because all that happened was a “WHOOMPF!” and the gas cap blew about 50 feet. It wasn’t much of a loss, except for the $120 fuel pump, 2 good tires, and my labor in installing the pump (incorrectly, apparently). Oh yeah, and a tank of gas.
If that tank was close to empty it would have been a much bigger kaboom
You thought it was a beater but it became a burner.
sorry.