<VV> Battery on fire

[Mark Clarke]

I had a rather unusual experience today while driving my '63 Monza
convertible.  After driving my car for about 5 minutes, I thought that I
smelled a burning odor.  I was hoping that it was another car, but since the
odor persisted, I decided to pull over to make sure that I hadn't thrown a
fan belt.  Much to my surprise (and horror), my battery was on fire in the
engine compartment.  I am not talking sparks, but rather shooting flames and
smoke.  I immediately shut the car off and doused the flames with a bottled
water that I had on hand.  Since I was only about 2 miles from home, I
decided to see if the car would start so that I could get it back home.  It
started with no problem and I was able to make it home without further
incident.

I wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts as to what may have caused the
battery to go up in flames.  I have heard of exploding batteries, but have
never heard of one catching on fire.  As far as background information, the
battery (an Interstate model) was approximately 3 years old.  I must confess
that I had not recently checked it to make sure the cells had plenty of
water, but neither had I experienced any issues with starting the car.
Although not a daily driver, I had just taken it on an 800 mile round trip
to Oklahoma City (from Houston) for the Great Plains roundup and I
experienced no problems on the trip.

Any thoughts, comments or input is greatly appreciated.

Mark Clarke
President. Corvair Houston
'63 Monza Convertible, 84 hp, pg