Burning Cars 9/11

The National Press Club, Washington DC, a few years ago.

I'm the only Brit sitting with a bunch of American journalists having a few drinks late one Saturday afternoon.  I'm on my second JD and listening to the others, wondering what hot topics they were going to cover.  It wasn't long before they moved off the latest sex scandals of Capitol Hill and onto the Great 9/11 Conspiracy; not the brilliantly executed al-Qaeda terror plot, of course, but the one perpetrated by the US Government.

I said nothing, happy to look and learn, but I couldn't hide behind my shot glass forever.  "Hey, Don!  What do you think?"  They were buying the drinks which obliged me to perform.  "I think al-Qaeda did it."

Jaws dropped, they gasped and stared at me as though I'd suggested the founding fathers used to eat their children.  Eventually one of them said, "If it was just the AQ operatives in the planes, how did they manage to set fire simultaneously to so many cars throughout New York City?"

Jesus, was that the best they could do?  Remember, all these guys were journalists, some even claiming to be investigative journalists.  I wasn't in a position to spout statistics at them, but I have learned more talking to cops than I have to hacks.

Was is the most common reason in large western cities for the spontaneous combustion of the automobile?  In some places it is the attempt by criminals to destroy trace evidence in vehicles.  The cars might be stolen or there might be a body in the trunk.  In other places, the No 1 cause is the guy who wants to replace his old clunker with the shiny new model, courtesy of his insurance company.

But how does that explain a high incidence of car torching in Manhattan on 9/11?  Well, think about it.  Armageddon strikes the southern end of your city; what better opportunity to get rid of the rust bucket parked outside your front door?  "I looked outa the window and saw this jet engine land on my Buick!" you tell the insurance investigator.  "So where's the jet engine now?" he wants to know.  "Men in black came and took it away on a helicopter."