[peterux]

There are some interesting articles in this months Pitstop which is the magazine for the Marlin Owners Club.(BTW it is always a good read so if your not a member do join up!)

One of the Sportster owners had his fuel tank fall off due to the galvinised straps failing. From the picture it looks some corrosion was to blame.
The car was built in 1998 and had covered some 30/35,000 miles (Wow!!)

he has replced them with 4mm thick stainless steel straps.

Something worth putting on the annual checklist.
Luckily apart from holing the tank and loosing all his tankfull of petrol down a drain there was no further damage.

Unlike the other poor soul who's Berlinetta caught fire on the way home from the Stoneleigh show weekend. Luckily somebody flashed him and he had time to stop and get out of the car before the tank exploded blowing off the roof and passenger door. The prevaling fire and smoke closed the motorway for 20 minutes. Needless to say the pictures show not much left of his beautiful car and the heat was so intense it melted his rear alloys!!

The car had just undergone a restoration and complete re-spray. He doesn't know the root cause but it was a rear end fire so presumably fuel leak or an electrical problem. Luckily he escaped with just a hurt pride.