i had an alternator plug on a 90 ford tbird catch on fire.. new alt came with a new plug. was coming back from beach.. smoke roleld out from under hood.. digital dash started blinking.. I pulled into an auto store and popped hood... fire! store manager ran out with a fire extinguisher! tow truck pulled in and jumped out with a wire cutter and cut the wires off the al as it kept starting the fire back up.
store gave me a good deal on an alt and tow truck driver gave me a good deal on a tow.
was my lucky day for a car fire i guess.
that was years ago mind you.
only other car fire I had was an audi that had the battery under the back seat. again.. coming home from beach.. some metal portion of underwire in cushions somehow rubbed a wire thru and made smoke... was an easy fix with a floormat..