A bystander may have saved a motorist from injury recently when the car he was driving in Upper Milford Township caught fire and quickly was destroyed by flames, according to police.

To make matters worse, the vehicle was a 1976 Volkswagen Beetle, now a classic.

David B. Hamilton, 63, of Emmaus was traveling north on Chestnut Street at 2:14 p.m. July 14 when a loud boom was heard from the left rear wheel well of the car, according to state police at Fogelsville. An unnamed witness saw the trouble and got the attention of the driver.

Hamilton pulled the car onto Ramer Road and then to the side of the thoroughfare as fire broke out and soon engulfed the car, police said. Hamilton was not injured.

Vera Cruz Fire Department extinguished the blaze, but not before the car was ravaged by flames, according to scanner transmissions.