New headlight = Destroyed car

My car Bob needs to be inspected this month. Just as I realized this, his passenger side headlight went out. Since Dan is the man I nagged talked him into going to get a new headlight.  I thought he would take it somewhere and having them do it, but instead he took himself to Autozone and picked one up. That was Saturday. Then because we went to the Movies with Andy. (Sucker Punch), Dan waited until Sunday to put in the headlight. It took him about a half hour. He was so proud of himself for doing it too. He's not overly mechanically inclined, so to have accomplished this, was a thrill for him.
Once he was done, I begged convinced him that we should go out to dinner. We haven't been out since we went last weekend when we went out with Andy and Stef. So he gave in agreed, and we decided we'd go to Chuck-a-Rama.
Because I made such a fuss was excited about getting a new headlight, Dan decided that I would drive. So off we went. I went down to Redwood Road, got onto East Bound 215 and headed to Fashion Place Mall. Just before we got off the freeway I started smelling something. Then my idiot engine light started flashing on and off. I noticed the car had issues going. Soon the burning smell was heavier and the car would barely go. I got it into the restaurant parking lot, and parked it as far from the building as I could.

Dan got out and I popped the hood. There it was. Engine fire. I immediately turned off the car, pulled out the keys (don't know why. habit I guess), popped the trunk and went looking for a bottle of water. I used to keep water in Silver, but since Bob is so much newer, I never bothered.
I went to the front of the car to see Dan holding smoldering papers. huh?
I blew on the fire and was able to get it to go out. Dan ran into the restaurant and got some water. He poured it on the engine, and I took the papers and dumped them in the water.

The papers were actually the owners manual for the car. Dan had left the manual on the engine when he did the headlight. He completely forgot it and closed the hood.  He was so upset with himself, and I had to remind him several times that accidents happen. I actually started laughing. I mean what else could I do?  Yelling at him would not have helped, crying would have just upset me, and well, it was kinda funny.
I made him go eat and we called Bill to see if he could help. He suggested we call Charlotte and Tony to see if Tony could tow the car to the garage. He had been drinking so he called a friend who came and towed the car and then drove us home. He was a really nice guy and did it as a favor to Tony.

Dan called Paul our Mechanic this morning to tell him what happened and see what he could do. Dan just called me a few minutes ago to tell me that  Paul suggested we call the insurance company to put in a claim as the fire did a lot of damage. Paul thinks the insurance company will total the car. He said the damage is so sever that the car is really not salvageable. This sucks as this is the car we paid off. We really can't do another car payment, but I don't want to be down to one car. Now I have to wonder if we should try to get Silver back into service. Maybe this is why I balked at getting rid of him.   *sigh*

Mental note to those who are using the owners manual to help you change out a headlight. Leaving said manual on top of the engine block while driving on the freeway is not a good idea!