  V445 Pup was a peculiar nova with no hydrogen spectral lines during the
outburst. The spectrum contained strong emission lines of carbon, oxygen,
calcium, sodium, and iron. We have performed digital processing of photographic
images of the V445 Pup progenitor using astronomical plate archives. The
brightness of the progenitor in the B band was 14.3 mag. It was a periodic
variable star, its most probable period being 0.650654+/-0.000011 day. The
light curve shape suggests that the progenitor was a common-envelope binary
with a spot on the surface and variable surface brightness. The spectral energy
distribution of the progenitor between 0.44 and 2.2 micrometers was similar to
that of an A0V type star. After the explosion in 2001, the dust was formed in
the ejecta, and the star became a strong infrared source. This resulted in the
star's fading below 20 mag in the V band. Our CCD BVR observations acquired
between 2003 and 2009 suggest that the dust absorption minimum finished in
2004, and the remnant reappeared at the level of 18.5 mag V. The dust dispersed
but a star-like object was absent in frames taken in the K band with the VLT
adaptive optics. Only expanding ejecta of the explosion were seen in these
frames till March 2007. No reddened A0V type star reappeared in the spectral
energy distribution. The explosion of V445 Pup in 2000 was a helium flash on
the surface of a CO-type white dwarf. Taking into account the results of modern
dynamic calculations, we discuss the possibility of a white-dwarf core
detonation triggered by the helium flash and the observational evidence for it.
Additionally, the common envelope of the system was lost in the explosion.
Destruction in the system and mass loss from its components exclude the future
SN Ia scenario for V445 Pup.
