I've witnessed a few of these during my life time. Gasoline fires spread at a very rapid rate. So rapid, it will take your breath away. Please check your fuel lines and fuel tanks for leaks, etc. if old, cracked or brittle, time to replace.

https://people.com/tv/jay-leno-suffered-serious-burns-after-gasoline-fire/

Wow. Makes you stop and think about the price involved in keeping some of these old, old relics running.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

At this point in time, we don't know the year, make or model of car....it might have been an old vintage car or it might been a newer model.......

one thing for sure, if you haven't checked the fuel lines, fuel system components and condition of your fuel tank in awhile, this might be a great time to perform a thorough check......

They said “steam car” in the article. I know from past reading that he has at least a Stanley steamer and a more modern Doble. The latter was pretty much the pinnacle of the steam car.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

There is a good reason the steam cars did not catch on. I read he was attempting to crank his steam car.

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Jim

Crank is not the right word.

I met an older fellow in 1979. He was 89. He was a passenger in my cab. His wife had died, they had no children. I really liked him, we became buddies. He related a lot of the history of the auto to me. His father had been a banker in Lincoln, Nebraska, they were one of the wealthiest familes. They had the first auto in town, a Buick.

He told me an uncle who had had polio in his youth and wasn't strong enough to operate the crank on an internal combustion car, so he had steamers. No crank there, you just light the boiler. He owned the three big names that I know of - Stanley, White, and Doble.

They had some good features but there were problems to be sure.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I thought about that (using crank instead of "fire up") after I had posted. I suspect the torque was substantial on a steam car.

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Jim

They have no transmission and don't shift gears except for backing up. Actually I don't know much about them at all. I was sure though you cannot crank them to start them.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Theres a youtube video where Leno is trying to start a steamer that uses gasoline in the burner where he said it can and has shot flames out when lighting. He said the same in an episode of My Classic Car.

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Satan creates nothing: he only ruins everything. He does not invent: he tampers. And his followers are no different ~ Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigaṇ

The old fellow who had seen his uncle's three steamers in action told me that yes they have substantial torque but also a high degree of control over it.

He said that if a steamer got momentarily stuck in a muddy ditch, all they had to do was gently let the pressure into the engine and it would oh so slowly motor out of trouble. He said on a IC car, as you'd let out the clutch you were introducing hard taps to the driving wheels, every time a piston fired it was a sudden bit of hard torque and the wheels would start spinning. He said it was something to see a steamer get out of the mud in a scenario where an "internal combustion engine powered car would be stuck yet!"

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K