Ford Pinto

I think it is safe to say that most of us, by the age of 10 years old, know the comfort of sitting next to, or around, a nice warm fire. However, this memory can go from calming to alarming faster than a Dodge Demon goes from zero to sixty, when the fire is inside your car, and you happen to be sitting in the driver's seat. I am talking, of course, about the infamous Ford Pinto. On one hand, it was a simple, one time use, instant campfire. On the other hand, when you "set it off" it was not only likely to make you the object being cooked. Not only that, but it would most likely set fire to all the hillbilly's farms and crops as your four-wheeled petrol bomb detonated in a massive explosion and more than a fain whiff of American pride. This car, first built in 1971 is also probably the reason that anyone who was old enough to drive around that time is deathly afraid of parallel parking, mostly because they are still afraid that their car will detonate if the come into the massive Bentley behind them. So next time your mother circles the block endlessly, claiming that she needs a space two and a half cars log to park her tiny little smart car, now you know why. This may also have answered the question that you have as to what the massive bang noise you heard on your street at 10:30 pm last night was, and, when you woke up this morning, you found a charred and smoking Ford badge on your doorstep.