Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing ACF-50 A cautionary tale

We had one French teenager who's parents sued us. Lighter in one hand can in the other in a shed. He couldn't get the lighter to light but kept spraying the aerosol. Result when it did light he fired the burning propellant onto his had burning it & exploding the propellant air mix. The shed caught fire & burnt down.

Ye God's! The youth of today! Presumably he was held responsible for his own actions and told to stop watching James Bond movies?

Well he got nothing from us but he was one of many.

When in school ( 6th form) we had a Science Society. After school sessions exploring things.
One was an explosives session. Started with adding sodium to water, burning magnesium. Then on to proper explosives. Gunpowder first. Blew a hole in a ceiling tile ( lid on the tin was too tight so a proper bang! Moved on to various other explosives, including a version of napalm. Igniting it was the hurdle but overcome. Nice fireball result! Outdoors not in the lab. Finally a cannon firing 1/4" ball bearings as an example of a practical use of gunpowder. Took it across to the nearby seashore, wedged it in the railway ballast embankment ( LARGE rocks) pointing across the Loughor estuary towards North Gower. Estimated range of 1/4 mile before we backed off for safety. Didn't want to shoot sheep or horses grazing on the salt marsh opposite.
Great fun in those Science Society sessions. Teachers were superb but these days would be frowned on.

Some of our science teachers were ex forces WW2, so very easy around flames and bangs. It was expected.

Yes, the things we were allowed to do at school.... the staff would go to jail for it now!

I remember motor mechanics lessons, We, the school, were donated an old car. Standard 8 or bull nose morris type of thing. Old fashioned even then as monocoque design and sub frames were taking over. The idea was to teach rudimentary car maintenance and simple repairs. When Our teachers discovered just how poor the bodywork was, it was decided that we would strip the body off and use it as a training aid and teaching tool so we could understand how a car worked and all the tech and engineering principles that go into designing one. So we all got on with that for a term. Stripping of the body, cleaning off what was to be kept and eventually it was deemed the right time to section the engine, gearbox and differential so that the internal mechanisms could be seen working.

Some of us had agreed to do this during the summer holidays by giving up one of our sailing days. Well, when we arrived on the first day to start the work the teachers decided it would be a good ides to see if we could get it running in order to flush the engine better of oil and water before we started removing the main components. We were told it ran by the person who donated the car so back on went the rad and hoses, topped up with water and checked other fluids etc. Of course it was still a rusty old lump and the clutch had stuck so some in gear violence took place until we managed to free it off! Then followed a few more rudimentary checks, distributor sorted and aligned correctly for timing, plugs cleaned and a dynamo drive belt fitted.

Would you believe it, it fired first turn of the key! A few such remarks as "blimy, better than my dad's car that". could be heard rippling through those there. One of the teachers then jumped into the one remaining seat, Fitted in order to manoeuvre the car in the workshop, and started to drive it around the school field! After 5 or so minutes he came back to the workshop with a big grin on his face and announced...... "I've got a great idea, we'll teach you boys how to drive a car this holiday so that when you start your lessons for real you'll have a head start"!

Well, true to their word they did exactly that. And in the group we all got some rudimentary training during the first half of the holiday and by the time we started to turn the car, sorry rolling chassis into a training aid we could all drive it around the field, use the gears and steer accurately. With the aid of some cones most of us learnt how to reverse park as well.

We would have been on news at 10 had we tried to do it in these days and not with being praised for excellent training and forward thinking, Oh no, more like a court appearance for teaching malpractice! AmI glad I was born when I was....... you bet I am!

As someone who really didn't like wasps, it did not take me long to realise that a can of WD40 and a lighter could quickly create a large ball of fire (outside! I'm not that reckless) that did not take much directing to surround a wasp in the air, and burn its wings off. All the better for stamping on.

I'd do it again today if I saw a hornet.

Remember the good old days when Sodium Chlorate Weedkiller mixed with sugar became quite the little explosive, until the "do gooders safety" came along and changed the formulation. Used to make little bombs out of 3 In One oil cans with a short fuse, depending on the ratio of the mix it would become quite a big little bomb. Those metal cigar holders became quite good rocket motors or missiles, most likely the reason I joined the military.

Weed killer for me too but Hair Lacquer was tops for flame throwing when there was any Mod - Rocker altercations at Great Yarmouth, good for keeping a little distance between you and the knuckle dusters.

And "They" say todays yoof's are irresponsible, shame on you all for admitting that you had this sort of fun.