I used to have a 59 Ferrari 250 GT. At the time of this incident I had a partner in the ownership of it. I was working on the car he was supplying the money for parts. I had gone through the three carburators at least three times or so. One day I went to start it up and so turned on the electric fuel pump and waited for it to pump the carbs full. After a while I gave the starter a whirl and it just turned a bit and stopped abruptly.
I decided a float on one of the carbs had stuck and the fuel had filled a cylinder making a hydrolock preventing the engine from turning over.
So I figured out which cylinder it was and pulled the spark plug and went to turn it over to pump the gas into a rag. On a 59 250 GT it is called an INside plug engine because the plugs are inside the 60 degree v12 under the carburators.
I neglected one step in the process unfortunately....disconnecting the coil.
So I cranked the starter and the cylinder pushed the gas out and into the rag and the coil fired the spark plug wire lying there and the gas in the rag ignited. yikes!
The flames reached nearly the garage ceiling. Not only was the car and engine in jeaprody I only owned half of it all. So I grabbed a big rag and tried to smother the flames. Soon it flared right back up....I smothered it again and it flared right back up....finally I realized my rag full of gas was the source of the flames and grabbed it and tossed it over my shoulder.
I immediately began to study the Ferrari engine to see what might have been damaged....not too bad.....suddenly I heard a crackle behind me and turned around to see my rag igniting stuff along the wall of my garage!!!!
So I ran over there and stomped it out.
After checking to be sure nothing on the Ferrari was flaming and my garage was out I realized my heart rate was way up.
So I went into the house and relaxed and had a cup of coffee to reflect on the whole situation.
I discovered about a year later one of the throats of the weber carb had partially melted so I ordered a new one.
I have a whole new respect for what can happen with too casual an attitude around gasoline and sparks.
