Reply to "Pantera Fire"

Did you see the fire flash on the ground under the driver's door?

You can't over fill the gas tank. If you do, the filler neck is higher than the air vent at the top of the tank and a pint or two of gas will spill out the vent tube, running down the frame and onto the ground under the driver's door.

The vendors sell a check valve which would have prevented the fire.

Stop filling your Pantera gas tank the first time the gas nozzle clicks off. That means it's full. If you over fill, it will spill unless you have a check valve, increasing chances for fire.

Mr. Ferrari probably didn't want to go back in the gas station to get $0.35 change, so he wanted to fill it to the top of the filler neck. Ferrari has a transverse engine, and the proximity of the headers are even that much more dangerous for fires caused by over filling. And this time of year, his headers were probably very hot. Could have also been thathe left the radio on (the key on), the Ferrari in 1st gear, no parking brake on, and bumped the car forward or backward. Just enough for the ignition source to come from the distributor or spark plug wire or faulty 'hot' wiring and a ground source. Any ignition source will do. Vapors of gasoline are more prone to cause fire than liquid gasoline. Hot weather, over filling the gas tank (with no check valve on the tank vent tube) and any ignition source equals FIRE!

Let's learn from this unfortunate guy.