It’s a sickening sound for everybody nearby: the noise an engine makes when it’s suddenly freed from the load it should have been carrying. The RPMs go zinging through the roof while noises that sound like a blender full of bolts churn underneath, or worse, there’s one heavy “thud” and that’s that. The smell of gear fluid suddenly hits your nostrils, and occasionally, there’s fire, just to add salt to the wound. When the running gear of the car fails on the strip, it usually does so in spectacular fashion, and the fiery pop that this Ford Cortina experiences is spectacular: As soon as the green light goes, the car pulls down to launch, but halfway through the “leaping” phase of the launch, either the transmission or the rear axle exit the scene and the Ford bounces back down to earth, with fire licking from underneath the car. Luckily, the fire goes out about as quickly as it came, but that doesn’t mean everything is fine. A quick glance under the car shows gear oil hemmoraging out and pieces of parts, some small and some large, scattered everywhere. At least the driver can walk away knowing that something as stupid as a loose wire or a fuel issue didn’t ruin his weekend, and that if anyone asks he can point to the pile of shrapnel that used to be a transmission and say proudly that he really did blow it up!
I’ve never seen a chopped Cortina before. Especially one that shits out its running gear on demand. Better luck next time for this is one sweet little beauty!