The moment it landed in Liverpool, Paul J. Tusek's 1906-model Stanley Steamer turned the first Anglo-American Vintage Car Rally into a private competition with calamity. Like most antique cars, the "Stanley Gentlemen's Speedy Roadster" showed some stubborn and u predictable quirks. Its temperamental burners, which require a mixture of kerosene and gasoline, could not stomach the English brands. Its pilot light went out, steam pressure dropped, and the boiler filled with the fumes of unburned fuel. Tusek (an ex-paratrooper) tried to light things up again, but touched off an explosion that flashed flames all over the car and started the boiler's...
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