Here's a fun statistic for you: one-in-ten serious burn cases treated in Australia are from men tinkering with their cars at home. It's such a serious issue that, according to the Herald Sun, one-in-six victims treated at the Victorian Adult Burns Service in 2006 were careless or unlucky gearheads. Said one young victim "One thing i don't think I will ever forget is the pain. You don't think you can be put through that much and still survive." Yeah, but he's got a totally rad Falcon to show for it.
Actually, the kid in the story was pouring gas into a carburetor of a farm vehicle (maybe a Holden SS V-Series Ute?) when the vehicle burst into flame, causing him third degree burns on one side of his body. We like his outlook though.
"And the smell will stay with me too. It is never going to stop me playing around with cars, but obviously I will be respecting the petrol side of it a lot more."
Well put. [Herald Sun]