I made a rocket car last week. No, really… I did.
OMG that bought back a ton of memories.
About 1960 I built a rocket car from Mechanno (Erector).
The rocket motor was a large aerosol can about a foot long with the valve unit removed and replaced with a 6 inch long brass tube that I had pinched the end into 4 outlets.
The fuel was a mix of sugar and sodium nitrate weedkiller.
My mate and I experimented with proportions to get various speeds of burning from very slow for fuses, medium for rockets and very fast for explosives.
I filled the can with the rocket mix slightly dampened so I could tamp it in and make a hollow cone running from the narrow end of the can to 2/3rds down and let it dry for a week.
The pinched tube was inserted into the end and it was fixed to the Mechanno base and wheels.
In those days we could but something called jetex fuse for model jet engines so that was inserted down the tube to the point of the cone.
All set up, light fuse, retire to behind a concrete wall.
It was awesome, a pale blue and yellow flame about a yard long with pressure waves in it, the car took of at a fantastic speed to about 20 feet when it exploded in a gigantic explosion.
We legged it over the waste land to get home from a different direction in the hope no one would know who did this.
When I got home my father just said "Was that you?"
I said what?
You know.
All the gas flames on the stove went yellow from the metal dust in them being shaken loose from the blast.
We searched for the remains the next day but couldnt find any of them.
They were good days.