i like cristal lake, illinois, they celebrate the 5th of july or how to do something out of nothing

do it yourself firecracker am-lis-troit 9000 for the 5th of july 2011
detailed instructions on assembly and usage will follow on printed manual soon available in a local shop close to you



when i grew up in the suburbs of lisbon, we used to make our own fireworks with used car spark plugs. we would run off to the car repair mechanic shop and ask one of the workers for their used spark plugs and car bolts. they would pass us a box full of them, covered in car oil, with a look on their faces like 'why the hell these kids want used spark plugs, and why are they so happy about getting them?'

we would look for the heaviest, and biggest spark plug that could carry the most fire match heads as possible, and a bolt that would fit into the hole of the spark plug. those would be hard to find, and that actually was what would take longer to find, sometimes even making us visit one other car repair shop.

being in detroit during the independence day of 4th of july, which is celebrated with fireworks and surrounded by cars and auto service shops, made me remember those days and see if it could be possible to do that firecracker here as well.

it turned out that car repair mechanic shops are the same everywhere, and they didnt change much from back in the days (though my dad, back in Lisbon, Portugal, nowadays drives a citrôen C5 with an engine made of plastic and ceramic operated by a central computer chip which you cant really fix on your own when it breaks down).