Nick was driving his modified Nissan 370Z to a dentist appointment when he smelled something burning.
At first, he couldn't tell where it was coming from.
But when he stopped at a red light, smoke started pouring out from under the hood.
"I felt kind of panicked," Nick said. "I was trying to figure out what was on fire and how big it was, while also trying to get out of traffic and turn off the car as fast as I could."
Nick pulled over to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and pulled the hood release.
At that moment, he didn't know whether he was about to face a small fire, or the end of the car he had spent years building.
Like a lot of young enthusiasts, Nick grew up inspired by Fast & Furious. He loved the idea of taking a factory car and turning it into something faster, sharper, and unmistakably his own.
He's always loved cars, but his 370Z was the first car he truly modified himself.
Over the years, Nick added 3-inch intakes, long tube headers, a cat-back exhaust, coil-overs, carbon hood and fenders, a spoiler, sway bars, and much more.
He never cut corners, either, investing more than $30,000 in parts alone.
"I like to go with name companies," Nick said.
After putting that much time, money, and work into the car, Nick decided he needed to install a fire extinguisher.
"I figured since I was modifying it and it wasn't stock anymore, the risk for anything happening was a lot higher," Nick said. "Since I had put so much into the car, if it did catch fire, I needed to be able to save it."
He mounted an H3R Performance extinguisher on a chassis brace behind his seat, where he could reach it fast in an emergency.
That detail mattered.
The extinguisher wasn't buried in the trunk or sliding around loose in the car. It was mounted where he could reach it, release it, and put it to work fast.
When Nick lifted the hood, he found smoke and flames coming from the A/C clutch pulley.
He aimed, sprayed the extinguisher, and the fire went out immediately.
Then he watched carefully to make sure it didn’t flare back up. But the fire was out, and his car was safe.
The fact that he'd mounted his extinguisher within easy reach meant he was able to stop the fire while it was still small, containing the damage before it spread.
If he hadn't, things could have gone very differently.
"Without the extinguisher, there was a possibility the whole car could have gone down," Nick said.
After he towed the car home and took a closer look, what surprised him was the root cause of the fire.
It didn't start because of his aftermarket intakes, headers, exhaust, or any other upgrades he'd made.
The component that caught fire was factory-standard.
"Whether your car is stock or not, I would definitely say get an extinguisher," Nick said. "Because the part on my car that burned was actually OEM."
Don't wait until you smell smoke to think about fire protection.
Get an extinguisher built for vehicle use, and mount it where you can reach it fast.
Because you never know when, or how, the next fire will start.
"At the time, it might seem slightly expensive. But in the long run, it saved my project, and my investment. Having that protection saved my car."
— Nick Sharp
Protect What You Can't Replace
H3R Performance extinguishers are built with durable all-metal construction and designed for the demands of street, track, garage, and off-road emergencies.
If you ever have to use your H3R extinguisher in a real fire emergency, our Emergency Replacement Guarantee helps keep you protected.
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