Big Cars are killing Americans

[sd455dan]

",,,
103 cars destroyed in the 1980 film, 104 cars destroyed in Blues Brothers 2000.
Blues Brothers held the record for the most cars smashed until its own sequel deliberately destroyed just one more. For the 1980 film’s main chase, 60 police cars were bought for $400 a piece, and outfitted with reinforced chassis. Most of the cars were unsalvageable by the time filming was over."

I guess that is nothing,, compared to:

",,,
532 cars destroyed in Transformers 3.

Technically, every one of the 532 cars “destroyed” in the making of Transformers 3 was already fit for the scrapheap. The cars had been donated to director Michael Bay because they were flood damaged, and therefore needed to be scrapped by law anyway. "

I think H.B. "Toby" Halicki started the car wrecking craze with the Original Gone in 60 seconds. 93 cars wrecked plus the longest chase scene in cinematic history.

They say Toby never walked the same after the one Mustang jump,

Back then all the stunts were real, sometimes they cut up frames and sped up the film, but none of the CGI in almost every movie today. Have to say the new Top Gun seemed more realistic since they tried to minimize CGI and attempted to maximize live footage instead.

Gone in 60 seconds the original may have been low buck but the driving scenes were real driving.
Movie budget was 150K and grossed over 40 million. "The Driver" was another good low buck driving movie.

 

[greggyy]

Anyone who has jumped a car of just a few ft ramp will know how bone jarring it is to hit the ground.

That mustang jump would have hurt a lot, and results to the car are what you would expect.

I think I watched too many of them movies when I was young, I am not sure how my old dodge dart even survived many years of me driving it like it was hated, I am also not sure how the old 318 with a cam was able to be driven at such high rpm without ever blowing up ! The trans on the other hand would die often. It is probably in someones car collection now.

 

[MossRoad]

There used to be a road west of town nicknamed Roller Coaster Road. It had two rather steep hills close together, a hundred yards or so of flat, and two more hills. It you tried it a few times, you could get used to whatever speed it took to get your car airborne in sync with the waves of the hills. The bottoms were a bit rough and there were lots of scrapes in the pavement from frames hitting. We always had a blast out there. We'd drive through it at night slowly the first time to make sure no one was there, then turn around and blast it. It was kind of a local tradition passed down through the generations.

Unfortunately, probably 20+ years ago, some young people were killed there when a car was coming the other direction. Even more tragic, about a year later, some of their friends were out there doing a memorial for them, and they were struck by a car coming through, as I recall.

After that, the county bulldozed all 4 hills and if you'd have never been there before, you'd have never known the road was once so hilly. It's just grassy pastures on both sides with remnants of the hills in the fields.

 

[Creamer]

Damage to Gravel roads is due to speeds over 15 mph and acceleration at corners which leads to washboarding. Small cars will also kill you.

Acceleration at corners tends to distribute the gravel into ditches but how does that lead to washboarding? I always thought the washboarding was the grader bouncing.

 

[LouNY]

Wheel hop is the major cause of wash boarding, both from acceleration and braking.

 

[MossRoad]

Wheel hop is the major cause of wash boarding, both from acceleration and braking.

Yep. My dad told me this in the 60s.
Tire hits a bump and goes up a bit.
Tire comes down harder when it lands VS rolling smoothly on flat road.
When it lands, it presses down hard, which dents the road and pushes material forward.
That dent and moved material makes a ridge, ever so slightly.
As more tires do this, the dent gets deeper and moves forward as the ridge gets higher and moves forward.
Process repeats with each successive vehicle.
Ta-da! Washboard road.

 

[MossRoad]

Sometimes when I'm out in the middle of nowhere, and there's a nice dirt/gravel washboard road, no houses, no other traffic, just corn or beans, I'll take the car up to 60-70. It's so smooth as you skim across the tops of the ridges. I'd guess I'm actually doing less damage to the road VS at 20 when your teeth are getting shook out.

Anyhow, it's just something I enjoy doing. Don't know why.

 

[Jstpssng]

Sometimes when I'm out in the middle of nowhere, and there's a nice dirt/gravel washboard road, no houses, no other traffic, just corn or beans, I'll take the car up to 60-70. It's so smooth as you skim across the tops of the ridges. I'd guess I'm actually doing less damage to the road VS at 20 when your teeth are getting shook out.

Anyhow, it's just something I enjoy doing. Don't know why.

I suspect that you aren't helping your front end much either,* but nothing lasts forever.

*From someone who replaces ball joints every 2 years/40K miles.

 

[MossRoad]

I suspect that you aren't helping your front end much either,* but nothing lasts forever.

*From someone who replaces ball joints every 2 years/40K miles.

No front end issues out of the ordinary on 2013 Impala.

 

[bcp]

A long ago newspaper article about some research by the Army at Yuma Proving Ground on washboard roads said that it was speed dependent. If I remember correctly, the critical speed was 18 mph. Below that they didn't form. Above 18, they couldn't be prevented.

Bruce