Day 1: Dad, I Want to Crash a Car!

Dad, I want to Crash a Car!

Welcome to Day 1 of my 30 days of Film Stories to go along with my 30 day campaign for Cottonwood. The first story comes from my 2nd feature, Mousetrap 2. Mousetrap 2 was a very ambitious film for a 16 year old. Heck, it was a very ambitious film for anyone who only had $1700 to work with.

I remember way back in July of 2013 when I was in the very early stages of planning for Mousetrap 2. It was not long after my first feature, Mousetrap, premiered. It was my grandpa, my dad, and I sitting around a table eating supper on vacation in Colorado. I brought up my idea to them which was to crash a car. They both laughed off the idea, but I told them I was serious about it. I started to explain how we could put a brick on the accelerator and drive the car off a cliff or something. They both were concerned about the safety, but they both thought it was unrealistic for how old I was and what I had to work with. I continued to talk to them about the idea throughout vacation and they continued to tell me it was a bad idea.

About a month or two later when I was at work at McDonalds, one of my co-workers told me they had a car they were selling. A 1983 Ford Fairmont. A beast of a car. It barely ran and I had to jump it every time to get it running. I paid like $300 bucks for it though so it was a killer deal.

So yes, I was able to talk my dad into letting me buy a car to crash. Somewhere in there I also convinced him to let me blow it up because we ended up buying, I think 8 or so, pounds of tannerite and blowing the thing sky high.

Above is the picture of what was left after we blew up the Ford Fairmont. I will never forget this day. My dad, grandpa, friends, and family all gathered around to witness something I was told would never happen.

What I learned: Never take no as an answer. And always add more gas!

-Ethan Clerc