Cottonwood Update #13: Crashing the Car

This is a great story, but a longer one. First off I have to say that this is not the first car that we have crashed. We crashed 2 vehicles for Mousetrap 2. We rolled a 1987 Ford Fairmont down a hill and blew it up and floored a minivan down a hill and into a creek. The one thing I have learned with crashing vehicles and just working with them in general is you can never plan what they are going to do. It is easy to sit there and talk about how cool it would be for the car to crash off a cliff or roll down a hill fast. The reality is, your plan never works. For Mousetrap 2 we thought we could get the car off the ground with a jack and get some guys to roll it. We thought it would roll all the way down the hill, but we were wrong in every single detail. Ford Fairmonts are extremely heavy. It ended up taking 6 guys and a whole lot of pushing to get it to roll and when it did roll it only rolled once... Plan for the worst and expect the best.

We started with a 1997 Acura that we bought for $70. Yes, we bought a running car for $70. You may be wondering what happened to the red car we fixed up. That thing took a crap on us so we went with a better looking vehicle for $70. Anyways we did all of the shots of Greg driving the car obviously before we crashed it. This is a FAST car, and very very loud. The original plan was to start the car on the top of a hill and drive it down the hill off a sharp corner. After multiple test runs with Tylan behind the wheel and the steering wheel locked we found out we had to start much closer to the corner. After an hour or so of test runs we got two successful test runs in a row and decided to get the cameras set for the shot.

Like I said before, you can't plan for this kind of stuff. We got the steering wheel locked and the car set to go. We all went to our positions and got the cameras recording. When I yelled action, Dalton jammed the pedal down with a metal pole and pushed the pole up tight to the seat. The car started bouncing off the rev limiter as Dalton ran out of the way. Dane reached in through the passenger side window and hit the shift knob with a piece of wood switching the car from neutral to drive. The car gunned it down the road. I heard the car coming fast down the road right at us and than suddenly noticed the car was turning sharp to the right. Before I could even react the car jumped down into the ditch taking out a massive tree. I found myself backing up quickly as a tree came down right in front of me.

The car completely missed the spot it was supposed to hit. Luckily we had 8 cameras going so we were able to pick it up. We now had a car crashed on property that we did not have permission to be on. Everyone swarmed to the car to check it out. We destroyed the front of this thing. Mason, who's aunt owns the property the car was supposed to crash on, called his grandma to ask who owns the property across the road. We got the landowner and I called him. It is not easy having to call someone you have never met and having to tell them you crashed a car on their land without their permission. Luckily the owner is super cool and ended up letting us leave the car out there. Now here is where the story gets crazy.

Going home that night I felt defeated. The crash was cool, but I wanted more out of it. So the next morning I made some phone calls, talked to the crew, and convinced everyone that my idea was going to work. My idea was to somehow get the car to flip down the hill multiple times to add some action to the scene. So at 2 PM we headed out to the crash with the crew to see what we could do. Damon brought a chainsaw on a stick out, but it ended up not being powerful enough. We needed the chainsaw to get some of the big trees out of the way so the car could roll. After an hour or so of thinking of ideas and trying with Damon's chainsaw we were able to get Dalton's dad's chainsaw. Our friend Dylan Hovdet and Tylan's dad, Paul Porath, came out around 3. Paul brought tow straps out and attached them to the car. We tipped the car sideways so it was on two wheels. We could now cut down the trees around the car.

Dylan, above, cuts down a tree right behind the car which is on two wheels. This is not a good idea and we all knew that, but safety is kind of a luxury when you want to crash cars do it with no budget. Pretty crazy to see a car just chilling on two wheels like this.

The plan we come up with is to put a log under the car and hold it up. We than can remove the top tow strap and put the strap around the log. We can than tell Paul to drive his truck forward yanking the log out which will cause the car to tip sideways and roll down the hill.

Colin, sits on the car held up by a log after he starts the GoPro in the backseat. So we get the cameras rolling and everyone is confident this is going to work. I yell action and Paul yanks the log out from under the car. The car slams down hard landing right back where we started. It does not even start to tip. We figure out a big stump stopped the car from tipping so we go at it with the chainsaw. We also use two vehicles to move the car back away from the stump and up the hill again. After getting the car back on two wheels we get the log back underneath it. The only issue is we are now higher up on the hill and log does not have a good spot to go into on the hill. After taking the pressure off the top strap, all of the weight goes to the log. This time though, the car tips sideways off of the log and is now partly sideways on the hill...

We are all frustrated and it is now around 7. We decide the only option is to pull the car back up to the top of the hill and roll it by hand. So Paul attached the tow strap to the front of the car and amazingly he pulls it back up to the road and drags it into position. We all think at this point that this is a light car and that Paul and Damon can tip it them selves. We get the cameras recording and Damon and Paul start to push. The car does not even budge. So we get Dylan, Kristin, and Craigon to join Paul and Damon. The car still is not tipping. So we all lift the car up and put a log under it to hold it at an angle. Colin and I run to grab cameras and they all push as hard as they can. The car FINALLY rolls. At first I thought we had done it, but the car tips over and rolls once slamming back down on its wheels... I thought for sure that the car would roll all the way down the hill.

At this point it is already 9 and we are all tired, hungry, and sweaty. We call it a night. We put in 7 hours of work the 2nd day and all for it only to roll once... We knew we needed to come back. That night we decide to come back the next day and roll it by hand from where it is. Well the next day at lunch I tell my grandpa the whole story and he tells me the only way to do this right is to get the car back up top and get a tractor to flip it over. Paul had mentioned this the day before, but I thought we had it with everyone pushing. So now with this new idea from my grandpa and Paul, my dad and I went to our neighbors and asked if he would be willing to help us push it over with his tractor. He agreed to come out later that night. So Dylan, Colin, Shawna, and I went back out to the crash site and Dylan pulled the car back up super fast and got it back to where it was.

We get Damon, Paul, Colin, Craigon, and the whole crew back out there later that night. The car kicked all of our butts the day before so we are ready to give this son of a gun hell. Our neighbor shows up with the tractor and we all get set with our cameras. After 2 days and over 12 hours of work from the whole crew on this crash scene we are ready to see this car get completely destroyed. I have never been a quitter when times get tough and these are the kind of moments when that quality pays off. The tractor tips the car with ease as it flips down the hill slamming into some boulders on the hill smashing windows out. Debris from the car shoots off the car as glass flies all over the hill. The car rolls to the bottom of the hill. As the car flips over for a final time and stops at the bottom of the hill, everyone is silent until I stop recording. Everyone erupts in cheers as we all get to the top of the hill to look down at the car. There is so much excitement as all of our hard work has finally paid off.

There is a lot to learn from this scene. A scene that will last probably only 15 seconds in the film, but took 3 days to film. Don't give up when the going gets tough. The ones who stick through tough times always win in the end. We could have easily have given up after day 1. But everyone wanted this to work and wanted a seriously awesome scene and so we persisted and pulled off an awesome crash scene.

I want to thank Paul, Damon, Craigon, Colin, Dylan, Tylan, Mason, Dane, Greg, Kristin, and Randy for making this scene awesome. You guys really rock and I can't thank you enough for your help.

**NEW SHIRT IN STORE**