Mythbusters crew now unnecessarily smashing Eagles

Earlier this week, a lot of play was given to the Mythbusters episode that tried to pancake a Fiesta out in the desert, which was rather entertaining, but last night’s episode pissed me off just a little bit: As part of Alaska week, the Mythbusters B-team decided to test some myth that if you hit a plow head on, the plow will split your car right down the middle. (Have you ever heard of that myth? Me neither.)

So to test it, they found some test track that could hurtle a car at highway speeds into a stationary plow. And the car they chose for the test was an AMC Eagle station wagon, from which they removed absolutely none of the parts that Eagle restorers could have, y’know, put to good use. Grille, fenders, headlamp doors, all intact as they smashed the Eagle into the plow. It didn’t split in two.

So they tried again, optimizing the speed and the blade, and for the second experiment, they chose another Eagle – this one a four-door sedan, also completely intact, though they removed the engine and placed it in the trunk.

The result: devastation, but no complete split. I didn’t find any YouTube vids up yet, but on the MythBusters website, they have an interactive high-speed video of the second test.

If they explained why they used two perfectly good Eagles for this segment, I missed that. But even if they had explained it, that still doesn’t absolve Mythbusters from their actions. They have done the AMC hobby and car collecting in general a giant disservice; such wanton destruction is no better than the cash for clunkers plan.

Though, of course, Heather enjoyed it to no end.