# Hollywood and car destruction

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-and-car-destruction/583815>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 31, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-and-car-destruction/583815 "2011-05-31T02:53:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-and-car-destruction/583815/1 "2011-05-31T02:53:03Z")

</div>

Hello,  
I am watching a movie where a Jeep was run repeatedly into a classic Thunderbird. This brings up a question, how can Hollywood afford to destroy as many cars as they do? This Tbird, unlike the Ferrari in Ferris Buellers Day off looked real and if so is a valuable car. But even your run of the mill car, Honda, BMW or Ford. I have a hard time thinking that they destroy new or slightly used cars. Do they get wrecks that are rebuilt just for the shot and used and repaired over and over again? Hmmmmm…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-and-car-destruction/583815/2 "2011-05-31T03:07:06Z")

</div>

In a big-budget action movie costing on the order of $100,000,000 to produce, blowing up a $50,000 car is nothing - 0.05% percent of the total budget.

Even so, I’m sure they use replicas, or totaled cars that have been repaired only cosmetically wherever possible.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-and-car-destruction/583815/3 "2011-05-31T03:15:20Z")

</div>

In _The Italian Job_ (1969) the Lamborghini Miura was already a wreck when they tossed it off a cliff. You can see that the engine has been removed. Also, the Aston-Martin that was thrown over the cliff was a stand-in Lancia Flavia.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-and-car-destruction/583815/4 "2011-05-31T03:20:58Z")

</div>

Yep. If you look closely, you can often see that the destroyed car isn’t the one it’s supposed to be. A recent and obvious example is in the Travolta flick From Paris With Love.