Original subtitles

Remember, do not try anything you are about to see at home.

Ohh!

Narrator: On this episode of "mythbusters"...

[ laughing ]

...It's automotive mayhem as the team smash...

Here we go!

...Thrash...

And bash...

...Through a trio of hollywood crash clichés.

I think it's truck-hunting season

At new mexico tech.

Narrator: There's the slapstick slash...

[ shouts ] uh-oh.

Tory: Fire!

...The hollywood hop...

Whoo-hoo!

...And finally, a big-rig barge.

Did I ever tell you how much I hate traffic?

So buckle up, because it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Oh!

Yeah!

Who are the mythbusters?

Adam savage.

Working on these machines is great for my skin.

...And jamie hyneman.

Don't call me rose.

Between them, more than 30 years of special-effects experience.

Together with kari byron...

Kari: Let's do it.

[ alarm ringing ] narrator: ...Tory belleci...

Isn't that right, buster?

...And grant imahara.

Save yourselves!

Narrator: They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Do you go to the movies often?

No.

All right, but you are aware that they get made

In a place called hollywood, right?

Sure.

Okay. I'll proceed.

Hollywood's relationship to physics

Has provided us with some of our best episodes,

And this episode is no exception.

How so?

Well, we have two stories about cars

And how they crash.

The first one is kind of an old slapstick routine.

[ projector runs ]

[ upbeat piano music plays ]

Two workmen are carrying

A huge pane of glass across the street,

And a vehicle driving down that street

Doesn't see the glass and drives right through it...

[ shouting ]

Shattering and destroying all the glass

But leaving the workers completely unharmed.

[ music concludes ]

You mean they don't bleed. That's right.

The two guys carrying the glass are completely unbloodied

At the end of this.

So how do you figure we should test this?

Well, I think it's pretty straightforward.

We get several different types of glass,

We get workers that can bleed if they've been hit,

And a car, and we're pretty much ready to go.

Sounds good. Let's hit the road.

No, you mean "let's hit the glass."

Narrator: So, to find out if the window fitters

Would be glazed and confused or "pane"-fully wounded,

First, adam gets to work on some bleedin' workmen.

Adam: What I need to make is a human analog

That can potentially get injured

In the way that the glass might hurt them --

I.E., getting slashed.

So, that's what I'm about to do.

Narrator: Yep, adam's got

A slashable surrogate in the pipeline.

All that work to put four pieces of pipe back together.

Narrator: By wrapping a foamy layer of flesh in a plastic skin...

Worst duvet cover ever.

Narrator: ...Binding it in place...

...And then giving it a transfusion...

[ laughs ]

...It's ready to draw the first blood.

Okay. Good.

I'm gonna simulate a glass injury now.

Here we go.

[ laughs ]

Oh!

By now, it should be pretty obvious

How we intend this human analog to work.

These are gonna be placed next to the glass

That we're driving through in our car.

If any of the glass slices through

And causes an injury to our human,

We know that's an injury you would've sustained

If you were carrying glass when someone drove through it.

Narrator: Adam's plastic-wrap design

Mimics the slashability of human skin,

So now they're ready to cut to the chase.

This is a perfect street to make some glass fly.

Step one is to set up their window workers.

Stand back! We got a bleeder!

That's perfect.

With the blood pumped into both pipe people...

Adam: The first hurdle of the day has been crossed --

That is, no leaks in my bleeders.

Narrator: ...They each get a pretty face.

And then in rolls the final ingredient.

Here comes the glass.

[ horn honks ]

But there's more than one type of glass

On the back of that truck...

Hey.

...For good reason.

Adam: Now, clearly, our world is full of glass,

But all glass does not break equally.

In the world, there are three main types of glass

That we encounter.

The first one is tempered glass. It's been specially hardened.

That also means it's especially brittle,

And it breaks into a million little pieces,

Like the side window in your car.

The second type is laminated glass.

This is two regular sheets of glass

With a gum layer in between,

And when it breaks, it stays together,

Like the windshield of your car.

The third is regular window glass.

There's nothing special about this

Except that it breaks into bigger chunks.

Of these three kinds, I have to say, this one --

That doesn't scare me that much.

Little pieces? Not so much.

These big chunks?

They scare the hell out of me.

You ready? Yeah.

Narrator: And it's those scary, big chunks that make plate glass

The most obvious choice to test first.

Whoo! There it is.

Plate glass. Guaranteed destruction.

Because not only does it have serious potential for piercing,

It's also the most common.

Adam: This is basic glass, straightforward glass,

Except this 1/4-inch-thick piece

Is 8 feet wide and 6 feet tall,

And I believe has the most amount of potential

For rendering our glass movers dead.

But, we got to drive through it to find out.

And while adam and I are going to be

Doing this experiment from within

The relative safety of the car,

There is a certain element of risk,

And so, with that in mind, we're gonna be wearing helmets.

And to make sure no glass penetrates the cab of our car,

We've covered and protected our windshield

With a nice, fat sheet of 1/4-inch-think polycarbonate.

Narrator: That's right, because this myth all comes down

To the injuries outside the car.

Okay. This is for real.

Plate glass at 30 miles an hour.

3, 2, 1! Here we go.

[ chuckles ]

It just sunk in, what we're actually doing.

Jamie: You're at 30.

I'm at 30. Here we go.

I'm in the slot. I'm in the slot.

Ramming speed! Here we go!

Whoa!

Narrator: The guys clearly broke the [chuckles] "pane" barrier,

Shattering the glass into thousands of shards.

But the question is,

How did the foam fill-ins handle the shatter?

Adam: [ laughing ] oh, no!

[ laughs ]

Oh, dude! We got a gusher.

Jamie: [ chuckles ]

But then that was his only purpose in life.

Yeah, he bled out pretty quickly, didn't he.

Only one spot? That's all we got?

Only one spot.

This guy is totally fine.

Narrator: Yep, unlike the slapstick smash cliché,

The glass isn't the only thing

That's worse for wear after the crash.

But what's surprising is that one workman

Managed to survive without a scratch.

I have to admit I am kind of shocked

By how relatively little damage our glass movers sustained

From the hitting of the plate glass.

I mean, look at these chunks.

These things would take your arm off,

And yet we ended up with

One little, one small, and one kind of big laceration.

I'm surprised.

Narrator: So there could be an element of truth

To the slapstick story.

But with two more types of glass to try,

This myth isn't in the clear yet.

Adam: Whoa!

Next up, it's weapons versus wheels.

All right, so hollywood car carnage --

I know you got something good.

What is it?

This one is s.U.V. Versus rpg.

Okay, now that's a classic.

Yeah, I mean, you've seen this in so many action films,

Where a black s.U.V. With tinted windows

Gets hit with an rpg,

But instead of exploding, it actually flips the vehicle.

Dude, that is awesome. I love it.

I thought you would. [ chuckles ]

[ projector runs ]

Narrator: It's classic action-movie mayhem

When a bad guy's bazooka takes out the good guy's s.U.V.

The car spins off its wheels.

But could an rpg really make an s.U.V. Defy grav-I-ty?

Well, I think the plan is pretty straightforward.

We find an s.U.V., we shoot it with an rpg,

And see if it flips like in the movies.

Sounds good to me, but you know what?

I got one suggestion.

We shoot two s.U.V.S --

One stationary and one in motion --

'cause I've seen it both ways in different movies.

That way, we cover all our bases.

You just want to shoot two rpgs.

Yep.

I have no problem with that.

Me, neither.

Narrator: And where better to take this myth for a spin

Than the middle of the desert?

I'm ready to shoot an rpg how about you guys?

I think it's truck-hunting season

At new mexico tech.

So, we're back here at new mexico tech --

You know, the school where you can get a degree

In blowing [bleep] up.

Well, last time we were here, we made an rpg meet a bullet,

And you all remember how that went.

Narrator: Yep -- whenever the mythbusters get to grips

With rocket-propelled grenades,

The results are explosive.

So, first, they prep their stationary s.U.V.

With the car ready for the limelight,

It's maneuvered into position, and then the firepower arrives.

What I have inside this box

Are the actual rocket-propelled grenades.

These things are capable of punching a hole

Through 6-inch-thick steel plate.

They're actually a shaped charge designed to pierce armor.

Kari: If you remember from our previous episode,

This is how an rpg,

Or a rocket-propelled grenade, works.

A primer sets off the launch motor,

Pushes it out of the tube,

Acceleration arms the rpg,

And on impact, the piezoelectric switch detonates

And hopefully flips over an s.U.V.

Narrator: Hopefully.

So, while ordnance tech john myrkle loads the launcher,

The team goes underground...

Grant: I love this place.

Narrator: ...And waits for the all-clear.

So, we've retreated to the bunker

Because it's way too dangerous

For us to be anywhere near myrkle

While he's loading the rpg

When he's done there,

Then he's gonna come back here,

And we're gonna do our test.

Narrator: And with the grenade locked and loaded,

They're ready for the flip.

[ siren wails ]

Okay. Here we go.

This is s.U.V. Flip with rpg

In 3, 2, 1...

Ho ho ho ho! Oh, wow!

Well, it didn't even come close to flipping the s.U.V.

What did it do?

It looked like it kind of blew out the front end.

Yeah, it doesn't look anything like in hollywood.

Narrator: It was lights, camera, and action,

But fact fell a long way short of fiction...

Because despite being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade,

There was absolutely no liftoff for the s.U.V.

Kari: [ laughs ]

Well, that was mighty unimpressive.

It looks cool, though. Look at that hole.

But look at that. It just punches a hole.

It didn't blow it up and flip it.

Narrator: So, although the rpg shaped charge

Burrowed all the way into the engine block,

It wasn't enough to match the movie magic.

So the rpg did exactly what it was designed to do,

Which is to pierce the car

And penetrate into the engine block.

What it didn't do was generate a huge fireball

Like they do in hollywood.

And what's more, the car didn't move at all.

It's not looking very good for this myth.

Narrator: Indeed -- so far, they are 0 for 1,

But will that change when they give this myth

Some forward momentum?

All: Whoa!

Narrator: Coming up on "mythbusters"...

Did I ever tell you how much I hate traffic?

Well, now's your chance to even the score.

Narrator: The mythbusters are testing this slapstick shatter.

[ shouts ] uh-oh.

Did you hear something?

No.

And so far,

One workman has been "pane"-fully wounded.

Oh, dude! We got a gusher.

But to get all the facts of the shatter,

They're trying some other common types of glass.

The next piece of glass we're gonna be driving through

In full scale is laminated glass,

Referred to in the industry as lami.

Now, remember, this is two panes of regular glass

With a layer in between of plastic

That keeps the whole thing together

When you hit it.

Will that happen when we hit it?

That's what we're about to find out.

Narrator: So this windshield glass is designed

Not to shatter on impact but to stay in one piece.

[ laughs ]

However, will that mean that the workers

Get their slapstick happy ending and remain unharmed?

Well, this time around, the hyneman is behind the wheel,

And it's time to test this hit-and-run.

Adam: Laminated glass. 30 miles an hour.

In 3, 2, 1, go!

Narrator: Jamie puts the pedal to the metal...

Got to feel it.

...Gets the car up to 30 miles per hour...

Thread the needle, baby.

...And the guys brace for impact.

Here we go!

Ah! Whoa!

Adam: [ laughs ]

I'm okay. Are you okay?

I'm totally fine.

This time, it was more fracture than fragment.

But the laminated glass did separate more than expected.

Ah.

The laminated glass did not stay together.

Jamie: It seems like it more or less stayed in,

What -- a dozen pieces?

Also...

No blood.

No blood at all.

No blood whatsoever!

That was a bloodless accident.

Yep -- on impact,

The glass cleaved into large chunks,

Meaning that the bleeders may have felt "pane,"

But they remained scratch-free.

Adam: I have to say, from inside the car,

I was prepared for a much bigger hit

Than we ended up actually feeling,

But I did have the distinct impression

Once we touched the laminated glass

That we were driving through it like a tunnel,

And here before me is exactly that story.

Look at this -- a car-shaped hole in the glass.

Narrator: So, after two shatter tests,

It's one apiece in the injured-worker stakes.

So, now time for the decider -- the tempered glass.

But, will the so-called safety glass be the safest yet?

Oh, nice. I'm happy with that.

Adam gives it a spray

To make it visible on high-speed,

And then it's make-or-break for the myth.

Adam: I have a prediction as to how this is gonna go.

I don't think any of those little pieces

Are actually gonna harm our dudes.

I think they're all gonna fly forward,

And I think our dudes are gonna be fine.

Narrator: That's adam's theory, but now to test it.

Adam: Okay. Here we go.

Tempered glass at 30 miles an hour

In 3, 2, 1, and go!

[ laughs ]

Oh, this is awesome.

Jamie: You're at 30. There we go. I'm at 30.

Oh, it's about to happen!

Yeah! Yeah!

Wow!

[ laughs ]

That was awesome,

Except that I closed my eyes right when it happened!

He may have closed his eyes,

But as they race back to the bleeders,

The results are a real eye-opener.

Holy crap! Somebody's dead!

Yeah -- it's not in a very nice place, either, is it?

Oh, man!

[ chuckles ]

Wow! Look at that!

That's tempered glass.

I thought this one was gonna be the one

That didn't do anything to him, and this guy is beat up.

And this guy, too.

It seems it's the way it shatters that matters.

The tempered glass is designed to break

Into thousands of tiny pieces on impact,

But because those pieces are flying through the air

At 30 miles an hour,

That's more than enough to cause

A death-by-a-thousand-cuts situation.

Adam: Well, I was right about one thing.

The tempered glass did break into a million little pieces.

About everything else, I was pretty off the mark.

The glass did not go forward from the point of impact.

Well, a good portion of it did,

But about half of it also went backwards

From the point of impact, like an explosion.

And our two dudes did not escape unscathed.

They had puncture wounds all up and down their bodies.

I have a whole newfound respect for tempered glass.

Narrator: A whole newfound respect,

But how does that leave the myth?

So when it comes to shattering glass in slapstick movies,

How do we stand?

Well, the idea that the guys moving the glass

Escape every, single time completely unharmed,

I believe that we've pretty much --

I believe that we've shattered that myth.

You're a "pane."

[ both laugh ]

Let's go.

Oh, hold on a second.

Nice!

[ chuckles ]

Way to make an exit.

According to hollywood,

An rpg can flip an s.U.V. Clear off its wheels.

But so far, that hasn't been the case.

In test one, the rpg did not flip the s.U.V.

So in test two, it's gonna be moving.

We're going to see if that momentum

Helps flip the s.U.V. When it gets hit.

Now, for this test, it's critically important

That the s.U.V. Be moving in a straight line

And not connected to anything

That might prevent it from flipping.

To keep the s.U.V. Going straight,

We have a pole in front and a pole in back

That rides in this channel,

And then we have the s.U.V. Anchored

At the top of a hill by a cable.

When we're ready to start the test,

We fire a cable cutter that releases it

And lets it start to roll, and gravity does the rest.

When the s.U.V. Reaches the end of the track,

We will remotely fire the rpg into the front end

To see if we can flip the vehicle.

Narrator: And with the s.U.V. Poised at the crest of the hill,

The team hunker in the bunker once again.

Grant: All right. Here we go.

Like last time, the rpg will hit the hood head on,

But will that flip the s.U.V. Off its wheels?

All right -- s.U.V. Away

In 3, 2, 1, fire!

The s.U.V. Is released...

It's picking up speed.

...And gravity propels it to its rpg destiny.

All: Oh! [ laughter ]

Wow! Did you see the front end?

Looked like it popped up a bit.

Grant: Yeah, it popped up, but that's not a flip.

That means this is busted.

It was so cool, but it's busted.

Totally. But that was a nice shot.

Narrator: Nice shot.

Still, no flippin' cigar.

In fact, the rpg didn't even stop the s.U.V.,

And the car continued to roll up the bank.

Grant: So, this myth is busted.

Well, when you think about it, the job of an rpg

Is not to flip vehicles.

It's designed to pierce armor,

And that's exactly what it did.

It punched through the condenser, the radiator,

All the way into the engine block,

But it did not flip the vehicle.

[ projector runs ]

Narrator: Yep -- there's no doubt that the live action

Doesn't match the action film,

But that's never deterred the mythbusters before.

Tory: This myth is busted, but we're not gonna stop here.

No, this is my favorite part of the show,

Where we're gonna replicate the results.

Oh, this is gonna be fun.

Narrator: Next up, it's a cinematic solution

To traffic jams.

So what's our next crash myth?

Well, it's a common movie trope.

First, I need you to picture

A couple of lines of cars sitting in traffic

When another character in the movie

Is driving a giant truck at high speed along city streets

When he approaches these cars standing still.

There's not enough space for him to get through, but no matter.

He revs his engine and barrels right up the middle,

Sending cars flying willy-nilly and continuing on his way.

I don't know whether that would happen or not,

But sounds like it's gonna be fun to test it.

Yep -- according to the movies,

A tailback is no match for a truck.

But could you really keep on truckin' through traffic

Or is this big-rig barge rigged?

Look, I think we get a bunch of cars,

Put them out on the tarmac, get a giant truck,

And see if we can't plow right through.

And I think I've got just the truck.

Awesome.

When it comes to head-on collisions...

Wow!

...This truck has had its fair share

Of fender benders.

And for jato 3,

It even became a rocket-proof bunker.

[ laughs ]

So now it's armored, dangerous,

And perfect for ramming into traffic.

Well, almost.

If our dump truck is going to survive

Pushing through two lines of cars,

It's gonna need a super-powerful bumper.

Okay.

So we're putting on a much more powerful bumper.

This steel, these tubes,

6x8 inches, 1/2-inch-thick steel.

They are beefy as...

Every word I was thinking of was a curse,

So they're just beefy.

Yes, to make sure the truck will survive to drive another day,

Jamie finishes bolstering the bumper

While adam's playing in traffic.

This gives a whole new meaning to driving a car.

If we're gonna drive our truck into a couple of lines of cars,

We're gonna need -- you guessed it --

A couple of lines of cars.

Did I ever tell you how much I hate traffic?

Well, now's your chance to even the score.

[ laughs ]

Narrator: So, with 10 cars in 2 lines

And a dump truck ready to rage,

Will there be some fact to the hollywood fiction?

Jamie: This truck weighs over 30,000 pounds.

Those 10 cars over there also add up

To somewhere over 30,000 pounds.

But the thing is, the truck's gonna be moving

At around 40 miles an hour when it hits them,

So it's gonna impart several times its own weight

To those cars.

And that means the truck is gonna win.

But whether it also means that it's gonna be able

To move completely through the cars and keep going,

Like it does in the movies, or not,

That's another thing, and that I'm not so sure about.

Narrator: Well, now to find out

By tackling this head-on collision head on.

All right. Here we go.

Plowing through traffic

In 3, 2, 1, go!

30,000 pounds of truck heaves into action

As jamie slowly accelerates down the runway...

...And once he hits 40 miles an hour...

Go! Go! Go!

...He maintains his speed until...

Wow! [ laughs ]

Holy crap!

That lifted up our truck!

Yeah.

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

Wow!

We didn't make it through it, though.

We didn't make it through at all.

Wow! That was awesome!

Yep -- "awesome" just about covers it,

As initially, it looked like the truck would make it

All the way through the queue,

But eventually, that 10-car pileup

Proved too much for the dump truck.

Well, clearly, the first two cars we hit

Were the worst off for this impact,

But all of the cars actually got quite a bit of damage.

This is a pretty impressive amount of impact

For all of them.

Adam: So, let me play out for you

What this scene of damage actually represents.

These two cars here

Have skipped forward by two full car lengths.

The van here has skipped forward

By one whole times its own length.

That means that the truck stopped

At just about where the fourth cars were in the line.

Narrator: So, although the truck did a number on the traffic,

It failed to ram the entire jam.

Well, if that truck

With that bumper on it couldn't do it,

They're not doing it.

No, it's totally, totally busted.

However... Uh-oh.

...It does start the wheels to turning, though, don't it?

Certainly does.

Oh, and [laughs]

Check out how much time is left in this episode.

We're not even close to the end.

Let's get to work. All right.

The team is on the flip side of the s.U.V. Spin,

And it's clear that this myth is nothing but hollywood hype.

Well, you know what?

I think we owe it to our fans

To give them the hollywood-style flip that they want to see

By any means necessary.

Now that sounds like fun. I love it.

Narrator: Yep -- it's time to borrow some tinseltown tactics...

[ grunts ]

...And finally put the twist in this tale.

Kari: Now, for that, we're gonna need three things.

We're gonna need some sort of dummy rpg

Flying towards an s.U.V.

We're gonna need something that explodes

And something that flips the s.U.V.

And that's what we're gonna do.

Narrator: So it's destination silver screen,

And step one requires something to flip the s.U.V.

Grant: So, this nitrogen cannon is gonna give us the punch

We need to actually do the flipping on the car.

A lot of the weight has been removed

Here in the engine compartment, as you can see.

There's a distinct lack of engine.

All I have to do is put some supports in here

And then mount the cannon.

Narrator: But despite the lack of engine...

Bring it in.

...It's still a bit of a squeeze to pimp his ride.

Grant: All right. So this is the moment of truth.

The cannon's installed in the car.

Let's see if it still looks like an s.U.V.

Awesome.

Bring on the rpg

Narrator: With the jump in the front,

It's out to the range,

Where the piston is welded to a trench plate

And the cannon is carefully lowered onto it.

Grant: Okay, keep coming. You're good.

Okay. Hold there.

That's a good sign.

All right. You hit the hole.

Narrator: So, step two of this stunt

Is a bazooka-toting bad guy with his charade grenade.

I know what you're thinking.

"how the heck did you guys get a real rpg?

Aren't those illegal in california?"

Well, this isn't a real rpg. It's a prop.

I made it back in the shop out of plastic.

But the job here was to get it to fire

Like an actual rpg for this stunt.

So, I've also made this fake grenade launcher,

And the way I'm gonna get this to fly

Is I'm gonna use a model rocket.

Now, the way we're gonna be able to hit our s.U.V.

Is we're gonna have a guideline from our hero into the s.U.V.

To start this whole car flip off.

Narrator: But with only a fake grenade in the chamber,

They'll need something extra to create the big-screen boom.

Now for our big hollywood boom.

We don't want the high-velocity explosive of c-4.

We don't want the pushing power of anfo.

We want a big fireball.

Okay. Here we go.

Special brew.

So we're gonna just do a little pyrotechnic trick.

We're going to use some fuel and get the kind of explosion

That gives us a fireball without actually a "boom" explosion.

Narrator: It's the final element

To re-create this celluloid stunt.

So grant charges the cannon.

Okay. Good to go.

The crew retreats,

And it's quiet on set as they prepare for launch.

Okay.

All right. It's the big moment.

Grant: Okay.

All right, this is hollywood s.U.V. Flip with an rpg

In 3, 2, 1, fire!

Narrator: Tory releases the dummy grenade,

And then grant triggers the cannon,

And boom!

But...

Kari: Wait a minute.

That's not how it happens in hollywood.

It didn't flip, man. Aw...

What happened? I don't know.

Narrator: The stunt went off with a bang,

But not the kind they were expecting.

That wasn't a hollywood ending.

That's more like just a car-becue.

We better call the fire department.

[ siren wails ]

Narrator: As the firemen douse the wreckage,

It's clear that this stunt was a little more

Classic "mythbusters" than classic hollywood.

Now, we shot the rpg.

The gas bomb went off, but for some reason,

The nitrogen piston didn't fire,

And therefore, the car didn't flip.

If this had happened in a hollywood movie,

You would never see it -- it would not make the cut.

But here on "mythbusters," when something goes wrong...

...It becomes part of our story.

Thank god, for us on "mythbusters,"

Failure is always an option.

Narrator: Next, the team is armed and dangerous.

[ british accent ] don't worry, honey.

I'm not afraid of you. You're practically armless.

[ laughs ]

Narrator: But can they finally flip their lid?

Kari: Fire!

Never try anything you see on the show at home.

The experiments we do are very dangerous.

And we have experts to keep us safe.

Narrator: According to the hollywood highway code,

A truck could ram through a traffic jam.

But so far, although it's been smashing,

This trucking tale is busted.

Adam: Wow!

Jamie: We didn't make it through it, though.

We didn't make it through at all.

So now the mythbusters are on a mission

To get a truck through traffic,

And to do that, back at the shop,

They're taking inspiration from an old-school source.

We have a method to do this that,

Even though it's like 150 years old,

I think it's gonna work beautifully.

So, we're gonna be welding some big chunks of steel.

[ projector runs ]

Narrator: When locomotives of old

Needed to get big things out of their way fast,

They used the aptly-named cowcatcher.

And now the mythbusters

Are putting their own slant on history

For their retro design.

That goes right through the middle.

First, they weld a massive steel frame...

This is gonna be a finger buster.

...Which then gets dressed in sheets of steel.

We mean business.

But as this steampunk shovel takes shape,

Just how is it gonna work?

Jamie: What you've got here is six triangular plates

Attached to a very strong central frame

That's bolted to the bumper of the truck.

Now, the idea I have here is

That this semi-conical frame will come in low on the cars,

And then lift and separate them,

Allowing us to pass between them the most efficiently

And also be the least likely to slow us down.

This thing's cool, isn't it?

Yeah, I can't wait to see this thing go.

[ chuckles ] lift and separate.

Yes. [ laughs ]

Narrator: And now that they've completed their design,

They're ready to drive a wedge through this myth.

[ imitates horn honk ]

[ both laugh ]

Nice.

Now, so far in testing our hollywood-style

S.U.V. Meets rpg myth,

We tried it once hollywood style

And we had a little mishap.

That's not how it happens in hollywood.

It didn't flip, man. Aw...

But no worries.

We've got a brand-new s.U.V.,

And I recycled the piston out of the other s.U.V.

And put it into this one,

And hopefully today we will get that hollywood-style stunt.

All right. Come on down.

Looking good.

Narrator: The new s.U.V. Is lowered onto the piston.

Perfect.

Then the boom gets aboard.

And kari arms the shooter.

[ british accent ] don't worry, honey.

I'm not afraid of you. You're practically armless.

[ laughs ]

Narrator: Grant then primes his cannon,

And finally, tory wires the fake grenade.

Now, just to remind you, this is our bad guy --

Or good guy, depending on which movie you're watching.

He is gonna launch the rpg down this guide wire.

And when the rpg hits the grille,

We will set off the gas explosion

And the air cannon at the exact same time

So it looks like an exploding, flipping s.U.V.

From a hollywood movie.

Narrator: The scene is set,

And if everything goes according to plan...

All right. Let's flip this thing.

...This time, their hollywood hop

Should go off without a hitch.

Standing by.

Charging.

All right. Here we go.

This is rpg versus s.U.V. Hollywood flip.

In 3, 2, 1...

Fire!

Whoo-hoo!

Wow!

Now, that's what I call doing it hollywood style.

That was a nice explosion.

Good one. Whoo!

[ laughs ]

Narrator: Yep -- everything finally came together...

With the s.U.V. Leaping into the air

And exploding on cue.

Because sometimes the truth...

...Shouldn't get in the way of a good story,

Especially when it comes to explosions.

Kari: Let's compare high-speeds --

Reality versus hollywood.

Now, in reality, our rpg hits the front of our s.U.V.,

There's a hole, and then

[scoffs] a little bit of a poof of color.

Now, in our hollywood version,

Rpg flies towards the s.U.V.

A beautiful plume of orange and yellow and red

Explode from the car as it flies through the air.

Reality? Eh.

Hollywood? Yeah!

Narrator: Indeed, because this is what you get

When you follow that old hollywood mantra

"fake it till you make it."

Well, I think the timing was perfect.

Yeah, and it takes all that

Just to get a hollywood-style ending.

But as far as a real rpg hitting an s.U.V...

It'll never flip it, not in a million years.

This one's busted.

That was cool, though. Let's watch it again.

Narrator: Next...

Can you imagine sitting in traffic

And looking in your rearview mirror

And seeing this thing going [imitates horn honk]

[ both laugh ]

...The duckbill of death makes its debut.

Oh, look, I found this camera.

Here we go.

Ohh!

Oh.

Let's try that again.

Oh, here, I found this camera.

I am not going to be beaten by this window.

Here we go.

What is this?

Is this, like, a presidential-limousine window?

Here we go.

Ahh!

I don't think we got the shot, but I feel better, don't you?

Narrator: Down at alameda,

The dump truck is getting its car-lifting nose job.

Yeah! That's it!

Jamie: [ laughs ]

Can you imagine sitting in traffic

And looking in your rearview mirror

And seeing this thing going [imitates horn honk]

[ both laugh ]

Adam: Nice.

And while jamie completes the rhinoplasty,

Adam is lining up the cars for their duckbill of death.

Oh! Whoops!

And for those of you playing at home,

They've added another six

To put their truck to the ultimate test.

Hey, adam, I got a present for you.

What do you got?

Nice, fresh tub of lard.

Awesome! A little lubrication to slice through our cars.

Yeah. Excellent.

You got a big brush? I do.

[ laughs ]

Jamie and his lard.

Narrator: Yep -- jamie's love of lube

Should give their nose that extra edge.

Sometimes, a little lubrication makes all the difference.

The truck-bill is complete, and the cars are on standby.

But before they get this nose on the road,

How about a prediction?

Adam: Will it make it through?

Well, the real question is,

Does the kinetic energy of this truck

Exceed the amount of mass of the cars sitting on the runway

As they're being split apart by this duckbill?

And my intuition says [sighs]

I feel like we're gonna make it probably all the way

To the end of the line of cars,

But I don't think we'll still be driving by then.

I think we'll be coming to a halt.

All of those cars are gonna go flying.

I'm not just talking pushing them aside.

They're going flying.

Narrator: Yep -- the duckbill of death

Should lift and separate.

Coming in.

But will it plow through all 16 cars?

All right. You ready?

I'm ready.

Here we go.

Adam gets the duck truck into position,

And the countdown begins.

All right. Here we go.

The duckbill of death into stationary traffic.

In 3, 2, 1, go!

Mr. Savage accelerates to 40 miles an hour...

That's second gear.

...And keeps his foot wedged

Until he reaches the cars.

Yeah!

Yeah!

Whoo!

Yeah!

Give me some!

Yeah!

Incredibly, not only did the truck

Make it all the way through 16 cars,

Adam and jamie kept on truckin' down the runway,

Meaning this attempt won by a nose.

[ laughs ]

That was amazing!

Holy crap!

That was insane!

"insane" is the right word.

[ laughing ]

It just didn't stop.

It didn't stop.

I kept giving it gas, and it didn't stop.

If anything, it was self-centering.

That was the most incredible thing we've ever done.

I've never experienced anything like that.

It was just -- they were just kind of, like, flying.

We could've kept going through 100 cars.

Adam: I really feel like we could've.

We weren't going that much slower.

We didn't take nearly the impact on that run

As we did on the first run.

I think we just solved my traffic problem.

[ laughs ]

I'm gonna put one of these on my car.

Oh, my god.

Narrator: The guys are clearly duckbillin' delirious.

[ both laughing ]

I'm -- I'm a little drunk on adrenaline right now.

I believe even though this car is upright and that one, too,

That they both did a full roll,

As judging from the glass here

And all of its contents being on the road.

This is amazing. It's like a triangle of pure destruction.

That experience was almost indescribable.

I mean, it was over in a second,

But these cars are just, like -- I'm speechless.

They're just kind of going like this.

It worked. I don't know what else to say.

Adam: Here's a cool way to think about what you see here.

Imagine that our dump truck was a boat,

And then these cars are its wake.

That's right -- not water,

But a wake of 60,000 pounds of steel.

It's kind of poetic.

Jamie: You know, you think things through,

And you engineer something,

And you kind of take your best shot.

I have to say that was one of our best shots.

That could not have worked better.

And given the chaos of this sort of situation,

I'm really proud of that. That was -- that was cool.

Narrator: Yes, it truly was something to be proud of,

As the truck cut an epic swathe

Through 60,000 pounds of steel...

...In an uplifting ode

To the incontrovertible laws of physics.

Well, the myth was busted.

Where do we stand on our method for plowing through traffic?

That thing worked so well, I'm just waiting for somebody

To steal it and put it in a movie.

Totally.

Remember, kids, you saw it on "mythbusters" first.

Did I ever tell you how much I hate traffic?

[ both laugh ]

We have to find an excuse to do that again.

Yeah, that was fun.