How Did One Guy Destroy His Mustang Jumping the CHiPs Overpass?

We love stories like these from the VINwiki channel! These guys telling car stories that are borderline insane but really capture the viewer’s imagination and make you think “Wow, this was crazy!”

Today, Craig is sharing the story of the time he destroyed an American icon while driving over an iconic landmark. In the opening sequence of the hit television show CHiPs, which ran from the late 70’s into the early 80’s, you can actually see this very overpass. Ironically, Craig’s own father had helped build the bridge which would later play a prominent role in his son’s life.

Headed to school one day, Craig was crossing the bridge when he apparently caught a bump just right, sending the rear of his 1966 Mustang into the air. The jolt broke an axle and sent the axle – and the wheel bolted to it – sailing out from under the car. As you can imagine, a wheel removal at highway speeds results in less-than-ideal circumstances. The car slammed to the ground with the end of the rear end housing grinding into the pavement and sending a shower of sparks rearward.

As you can probably imagine, a sixteen year old Craig panicked and jumped all over the brakes. However, as most of us gear heads would have realized immediately, the rear wheel flying out with half of the axle attached also took the brake rotor, which meant it either took the caliper also, or left the pads with nothing but air between them. So when young Craig jumped on the brake pedal, it collapsed against the floorboard, rendering the whole braking system useless. Luckily, he was able to think quickly enough, or he got lucky enough, to steer the car around the stopped traffic ahead of him on the road, instead skidding down the side of the road. The car finally ground to a halt and Craig exited, unharmed. His mom passed by a few minutes later and carried him on to school while the car was left to be towed in for repairs, which were obviously extensive.

Thanks to VINwiki for sharing this awesome tale with us, and we can’t wait to see what you guys have to share next!