Car Smashing!

Saturday at noon, I headed out to Bollinger Ranch to participate in some good times. At the December 2010 YSA Charity Ball, Dave Haupt and Mike Corrigan had bid for (and won) and tractor ride with Aaron Locey. This tractor ride also was to be accompanied by smashing some stuff. Aaron had a couple ovens he was going to smash, but this year, he also had a full car to demolish. It started with them attempting to remove the windshield by kicking it out, which was unsuccessful. Aaron then set out to remove the side windows - he got two out without problem, but the driver's side windows both shattered.



While they were doing this, Katie (Schirtzinger), Caroline (Melgarejo) and I took turns swinging the sledgehammer at the bumper (after Mike and Dave had a go at it of course).



Sledgehammers are HEAVY! Once all the side windows were out, the guys had to empty all the fluids out of the car (oil, gas, transmission fluid, coolant). And, if you don't have a hydraulic lift, you simply use your backhoe.



While the car was lifted Katie got to slash a tire, which is something she'd wanted to do. At last, the car was ready for smashing. But before the guys could do that, Aaron had to teach them how to drive this beast of a dozer.



Katie, Caroline, and I got lost about halfway through the instructions. Terry (Hagen) said it takes a lot of hours before you totally get the hang of it, but that it's easier to just do it. As a prelude to the car smash, the guys ran over some ovens.



Now we get to actual car smashing:



Once the car was smashed, Aaron decided to cut it in half to fit it in his scrap metal bin.




I have to say, this was pretty fun; it took longer than expected, but there is something quite satisfying about crunching metal. Next year, we drive a car off a cliff and watch it explode. :)