A sad episode of Mythbusters
 

Well they destroyed a 300SD. I posted the following on one of their fan sites

"I must say I was sad to see a Mercedes diesel sacrificed to try and bust this stereo myth. A Mercedes Benz is designed to be very tough to protect people from accidents on the autobahn where there is no speed limit. The particular car they used has a typical curb weight of about 3600 pounds. I recall an episode of "The Worlds Scariest Police Chases" on Fox where the police were trying to arrest a car theif that stole one of these cars. A police officer tried ramming the Benz off the road. The end result was a mangled police car and a few minor dents and scratches on the Mercedes. Owners of these cars reffer to them as panzer wagons for a reason. If the myth was you can build a stereo loud enough to tear a very tough car apart they succeeded in busting it. If they are trying to bust a myth that you can build a stereo loud enough to tear an average car apart they failed to bust it.

Some might say that the Benz was a good choice because it was tough because these Decible Dragracers reinforce their cars. These Decible Dragracers are reinforced for two reasons. One is to keep the sound inside where the sensor is to make it as loud as possible for the sensor. The other is to keep the car together. They have incentive to keep the car together to keep the volume high for the sensor. Once again the myth was not that you can build a stereo loud enough to tear a reinforced car appart. If they are going to say that you can't do it they are going to have to do it on a car without a reputation for stregnth and being well built. They need to use a car like a Geo Metro or a Yugo and they are going to have to do it Mythbusters style. If the a window or a sunroof pops out they are going to have to replace it with something stronger to show what it actually takes to blow a car appart with a stereo.

They could have done a few things to make the speaker more durable and powerful. One was to make a lighter speaker cone. I'm sure that 1/4 inch aluminum plate is not very light. They could have used a small satellite dish or made it from carbon fiber or fiberglass. Connecting the connecting rod off center like they did was begging for failure. Woofers also are designed to travel straight forward and backwards with out allowing the cone to wobble side to side. To get this they have a membrane at the base of the cone near the voice coil as well as around the edge of the cone. This may not work for such a large speaker but a mechanism to get a similar result can be built."

saw the show
 

I knew the diesel would win! Actually the sunroof popped off it's tracks and they suspected that they pressure effect was diminished as air was escaping out the roof.

Well, I want ot meet the guy who trashed out his car and gave it to them to finish the job....wtf I would have taken the car for parts

Nice letter.

I think I saw that police chase way back when on Cops.

If it's the chase I'm thinking of they had Mustang police cars and they were just bouncing off the Benz like they were nothing. I think the guy was drunk and eventually just pulled over.

I wonder if that is the same 300SD they used to determine that a diesel car could run on vegetable oil? I thought it was funny, because they made the statement that ANY diesel could run by throwing veggie in the tank because this MB did it. But I would certainly hesitate doing that in anything other than an MB.

yea same SD

Yeah its the same one. If you look carefully, its been just sitting outside their shop for a few episodes until they got the bright idea to trash it. I usually love this show but it makes me sick when they do stuff like that to perfectly nice things. Like last week when they destroyed a perfectly good model helicopter just to see what would happen. Sometimes they're really childish.

Was that the White Benz that a black guy was driving?

I was thinking the same thing...they did it to the wrong car :(

They should have switched the cars on both myths...they should have used the Olds they used on the bumpy road myth for the subwoofer myth, and vice versa for the Benz.

I also noted how Jamie kept talking about the diesel engine as being such a great thing :cool:

It already looked somewhat picked over before they totally trashed it. There were no headlights first of all, among other little things. It's a real parts car now...I bet the engine and tranny are still good.

What a fargen waste!

I've lost my respect for Adam and Jamie/The Mythbusters Show. Destroying a perfectly usable Mercedes diesel = :rifle:

I really dislike mythbusters. They act very childish most of the time and don't convince me of much. And it really bothers me when they destroy perfectly good vehicles and equipment, like this Benz. Also, they had some trouble with a super neat old snowplow in one episode. So what do they do with it in the end? Sell it to someone like me who would love a rare old gutless wonder like that? No, they flipped it over and smashed it around. It had nothing do do with the myth (whether a snowplow could flip a small car just with wind off the blade).

Unfortunately this will get some people in a lot of trouble. All diesel engines I know of (except really "controlled" ones like a Durawax) will start even in cold weather and run great if they have good compression. For 25K. Then its engine rebuild time. Then people say it can't be done without major engine problems, which isn't true if you use your head and don't try to make your injectors squirt margerine.

Ahh its all in good fun. The car was probably really tired and they picked it up cheap. What great PR for our cars, and what a way to go!:cool:


I'm surprised the sunroof got blown off its tracks, now that takes some force!:eek: Notice it flexing in the low speed camra? :eek:


Now they can make fun of the hate mail they get from MB owners! :D

:stupid:
i agree... its way cooler for the car to be trashed in a "mythbust" than rusting away in a field somewhere... however that dash on the car did look to be in very good shape and the car should have been gutted for parts before this myth was attempted