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I'm Jamie Heineman and I'm Adam Savage. We're gonna find out what happens when

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you strap a rocket to a 67 Chevy. Oh yeah. Coming up, we turn a Chevy into a

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350 mile per hour road warrior. This is so exciting. I'm gonna have to have a

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green egg to me. Pop rocks and soda, urban myth or recipe for disaster. Dude, your

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stomach's gonna burst. Here on MythBusters, we're not just going to

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retell the stories. We're gonna put them to the test. We're prepared to put our

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bodies on the line. There's just one problem. Some aren't myths at all. Which one

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would that be? I don't know yet. So why should you trust these guys? Well, Jamie

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and Adam have over 30 years in model building, animatronics and toy

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prototyping. They've worked in features, television, theater and games. They can

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build just about anything and probably have. This is M5, my special effects

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shop. Come on in and have a look around. Jamie's amassed an awesome collection of

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tools, talent and techniques. If we can't find it here, I'm trying to locate a pig's

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stomach. There's always Adam's eclectic collection. I come from a planted

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butt head. Jamie and Adam are supposed to be experts in what's real and what's not.

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And they'll need every trick in the book. So what do we begin? What do we got? Let's go.

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This is the big one. What we have is a 1967 Chevy Impala that was taken out into the

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desert and somebody had put a rocket booster on it. Now they found out about it

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because there was a smoldering wreckage that the highway patrol there found. We

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pieced together a gentleman or an individual that had put a Jato or a

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rocket assist takeoff unit on an older model vehicle. The guy apparently was an

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Air Force Sergeant, a former Air Force Sergeant. He made sure he had a long

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straight road and there was nothing around. Now you got up to highway speed

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about 80 miles an hour, fired the things off. The car had accelerated from like 80

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to 300 miles per hour in a couple seconds. There was a curve in the road, a slight

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increase or upgrade and a mountain shortly thereafter. So he applies the

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brakes and of course the brakes burn out. They found about a mile and a half of

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skid mark. He didn't make the turn. He went airborne and he crashed into the

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side of the mountain approximately 100 or so feet up in the air. So do we have any

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corroboration of this? Are there any photos or anybody come forward? Well that's

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our job to pursue that and we need to get a hold of a 67 Chevy or something

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close as close as we can to it and need to get a hold of a Jato or a Rato or

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again something equivalent to it. It'll look really cool. It'll look really cool.

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I mean that's going to be big flame shooting out the back. It's going to be

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great. I can't think of anything more fun than doing this. No you know what I

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really can't.

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I first heard about the story approximately 1994 when I was my job was

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a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. I received a phone call from a

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local reporter asking about a Darwin Award that was on the internet. The way

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the story read was that the Arizona Department of Public Safety or the Highway

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Patrol was the ones that did the investigation on it. I thought it was a

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very real possibility that it could have happened because Arizona is home to

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several air bases. Thus a military personnel could have gotten a hold of a

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Jato unit to use in this fashion.

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Jato or jet assisted takeoff has been around since the Second World War. We

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should call them Rato's because each canister is filled with solid rocket

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propellant. A single unit puts out 1000 pounds of thrust for 12 to 15 seconds.

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Up to eight Jato's are used when large military aircraft are operating with

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heavy loads or from short runways.

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Do we think the military is just going to hand over one of these Jato bottles?

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What do we do if they don't actually let us have one?

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Well, I kind of doubt that they will. This is not the kind of thing that you

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would want to let the general public have access to.

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We'd love to have the military there and involved. Just so it's clear we're not

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trying to get a hold of one of these things and do whatever we want with it.

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We want you involved.

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Well, we actually got to talk to somebody. She said they're very expensive units and

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that you know I don't know whether it's going to be possible. This is an unusual

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request.

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Most good urban legends have good details, names, places, dates. In this case,

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often it's a Chevy Impala that the man was driving.

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So we need to find a 67 Chevy. I wonder where we're going to do that.

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Well, I picked this up at a flea market actually. This here is a 67 Chevy Impala.

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That's our goal. Hopefully we'll be able to find a junker, something with a

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crappy body. All we need is for it to run.

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Not an Impala, we got a Pontiac.

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It runs, the Pontiac runs.

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Not at the moment, it just needs a transmission on.

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Oh.

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Yeah.

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Only?

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Yeah, for you know.

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And a car not only is about survival, but it's also a symbol of adolescent

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freedom. When you get a car, you can leave the nest.

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We're going to be putting some rockets on the top of the car and setting them up.

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Oh, like the guy in the desert, the old urban legend.

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Yeah, exactly.

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So you want, it's a 72 Impala or 69 Impala you suppose to use.

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Yeah, yeah, everybody.

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Well, take anything looks like, I mean a Falcon within a couple of years.

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Something of that manage as long as it runs.

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A lot of heat.

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Don't care about the...

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The standard bird?

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Yeah, the standard.

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The standard.

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The standard.

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Well, it got to be cheap.

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Well, $750.

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That's very plausible.

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It's also a symbol of sex.

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This is where a young man can have his first sexual experiences in this car.

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Yeah.

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Oh, yeah.

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That's the s***.

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We're done.

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That would be kind of a shame to destroy it.

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We don't have to destroy it.

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Oh, that's so beautiful.

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Oh my God, I'm loving this.

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Look at that.

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Wow.

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It's automatic windows.

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Oh, yeah.

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Is that your premise though to do that, the urban legend?

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Yeah.

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Why?

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You should get a Chevy, because I always heard the story with a Chevy.

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Chevrolet, the beautiful shape for 1965.

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The Chevy Impala is an ideal candidate for urban legend status.

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It was first introduced in 1958.

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From the start, it was a prestige car within the reach of the average American.

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A completely new look.

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Time cannot wash away.

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By the end of the millennium, sales exceeded 13 million,

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making the Chevy Impala the most popular full-sized car in American history.

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Seeing the beautiful shapes of Chevrolet for 1965 at your Chevrolet dealer's mouth.

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We need it to run.

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We need it to run.

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It's what May Run's got a bell and motor in it.

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What do you mean you have a rocket to run?

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We're going to destroy the car.

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Of course you are.

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That's half the fun.

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Thank you anyway.

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Despite its popularity, the Impala is proving as hard to procure as a Jado rocket.

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We called you last week concerning procuring a Jado.

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Procuring a Jado or a...

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Procuring a Jado or a Rado.

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So far we've had very little luck with getting anybody to return our calls.

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Jamie and Adam are following a promising new lead on that 67 Chevy.

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We're going to strap some rockets to its back end.

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Yeah.

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You know that thing where they took it down in the desert and set those up?

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We've got the perfect car for you.

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We're going to do that.

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You've got it.

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It's a 67 all right, but unfortunately an oldsmobile.

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This is your car if you want a car to put a rocket on.

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See you soon.

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Just as we've given up hope of finding our car in time.

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It's officially an Impala.

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Would it be all right if I drive it around the block?

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Oh yeah.

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Oh whoa whoa whoa.

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I got it lady.

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It's a working 66 Chevy Impala.

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With some decidedly non-standard features.

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This is without a doubt our car.

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It's destiny.

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Well thank you very much.

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Well thank you.

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We really appreciate it.

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We are 8.5 miles away from the car.

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It's 100 degrees.

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We're three hours from the shop.

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And thanks to a blocked fuel filter, our rocket car is doing exactly zero miles per hour.

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Thank goodness Adam's got the gold breakdown package.

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So the Air Force apparently called us back and turned us down on the Jado rocket.

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Permission denied.

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Yeah, I think did they call us back again just to deny permission again without being asked?

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Twice.

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So we got these things.

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Yeah.

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These are the hobby rockets.

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This is like an example of one of the tubes.

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How are we going to fire these off?

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Well these are actually more powerful than the Jato's.

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The ones that you know.

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But they're smaller.

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How's that possible?

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Well we're going to use more of them.

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While they're running they put out 1500 pounds of thrust as opposed to 1000 pounds.

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But they only last for four seconds.

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We're going to get several of them and we'll set them off successively.

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So we're going to put three of them on and we'll probably put them on the car like this.

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We have a qualified operator that you have to have a license to, a federal license to be able to purchase these things and operate them.

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I would hope so.

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Yeah.

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And so we're going to have those guys set them off and...

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So that's what it's going to look like.

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Yeah.

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That's essentially what we're going to do.

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We'll have to reinforce it and everything.

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That's all fine in theory.

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But it's an awful lot of power to put on the roof of a junker.

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One pound of thrust is two horsepower.

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So one of those rocket motors at 1500 pounds of thrust is 3000 horsepower.

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Yeah.

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That'll make our Chevy almost four times as powerful as an Indy car.

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I think of putting another car on top of this car.

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That kind of weight that's up there.

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So we want to probably build some kind of steel cage within the car's body to support this.

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Yeah.

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We don't just want to tie strap it to the roof right here.

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Yeah.

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That would be a bad idea.

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We could probably rip the roof right off the car.

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Oh, how about that?

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Adam, you're going to get sick.

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I believe I'm already sick.

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Give me the fire signature.

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What the f***?

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This time it's no joke.

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The fire's burning through the hydraulic lines.

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That sawdust with the hydraulic fluids, a nice little wiki thing.

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Wiki.

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I was thinking that we would drill up through here and bolt the top frame on here.

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With this design, the whole roof structure becomes part of the rocket rack.

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Now it turns out besides this legend, other people have strapped rockets to cars before.

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Haven't they?

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Yeah.

213
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There are world speed records that have occurred by using this.

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In 1965, Walt Afron's built the first rocket-powered land speed car.

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Wing Foot Express 2 was initially designed with 10 Jato units.

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But that wasn't nearly enough.

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25 rockets eventually blasted the car to an unofficial top speed of 605 miles per hour.

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Of course you have to remember that those are unusual cars.

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They're usually very long and built for this.

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They're based like rocks with wheels.

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Yeah.

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So this also begs the question, where do we fire the car off?

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There are some dry lake beds to the south of here towards LA.

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So we'll probably try one of those first to see whether we can get access to something like that.

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Jamie's having second thoughts about getting behind the wheel.

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If this behaves like the legend says, we're going to have a 3,000 or 3,000 to 4,000 pound projectile out there.

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And I guess the other thing that I thought with that in mind, if we do lose control of it,

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obviously we don't want to be in the car.

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So we're probably going to...

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You don't want to be in the car?

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I would love to be in the car.

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I think you should drive the car.

233
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Well, I think I should too, but we've radio-connected with the car.

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But we've radio-controlled cars before, and it's a lot of fun.

235
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Oh, so we'll make it radio-controlled?

236
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Yeah.

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I think that's the safest way of dealing with it.

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Oh, that's the coolest toy ever.

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Yeah.

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It's a big kid's RC car.

241
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We're going to do it.

242
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It's not quite as simple as a radio-controlled toy.

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At 300 miles per hour, the forces on the steering servos will be immense.

244
00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:06,400
The servos are motors that are positionable, so we can precisely control the steering on this.

245
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,400
We need to have something pretty good, because if it's going that fast,

246
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:19,400
we need to really be able to dial in on the aim, or it may go out of control.

247
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:25,400
The transmitter also has dangerous limitations.

248
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:32,400
One of the things is that these radio-controls are only good for a thousand meters or so, plus or minus.

249
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:33,400
About half a mile.

250
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:34,400
Yeah.

251
00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:41,400
For us, if this thing is going 300 miles an hour, it's going to get out of range from us real quick,

252
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:43,400
even if we're driving alongside.

253
00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,400
So we're probably going to have to think of ways of either getting a really,

254
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,400
we're going to have to go out and rent a really, really fast car,

255
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,400
or we'll have to get a helicopter.

256
00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:54,400
Probably be the safest way of dealing with it.

257
00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,400
I'm going to try and start it.

258
00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:57,400
All right.

259
00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:12,400
Jamie's going to need every bit of control when he hits top speed.

260
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:17,400
At 350 miles an hour at Chevrolet Impala, all the windows will pop out of it, and the roof will pull off.

261
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,400
Andy Granatelli knows all about speed.

262
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,400
He holds 21 Hall of Fame records.

263
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,400
Many were set in conventional vehicles.

264
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:34,400
He claims the top speed for a street machine, an awesome 241 miles per hour.

265
00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:39,400
At this velocity, wind resistance is the biggest enemy.

266
00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,400
The car will become airborne at a little over 200 miles an hour.

267
00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:46,400
The car will just raise the front of it up and flip over,

268
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,400
in other words, because the air will get underneath the front of the car.

269
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,400
Yee-haw!

270
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:57,400
Jamie plans to use the Chevy's hydraulics to combat those forces.

271
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:02,400
Lowering the hood should give considerable aerodynamic efficiency.

272
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:07,400
It will also help with what he's been told is the most vital factor.

273
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:13,400
The most difficult thing about this whole deal is probably getting this straight on the car.

274
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:19,400
There's no real true center line that we know is actually the direction the car is going to go.

275
00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:32,400
We have, according to the experts, a 6 degree misalignment is going to put about 100 to 150 pounds of push on the tail of the car.

276
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:34,400
That way.

277
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,400
Yeah, that's as good as anything.

278
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,400
So that's right about 86.

279
00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:46,400
And that's right about 86.

280
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:48,400
Beautiful!

281
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,400
Let's pack this puppy down.

282
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,400
I can't wait to set this thing off.

283
00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,400
I'm going to be in a helicopter, and I've never ridden in a helicopter before.

284
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:08,400
Radio controlling a 3,000 horsepower rocket driven radio controlled car.

285
00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:13,400
What could be better? You know, you could just kill yourself when you were done, because it's just like, pshh,

286
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:15,400
they're not getting here any better than that.

287
00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:17,400
That's all going downhill from there.

288
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:42,400
And so the fun begins.

289
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:48,400
It's such a treat to see the sunrise over the desert.

290
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,400
What am I saying? It's a treat to fire a rocket car in the desert.

291
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:59,400
Finally, all the pieces are coming together on the lakebed.

292
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:06,400
With a bit of luck, we'll soon know if the Jato rocket myth is indeed possible.

293
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,400
I'm just setting the failsafe on this.

294
00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:14,400
These radios actually leave a structure that's not in the air.

295
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,400
Jamie will be joined in the chopper by Eric Gates.

296
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:26,400
He and his brother, Derrick, have over 20 years experience in amateur rocketry.

297
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:32,400
They plan to fire the motors by remote control.

298
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,400
The Jato rocket is a very powerful rocket.

299
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,400
It's a very powerful rocket.

300
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:41,400
It's not just a rocket. It's an amateur rocketry.

301
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,400
They plan to fire the motors by remote control.

302
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,400
Jamie's going to do a dry run in the car.

303
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:06,400
The rocket guys I think are going to do a test fire, so all systems are good.

304
00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,400
It's probably about an hour or two actual firing.

305
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:37,400
The remote control and failsafe are working perfectly.

306
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:42,400
Well, you know, I'm not at all happy.

307
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:49,400
The reason being that unless something goes wrong on the first test, it makes me nervous.

308
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,400
Because that means something is going to go wrong later.

309
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,400
How you doing? Adam Savage.

310
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,400
If this new visitor is right, Jamie may just get his wish.

311
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,400
I looked at it and it said the mount's not strong enough, number one.

312
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:07,400
The mount's not straight either. We warned him about stritting the mount.

313
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,400
It's got to be straight or it's too the car all the time.

314
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:16,400
George should know. Not only did he work on the Apollo program,

315
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,400
he's conducted numerous speed trials out here.

316
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,400
Eight points welded into the frame of the car.

317
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:26,400
I hope it works, I mean, you know, because I don't want you to dig up my leg bed.

318
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:31,400
Not exactly comforting words for our final briefing.

319
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,400
The helicopter's going to do a pass around just like we did the last time.

320
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:40,400
About the time that it passes in front of the car, I've released the brakes

321
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,400
and the car's going to start to roll.

322
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:49,400
Like the myth, our plan is to get the car up to 80 miles per hour before firing the rocket.

323
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:50,400
I've given it a lot of gas.

324
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,400
When the motors go, they're going to have a tendency to scare you.

325
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,400
So when you're hearing the 321, brace yourself. Don't veer.

326
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,400
Sound like a jet engine. It's going to get a 15 foot flame out the back.

327
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:03,400
Let's have a good start, man.

328
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:05,400
Get your gay life on.

329
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:10,400
This is so exciting.

330
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,400
I'm going to have to have a green egg to me.

331
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:27,400
Green light to go.

332
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,400
They're starting their circle now.

333
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,400
Brakes are coming off. We are a go.

334
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,400
Nothing's happening.

335
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,400
Green boarding.

336
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,400
We're a boarding. We are a boarding. We are a boarding.

337
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:50,400
Copy that. Copy that.

338
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,400
That's a board to the bullseye.

339
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:56,400
Okay, helicopter's coming in.

340
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,400
Doesn't it go through the inside?

341
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:02,400
So how do you get it?

342
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,400
Looks like the car's old gremlins are back to haunt us.

343
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:14,400
With all the focus on horsepower and thrust curves, we never did fix that fuel problem.

344
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:22,400
The problem is that this is an older car and we've been stirring up a sediment in the bottom of the tank

345
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,400
that's gotten into the fuel filter and clogged the fuel filter.

346
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,400
All we have to do is pull the filter out and flush it out once in a while.

347
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,400
We should get a good run here soon.

348
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:38,400
That sort of answers my need for a small failure.

349
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,400
I'll accept that one as a small failure.

350
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:59,400
That is clear. We have green light to go.

351
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,400
Green light to go?

352
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,400
The car's starting to roll.

353
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,400
Okay, we're in line.

354
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,400
Okay, coming out of full throttle.

355
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,400
I'm coming home with the electronics.

356
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,400
Alright.

357
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,400
Okay, good luck.

358
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,400
Go ahead and set it off.

359
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:21,400
Okay, helicopter's at speed.

360
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,400
Fire in and...

361
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:27,400
Three, two, one, fire.

362
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:33,400
Three, two, one, fire.

363
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,400
Three, two, one, fire.

364
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,400
Three, two, one, fire.

365
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,400
Three, two, one, fire.

366
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,400
It's been a long road, but finally...

367
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,400
We have lift off.

368
00:26:54,400 --> 00:27:00,400
Three rockets, four seconds and 1,500 pounds of thrust apiece.

369
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:06,400
That's 3,000 horsepower for 12 seconds.

370
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,400
Just like a Jato.

371
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:30,400
That was hysterical. That was absolutely outrageous.

372
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,400
What kind of speed do you think it got to?

373
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,400
I don't know. The helicopter was having trouble keeping up with it.

374
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:40,400
The chopper's top speed is 130 per hour.

375
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,400
Hey!

376
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,400
That was beautiful. We lost track of it.

377
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:50,400
Oh yeah, we couldn't keep up with it with the helicopter.

378
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:55,400
Once those suckers lit it, it just like...

379
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,400
It's one thing to see them go up, it's another thing to see them go horizontal.

380
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,400
Just the dust trail from the car.

381
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,400
It's so beautiful.

382
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,400
I was quite impressed. I was hoping it would go good that it did.

383
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,400
A little apprehensible, but no.

384
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:13,400
Jamie did his homework.

385
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:18,400
Over the years, many have claimed they were the inspiration for this story.

386
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:24,400
For those who really tried it, the results were the same.

387
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:31,400
In 1957, Dodge was filming an ad on this same lake.

388
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,400
They replaced the gas tank with a single Jato bottle.

389
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:40,400
The car topped out at 140 miles per hour.

390
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:46,400
So Jamie, given the structure of the original myth that the guy ignited the rocket,

391
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:51,400
accelerated to like 350 miles per hour, supposedly hit the edge of a curve of the road

392
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,400
and was airborne for several seconds before hitting the side of a cliff,

393
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:55,400
do you think it's possible?

394
00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:00,400
It didn't happen. They'd have to have at least around four times the power that we did.

395
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:05,400
Back in 46, Andy Granatelli and his brothers did just that.

396
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,400
They put eight Jatoes on an Indie Racer.

397
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:15,400
The explosion was horrendous and the thrust was such that you couldn't believe it.

398
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,400
We looked at each other as if we were going to the moon.

399
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:24,400
The rocket left not a little fizzle like this, but for a lot, 300 feet long,

400
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:29,400
for wider than the road and higher than the telephone wires, a tail of fire.

401
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,400
And the car accelerated up to approximately 180 miles an hour.

402
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:37,400
I mean, and believe me, I mean, it was unbelievable.

403
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:42,400
Andy's antics may well be the origin of the Jato myth.

404
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:50,400
One thing's for sure, we can all quit calling the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

405
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,400
There never was a crash site found in Arizona. Nothing even vaguely familiar.

406
00:29:55,400 --> 00:30:02,400
On occasion, we still get people inquiring about it, and we post it on our website stating that it is a myth.

407
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:07,400
That was a lot of fun, though.

408
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:13,400
Yeah, it was great. Just those few seconds being in that chopper, right trailing behind the car,

409
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:20,400
seeing those things set off, it was indescribable. Just seeing that car kind of go.

410
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:26,400
I mean, it was beautiful. It was gorgeous.

411
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:41,400
So do you remember Pop Rocks?

412
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:46,400
Yeah, they were invented in 1956, the year of my birth.

413
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:47,400
Really?

414
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:48,400
Yes.

415
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:54,400
The legend we're approaching now is the legend that little Mikey from the Life Serials commercial.

416
00:30:54,400 --> 00:31:01,400
I remember it so clearly. The kid goes, let's get Mikey to try it. He won't eat it. He hates everything.

417
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,400
Whatever Mikey could eat, everyone could eat. That was the idea.

418
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,400
Anyways, Mikey at one point becomes a teenager.

419
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:12,400
He ate six cans of soda and six pouches of Pop Rocks.

420
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,400
And this has some kind of chemical reaction in his stomach.

421
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:18,400
It's like a stomach and explode, and he dies.

422
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:24,400
So the myth is that a combination of six packs of Pop Rocks and a six pack of soda

423
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:29,400
is a lethal combination of gases that will make your stomach explode.

424
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:40,400
We'd like to determine a couple of things. We want to see how much pressure is generated by rapid infusion of six packs of Pop Rocks and soda.

425
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:46,400
We'd like to determine how much pressure a stomach can withstand.

426
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:52,400
I've been thinking about this, and I think to imitate a stomach, the pressures of a stomach,

427
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:59,400
the best course is to use a pig's stomach, which is actually physically very close to a human stomach,

428
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:04,400
which can hold about between one and two pints, generally, of liquid.

429
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:10,400
I'm trying to locate a pig's stomach.

430
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,400
A pig's stomach.

431
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,400
Should we continue further?

432
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,400
Is this about the size of a human stomach?

433
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,400
He really could.

434
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,400
How large is it? Obviously, it's deflated, right?

435
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:28,400
Like a swimming cap.

436
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:29,400
What?

437
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:30,400
Like a swimming cap.

438
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,400
Like a swimming cap. A very, very meaty swimming cap.

439
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:46,400
Originally, the idea was to create an instant carbonated soda by General Foods.

440
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:47,400
Can I try some?

441
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:49,400
Yeah, absolutely.

442
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:57,400
They discovered, actually, that when you ate those nuggets, there was like a system or a popping sensation in your mouth.

443
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:06,400
This isn't getting as any closer to that pig's stomach.

444
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,400
Does it have like the esophagus and the intestines attached at all?

445
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,400
No, no, no, no. Just the stomach.

446
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,400
I need all the tubes attached to it.

447
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:19,400
Would it be possible to get it with as much of the attachments to it as possible?

448
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,400
No, no.

449
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:29,400
It turns out that the Food and Drug Administration have listed the esophagus and bowel as hazardous substances.

450
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:30,400
58025 South.

451
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,400
It looks like that says 580 is going.

452
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:34,400
Right.

453
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,400
Four stomachs. Terrific.

454
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:49,400
That's them.

455
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:54,400
The specific instructions on the thing complete with esophagus and intestines.

456
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:56,400
It's actually becoming a reality.

457
00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:01,400
That's one important mission accomplished.

458
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:07,400
Yummy.

459
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,400
The worst part is the breath coming out of here.

460
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,400
Can I go to that?

461
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,400
It's interesting that the valves on this thing actually work.

462
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,400
It's holding its pressure.

463
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:37,400
We just put air in there and walked away.

464
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,400
How do you think we'll get the pop rocks and the soda actually into the stomach?

465
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,400
To get these in there, we have to get them wet unless we're going to...

466
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:48,400
I mean, they're not going to pour.

467
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,400
I think we want to equate a worst case scenario here.

468
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:59,400
The pop rocks are going in in one bunch along with the soda, I guess as rapidly as you could do it.

469
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,400
As rapidly as one might drink it.

470
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:02,400
Big syringe then.

471
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,400
A big syringe?

472
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,400
The meat appeared, I believe, was in 1979.

473
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,400
Four years after the candy was launched.

474
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,400
And actually has devastating consequences for the brand name.

475
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,400
Sales dropped down to almost nearly.

476
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:28,400
One of the things we have to figure out is how are we going to hang this thing?

477
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,400
What about mounting it in our skeleton over there?

478
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:35,400
Sure. There's plenty of tie points in the rib cage.

479
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:41,400
We'll get to see fluid dribbling out of the skeleton.

480
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,400
You want it to have a dramatic effect, that'll do it.

481
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,400
And of course, actually the inlet tube will have to come up and out through the mouth of the skeleton.

482
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,400
And you know where the outlet tube is going?

483
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,400
No. Where is the outlet tube going?

484
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:55,400
Oh, don't make me say that.

485
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,400
By the time we're done, he'll be playing the piano just like old times.

486
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:07,400
What the company tried to do to address the problem was basically they run around 45 advertisements,

487
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,400
big full-page advertisements in magazine.

488
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:15,400
And they wrote about 50,000 letters to different high school headmasters

489
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:20,400
and school headmasters explaining that there was no problem.

490
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:24,400
Once a belief is out there, it's pretty difficult.

491
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:29,400
You have to take some gargantuan steps to disprove it.

492
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:35,400
We've got to mix up one last ingredient before the experiment can begin.

493
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,400
I'd say it's about a pH of two.

494
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:43,400
Okay. So that's the equivalent of one stomach's contents of hydrochloric acid?

495
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:47,400
Yes. That's 1.7 pounds of water.

496
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:48,400
Okay.

497
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,400
Gastric juice is secreted actually, we believe, as a protective mechanism.

498
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:54,400
It's not designed to aid in digestion.

499
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:58,400
It's designed, the hydrochloric acid along with pepsin is designed to kill things.

500
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:04,400
So it's kind of protection over when we were back there fighting the hyenas for the bones.

501
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:09,400
It might not aid in digestion, but we think a quart of hydrochloric acid

502
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,400
will be critical to busting this myth.

503
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,400
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

504
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:18,400
Your gloves.

505
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,400
Now the fun begins.

506
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:25,400
And then I will, once you're pouring the liquid, I'll be opening Kent's soda, handing them off to you.

507
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:26,400
Okay.

508
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:28,400
We're clamped everywhere. Alright.

509
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:29,400
Alright.

510
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:34,400
Oh man.

511
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,400
Alright, Mikey's had two cans. He's out of control.

512
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,400
Oh my God, he's going for another one. Mikey.

513
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,400
Alright, Mikey man, you can't drink those last two cans of soda.

514
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,400
Dude, you are an animal.

515
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,400
Dude, your stomach's going to burst.

516
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,400
Alright, here comes the plunger.

517
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:02,400
Slow down. You didn't drink it that fast.

518
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,400
Listen, you can hear those pop rocks going for it.

519
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,400
Well, that's pretty impressive.

520
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,400
Oh, there goes the burp. Mikey's burping.

521
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,400
Come on. Oh man.

522
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:15,400
Look how big that stomach's getting.

523
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:18,400
Alright.

524
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:20,400
It's more or less got it.

525
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:21,400
Alright.

526
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:23,400
Wow.

527
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:27,400
Okay, I wouldn't have called that he could drink all that soda and pop rocks at once.

528
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,400
That's huge. That's like three times the size of what it was.

529
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,400
We're not reading any real pressure in here.

530
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:37,400
By its nature, the human stomach is a capacitance organ.

531
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:39,400
That means it's designed to stretch.

532
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:43,400
Receptive relaxation is the concept in human physiology,

533
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,400
so it will relax and stretch and stretch up to some limit.

534
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:50,400
So my guess is Mikey's feeling a little ill right about now.

535
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:52,400
I know, I would be.

536
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:54,400
Do you think we should give him some time to digest?

537
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:56,400
Sure, why not?

538
00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,400
You got two built-in vents, one on either side of the stomach,

539
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,400
that should be the places that this air goes if you reach those kinds of pressures.

540
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:11,400
Even with time for digestion, the pop rocks and soda just don't produce enough gas.

541
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:13,400
We put six cans.

542
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:19,400
About another, you know, almost a liter of acid.

543
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:21,400
Six doses of pop rocks.

544
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,400
You can still hear it crackling here.

545
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:31,400
So, does this myth contain any elements of truth?

546
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,400
The human stomach clearly can rupture. There's no question about that.

547
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:40,400
You can get rupture in blunt trauma, automobile accidents, for instance.

548
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:47,400
After a quick reset, we're going to try and see if we can make our pig stomach explode.

549
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,400
Who the hell could be calling me?

550
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:53,400
I can answer that.

551
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:56,400
Trying to pick stomach into a skeleton.

552
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:57,400
Clamp.

553
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:03,400
Now, it turns out that in the annals of medicine in the last century,

554
00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:08,400
there are a half dozen cases of people's stomachs exploding from an excess of CO2,

555
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:10,400
usually from something like baking soda.

556
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:12,400
One, let's do three.

557
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:15,400
That's an awful lot of sodium, but...

558
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:20,400
Well, I've taken two with heartburn. Let's say someone feels...

559
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:24,400
Unlike pop rocks, the baking soda and acid react.

560
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,400
Injecting acid.

561
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:29,400
All right.

562
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,400
The result is carbon dioxide gas.

563
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:34,400
Lots of it.

564
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:41,400
Okay, one down.

565
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,400
Yummy. And good for you.

566
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,400
The single most popular food item in the United States.

567
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:51,400
Three cans down.

568
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:56,400
Four.

569
00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,400
Come on, you got to drink a little faster, Piggy.

570
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:02,400
Five.

571
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:06,400
Six.

572
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:11,400
We've fully drunk the soda by carbonate.

573
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:14,400
You ready?

574
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,400
Oh, yeah.

575
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,400
Oh, my God.

576
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,400
He's still drinking.

577
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:23,400
That's getting really big.

578
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,400
He can't hold it anymore.

579
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:27,400
Clamp it.

580
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:31,400
See what the pressure is rating.

581
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:32,400
Whoa.

582
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:34,400
Okay, that's much bigger than before.

583
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:38,400
It's still hardly reading. It's reading about half a PSI.

584
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:42,400
There are probably lots of folks out there who have for years and years and years

585
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,400
been using baking soda.

586
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:49,400
And in the amounts that would be prescribed to reduce acid,

587
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,400
there's very, very little gas formed.

588
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:57,400
It usually stays in solution, comes out, doesn't cause very much by way of distention

589
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:00,400
if you stay within the limits that are recommended.

590
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:05,400
Here on Mythbusters, we're never afraid to push the limits.

591
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,400
Okay, ready?

592
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:08,400
Ready.

593
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,400
Oh, I feel the pressure.

594
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:17,400
If you have a stomach that's greatly distended by a large meal,

595
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:22,400
and then you add on top of that either gas in the form of

596
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:26,400
sodium bicarbonate to try and relieve acid and digestion,

597
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:31,400
you can in those very, very unusual situations see gas to rupture.

598
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:35,400
It's not a major rupture, but no one should have the impression that this is common

599
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:37,400
by any stretch of the imagination.

600
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:39,400
Okay.

601
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:41,400
Whoa!

602
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:42,400
Wow.

603
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:44,400
Well, that did cause a reaction.

604
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,400
That turned out to be a little too much.

605
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:49,400
Yeah, that's what we call a hell of a Saturday night.

606
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:51,400
Oh, my gosh.

607
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:53,400
Totally blue.

608
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:57,400
With the addition of a little more stomach acid and the bicarbonate of soda,

609
00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,400
what was that, two tablespoons?

610
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:00,400
Yeah.

611
00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:02,400
Just ripped a hole right in the back.

612
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:06,400
I mean, in a body, something like two or three PSI is a huge amount of pressure.

613
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:07,400
Yeah.

614
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:11,400
I can't imagine a human consuming that much crap.

615
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,400
Well, maybe I can actually.

616
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:21,400
Well, the sodium bicarb with the person's own stomach seems to me to be the main thing.

617
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:25,400
Somebody that's just taking, you know, eating candy or something,

618
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,400
I don't see it happening.

619
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:33,400
Mythbusters tried to contact John Gilchrist, the actor who played little Mikey.

620
00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:35,400
He never returned our calls.

621
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:38,400
Another one bites the dust.

622
00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:58,400
Yeah.