Did the A-team van survive all of their stunts?

[Theory5]

I am watching TV-shows and movies on hulu.com (free to watch, and its legal because they show commercials), during a commercial, the "respect the van" one, there were clips of the A-team's van doing all of these stunts. At the end when it froze the picture when the van was in the air, I noticed that one of the front wheels was bent, and the other was straight. Did their van survive most jumps? Or did I just see it wrong?

[CraigD]

Movie and television car stunts typically involve many vehicles modified for particular kinds of jumping and driving stunts, with bodies styled and painted to make them appear to be the same vehicle as the one used for normal driving, interior and entering end exiting shots. By looking carefully at movies and TV shows, you can tell that they are not the same vehicles, just as you can tell that they are not driven by the main character actors, or that stunt doubles are used in place of the main actors for fighting and action stunts.

 

I imagine that some stunts, especially jumping stunts, are intentionally or unintentionally descructive to the vehicles used, requiring them to be repaired or replaced afterwards. How often this happens intentionally, has a lot to do with the movie or show’s financial budget. Only in very low-budget shows (eg: 2002’s direct-to-video Necropolis Awakened) is a single vehicle actually used for all shots the audience is lead to believe is the same vehicle.

 

The basic point to understand about vehicle stunt movies is that no single, real vehicle could actually do and survive what’s shown.

 

I’ve not read or watched any detailed “making of” documentaries about the vehicles stunts of ”The A-Team” (1983-1987), but information about other TV series of its era, such as ”The Dukes of Hazzard” (1979-1985), can give you a general idea. According to the wikipedia article “The General Lee”, between 256 and 321 year model 1968 and 1969 Dodge Chargers were modified, painted, and accessorized for use in the show’s 145 episodes. The 2005 movie reportedly used about 24 specially prepared 1968-1970 Chargers, some of them lightened by removing engines and transmissions, then launched via gas catapults with dummies in place of humans. Big jump stunts in either production effectively destroyed the stunt car after a single stunt.

 

:) So, as they say on TV, “don’t try this at home!” Even if you do manage to get you own car airborn without having a serious crash, you’re likely to damage it, likely beyond drivability, and no practical modification can reinforce it enough to do anything about this. :)