The Toyota Hilux has garnered a reputation, particularly thanks to Top Gear, as arguably the toughest truck to ever exist. In their episode on it, they dropped it from a height of 200 ft (61 m) and it managed to survive. Now, WhistlinDiesel wants to see if it still hold up from a height 50 times as high, or 10,000 ft (3,048 m).
They begin by rigging up the Toyota truck with mounting points, as to achieve the heights they’re aiming for, they need a helicopter to lift it. They then take the truck up to a starting height of 500 ft (152 m), which is already 300 ft (91 m) more than what Top Gear did, and drop it. They included a camera inside the truck as well as the ones filming from the ground, so we get to see the action from all perspectives.
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When the truck hits the ground, it lands nose-down, which was probably not the orientation they were hoping for if they wanted it to survive. Even from the helicopter’s POV hundreds of feet in the air you’re able to tell that this thing was likely totaled given that the entire truck was bent in half, and once they get back on the ground, that fact is confirmed.
Nevertheless, they hook the Hilux up for the 10,000 ft (3,048 m) drop anyway and take it back up into the air. Once they’ve reached their target altitude, the truck is dropped, and it begins its descent back to Earth. On its way down, the truck was sent spinning but it managed to remain wheels-down. They were nice enough to include a little timer in the corner, which said that the fall took all of 29 seconds.
Once they get down to the scene, they find that the truck has been completely flattened as if it had just gone through a crusher. Needless to say, it did not survive the fall. To watch the carnage for yourself, you can check out the video below.