YouTube creator Cody Detwiler, the man behind the WhistlinDiesel channel, has become infamous for his over-the-top builds and destructive stunts. In August, one of his stunts led to a Ferrari F8 Tributo catching fire in a cornfield. Now, he’s looking to recoup some of the costs of that ill-fated video.
Detwiler has maintained that the destruction of the Ferrari supercar (and a Chrysler minivan that was being used to film it) was purely accidental. However, he’s now also proving to be quite the opportunist.
In a new video, he proudly claims to have shredded his Ferrari and a Mercedes-AMG G63 that was popular on the channel, and sorted their parts into clear boxes as souvenirs for fans to buy. Each cube cradles a full pound (or about half a kilo) of metal from the vehicles, which has been cleaned of plastic and other detritus.
More: YouTuber Watches His $400,000 Ferrari F8 Tributo Burn After Driving Through Cornfield
Since Ferrari is an extremely litigious company (and I can’t imagine Mercedes’ lawyers are too pleased about this, either), Detwiler cannot name the vehicles in the boxes that he is selling. However, he has 729 boxes full of “Pieces of a Fast Red Italian Supercar” and 899 cubes full of “Pieces of a Red German Luxury SUV.”
Given Ferrari’s well-known propensity for legal action (and I can’t imagine Mercedes’ lawyers are too pleased about this, either), Detwiler refrains from explicitly naming the vehicles contained in these boxes that he’s offering for sale. Nevertheless, he has 729 containers full of “Pieces of a Fast Red Italian Supercar” and 899 cubes full of “Pieces of a Red German Luxury SUV.”
Unfortunately for fans of Ferraris (and their destruction), Detwiler’s store, MonsterMax, has sold out of Ferrari boxes, which cost $229 each. However, it still has some boxes of Mercedes left for sale, if you really want to pay $189 for some garbage.
Although Detwiler is recouping some of his losses through this sales stunt, he isn’t making all of it back. Collectively, all the Ferrari boxes amount to just $166,941, which is short of the $400,000 or so that it would have been worth otherwise. He’ll be making $169,911 for the SUV, which is a somewhat better return but still doesn’t cover the expenses associated with shredding and packaging.
Still, 166 grand is a lot more than I would expect a torched Ferrari to go for otherwise, and he’s promoting his brand, so it remains a savvy move, under these circumstances. That may explain why he and his partner, Matt McGuire, are now being represented by the CAA talent agency. Variety reports that the YouTubers will now by expanding their WhistlinDiesel brand into new genres, premium content, consumers products, and other areas.