"Jumping" a 1984 Dodge Diplomat

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Cordoba1

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I grew up in the late 80's, which meant my geeky friends and I documented a lot of our shenanigans with a VHS camcorder. We also grew up in the country, which gave us lots of cover to do all kinds of crazy things without adults looking on! I finally got around to digitizing some really old tapes, and found a clip of my friends and I "jumping" over railroad tracks with my Diplomat. Although we really didn't get that much air, it felt much more dramatic from inside the car. I must have jumped that diplomat 50 time and never broke anything. I retired from ramping cars when I got my new (to me) Cordoba and jumped it... I broke a sway bar. But that Diplomat... I used to drive over curbs at 20 MPH, and it barely winced. Have a watch:
 
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When I was around 17 I did exactly the same thing in a buddy's 1977 Fury. You went down a hill and then the road leveled out and the tracks were like a huge ramp. I was driving and he was the passenger. Even as dumb kids we both knew he was too annihilated to drive. I did ask him first and he agreed. We both always wanted to do it.

I hit the tracks doing about 65mph and we got large air. Man that big ol Fury came down hard. Never broke anything but it scared the crap out of both of us. I looked over and said "pretty f'n cool huh?!!" and he looked at me and said "Yeah!!!.....don't do it again okay?" .......it was fun though. :D
 
We used to have some 'dandy' ramp railroad crossings.
Then being much younger.
Also learned that the landings cost money and labor after time.
 
There's a straight stretch then a dip with a sharp crest on one of the roads here in the residential area where I live and when I was 16 my friend had a 3/4 ton Ford panel van and we nailed it on the straight By the time we hit the crest, that old Ford was doing 80 mph and we got no less than 3 seconds of air. The funny part was the look on the old man's face who was sitting at the stop sign at the crest of the hill in a Cadillac. Priceless. Needless to say we didn't do it again. the old Ford blew out 3 of its 6 (dual shock front 7700 gvwr) shocks upon landing. I felt like WV Dukes of Hazzard hillbilly style in a van.
 
There's a hill about a mile from here known as "Jump Hill". I don't know if the civil engineers did it on purpose, but I've never seen a better liftoff ramp anywhere to date. It's an uphill climb that suddenly tapers away. A two-ton car travelling at 50MPH (posted speed is 25MPH) will fly a minimum of 50' distance with at least 3' of air beneath the contact patches. You don't even know you're in the air until you land. Hard. The landing is a killer, because the ground comes up much too quickly. I hit it at about 45MPH one night in the local Ford dealership's loaner '78 LTD with a 302, and upon landing smashed the Y-pipe and broke off both exhaust manifolds' collectors. Yes, the iron castings themselves. I limped it back home dragging the Y-pipe the whole way. Mom was pissed, but not as pissed as Town & Country Ford. However, thereafter the car was known locally as "Green Thunder" because of that caper. They then gave Mom a rotting '77 Cougar to drive, also green ("Rusty Green Thunder"), that went even further and held together. However, later that night about 2 miles away, on a bad-ass downhill with a flat cross street, it surrendered its rear bumper to the Gods of Automotive Abuse.
T&C stopped loaning Mom cars when her Escort broke. :D
 
Like this?
jump.jpg
 
Some years ago, I was in a bit of a rush, in my Cordoba. I should have been travelling much slower through a construction site. When i landed, the muffler and tailpipe were history. The next day, my transmission, packed it in. But I never lost a wheel cover. Lots of fun.
 
Dr Lebaron said:
Like this?
Click to expand...
Yeah, pretty much. If you hit it fast enough you'd fly to about the next intersection, which is about 100' away. My buddy Clint ended up using "Green Thunder" while his Mustang was in the body shop, and did exactly that. He about doubled my distance, only his landing ripped the Y-pipe right off the car (didn't break the new manifolds, though) and shattered the windshield like a shotgun blast. If I had to guess, I'd say the car would've had to be 5-6' in the air.

I don't know if this'll work, but hopefully this will link to the Google Street View of Jump Hill. It really doesn't look like much in the picture, but you can "drive" over it, then turn around and go back. That gives a better idea of the physics of it.
 
NoCar340 said:
Yeah, pretty much. If you hit it fast enough you'd fly to about the next intersection, which is about 100' away. My buddy Clint ended up using "Green Thunder" while his Mustang was in the body shop, and did exactly that. He about doubled my distance, only his landing ripped the Y-pipe right off the car (didn't break the new manifolds, though) and shattered the windshield like a shotgun blast. If I had to guess, I'd say the car would've had to be 5-6' in the air.

I don't know if this'll work, but hopefully this will link to the Google Street View of Jump Hill. It really doesn't look like much in the picture, but you can "drive" over it, then turn around and go back. That gives a better idea of the physics of it.
Click to expand...

I could see you getting good air on that.
 
The first time someone demonstrated that hill's ability to launch a car, I was like "This is the greatest thing in the history of ever. I must go further." :D
 
In high school I launched my Mom's 84 Dodge 600ES turbo about 12' into the air going over a flood dike on a little used road in a riverside neighborhood. That car was as tough as anything on the road, but it loved to blow head gaskets after a hard night of 5.0 Mustang hunting.
 
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