If dropping a giant SUV from a helicopter were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Chrysler's Jeep brand cooked up a plan to dangle a Commander SUV from 1,200 feet above its Chelsea proving grounds and then release it -- counting on four parachutes to ease its landing. At the same time, seven skydivers would drop from another helicopter, then pile into the SUV and drive over to a phalanx of media.

The photo op was designed to announce Jeep's involvement with Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit effort to encourage Americans to send cards and packages to overseas soldiers. But one trial run went awry when a chute didn't open and the Commander suffered a hard landing and a cracked windshield.

So Wednesday, when the Commander fell during the press event and one chute ripped, Chrysler PR folks held their breath. This time, though, it lost only a side mirror upon landing. Otherwise, the stunt was a crashing success.


If you've got it, flaunt it

Source: http://www.detnews.com/2005/business/0509/25/B02-326018.htm

:rolleyes: Oldsmobile did this for the introduction of the then-new Ninety-Eight sedan back in the early '90s. Big deal.

Wow, news to me. Bites tongue before uttering a BOF vs. Unibody joke. :D