Ford Mustangs have developed a bit of a meme-tastic reputation over the last few years, thanks to drivers speeding out of cars and coffee meetups and crashing. It’s a case of those owners pushing their cars past their own abilities. Unfortunately, a recent incident on Angeles Crest Highway in California won’t help shake the stereotype. A week ago, the driver of a Grabber Blue Mustang Boss 302 decided to ignore shelter-in-place orders and go for a drive in the canyons—sadly, they wound up sending their car, themselves, and a passenger 400 feet down a steep embankment.
Angeles Crest Highway is a long, snaking road that connects Los Angeles County and Palmdale, and it can be a challenging piece of road. The driver of this Mustang learned that lesson the hard way, and according to this Instagram post, they and another occupant had to be airlifted from the wreck site and taken to a nearby trauma center. The car’s condition—a single part does not look to be undamaged—underscores the potential seriousness of their injuries.
As the driver was being lifted away, the car was left behind for the California Highway Patrol and a local towing company to eventually hoist up and out of the valley below. It might sound like a relatively simple job—just tie a cable around the axles and hoist it up! But, as the nearly 40-minute-long video shows, it’s a fair bit more complicated than that.
It took the crew in the video hours to finally get the car up and off the mountainside. The last 10 minutes or so is where they finally get the Mustang tied up and ready to hoist, but the entire video is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how much manpower, effort, and work goes into resolving just one bad wreck. While we hate to see a Mustang Boss 302 destroyed, this is a sobering reminder to stay safe and always drive within your limits. Be careful out there.