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That was the Ford Granada back in the mid 80s. One of the first volume production cars to be fitted with ABS. Many years ago when I was doing development work on brake pad material at a test track I was working with professional test drivers who turned out to be the ones who did the driving in that advert and they told me what really happened that day which you never got to see. Everything was very carefully choreographed of course so that the avoiding brake and swerve happened to plan. The car's speed had to be exact and the tractor had to pull out of the field exactly on its mark.
So there's dozens of people there all set up and ready for the first take. Camera crews, technicians, the stunt drivers. The Granada comes barrelling down the road, the tractor pulls out right on cue, the Granada driver nails the brakes and tries to swerve, the ABS system fails and the Granada writes itself off against the side of the tractor. Much embarbuttment amongst the Ford technicians and it all had to be done again another day with another car. -- Dave Baker
