User blog:77Pacer/Car crashing sound effect heard in car chase movies of the 1970s and 1980s.

This is a rare car crash sound effect that is believed to be in the 20th Century Fox Sound Effects library. It's sometimes referred to as the "wilhelm scream for cars" by some who know anything about it, but anyone who has played Driver: You Are The Wheelman on either PS1 or PC will know it as the crashing sound used in game.

The earliest known films that it's heard in (The French Connection and Vanishing Point) were released in 1971. While it's very likely that this was when the sound byte was originally recorded, it's purely my speculation, as it has yet to be fully confirmed. However, what is clear is that all the known early titles it showed up in are 20th Century Fox films, indicating that 20th Century Fox was the only production company that utilized it within the first 3 years of its existence. It would not be until 1974 when The Towering Inferno was released to theaters when another movie production company (Warner Brothers in this case) gained access to it. The latest known usage for it was in 2 trailers (Maximum Overdrive and Jumping Jack Flash), both movies being released in 1986, though it's  not fully  confirmed that this was when it was last utilized.

It's not known whether or not the sound is copyrighted to this day, but what is known about it is that I happen to know more about the sound than anyone else on the planet Earth. I happen to own a copy of the PC Port of "Driver: You Are The Wheelman", which 'drives' my love affair for the sound. In fact, I love it so much that I not only adopted the sound for my own sound effects library, but I even utilized it in my own movies (including Return of the Black Thrasher: The Movie). I even have it as the default notification sound on my Android mobile phone.

NOTE: The reason 20th Century Fox is believed to be the original owner of the sound effect is due to the fact that 18 of the titles the sound effect is used in are 20th Century Fox productions. 12 of the titles also have American Sound Effects engineer Theodore Soderberg (1923-2012), who is believed to be one of the guys who owned the sound. To further prove this theory, Soderberg's Wikipedia article states that he was active from 1970 to 1986, which happens to be the same time frame as the releases of the Movies/TV Shows in which the sound byte was heard.

So far, here's the list of ALL the titles I found it in:

1. The French Connection (1971) 2. Vanishing Point (1971) 3. M*A*S*H (1972-1983) 4. The Poseidon Adventure (1972) 5. The Last American Hero (1973) 6. The Seven-Ups (1973) 7. 99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)(heard in trailer at least, I don't know if it's in the film itself or not) 8. The Towering Inferno (1974) 9. Race With The Devil (1975) 10. The French Connection II (1975) 11. The Kansas City Massacre (1975) 12. Cannonball (1976) 13. Gator (1976) 14. Silver Streak (1976) 15. Smokey & the Bandit (1977)(heard in trailer but NOT the final film) 16. Wizards (1977) 17. The Driver (1978) 18. Hooper (1978) 19. The Hunter (1980)(heard in trailer at least, I don't know if it's in the film itself or not) 20. Eyewitness (1981)(heard in trailer but NOT the final film) 21. The Fall Guy (1981-1986)(heard in the Season 3 episodes "Dirty Laundry" and "The Last Drive"). 22. Cagney and Lacey (1982-1988)(variant/possible alternate take)(heard in the Season 3 episode "Unusual Occurrence" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ef8...) 23. The Soldier (1982). 24. Impulse (1984)(heard in trailer but NOT in the final film) 25. The Terminator (1984)(ONLY in the original mono mix) 26. Commando (1985). 27. Mischief (1985) 28. The Man with One Red Shoe (1985) 29. Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)(heard in trailer but NOT in the final film) 30. Maximum Overdrive (1986)(heard in trailer at least, I don't know if it's in the film itself or not)

Even now, I am STILL looking for this sound effect in other movies. This list will be updated when I find it in more titles. There's a Sound Effects Wiki article on this sound effect that I created, and it's available to download from Freesound.org thanks to me!