I was watching this most recent season of the “Reacher” TV series on Amazon when I got to Episode 5 [Spoilers!]. Reacher needs to set up a trap for a bad guy. So he asks his ally—an older DEA agent—to toss everything out of his unmarked cruiser. Then the two men squat down, grab the car, and flip it over. It felt more like a scene from a superhero movie than a gritty/realistic crime show. So is it possible? Maybe…

Jack Reacher flips a car over

The truth is that strong-man competitions often have a car-flipping event. Sometimes, the athletes even try to flip a car as many times as they can in a given amount of time. So, it is possible for certain humans to flip over certain cars.

I’ve noticed these competitions often use compact cars. They’re almost always modified with off-road style rock rails/under-door-steps so the athletes have a good handle. Finally, they often have components that might break off–such as the muffler—already removed. As far as I can tell, some still have the heavy bits (engine, transmission, axles).

So back to our friend Reacher: The character has never trained as a powerlifter. In fact, you never see him lift a weight. He’s built more like a bodybuilder. Actor Alan Ritchenson claims he bulked up to 240 pounds of muscle for Season 3. So could he and a retirement-aged-cop flip a car together? Possibly. But after my research on competition car-flipping, I think they would have done it a very different way.

The truth about car flipping competitions

In competition car-flipping, the athletes squat down, grab the bottom of the car, and begin to lift. So far, the Reacher show is accurate. But athletes often also bounce the vehicle, using the springs in its suspension to gain momentum. Then, they try to jerk it up onto its side. At that point, the vehicle is sideways, and they must move quickly to maintain the momentum and roll it all the way onto its roof. If they don’t, it may even roll back toward them.

In Reacher, he and his sidekick lift the car to about 45 degrees, then pause and trade insults while they both struggle with the weight. Great for dramatic tension, but highly unlikely they could hold it there, at the position where it’s the absolute heaviest. Finally, they get it rolled over, step back, and it smashes down onto its roof. But as we know from competition car-flipping, they’d have to keep pushing to roll it all the way onto its roof.

The car in the show is an older Ford Taurus-based Interceptor. The TV crew probably chose it because it’s one of the lightest police cruisers made (curb weight, 3,969 lbs). But flipping a taller, compact SUV might be easier. In fact, when the WWE pulled this stunt they started with a narrow Jeep CJ-7 with a comically high lift kit.

If it were me, I would just drive it up the steep road banks and let it roll itself. But hey, I like working smart instead of hard when I can. See a strong man car flip competition in the vide embedded below: