YouTuber who destroyed $700,000 worth of cars is selling the shredded parts as trophies

Who would have thought that destroying a Ferrari F8 and Mercedes-AMG G63 would be so profitable?

A YouTube personality in the US who destroyed a Ferrari F8 supercar and Mercedes-AMG G-Wagen is selling shredded parts from the car as trophies to his audience – and appears to be making a profit doing so.

Cody Detwiler, who films and publishes videos destroying cars under the moniker WhistlinDiesel, has destroyed at least two very valuable vehicles this year for his 6.6-million-strong online audience.

In late 2022 he purchased a Mercedes-AMG G63, which is valued at around $US140,000 ($AU210,000), and earlier this year added a Ferrari F8 Tributo for a further $US350,000 ($AU530,000).

Both vehicles have featured in a number of videos where they have been tested and punished beyond their limits.

In August this year, the Ferrari caught fire while being filmed driving through a dry cornfield and burned to the ground. The Mercedes was subjected, over the course of about 12 months, to ever more brutal treatment before being destroyed last month.

While this may seem like a financially risky decision, the videos featuring these cars have amassed some 68 million views on YouTube. At a base monetisation rate of $US5000 per one million views on the videos, this alone has earned Detwiler about $US350,000 ($AU530,000).

But wait, there’s more.

This week, Detwiler has announced to his audience that you can buy a small Perspex cube featuring shredded parts of each car. Limited to 899 examples each, the cubes are being sold individually for $AU354 for the Ferrari and $AU292 for the Mercedes.

This means, on the sale of these alone, he will recoup $318,246 and $262,508 respectively. That’s a total of $AU580,754 in addition to the YouTube monetisation.

And if you think this is a silly idea that will never work, the video explaining this has been live for two days and has already generated 2 million views. Additionally, all the Ferrari cubes have already sold out.

Round it all out, and it seems there is $1 million in revenue in destroying nice cars for a large and hungry audience. There are likely production and marketing costs to account for as well, but we’d be amazed if there wasn’t at least a 20 per cent profit margin in the works.

We philosophically don’t agree with destroying nice cars for clicks, but you almost have to appreciate the understanding of how the digital media space can be monetised at work here.

You can tip your hat or shake your head, but well played.

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