why would anyone destroy a cool little vintage Mini by tossing it in a trebuchet? From the June 1992 issue of Car and Driver.

Not the only one of its kind and scale, it cost Kennedy, 53, and his equally eccen­tric neighbor, Richard Barr, 47, a year's time and the equivalent of $18,000 to build it. Then they built one more, which fulfilled a quirky script requirement for the 1990s tv show Northern Exposure, 

It is 60 feet high and weighs some 30 tons. Its main beam, made of laminated wood, is 57 feet long. It's weight box is filled with six tons of steel

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a69154007/trebuchet-launches-mini-cooper/