Scotch Plains Shop Stars in TV Commercial

Normally, when cars arrive at  in Scotch Plains, they are already in need of repair. Thursday morning, however, the white Mustang convertible that rolled into the parking lot looked to be in pristine condition – no nicks, scratches or dents to be found, and "Just Married" written in white on the rear window.

That is when the Mustang's driver backed his sports car into another vehicle. Then he pulled forward and reversed hard, slamming into the front of the vehicle, again, and again, and again.

Apparently not satisfied with the damage done – this Mustang was "Built Ford Tough," as they say – the driver steered his car to the front of a backhoe. The excavator's arm dropped, and it tore away the rear bumper and taillights.

Was this an early end to marital bliss? The ultimate case of road rage? A Mythbusters science experiment?

In fact, none of the above, but answer three comes close. The Mustang's single-car demolition derby was part of a film-shoot for Allstate Insurance. A member of the crew was damaging the car to make it appear as if a couple of newlyweds had just suffered a fender-bender, the shoot's location manager, Ko Nizuma, said. 4A Automotive played the role of the friendly, neighborhood repair shop to which the car was towed.

"It was great fun," said 4A owner Norman Fourre (pronounced, yes, "four-a").

Fourre said he and his son, Alex, 23, received a call Monday about using their shop for a film shoot. "They said they had driven by with their location scout and that this would be a good location," Fourre said. "I didn't believe them. Not at first. It took a couple of more calls to prove it."

Alex added, "I thought it was a courtesy call – that they wanted us to buy something."

By Tuesday, however, MJZ – the commercial-production company shooting the ad – had convinced Fourre that their inquiry was legitimate. And by Thursday, Fourre and Alex had cleared the cars from the shop's lot.

"It made some work for us," Fourre said. "I didn't get excited about it until this morning."

But when six panel trucks and more than 30 workers arrived at his shop shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday, he said, the reality settled in. For the first time since his shop opened in 1985, it would be the set of a major commercial shoot.

The shoot, itself, was straightforward. It did not involve any actors – simply different angles of the Mustang, hanging on the back of a tow truck. The shoot wrapped before 11 a.m., and by noon, the crew had packed and headed to Watchung, where Dennis Haysbert and the newlyweds waited to act their parts in the commercial.

According to Nizuma, the commercial should hit the airwaves in about two months.