The Staggering Number Of Cars That Were Destroyed While Filming Chamber Of Secrets
One of the most iconic film props used in the "Harry Potter" series is Arthur Weasley's flying Ford Anglia. The car, introduced in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" when Ron, Fred, and George Weasley fly to the Dursley residence to rescue Harry from captivity, is Mr. Weasley's pet project. Mr. Weasley works in the Ministry of Magic's Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office for much of the series, and he fosters a deeper appreciation for Muggle technology than most of the wizards Harry meets.
Mr. Weasley enchanted the car so it could fly and outfitted it with an Invisibility Booster so it could fly undetected, as well as an additional charm that expands the interior beyond what a normal Ford Anglia could hold. Given how much emphasis is placed on wizards living in secrecy in "Harry Potter," this isn't strictly legal. In the "Chamber of Secrets" book, Mrs. Weasley disapprovingly notes that Arthur wrote a loophole into his own law that allows him to legally own charmed Muggle objects.
Harry and Ron fly the car to Hogwarts when they are mysteriously prevented from entering the Hogwarts Express platform at King's Cross station. Upon their arrival on the castle grounds, the car crashes into the Whomping Willow, which doesn't take kindly to visitors. Given the beating the car takes in the movie, it's not hard to imagine the production team used more than one prop car, but how many cars were used for the film in total?
The Harry Potter special effects team used as many as 16 Ford Anglias
According to Wizarding World Digital, the special effects team on "Chamber of Secrets" used as many as 16 models of the 1962 Ford Anglia 105E to film scenes with Harry, Ron, and Arthur Weasley's flying car.
The team, led by supervisor John Richardson, removed the engine from the main car used for flying scenes to make it lighter and then attached it to a special crane to rotate the car to simulate flying. The other cars used for the film were altered in various ways: Some were cut in half so the production could more easily film actors inside the car, others bore the brunt of the Whomping Willow's beating, and the ones that were required to drive at high speeds were outfitted with racing engines.
As odd as it sounds, Mr. Weasley's flying car has been spotted in real life since it last appeared in "Chamber of Secrets." According to the BBC, it was reported stolen from a film studio in October 2005, well after production on the second "Harry Potter" film wrapped. Police said at the time that the car could not drive and must have been towed or lifted from where it was being stored. The car was found in May 2006 at a 14th-century castle near Falmouth, Cornwall (via MuggleNet).