Bad Things Happen to Good Cars… in the Movies

by Rob Sass on Thursday, September 11th, 2014

“Sadly, Bond’s Aston is strafed into Swiss cheese.  Happily, the car was actually a prop made to look like a real DB5.”

They crash and smash many cars in Hollywood.

A few months ago we looked at five dramatic destructions here are some more to make you weep.

1964 Aston DB5 Martin (Skyfall)

In the rebooted James Bond world of Daniel Craig, Bond is seen to have won the DB5 in a card game in the movie Casino Royale. The film’s villain, played by Javier Bardem, puts its nose-mounted machine guns to good use in an attempt to repel an assault.

Sadly, Bond’s Aston is strafed into Swiss cheese. Happily, the car was actually a prop made to look like a real DB5.

1985 Corvette (The Big Lebowski)

A 14-year-old kid named Larry Sellers has likely stolen Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski’s (Jeff Bridges’)  battered Ford Torino, possibly containing a large sum in ransom money.  The Dude and his extremely anger management-challenged bowling buddy Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) head for little Larry’s house. On the way in, they’re dismayed to find a red 1985 Corvette parked in front of the house and they figure the kid has already started to blow the money. When standard interrogation techniques prove fruitless, Walter takes a crowbar to the Corvette’s glass. The Corvette turns out to be the neighbour’s car.

1941 Lincoln Continental (The Godfather)

You could always count on the hot temper of Sonny Corleone. The Barzini Family certainly did. They also knew that when Carlo, the abusive lowlife husband of Sonny’s sister Connie, would hit her, Sonny would respond by unleashing the Hiroshima of beatings on Carlo. The most direct route from Sonny’s fist to the jawbone of Carlo would take him through the tollbooth at the Jones Beach Causeway on Long Island, where the Barzini’s hit men were waiting with Thompson sub-machine guns.  The result was not pretty for either Sonny or the Lincoln.

1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

The Camaro was owned by intimidating high school football prospect Charles Jefferson (played by the great Forrest Whitaker in one of his earliest roles). Jefferson’s little brother and surfer/stoner Jeff Spiccolli (Sean Penn) take the car cruising one night in the San Fernando Valley and wreck it. Spiccolli pops the classic line, “My old man is a TV repairman, and he has an awesome set of tools. I can fix it.” Ultimately, no repairs are undertaken. Rather, the damage is blamed on car thieves from a rival high school whom Ridgemont is playing in a big football game. An incensed rhino-like Jefferson is seen later delivering paralytic revenge hits in the subsequent game.

1969 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE convertible (The Hangover)

Future father -in-law entrusts his non-Car Guy future son-in-law with his treasured Mercedes convertible for a pre-wedding jaunt with friends. Granted, they were supposed to be heading to sedate California wine country, but they go to Vegas instead. The extreme body damage that the handsome Benz suffers is predictable for anyone who has seen Animal House. The damage done to the interior by Mike Tyson’s pet tiger? That’s novel.

*Rob Sass is the vice-president of content for Hagerty Insurance. Hagerty is the world’s leading specialist provider of classic car and boat insurance. Learn more at hagerty.ca and you can email rsass [at] hagerty [dot] com