As much as we love famous cars and trucks that take on lives of their own in the movies or on tv, many of them end up in bad shape. Maybe they’re jumped off cliffs, set on fire, crashed into trains, blown up with explosives, or similarly mangled. Some of these automotive deaths are funny, like in The Big Lebowski when “the dude’s” car is burned to the ground and as he surveys the flames he says to his buddies, “Well they finally did it. They killed by fu@&ing car.”
Other automotive death scenes are far less humorous. Maybe it is the end of Vanishing Point where a stunt Camaro is killed in place of the iconic Challenger. The original screen play of Two Lane Blacktop called for the ’55 to be destroyed in a violent wreck as part of the final scene. The stunt car was later killed in the big race scene of American Graffiti when Bob Falfa goes for a fateful tumble while trying to take down John Milner. Were you pulling for the big rig to take out the Valiant in Duel? If you were, the ending didn’t do much to help your cause.
There’s a couple of example of what we’re thinking, we want to know what you’re thinking now! (Oh, we were totally crushed as kids to see Officer Ponch’s original Pontiac get burned to a crisp. His second ‘Bird wasn’t nearly as cool as the one burning below!)
Question of the Day: What TV or Movie Car/Truck Suffered The Most Tragic On Screen Death?
The general lee over and over. In nearly every episode the general jumped somthing that should have been its last but…. Magically it lived to do it again in the next episode.
Has to be the Challenger in vanishing point…just when you thought Kowalski was going to get away…bang!
The sad part about the crash into the bulldozers, the car was actually a Camaro!
That part made me happy
yay!
Better a Camero than a Challenger.
Falfa’s 55 Chevy in American Grafitti.
68 Charger in Bullitt.
I too cried when Ponch’s ‘Bird died. I remember when they ran through it with a forklift. The worst was Dennis Hopper’s ’64 Vette in King of the Mountain. Off the side of Mulholland into a canyon on fire!
the best death came when a chick stole ponch’s poncho and after an eventful chase flipped it before ponch’s eyes
the long, slow, painful death of the 55 F100 in Expendables
I have to vote for the ’69 Chevelle used in the Tales From The Crypt episode “King Of The Road”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZPZgQouDE
Every car the Fast and Furious crew touches. The 70 Charger, the Grand National and the three 72 Gran Torinos. One of those 72s being an original 429 car.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3422/3381485040_c6b188826a.jpg
Makes me sick.
The ’69 Charger in “Dirty Harry Crazy Mary” I like most knew they had gotten away free.
Jim
The Dukes of Hazzard sacrificed too many 1969 Dodge Chargers for the show.
Yep, the Challenger in the movie “Vanishing Point”. Man what a wreck!
Usually they substitute a double for a destruction scene; unfortunately the one I remember where they killed the original was the cool little Jag E Type hearse they sent over the cliff in “Harold and Maude”.
Any of the Plymouth furys in Christine as well as the 67 Camaro from the same movie.
Even as a kid I cringed when that cool old Peterbilt went over the cliff in Duel. And I can’t even count how many cool cars got wasted in the original Gone In 60 Seconds.
when dirty lyle killed that 72 chevelle! the duck went out in spectacular fashion as well…
The Challenger and Charger in Death Proof kinda hurt as a pair. Im wondering what the gone in 60 sconds guys are going to do with the Jensen Interceptor… They are tough cars though. The Interceptor in the opening 20 minutes of the Jo Don Baker movie Speedtrap took a beating and was still driveable through the whole chase scene, but it was not pretty.
Meant fast and furious 6..not gone in 60 seconds…saw the trailer during the superbowl.
Joe Dirt’s Superbird… for being slowly killed from neglect instead of going out in a blaze of glory.
What about the brand new dark green 72 Trans am in McQ with John Wayne. Gets crushed by the garbage truck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHtTwacRpTI
The 74′ Dodge Fury from the Blues Brothers. It gave them its all before flying apart.
The Plymouth in Christine was extensively crushed by the ‘dozer.
The original Elianore in Gone In 60 Seconds – they never used a back up car.
the 55 Nomad in the movie RAGE
’64 Lincoln gets crushed to a cube in Goldfinger. Bonus: It gets carted off in a ’64 Ranchero with a magical two-ton payload capacity.
MAX, The Road Warrior. His bad ass car was destroyed due to booby trapped tanks.
yep, that one hurts…same model as my coupe…
I’d agree with this one, The Interceptor was a big part of the first two movies. I was really sad to see it get rolled and burned.
Home Improvement TV show when Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor dropped the steel beam on his Nomad wagon.
57 Chevy in Used Cars. “For $2400 old man, it better run like a wet dream”.
The Family Truckster “You think you hate it now, but wait ’til you drive it”.
Every vintage car Jesse James got his hands on in Monster Garage. A big block El Camino figure 8 car? Big block Vette mud bogger? Crushing an original Anglia because he wouldn’t listen to Roland freakin’ Leong?
Has to be the dodge in the begining of the movie hot rod where the car flips over 8 times and he walked away!
I recall an episode of Tim Allen’s “Tool Time” where a late 60s SS El Camino was crushed by something dropped from a crane. Tim Allen being a car guy, I always hoped it was a photographic trick (it sure looked real), if not, it was a damn shame.
I said bad wrong words at the TV when I saw that…I don’t think there was any trick either – CGI costs more than old cars unfortunately
OOPS ! ! ! What Steve Smith said. Even worse than I recalled, a Nomad. Again, I hope it was a trick.
The Pinto in the Val Kilmer movie “Top Secret.”
The ’69 Charger in Bullet….
Even in ’71 they knew the Mopar was too special to wreck. Much easier to destroy one of the billion camaros already on the road then!
Ballast resisitor probably broke on the Dodge
That would be on Miami Vice. When Don Johnson’s black Daytona Ferrari was blown up. Tragic!
The GTX in Tommy Boy
The GTX in Tommy boy hurt ! at the gas station Tommy said what did you do ?
I’m pretty slow to reply here, and all of the detroit iron destruction that I could recall is already mentioned.
Good job remembering the Bluesmobile.
Still, I can contribute with a couple of classic British cars. I finally went to see Skyfall this week (had to wait for the discount theater to get it). If you haven’t seen the movie, and are still planning to, then read no further…
I loved it when Bond rolls up the door on his storage unit and there sits his classic Aston Martin DB5. First introduced for “Goldfinger”, the car has now appeared in a total of 6 Bond movies.
At the final showdown, Bond uses the front mounted machine guns to take out some of the baddies, but the car ends up being destroyed.
And… don’t forget Toonces, the cat who could drive a car! Same classic Jag, right off a cliff, every Saturday night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2×5-38LJ8N4
Almost every car on transporter series has a tragic death. in fact i think the series is all about how best to destroy your car, when chasing or escaping bad guys.
Bonnie and Clyde. The car was shot to death.
Lamborghini Miura at the beginning of the original Italian Job.