History Main / ThePreciousPreciousCar

[[quoteright:350:Film/ConAir https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/con_air_corvette.jpg]]]]

Ryan from ''Literature/PerfecrRun'' loves his Plymouth Fury to the point when the villain Mosquito destroys it he immediately declares the current loop a failure and kills both of them with an atom bomb to reset the loop he's in so he won't be in a world where his car is destroyed.

* Ronnie's "tuff" hot rod that Cherry wrecks in "Hot Rod Boogie" in ''ComicBook/CherryComics'' #1.

* One Franchise/ArchieComics story featured Reggie showing an excessive, obsessive, amount of concern for his car. As Archie states, "Reggie doesn't own his car- his car owns him!" Reggie gets his comeuppance when he forgets to roll up the windows before a big rainstorm, soaking the interior.

If the one who owns the car is a main character, the trope is WatchThePaintJob. See also ItsGoingDown. Practically a subtrope of WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong. Compare ChronicallyCrashedCar, PricelessMingVase, and MilhollandRelationshipMoment. Contrast TheAllegedCar, a vehicle whose defining quality is being terrible/hated instead of pretty/loved.

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* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument "The Ghost Monument"]], Epzo is reluctant to jettison the back half of his ship in order to save fuel because he claims there have been ballads written about it. The Doctor incredulously snaps that a tragic opera could be written about their pointless deaths, and persuades him to jettison the back of the ship so they can reach Desolation.

* Archie's dad's Pontiac Firebird in ''Film/HighSchoolUSA''. When Beau finds out that J.J. is planning to use the car in the drag race, he sends [[HoneyTrap a couple of girls round to seduce Archie and Chuckie]] into taking them for a ride in it, and then causing them to crash the car by distracting them.

* Archie's dad's Pontiac Firebird that ends up wrapped around a tree in ''Series/HighSchoolUSA''. The kids then concoct a scheme to persuade Archie's dad that he wrecked the car himself.

* Phyllis Reynolds Naylor uses this trope cleverly in one of the Alice books. The teen-age Alice is a passenger in a jerk's flashy new car, and he is driving recklessly at eighty-plus miles an hour. He ignores her pleas to slow down and drive sanely, so she pretends that she's going to puke. The jerk says, "Not in my car!" and stops to let her out to puke. Once out, she wisely refuses to get back in.
* ''Literature/TheOriginOfTheCrabs'' by Creator/GuyNSmith: Bruce [=McKechnie=] is a wealthy Scottish laird whose pride and joy is his expensive Range Rover, which he views as a visible symbol of his wealth and prestige. Needless to say, the giant crabs of the title trash it real good when attacking [=McKechnie=]'s mansion.
* ''Literature/TheHeartsWeSold'': The Daemon is very fond of his car, to the point where one of the ''only'' times he displays any actual emotion is when he thinks someone might throw up in it and ruin the upholstery.
* ''Literature/{{DFZ}}'': Nik's high-end sports car. Some of his old friends are surprised that he let Opal ride in it at all.
* Taken to a horrifying extreme in ''Literature/{{Christine}}'', where the titular car has such a hold on its owner that he'll do absolutely anything to care for and protect it.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity''. Underground racing circuit plus bazooka = win for the player.
* Sully, the leader of the Orphans in ''VideoGame/TheWarriors'', can often be found at Frank's Autobody tinkering with his car. When Cleon confronts him after Sully bragged about intruding on the Warriors' turf on the radio, Sully and his men hide behind a locked gate and then taunt Cleon further. Cleon retaliates by having his "youngbloods" (rookie gang members) smash Sully's car with their fists, their feet, and giant sledgehammers. The sequence ends with a BigNo from Sully.

* In ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'', Aya has a muscle car she had restored, customized and [[ICallItVera named]] Literature/{{Carrie}}. Predictably, it gets wrecked by a group of impish monsters. She practically goes through a period of mourning.

* ''[[VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans Destroy All Humans! 2]]'': In Takoshima, there is a salaryman with an extreme fixation on his new company car, screaming at any bystander who might touch it. So naturally, Crypto destroys it ForTheEvulz.

* ''Webcomic/TwentyFirstCenturyFox'': Jack's Thunderbird, which later gets hit by a hurricane.

* Mr. Wolffe gets a car like this in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife''. [[spoiler:It gets completely totaled ''after'' it's safely put back in the garage.]]

* Owned by a JerkJock in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. When he bullies a wimpier classmate, the wimp snags his dad's humongous construction 'bot and crushes it like a beer can.
* Knockout in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' is his ''own'' Precious Precious Car, being the unusual [[TransformingMecha car-mode]] Decepticon. He's incredibly vain and takes cosmetic damage very seriously.
--> "No! Not the paint job!"

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', Gir possesses Zim's house, transforms it into a quadrupedal mecha, and rampages across the city trying to get his favorite tacos. One of the casualties is a brand new car belonging to a man who just moments before was gushing to someone on the phone about how amazing his car was.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "The Italian Bob", Homer and his family get sent to Italy to pick up Mr. Burns' new [[BlandNameProduct Lamborgotti Fasterossa]] sports car. While tooling around Italy, the car is crushed by huge wheels of Mortadella and cheese.
** In another episode, Superintendent Chalmers has a meltdown when someone defaces his brand-new Honda by stealing the hood ornament.
-->'''Chalmers:''' What's the point of having a Honda if you can't show it off?
* On ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Boomhauer ''used'' to have one of these in high school; until Hank, Bill, and Dale took it for a joyride and accidentally drove it into the old quarry. They had kept it a secret from him for all these years.

* Happens not once, but several times, in ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'' Decode, where Birdy will accidentally demolish any of the cars and subsequent new cars of one of the human minor characters with her super strength.

* ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'': In the ''Battleground: Tatooine'' arc, Winter and Tycho have to borrow Huff Darklighter's shiny, expensive speeder to chase after some people who shot up a party. While driving, Tycho takes it a bit slow, telling Winter that they promised to bring it back without a scratch. Winter then shoots the front of the airspeeder and says "Now it's scratched. Go!" A few pages later, the speeder is totally destroyed.
* Characters in ''ComicBook/SinCity'' love to take care of their cars. Wallace and Dwight's Cadillacs are the two biggest examples. Unfortunately, many of these cars do get wrecked, much to the chagrin of the characters.

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* "The 1961 Ferrari 250GT California" [[JustForPun drives]] the final act of ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff''. Cameron's father treasures the vintage Ferrari more than anything, including his own family. Cameron spends much of the movie fearing his father's fury once he figures out Cameron, Sloane and Ferris borrowed the vehicle for a day. Cameron finding a meaningful way to confront his father regarding the vehicle's unexpected additional mileage [[spoiler: and destruction]] is the actual point of the movie.
-->'''Cameron Frye''': Less than a hundred were made. My father spent three years restoring this car. It is his love. It is his passion.
-->'''Ferris Bueller''': It is his fault he didn't lock the garage.
* In Alan Alda's ''Film/TheFourSeasons'', Dave takes obsessive care of his car including not letting his friends eat inside it. It sinks into a frozen lake at the end of the movie.
* In ''Film/RiskyBusiness'', when Joel takes Lana out on a date in his father's Porsche, the car accidentally ends up rolling into a nearby lake.
* In the first ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' film, Biff Tannen's 1946 Ford Super De Luxe is crashed into the back of a manure truck while Biff and his gang are pursuing a skateboarding Marty. In the second film, having paid a fortune to have the damage repaired, Biff then crashes into the back of ''another'' manure truck.

* Kirk's stepfather's car in ''Film/StarTrek2009''. Additional material indicates that it was Kirk's father's car, and his stepfather intended to sell it. Out of spite, Little Jim Kirk went on the joyride with it instead.
* Kerr's car from ''Film/TerminalVelocity1994'' gets driven ''out of a plane''. And Kerr ''leaps out after it''. It does not go well for him.

* Starsky's Gran Torino in the ''Film/StarskyAndHutch'' movie. Very unusual in that Starsky is a protagonist, and (after being talked into attempting an ill-judged jump) he destroys the car himself.
* Walt Kowalski's titular car in the Clint Eastwood movie ''Film/GranTorino''. True to the trope, the car does get 'borrowed' without his consent after the would-be thief stares into the wrong end of a fully loaded high caliber rifle.
* Two examples from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' films:
** Variation in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'': Lando, about to borrow the ''Millennium Falcon'' to go with Wedge and Rogue Squadron after the second Death Star, tells Han he'll bring his ship back without a scratch on it. Han has a feeling that he'll never see his beloved ''Falcon'' again. Lando ''does'' bring her back, and her radar dish is missing. If that wasn't bad enough, an [[WhatCouldHaveBeen earlier version of the script]] had the ''Falcon'' getting destroyed in the Death Star's explosion.
*** ''Film/{{Solo}}'' reveals that when she belonged to Lando, the ''Falcon'' was the space equivalent of a luxury yacht. Then Han piloted her on the Kessel Run and shredded the hell out of her. Lando was ''not'' happy.
----> '''Lando:''' I hate you.\\
'''Han:''' I know.
** Also, the shiny yellow speeder Anakin commandeered early on in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''? [[http://www.holonetnews.com/56/news/13516_5.html Was the extremely prized possession of the Republic's most corrupt senator.]]
* Doug's father-in-law's Mercedes, ''Film/TheHangover''. In a nice twist, it is revealed to be perfectly fine after the 'what happened last night'. Seconds later, it gets damaged. In a deleted scene, the joke is paid off [[spoiler: by the Father-In-Law GIVING it to the protagonists.]]
* Main character's brother's 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge in ''Film/SexDrive''.
* Winston Wolfe's Acura in ''Film/PulpFiction''. Fortunately, he's giving it to Vincent, who's [[WatchThePaintJob similarly attached to his Malibu]].
-->'''Winston:''' I get my car back any different than I gave it, Monster Joe's gonna be disposin' of ''two'' bodies.
* Happens to the yuppie's Jaguar that Jack takes with a FlashedBadgeHijack in order to catch the bus in ''Film/{{Speed}}''.

* ''Film/OneCrazySummer'' features Teddy's red Ferrari, complete with personalized license plates reading "[=CUL8R=]".

* In ''Film/TowerHeist'', Shaw's most precious possession is his valuable sports car in his penthouse once owned by Steve [=McQueen=], which, in a fit of anger, Josh Kovacs smashes to hell, declaring "Steve [=McQueen=] is my little bitch." Also, it [[spoiler:happens to not only be made of solid gold as a hidden emergency treasure trove, but its glove compartment is where he hides his secret ledger of all his fraudulent accounts.]]

* All of James Bond's cars are this to Q. It especially applies to ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', in which it gets sawed in half by a helicopter-mounted buzzsaw. While Bond usually chuckles when the car gets destroyed, here he actually looks sheepish.
* The titular SUV Sharon from the Venezuelan Movie ''Mi vida por Sharon'' is treated this way. The plot of the movie is all the lengths its owner goes to rescue it from express kidnapers, almost at the expense of his family and the romantic relationships with his ex-wife and actual girlfriend (the man was two-timing with each other, and still both felt more betrayed with his love for his SUV). Although he manages to reconcile with his family and got his car back, [[spoiler: Sharon still gets destroyed, at the hands of the pregnant dumped girlfriend, in a explosion that would make Michael Bay smile.]]
* The opening scene of ''Film/XXx'' has Xander Cage stealing a politician's prized convertible, then ramping it off a bridge.

* ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' sees Film/JamesBond damage a hotel guest's SUV when the arrogant owner mistakes him for a valet.
* ''Film/{{Barefoot}}'' has a variation; in this case, the precious car is an old (but well-cared for) RV that Jay Wheeler's wealthy father owns. When Jay and his ManicPixieDreamGirl Daisy Kensington are sneaking out of UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, they steal it because it's the only vehicle in the garage with keys. And sure enough, Daisy eventually wrecks it.
* Howard and his 1959 Jaguar in ''Film/TheNorthAvenueIrregulars''.
* R.L. Stine really loves his '87 Jeep Wagoneer in ''Film/{{Goosebumps}}''. When the giant praying mantis destroys it, he is visibly distraught.
* Bad guy Marls owns a very nice Mercedes in ''Film/HoneymoonAcademy'', which he is extremely attached to and spends an inordinate amount of time fussing over. After the villains capture Chris and Sean, Marls sends his MinionWithAnFInEvil Slack to drive them to a remote location and kill them. Instead, Slack, who is a TokenGoodTeammate, gives them the keys to the Mercedes and lets them go. Upon returning to Marls' house, he lies and says he pushed the heroes over a cliff in the car. Marls is so enraged he throws the snowglobe MacGuffin at Slack. A subversion in that the car is fine; Marls only ''thinks'' it's been destroyed.
* The 1967 comedy ''The Flim-Flam Man'' has the eponymous character stealing a young woman's shiny new convertible. One long chase scene later, the vehicle is in ruins.
* At the beginning of ''Film/IrreconcilableDifferences'', Lucy is driving her fiance Bink's beloved sports car across the country because she's the only person he trusts with it. Naturally, it gets stolen while she's dancing with Albert.
* Heavily implied in ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' with the hearse Patty's uncle sends to the team, then confirmed in the end. He didn't think the Ghostbusters were going to modify it. [[spoiler: Or send it to another dimension.]]
* ''Film/TheAbominableDrPhibes'': When Crow drives off in a desperate attempt to save Dr. Kitaj, he takes the first car he finds, which turns out to be Superintendent Waverly's. It is in less than pristine condition when he returns it, and falls apart (off-screen) when Waverly drives off.

* The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud owned by Paula Powers' parents in ''Film/GrandTheftAuto''. True to the film's tagline, it, like many others throughout the story, were utterly destroyed.
* In ''Film/TheGumballRally'', one of the racers (Jose the mechanic) enters the race by getting a job delivering a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow to Los Angeles. He picks it up at the New York mansion of a rich producer and his butler makes clear that there will be hell to pay if Jose damages it, even giving him orders like not driving the car after six in the afternoon. The car gets heavily damaged throughout the film, including getting keyed and bashed by a bunch of crazed bikers and having most of its paint ripped off by a sandstorm. Jose manages to dodge trouble when the producer is DistractedByTheSexy (by seducing Jose's [[WetBlanketWife Wet Blanket Girlfriend]]) and Jose finally wrecks the car when he punts it in anger and it goes rolling down a hill and hits a truck.
* The Precious, Precious Car in the 1988 film ''License to Drive'' is Les' grandfather's 1972 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, which he left behind while he was going out for the weekend with the family's BMW. The [[ASimplePlan simple plan]] was for Les to just take his girlfriend Mercedes out for a ride a couple of hours' long. By the end of the film, the Cadillac has been completely wrecked in a demolition-derby ride through Los Angeles, up to and including being stolen by a drunken hobo (who pukes inside of the car) and driving in reverse to the hospital by Les to help his mother deliver a baby (and the car then gets flattened by a falling girder). Grandpa didn't had any better luck himself, either, and he hands the keys to the BMW and the towed remains of the car in the epilogue.
* Archie's dad's Pontiac Firebird in ''Film/HighSchoolUSA''. When Beau finds out that J.J. is planning to use the car in the drag race, he sends [[HoneyTrap a couple of girls round to seduce Archie and Chuckie]] into taking them for a ride in it, and then causing them to crash the car by distracting them.
* In ''Film/AskAPoliceman'', Sgt. Dudfoot wrecks the Chief Constable's car (i.e. his boss' car) while attempting to fake an accident to explain to the Chief Constable why he has been unconscious. (ItMakesSenseInContext.)

* ''Film/{{Barefoot}}'' has a variation; in this case, the precious car is an old (but well-cared for) RV that Jay Wheeler's wealthy father owns. When Jay and his ManicPixieDreamGirl Daisy are sneaking out of UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, they steal it because it's the only vehicle in the garage with keys. And sure enough, Daisy eventually wrecks it.

* In ''Series/PowerRangersRPM,'' when Col. Truman refers to the Project Go-Onger van as his prized possession, you ''knew'' it was [[ItsGoingDown going down]]. And it did: the MonsterOfTheWeek planted a bomb on it, causing it to go out of control and right off a cliff. The Rangers bailed out just in time to see it die.

If the one who owns the car is a main character, the trope is WatchThePaintJob. See also ItsGoingDown. Practically a subtrope of WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong. Compare ChronicallyCrashedCar, PricelessMingVase, TheAutographedBall, and MilhollandRelationshipMoment. Contrast TheAllegedCar, a vehicle whose defining quality is being terrible/hated instead of pretty/loved.

If the one who owns the car is a main character, the trope is WatchThePaintJob. See also ItsGoingDown. Practically a subtrope of WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong. Compare ChronicallyCrashedCar, PricelessMingVase and MilhollandRelationshipMoment. Contrast TheAllegedCar, a vehicle whose defining quality is being terrible/hated instead of pretty/loved.

-->-- ''[[ComicBook/XWingSeries Battleground: Tatooine]]''

* In ''Battleground: Tatooine'', an arc in the ComicBook/XWingSeries comics, Winter and Tycho have to borrow Huff Darklighter's shiny, expensive speeder to chase after some people who shot up a party. While driving, Tycho takes it a bit slow, telling Winter that they promised to bring it back without a scratch. Winter then shoots the front of the airspeeder and says "Now it's scratched. Go!" A few pages later, the speeder is totally destroyed.

* ''The Origin of the Crabs'' by Guy N. Smith: Bruce [=McKechnie=] is a wealthy Scottish laird whose pride and joy is his expensive Range Rover, which he views as a visible symbol of his wealth and prestige. Needless to say, the giant crabs of the title trash it real good when attacking [=McKechnie=]'s mansion.