Invincible Classic Car
So, your character has an older car. It may be a Cool Car, the Alleged Car, or somewhere in between - but it has a slight gimmick. It can survive harsh crashes that would maim a modern car - it's the Invincible Classic Car. While old cars tend to survive crashes better than new ones, this trope usually takes it Up to Eleven. Only applies to classic cars (classic = 20+ years old at time of production) and the cars do not have to be completely invincible, per se. Commonly overlaps with What a Piece of Junk!
Certainly Truth in Television in general when comparing classic to modern cars, for a number of reasons. Even if classic cars weren't more durable, any that survive to the modern day must be more hardy than average unless they were well looked after. However, classic cars were generally constructed from stronger, heavier materials, when weight and fuel consumption were less of an issue, and a car purchase was intended to last, rather than being bought with the intention of replacing it a few years down the line.
The biggest reason for this trope in real life however, is that modern cars are designed to crumple under impact, absorbing the energy of the crash and thereby reducing the degree of sudden deceleration on the occupants. Rigid, unyielding cars on the other hand will do a better job of surviving crashes unscathed themselves, but have a much lower chance of the occupants surviving.
In fiction of course, the heros are Made of Iron or wear Plot Armor, so the Invincible Classic Car surviving treatment that would shred a modern car just goes to show how cool it is.
Compare/Contrast to They Don't Make Them Like They Used To.
Advertising
- This 21st Century ad has a 1962 Cadillac parallel park by smashing the front and rear of two Miatas in its way. While the two new cars were drivable but damaged badly, the Caddy lacked even a scratch.
Film
- Christine was not technically invincible, but could repair herself given a chance.
- Inspector Gadget has the Gadgetmobile, a 1964 Lincoln Continental.
- Lampshaded in Back to The Future:
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Marty: Let's land on him, we'll cripple his car. |
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- Balthazar's 1935 Rolls Royce Phantom in The Sorcerers Apprentice.
Literature
- Stephanie Plum occasionally is forced to drive her grandfather's 1953 Buick, which has damaged many other cars but has never been dented or scratched.
- The Buick is the only car Stephanie has driven not to get stolen or explode.
- Constantly lampshaded, hilariously.
- Boko Fittleworth's car in Joy in the Morning is an early example:
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It was a thing about the size of a young tank, which he had bought second-hand in his less oofy days and refused to part with because its admirable solidity served him so well in the give and take of traffic. He told me once that it brushed ordinary sports models aside like flies, and that his money would be on it even in the event of a collision with an omnibus. |
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Live-Action TV
- Night Court: Christine's father buys her a 1949 Oldsmobile. She gets in an accident and the car flips several times; the only injury she or the car suffers is that she chips a nail.
- Supernatural has a 1967 Chevrolet Impala that may or may not be intelligent. She (referred to as their baby) is indestructible even after a major crash in the first season, and had a hand (wheel rim) in saving the world.
- Although in a slight aversion, Dean is shown to spend a lot of time working on repairing the car when it receives major damage.
- Angel's '67 Plymouth managed to survive multiple collisions and various forms of abuse, including a trip to a Hell dimension without so much as a scratch.
- Top Gear purchased an ancient Toyota Hilux pick-up truck which they proceeded to drive down a set of concrete stairs, crash into a tree, submerge in the sea, drive through a shed, set on fire, drop a caravan on it, and place on top of a 22-story building just before it was demolished. With minimal repairs, it re-started every single time. It now has a place of honor in the Top Gear studio.
- On top of that, when they drove it into the studio, the frame (normally the sturdiest part of the car) wsa held together by the body (there to streamline and make it look pretty). Since body-plates are usually not held on by much (making them easier to replace), that really says something about the Hilux's construction.
- On Burn Notice, Michael drives a 1973 Dodge Charger that his father had owned. This car has survived being blown up twice and shot repeatedly while the more modern cars owned by everyone else have generally been destroyed.
- In the pilot, this trope is discussed. Michael picks as car without airbags so that his opponent will be disabled in the collision long enough to be tied to the steering wheel.
Real Life
- Jay Leno had, in his collections of funny newspaper titles, a story about a '57 Chevy which stalled across a railroad crossing with a train oncoming. The train was totaled. Not a scratch on the car.
- Subverted when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety marked its' 50th annniversary by crashing a 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne into a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. Both cars were destroyed beyond repair at 35 mph, but the modern car's driver would've had a few cuts and bruises while the '59's driver "would've been killed instantly" (read: impaled on the steering column).
- This has garnered quite a bit of flak for bias; upon further inspection, the engine block and transmission were taken out of the Biscayne prior to the test. That's not to say the driver wouldn't have died, but the 59' would have plowed farther into the Malibu, killing that driver, with the added mass of the drive train.
Video Games
- In Need for Speed II, there's a bonus car (accessible by a Cheat Code) called the "Bomber BFS", which is a Hot Rod based on a 1957 Chevrolet. Not only is it capable of surviving damage, but it also apparently has the ability to ram traffic cars out of the way.