8 Of The Most Expensive Cars Wrecked In Movies & TV

Hollywood movies are never shy of a crash or two. With classic car chases often allowing filmmakers to create pile-ups, smashed cars have become a monumental piece of cinematic entertainment. But what are the single most expensive smashes of individual vehicles? While no definitive list is available, we can gauge the value of some epic wrecks with estimates at the time of shooting and the prices of similar vehicles sold at auction.

However, with a glut of conflicting information (or even a lack of any in some cases), it can be hard to pin down exact figures. The Lykan Hypersport that went skyscraper jumping in "Fast & Furious 7" is one example. While each of the genuine limited edition supercars had an estimated value of $3.4 million, they were, of course, replicas. A single stunt car survived to go to auction in May 2021, with early bidding starting at around $100,000. 

Another example is the Lamborghini Miura P400 from 1969's "The Italian Job." Many sources claim this car was valued at a cool $1.5 million — a lot of dough for the ;. However, it turned out to be a pre-crashed car, meaning the filmmakers didn't think twice about wrecking it. That said, we can look under the hood of plenty of smashes, including some seriously pricey wrecks. And they weren't all replicas, either. Some movies trashed genuine vehicles in the name of entertainment, which some of you may find tragic. Sensitive gearheads should proceed with caution.

The most expensive Porsche ever sold is the 1970 Porsche 917K that appeared in the 1971 film "Le Mans," starring Steve McQueen. In 2017, one of these racing thoroughbreds was auctioned for an eye-watering $14.08 million. With its 630 horsepower flat-12 engine and historic racing pedigree, the 917K remains one of Porsche's most revered models. It's also the most expensive car ever to be wrecked during the shooting of a movie. 

One of the three 917Ks used in filming was chassis 013, which was involved in a serious crash during production. The wreck was not scripted, and British driver David Piper was lucky to escape with his life. As he reached the Maison Blanche section of the circuit, a tire blowout sent the car pinging off barriers on either side of the track. The crash was so severe that the 917K split into two parts. Even worse, Piper tragically lost the lower section of his right leg. However, despite the accident, the determined driver's passion for motorsports never waned. He triumphantly returned as both a team owner and a driver and competed well into his later years.

There is uncertainty regarding what happened to the car after the crash. As per the National Motor Museum Trust in the U.K., the 917K was rebuilt and continued racing under the chassis 013 designation, winning multiple races during the 1971 season. Other sources claim that instead of a true rebuild, chassis 034 was renumbered as 013, with the original crashed chassis getting scrapped.

The 2015 James Bond movie, "Spectre," starred Daniel Craig as the suave British spy and featured the Aston Martin DB10. This model was built exclusively for the movie, with 10 manufactured in total and seven being destroyed. In 2016, one of the surviving models sold for a cool $3.6 million at Christie's auction in the U.K. This makes the combined total potential value for the seven wrecked during production at more than $25 million.

However, Guinness World Records estimates each DB10 prototype was worth $4.6 million — meaning Bond shredded an eye-watering $32.2 million worth of luxury in high-speed action sequences. The British publication states that the total amount for all vehicles destroyed during the filming of "Spectre" is a colossal $48 million. This includes the DB10s on top of multiple Jaguar C-X75s and modified Land Rover Defenders and Range Rovers. When you consider that the original James Bond movie "Dr. No" had a production budget of just $1 million, you can see the spy's taste for destruction has gotten significantly more expensive.

The Rome chase scene accounts for a large portion of the damage, with stunt coordinator Gary Powell telling the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper in 2015, "In Rome, we wrecked millions of pounds' worth. They were going into the Vatican at top speeds of 110 mph." However, with a budget of $245 million against worldwide box office receipts of over $880 million, you could say the production team smashed its way to a profit.

In "The Wolf of Wall Street," Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) tries to drive home in a Lamborghini Countach while high on Quaaludes. During a phone call in a kitchen, his coherent language suddenly degrades to slurred gibberish, and he collapses on the floor to the words "Don't get behind the wheel of the car." In a state of intoxicated desperation, Belfort crawls snake-like to the front porch, where the pristine Countach waits like a royal carriage. He flops down the stairs like a drunken slinky and somehow clambers into the driver's seat and makes it home, believing there isn't a scratch on him or the car.

However, he is awoken by two police officers, and his look of confusion turns to resignation when they take him outside and show him a wrecked Countach. Viewers are then treated to the actual sequence of events the night before. Screeching tires precede a reverse into a parked car and a plow forward into a golf buggy before a thud into another parked car. Next, we see him drive maniacally into street signs while cussing at other drivers. Judging by the final wreck, many other crashes and scrapes didn't make the final cut. 

To support his dedication to authenticity, director Martin Scorsese felt he needed a genuine Lamborghini Countach. Two were used in production, and the non-wrecked survivor sold for a cool $1.655 million. Slashgear stated that its wrecked sibling could sell for up to $2 million. However, the highest bid was $1.35 million, which fell short of the reserve price, and the wreck went unsold.

While it was modified to look like a Shelby GT500, the 1967 Ford Mustang fastback in the 2000 remake of "Gone in 60 Seconds" is one of the most recognizable Mustangs in cinema. Though 11 replicas were made for the film, only three were fully functional. However, two of those were wrecked during production, which left just one functioning survivor.

The thrilling jump scene on Los Angeles' Vincent Thomas Bridge took the two functional Mustangs from us. The scene involved a high-speed pursuit of Memphis Raines (Nicolas Cage) and involved multiple takes with a total of four cars involved. Needing to get the car to a drop-off location before a set deadline to save his brother's life, Raines gets stuck behind an accident scene on the bridge. As luck would have it, a strategically placed ramp on the back of a car carrier provides a solution. The car thief backs up before loudly revving the engine and making a jump the General Lee would be proud of.

The Mustangs were completely destroyed after the ramp jumps, while another landed on boxes, saving it from complete destruction. The hero car used for close-ups toward the movie's end is the one that survived, but where is the Mustang today? It sold for a whopping $1.1 million at the Mecum Indianapolis auction in 2013, giving the wrecked cars a benchmark for gauging value. Had the other two not been wrecked, the surviving Eleanor Mustang may not have been such a valuable collector's item.

During the Monaco Grand Prix scene in "Iron Man 2," Russian villain Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), uses destructive electrified whips to destroy a Rolls-Royce Phantom. This occurs after Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark decides to drive his team's Formula 1 car in the race. Whiplash slashes his way through speeding cars, including slicing through the hood of Stark's 1978 Wolf WR Ford replica. Race cars screech to a halt, collide with each other in a symphony of crunching metal, and, of course, dramatically explode to an ominous soundtrack. 

The supervillain approaches Stark in slow motion while menacingly dragging his electrified weapons, ready for more carnage. In a desperate attempt to aid his boss, Stark's loyal driver and bodyguard, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), frantically drives the historic Rolls-Royce Phantom in a desperate attempt to get the Iron Man suit to his boss in time. He speeds the wrong way down the track, narrowly avoiding race cars that roar by like angry hornets.

Hogan believes he saves the day by smashing the Rolls into the villain, crushing him against the barricades. However, as Stark attempts to get in the back, Whiplash slices the door in half. "Hit him again!" is the cry as Hogan repeatedly reverses and slams into the villain. But they underestimate Whiplash's strength, and he takes more slices off the Phantom. Naturally, Iron Man saves the day after Stark gets the suit on in the nick of time and dramatically kicks the now-sliced-in-half Rolls Royce out of harm's way. The billionaire playboy likely didn't wince at the estimated $876,000 to $986,000, the combined total of the two destroyed Phantoms used in the scene reportedly cost.

Rather than wrecking an $11 million Ferrari 250 GT California, three replicas, known as Modena Spyder Californias, were provided for the shooting of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." The production used a real 250 GT for close-up scenes, while one of the replicas was used for general driving scenes. Modena failed to complete one in time for filming, but the third replica met its fate in one of the 1986 movie's funniest moments.

In an unexpectedly emotional scene, Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick), his girlfriend Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara), and best friend Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) unsuccessfully attempt to roll back the Ferrari's odometer by running the car in reverse on jack stands. Devastated, Frye vents about competing with the Ferrari for his father's love. His emotions soon get the better of him, and he violently kicks the car in frustration, damaging the bumper, crumpling the grille, and denting the hood. He also unwittingly dislodges the jacks.

The comedy kicks in with a snap when Frye, now calm after his rage-filled outburst, rests his foot on the hood and accidentally pushes the car off the jacks. The three helplessly watch as the tires hit the floor with a screech. The Ferrari reverses along the garage and out of the floor-to-ceiling window in a shower of shattered glass, plummeting out of shot into the ravine below. 

While the wrecked car was never sold, the unused model went for more than $400,000 at auction, while the other one, which had actual screen time, was oddly sold for slightly less. Despite its replica status, this makes the odometer Ferrari one of the most expensive cars wrecked in movie history.

The Batmobile may be one of the most iconic sci-fi vehicles of all time, but it was the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 that was the expensive wreck in Chris Nolan's "The Dark Knight." In the car-wrecking scene, Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne stops an assassination attempt by swerving his Lambo into the path of an oncoming truck ready to ram a police car. As the scene took place in the daytime, the Batmobile, or the Tumbler as this trilogy's iteration was known, could not be used. It presented Nolan with the perfect opportunity to showcase Wayne's character out of the bat suit. 

Fun fact: Murciélago is Spanish for bat, making it a fitting choice to be driven by the dual-identity crime-fighting hero. The Lamborghini represented his billionaire status, while his willingness to destroy it to save a life perfectly summed up his true Batman character. With a reported real-world value of around $350,000, the wreck wouldn't have put a particularly large dent in the billionaire's bank account. After all, what's a Lamborghini when you have a whole cave full of bat gadgets?

The psychedelic '60s sounds of Pink Floyd were put to good effect in an early scene of the Marvel movie "Doctor Strange." Benedict Cumberbatch plays our hero, Dr. Stephen Strange, who is recklessly talking shop during a call while winding his way down a mountain road. The bright headlights of the Lamborghini Huracán he is driving illuminate the path, and Strange takes unnecessary risks by overtaking on corners and narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic.

The heavens open, rain batters the asphalt, and Strange glances at an image on his screen. The Lambo clips another vehicle and sends his car careening off the side of the mountain. Glass shatters, and the airbag inflates in slow motion as the Lambo spins like an out-of-control propeller, eventually ending up in a river as Pink Floyd's epic performance fades out. The crash scene is a pivotal moment in the film, as it leads to career-ending hand injuries for the surgeon, which in turn leads to him becoming everyone's favorite sorcerer. 

Lamborghini provided a genuine Huracán for filming, and it was genuinely wrecked, too. Marvel chose it for its high performance and luxury status, which befits Strange's visionary and ambitious personality. Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali pointed out that the surgeon's survival reflected the car's safety. 

According to director Scott Derrickson, nine Lamborghinis were wrecked in total, each with a value of $238,600 at the time of filming, adding up to a total value of $2.15 million. Yet, instead of safety and luxury, their destruction probably served more as a timely reminder to drive carefully and keep your eyes on the road.