History Main / MetallicarSyndrome

* In the "narcocorrido" song "La Suburban Dorada" By Los Huracanes del Norte, this trope is what ends up spelling doom for a couple of StupidCrooks on a drug run: they are driving the titular golden Suburban (because it's armored and has a massive engine) and when they run into a roadblock a dirty cop tells them that there is an APB on it and they should change cars immediately. The drug runners decide that MurderIsTheBestSolution. The end result: the runners become the target of a massive CopKillerManhunt [[BolivianArmyEnding and it doesn't looks like they'll be able to get away by the time the song ends]].
%%* [[Music/MyChemicalRomance The Killjoys]]' Trans Am.

** ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' has an Autobot cast consisting primarily of concept sport-and-muscle cars, only a few of which ever made it to mass consumer production. [[TheRedStapler In fact, Bumblebee's "Concept Camaro" alt mode would be far more inconspicuous in reality a few years after the 2007 film than it was in the original context.]] Optimus Prime turns into a fairly common [[BigBadassRig Peterbilt 379]]... with an incredibly conspicuous [[HotPaintJob flaming paint deco]]. The Decepticons, again, prefer American military vehicles and compact home electronics due to their initial goal of infiltrating the American government. In the sequel, they add [[CombiningMecha heavy construction equipment]] to their arsenal, since it likewise would be inconspicuous in nearly any locale. Still, of the Decepticons that turn into cars, they manage to pick ''quite'' conspicuous alt modes: A Saleen Mustang itself disguised as a cop car and an Audi R8 parked in a poor part of Shanghai.

Compare ImprobablyCoolCar and HerosClassicCar. Contrast WhatAPieceOfJunk, especially with sleeper cars or Q-cars.

* Subverted in ''Film/RunningScared1986''. The protagonists' unmarked police car is so bland-looking, it HAS to be a police car in the neighborhoods they patrol. They get it repainted to look like a taxi cab.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Averted in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': the heroes are trying to sneak their way to the Resistance, but it's pointed out the ship they have is too distinct (both visually and in terms of traceable output) for such a task, so they try to get a less conspicuous one. [[spoiler:Both the First Order and Resistance find them first, so they stick with the ''Millennium Falcon'' for the rest of the movie.]]

* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted'', ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedCarbon Carbon]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUndercover Undercover]]''. To lower notoriety with the police, it's a simple matter of changing the visual appearance of the car. Even if the (usually egregious) paint job is the exact same as before, they won't bat an eye because of the different spoiler and rims.

* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'': ''Most Wanted'', ''Carbon'' and ''Undercover''. To lower notoriety with the police, it's a simple matter of changing the visual appearance of the car. Even if the (usually egregious) paint job is the exact same as before, they won't bat an eye because of the different spoiler and rims.

* In ''Film/TheMuppetsMovie'', Kermit and Fozzie begin their journey to Hollywood on Fozzie's uncle's Studebaker, and [[BigBad Doc Hopper]] and his minions instantly recognize it even after it gets a psychedelic paint job by the Electric Mayhem band as camouflage (ironically the "camouflage" part is fulfilled [[CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise when Fozzie parks the car right in front of an equally psychedelic soda billboard]]).

* The Scaremobile from ''ComicBook/ScareTactics'' is a one-of-a-kind mobile home. It fits their cover as a rock band, but it is hardly inconspicuous.

If your protagonists, AliceAndBob, are of the AntiHero variety, they will drive a [[RareVehicles rare and/or unique-looking vehicle]] in order to show how utterly badass they are. Somehow, the authorities never think to look for their pink-and-green SUV or purple-striped Ferrari, though ordinary {{Muggle}}s might if Alice and Bob are the WeHelpTheHelpless types of anti-hero.

* In ''Series/Wednesday'', Wednesday meets Uncle Fester in the forest, where he has hidden a motorcycle combination. He tells her he likes to travel Incognito, which makes sense until he pulls the improvised camo off the bike, which is covered in a highly conspicuous cow print, with an equally conspicuous brand name on it. The helmets match the bike.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'': The assassin Lance Vance and his immaculate white Lamborghini-sorry, [[{{Fauxrrari}} Infernus]]. Granted, he's driving it around a town that is analogous to [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight 1980s Miami]], but it's still a bit flashy for a career criminal with a price on his head.

* Gin, one of the higher-ranking members of the [[TheSyndicate Black Organization]] in ''Manga/CaseClosed'', always drives a Porsche. The specific model is so rare that Ai can identify it immediately, but it never keeps him from blending in whenever no-one plot-relevant is around.

* The Batmobile is AwesomeButImpractical, since it gives away the fact that Franchise/{{Batman}} (a hero who depends often on stealth) is in the neighborhood. Some versions have the ability to disguise their appearance as more normal cars, however. Sometimes out and out invoked, as Batman scares criminals and regularly uses this fact to his advantage. Batman also incurs this problem with his other various modes of transportation, such as the Batplane, Batwing, and other various bat-themed vehicles.

* Played with by the "black and white 1974 Dodge Monaco" from ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''. It ''sounds'' like it should be a straight example, but it's actually an ex-police cruiser still in cop colors (specifically, those of the Mount Prospect, Illinois PD), and the lack of a light-bar or the emblem on the doors isn't immediately noticeable from some angles. This doesn't actually help very much in the end, though.

* Pretty much every car in ''Film/TheGumballRally''. Justified in that only a race-bred exotic (like the antagonist's Ferrari California or the protagonist's Shelby Cobra) would have a hope of winning a balls-to-the-wall auto race across the entire United States. Though there were some teams relying on stealth or deception, such as van crammed with gas tanks entered by the team with the "no stops" strategy (they crashed early due to a mishap with their gasoline leaking and catching fire) and the Police Cruiser entered by the cops (which still gets pulled over at one point because, as can be seen [[https://www.imcdb.org/i013369.jpg in this picture (the fake patrol car is on the front)]], the racers only change the decals on the sides and nothing else -- so the officer noticed that it has different color, different light bar and is missing the bullbar -- or as he calls it, "a funny-looking police car").

* Subverted in ''Film/RunningScared1986''. The protagonists' unmarked police car is so bland looking, it HAS to be a police car in the neighborhoods they patrol. They get it repainted to look like a taxi cab.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned'': Terry's alternate mode of transport is a [[TheAllegedCar restored]] and [[RiceBurner heavily customized]] 50s panel truck. It is [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver colorfully adorned]] with The Lost's gang insignia and used to ferry his (very illegal) [[ArmsDealer supply of weapons]].

[[quoteright:300:[[Film/TheMuppetMovie https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/popoff_4107.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Ahh, a bear in his natural habitat -- a Studebaker.]]

Named for the somewhat-rare 1967 Chevy Impala four-door (a.k.a. [[FanNickname The Metallicar]]) that Sam and Dean Winchester drive on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''; somehow, the authorities never mention their car when they send out alerts to catch them, even though this would definitely help increase the possibility of tracking them down.

* Aversion: ''Music/FiftyCent'' -- "Gotta Make It to Heaven":
-->In the hood they identify [[NWordPrivileges niggaz]] by they cars/So I switch off bass to stay off the radar.

* [[Music/MyChemicalRomance The Killjoys]]' Trans Am, or [[FanNickname Dangercar]].

** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersGenerationOne'' had Autobot vehicles with varying degrees of effectiveness: a yellow Volkswagen, a red van, and a 1979 Freightliner could probably be seen driving down any stretch of road in America without raising an eyebrow, but that same group becomes far more conspicuous when joined by a Porsche 935 and a Lancia Stratos Turbo 5 both in full racing livery. The Decepticons, meanwhile, prefer either sheer power or perfect infiltration in their alt-modes, choosing F-15s and micro-cassette recorders to go about their business.

* Gin, one of the higher-ranking members of the [[TheSyndicate Black Organization]] in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', always drives a Porsche. The specific model is so rare that Ai can identify it immediately, but it never keeps him from blending in whenever no-one plot-relevant is around.

Compare ImprobablyCoolCar and HerosClassicCar. Contrast WhatAPieceOfJink, especially with sleeper cars or Q-cars.

Compare ImprobablyCoolCar and HerosClassicCar. Contrast with sleeper cars or Q-cars which are vehicular cases of SilkHidingSteel.

Compare ImprobablyCoolCar and HerosClassicCar.

If your protagonists, AliceAndBob, are of the AntiHero variety, they will drive a rare and/or unique-looking vehicle in order to show how utterly badass they are. Somehow, the authorities never think to look for their pink-and-green SUV or purple-striped Ferrari, though ordinary {{Muggle}}s might if Alice and Bob are the WeHelpTheHelpless types of anti-hero.

** ''Dead or Alive'' reveals that one of his cars is actually worse for this trope; a Rolls-Royce Phantom, one of only two customs of that pattern ever built, which looks like some of the worst excesses of cartoon billionaires mixed with the more ArtDeco interpretations of the [ComicBook/{{Batman}} Batmobile]. Valkyrie says the car is dangerous when Skulduggery pulls out of a hotel carpark and a vehicle entering the carpark loose shunts another, as the drivers had both turned to gawk at the Phantom. The book states that this has happened multiple times already by this point.

** ''Dead or Alive'' reveals that one of his cars is actually worse for this trope; a Rolls-Royce Phantom, one of only two customs of that pattern ever built, which looks like some of the worst excesses of cartoon billionaires mixed with the more ArtDeco interpretations of the [ComicBook/Batman Batmobile]. Valkyrie says the car is dangerous when Skulduggery pulls out of a hotel carpark and a vehicle entering the carpark loose shunts another, as the drivers had both turned to gawk at the Phantom. The book states that this has happened multiple times already by this point.