Books
It was a battered yellow Citroën 2CV which had had one careful owner but also three suicidally reckless ones.
— Douglas Adams · The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The reassuring phrase 'one careful owner' is immediately undermined by three reckless ones. Their order is less important than the imbalance: a single careful person cannot erase the others from the car's history. The battered condition makes the cheerful sales-style description especially comic.
Context reviewed