The car crashed in the old country (6)
I believe the answer is:
thrace
'old country' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the car crashed in the' is the wordplay.
'crashed' indicates an anagram.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'car' anagrammed gives 'rac'.
'rac' inserted within 'the' is 'THRACE'.
(Other definitions for thrace that I've seen before include "ancient land" , "The car (anag.); historical region" , "Balkan area" , "Ancient area around Bulgaria" , "Historic region of SE Europe" .)