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Worst car you ever owned?

24.3.237.82
Posted on February 16, 2005 at 20:05:55
olddude55
 Mine was a 1965 Buick LeSabre four-door sedan. Dude I bought it from parked it over a big mud puddle so I wouldn't look under it and see how rotten the frame was.
The back bumper was welded on as that was the only way there was any support for the rear of the car.
The 300 V-8 leaked more oil than the Exxon Valdez, barely got 10mpg on the most expensive premium I could find.
I spent weeks rebuilding the stupid split driveshaft for nothing because there was no way that thing was going to pass inspection without a frame.
Eventually, I drove it to the junkyard, but the last half-mile was on three wheels as the driver's side front loosened and fell off.
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Dulce bellum inexpertis

 

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Re: '70 Nova, posted on February 18, 2005 at 18:51:36
PeterS
Audiophile

Posts: 938
Joined: April 5, 2000
 My first car...had the infamous 154 straight 4 [half of the fabulous chevy 307 V-8] and a semi-automatic powerglide. A good dew would short out at least one cylinder....and the exhaust manifold burned up exhaust gaskets about once a month. Only thing about it was I could never kill the damned thing, run it nearly dry, run it 2 quarts low on oil, it'd never stop, might not run very fast but it would always chug along. I finally get rid of it and I'm hoping its now part of some structrual steel in some building.

Pete [No Mo' Bo-tie} S.
Disturbed is a life style...deal with it.

 

AMC Concord DL -- chewed tranny every 2 yrs. .nt., posted on February 24, 2005 at 07:18:07
Steven R. Rochlin
Reviewer

Posts: 1187
Joined: April 5, 2000
 nt

 

1961 Mercury Convertible. Had to have a convertible at 17., posted on February 24, 2005 at 07:41:55
artemus
Audiophile

Posts: 15277
Joined: March 12, 2001
 This one was affordable. I found out why it was affordable in about a month. The engine blew. After that , the tranny went. Three mos. after building the engine, a bad radiater cap caused it to run hot. Back to using oil again. You name it: it broke on that car. When I junked it, I figure that the only useable part was the steering wheel. Pity the poor sucker that bought the steering wheel. I'm sure it broke too...........right after he bought it.

 

A '61 Merc was just a Ford that thought it knew somebody. tn, posted on February 26, 2005 at 19:59:36
olddude55
 nt
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Dulce bellum inexpertis

 

Re: Worst car you ever owned?, posted on March 2, 2005 at 23:14:43
ticktocktim
Audiophile

Posts: 11
Location: so cal
Joined: March 2, 2005
 Nissan 300ZX twin turbo.
Darn clutch squeaked every single time. T tops rattled and leaked h2o. Plastic dash cracked and rattled. But, the car looked good.

 

1980 Honda Accord..., posted on March 3, 2005 at 18:22:37
Neil49
Audiophile

Posts: 8852
Location: Northern Virginia
Joined: June 13, 2003
 Terrible drivability--stumbled on accelleration; uncomfortable seating position; interior always stank of plasticizers. Got rid of it after a year-and-a-half.

 

And as a bonus..., posted on March 4, 2005 at 18:45:03
Neil49
Audiophile

Posts: 8852
Location: Northern Virginia
Joined: June 13, 2003
 you can keep that extra letter "el"

 

I had a '76. First year Accords were built., posted on March 5, 2005 at 05:58:07
olddude55
 It had a manual choke and plenty o' rust. I spent the better part of one wet, chilly Sunday patching in new floor sections only to have it rust around the patches.
The timing belt broke one Friday, when the there was six inches of snow on the ground, the temps were in the teens, and the car was five miles from home at a friend's house. Got it back together, but didn't know that the CVCC engine was interference-type. So, zero compression on cylinders two and three from bent valves.
It ran, but had no power.
Another terminal case, but the wrecker had to come and get it.
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Dulce bellum inexpertis

 

Anything English . . ., posted on March 11, 2005 at 13:28:16
mr grits
 '60 MGA, '67 Ford Cortina GT, '70 MG Midget. All nightmarish. The Cortina handed me the shift lever in busy traffic one afternoon, whew.

----

Be right there, Mom.

 

Well, now you've got me digging back farther..., posted on March 11, 2005 at 14:16:26
Neil49
Audiophile

Posts: 8852
Location: Northern Virginia
Joined: June 13, 2003
 to my first car, a ten-year-old 1960 Hillman Minx. A real doozy, and the less said about that one, the better.

 

Fiat X1/9, hands down*, posted on March 14, 2005 at 13:12:18
triode


 
*

 

One word... Lucas. (causes me to break out in nasty hives!) .nt., posted on May 13, 2005 at 09:46:39
Steven R. Rochlin
Reviewer

Posts: 1187
Joined: April 5, 2000
 nt

 

Renault Alliance! (nt), posted on August 20, 2005 at 20:23:13
Orso
Audiophile

Posts: 410
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Joined: April 29, 2003

 

Re: Worst car you ever owned?, posted on December 21, 2005 at 05:32:35
rpcoins


 
It was a 1961 Austin Healey 3000. Best car to drive when it ran (not often). Three weeks after I sold it the bottom fell out of the gas tank, first gear blew out, the wire wheels broke on two wheels, the top came apart at speed and the interior needed replaced.

But it was GREAT to drive. I sold it to my mechanic who knew about all the problems and never complained once. When it worked, you just smiled all the time, but that was not all that often.

Yes, it had lights by LUCAS, the Prince of Darkness. There was a 3 postion switch, dim, flicker and off.

 

Re: Fiat X1/9, hands down*, posted on December 30, 2005 at 17:44:24
beken
Audiophile

Posts: 260
Location: BC
Joined: May 14, 2001
 I was hoping you would elaborate. I took one out for a testdrive way back in 1981. To this day, I still think it was one of my more memorable drives (meaning it was good). FIAT pulled out of the N. American market before I had a chance to buy one. So what was wrong with the car?

 

Different experience with a 1970 396/375hp Nova, posted on January 14, 2006 at 09:41:11
Jack Seaton
Audiophile

Posts: 15756
Location: Spokane, Washington
Joined: October 1, 2004
 I had an original 1970 Nova with the 396 4-speed. I had a blast in that car. I owned it between the age of 17 and 19.

Tires didn't stand a chance ...

Jack

 

In '74 I had the first one in town . . . . it was a great car . . ., posted on April 8, 2006 at 06:57:28
mr grits
 For the first three years. Then the seat covers disintegrated. About the fourth year I started having a rash of overheating and had three thermostats replaced in a year. Crazy. The engine even froze up one day and 12 hours later it was running like a top. Took it out to destroy it in anger by shifting at 8 to 8500 rpms and it begged for more! I think Fiat makes/made a really tough engine and tranny as I didn't manage to destroy them. On the other hand, everything else when to shit by the end of the fourth year. Traded for a Rabbit . . . but that's another story altogether.


Ex nihilo, nihil fit . . .

 

1984 Dodge Daytona POS (nt), posted on June 27, 2006 at 06:27:08
schlagelk
Audiophile

Posts: 85
Location: Midwest
Joined: December 22, 2003
 .

 

RE: In '74 I had the first one in town . . . . it was a great car . . ., posted on November 18, 2012 at 15:23:33
LineArrayNut
Audiophile

Posts: 1953
Location: Tenn.
Joined: December 10, 2002
 I've seen three! of these over my 47 years, BURNING on the side of the road, or burnt down to a crisp. Has to be why I resisted the fiero when it it came out...
I *like* the loudness button!

 

1982 Buick Century, posted on December 1, 2012 at 07:24:50
Bromo33333
Audiophile

Posts: 3502
Location: Ipswich, MA
Joined: May 4, 2004
 My father bought it new, but I drove it sometimes. Bought extended warranty - one fo the few times you are money ahead when you do. I think nearly everything got replaced over the 5 years we had it - my father got rid of it and ended up with a Ford Taurus which was an unremarkable car, but it ran reliably.

My card was a Ford Country Squire station wagon with a giant V-8 in it - could pass anything on the road except a gas station. If I drove *carefully* (they call that "hypermiling" these days) I could coax about 15-16mpg. If I didn't it would be 8-10. When my father borrowed my car, he'd drive it like it was possessed and got 7-8 and would leave it on fumes so I had to fill it up with the money I made mowing lawns!

====
"You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you." ~ R A Wilson

 

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