The absolute worst car you ever owned

At least there's very very few hamb cars being blasted as bad. Worst I had was a brand new 73 Pontiac LeMans sport coupe. Only drove it 9 thousand miles in two years and sold it at a loss. After it filled up a number of times with water when it rained, the dealer finally found out the firewall wasn't welded to the floor. Only tacked. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Never buy the first year car of a drastic change.

 

85 Nissan 720 p/u, Z24 engine, popped the head gasket every 7000-8000 miles if I didn't retourque the head every other week.

 

1972 Pantera...what a pile

 

87 IROC Z28, total POS.......yeah I know!

 

Never really had a bad one but ya know....I had an 87 K car and several mini vans that never let me down! Sure I put seal kits into the minivan trannies but after that I ran the shit out of them! Secret was that if you were stuck just push it or pull it and don,t floor it. Transmission fluid to lubricate a differential was a fuckin stupid idea....

 

1973 plymouth horizon. it was orange and had orange wheels. ugly as sin and mechanically it was nightmare.

 

ford falcons, 60 wagon and 62 2door... I love the falcons but they hate me! They were both equally bad!

 

The Horizon came out in 1978 and lasted through the 1990 model year.

Worst cars I've owned were all Volkswagons. The very first one I had was the car I had when I turned 16; a '66 Type III, blew up at 70 mph. The oil light blinked ONCE, then it destroyed itself in a spectacular manner! Blew a 6" hole in the bottom of the crankcase. The only salvageable engine parts were the carbs, intake, and exhaust. Next Bug I had never ran right, a '62 Baja Bug, and what little electrical system it had, worked when it felt like it. Next Bug I had, I bought in Germany from an Italian AF Colonel. It was a '68. Drove it maybe 200 kilometers total before it blew the engine on the German-Dutch border. Towed it home, practically ripping the front axle off the pan! "Rust-free", my ass!

Actually, I wouldn't mind having another Bug, or maybe a Bus, but it would have to be perfect to start out with - NO projects!

 

1955 Chevy 2 dr post.Bought it in 1975 for $600.00 I was 16 and green when it came to my first car.Had read all the car magazines of the day and knew I wanted a '55.Looked great sitting at the house where I bought it and it had a 4-speed behind the 283.Drove it home and cleaned it up and headed to town to show it off.One exhaust tailpipe fell off in front of my buddies and when they started looking at it the real car experts chimed in with a flurry of disaster warnings.Somehow through my rose colored glasses I missed the gallons of bondo and chicken wire literally holding the body together.Missed the 10 spacers per side on the front springs,homemade motor mounts that were broken,bucket seats with 2 bolts holding them in,flat bar for a rear trans mount,broken rear spings.The list was endless.Dejected I headed towards home.Turning on the headlights the wiring ignited in a short burst of flame and all the lights went out and the engine died.Dragged it home with the thought that I would ressurect it to a show car the likes that had never been seen(16 yr old delusional youth thinking) Stripped it apart and discovered under the carpet was several sheets of plywood for flooring.Finished the disassembly and my old man came into the shed...walked around it once.All he said was "learn anything?" and walked out.Saved what I could and scrapped the bulk of it.Did much better when buying the next one which was another '55 Chevy 2 dr post

 

62 Chevy Impala SS with hydraulics, I didn't built it, what a POS.

 

Oh yeah, I had a couple type 3 VW's that were pretty shitty cars. All the rest of the V-dubs were great.

 

i got suckered on one of those wonderfull general motors gasoline converted diesel engines in an 81 c10.... lots of quality under the hood time. about 3 years passed and the last journey home on foot, i walked by this guys house who just happened to be outside. asked to use his phone then spotted his grandfathers car with about 10" of grass growing all around it. never did used the phone, struck a deal 1 1972 chrysler newport and 500 cash for a 6 year old pickup, boy he got screwed

 

1983 x-11 Chevy Citation...............

 

Worst: 1985 Camaro Berlinetta, runner up 1976 MGB

 

"1983 x-11 Chevy Citation............... " bucs012

I got you beat 81 Chevrolet Citation, it didn't have the cool spoiler or graphics like X-11.

 

89 Cavalier...p.o.s since I drove it off the lot.
best car was my 94 Honda Civic. new off the show room floor .200,000 miles before i traded it in. I liked it so much I bought a 95 off of one of my co-workers and don't even drive my New truck.

 

It's not a rod, Our 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan. You think a vehicle that Dodge has been building for ever would have the bugs worked out of it by now!
I like the way the van drives and the utility of it but so many problems and little pains in the butt.
No more Dodges for me.

 

'89 Jetta -- spontaneously caught fire; random wiring problems; frequently possessed by the devil

 

53 GMC pickup, bought in 72. God, I hated that thing. The very sight of it drove me into a terrible rage ... Drove it all over the California coast, SF to LA, a zillion times. In the rain the vacuum wipers punked out and a geyser shot thru the parking brake hole. A fucking geyser on my boot. The doors rattled like dice, and the windows rattled inside the shaking doors, like dice in dice. The seat was hard and stunk of old dog--not my old dog. The hood flew open a couple times cracking the windshields. No radio. No heater. No whtewall tires. And of course no money to fix any of it with only one job (mine--construction labor) in a young married couple. Had to cipher before springing for a coke.

During this time, however, I helped install the central air under the Paso Robles High School library. Wonder if it's still there?

 

There are two cars I had where bodies where disintigrating (the dreaded Rust belt diesease). A 80 Honda Prelude and an 89Toyota Camry. They both ran great and everything worked on them. Very dependable and great snow cars but The bodies were for shit.

 

'79 Chevette. Seats made my back ache after 30 minutes. Hydroplaned at 50mph in a light rain. Noisy, handled like crap. Piece of junk. The kind of car that gave GM a bad reputation.

 

I have had several minivans and K-cars and never had any real issues other than they older ones composting as I drove them.

83' E class - rusted to death on the front struct towers
87' Caravan did blow the engine at 286,000, but that at 286,000! Rusted out around windshield
87' 600 rotted to death (engine crossmember rotted in half) but still ran perfect
87' K car wagon had all the floors dissappear but still ran and drove great
88' Turbovan I sold after turning the boost up to 20 PSI with a TII turbo and constantly breaking half shafts. The strut tower and frame rail under and next to the battery disappeared.
94' Caravan I sold at 400,000 on the original 3.3L/4spd OD! I got worried it was going to die. The guy I sold it to drove it out to alberta and then drove it around for 6 monthes with no plates until he got caught.
2001 minivan was great until it got stolen. Then it was never the same and always had electrical problems.

Now I drive a Ford Explorer.

 

85 Hyundai Steller.............POS....had points, not even electronic ignition.

 

1979 Pontiac Firebird with 403 olds engine. The auto door locks stuck and with the heavy doors, there was no way to get them open half the time. I had to get in and out Duke boys style most of the time. It was the victim of an engine fire before I got it so the screaming chicken sticker was all melted. I scraped it off and primed it gray with spray can flames over that. The nose was all warped from heat and sun and the rear suspension had settled badly, so it sat like a straight axle car. When you romped it the front would lift and the steering would get light. The interior was damp all the time and stunk. The engine used lots of oil and about a month or so after I got it the trans hacked up a hairball. I was happy to get rid of it.

 

That's an easy one - '72 Volvo 142, needed brake pads every 15k, exhaust system every year, and the fuel injection was a nightmare - an absolute POS!!!!!

 

1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe.

 

94 Ford Probe GT. I busted the transmission housing in half 3 times, cracked a piston ring land once, and dropped a valve once. All in under 60K original miles! Don't blame Ford though, it was built by Mazda.

My Mercedes is a close second. You would think for $140,000 you would get a car that could make it to the 100,000 mile mark without blowing up a transmission, radiator, and needing a completely new wiring harness and computers.

 

1998 Buick Lesabre.

 

1973 opal manta.had a cute body but it would never run.shoulda stuck a buick V6 in it and drove the wheels off.my next car was a 1954 victoria, the BEST car i ever owned!

 

2001 lincoln ls. Needed a 4 door to haul the kid around, the ls was the only one I liked.. car is fast, comfortable, looks great.. its also the biggest piece of junk I ever owned, coil packs constantly burning out, fan motors dies, window regulator go bad, transmission after 100000 miles are no good and need to be replaced with a new one.. ford didnt even want to rebuild it..tons of other problems.. I think this is gotta be one of thier worst cars as far as part failures.