The absolute worst car you ever owned

Shrimp boat? Didn't I see that in Forest Gump?!

 

1996 Geo Metro with a 1.3-4 cylinder, automatic transmission and air conditioning. My wife commuted into the city for her job in this car and she hated it. She would come home and tell me how it didn't have enough power to pass a truck on the interstate. I thought that I would get somewhere in the 35 mpg range when I got it but it would only do 24 to 28 mpg (mostly 24, very disappointing my Mark VIII Lincoln with the 4.6 Cobra engine averages 24 and it will pass any truck out there with ease). The alternator mount broke on it and I just never had the motivation to put the new one in. It's still sitting out buy the grain bins with just a little over 100,000 miles on it. I put a battery in it and start it up every once and a while. Maybe I should put it on Ebay sometime, somebody might want the piece of crap.

Oh yeah, I see that some of you had bad luck with Pintos. I had a 73 wagon 2.0 with a 4-speed transmission that was one of the best cars I ever owned. I beat the crap out of the thing, I even used it for a tool truck for the combine in the fall Bajaing through corn fields and jumping terraces with it. That thing really took a beating.

 

59 Renault Dauphine - teans locked up 3 days after I bought it - dealer replaced it that time.... I fixed it twice more, then exploded the engine on the freeway one nite. Spent more time working on it than driving it - only lasted a year! Stripped some parts outa it the put it out in the trash when Burbank had a "pick up anything" weekend!

 

WORST: 66 VW Beetle I bought for $600 when I was about 15 yrs old.... wouldnt stay running right no matter what I did was something different all the time..

BEST: 67 Firebird with a 4 speed. I drove that from the time I was 17 till I was about 20... I beat the hell out of it!!! You know how it is with a V-8 and 4 speed. hard to keep your foot off the floor.. Never quit or broke on me..

 

89 pontiac sunfire when I was 18, my mom maid me buy, pushed it into a strip pit and said it got stolen. Got a new chevy truck out of the deal.

 

It is a toss up between a 74 Chrysler newport, or a 77 Monte Carlo.

The Newport, Was a pile of shit that would start when it wanted to, and stopped the same. The intake was warped, and it would stall whenever you would hit the gas. And, It was an ugly ass green color

The monte was in a previous accident (hit in the rear) I didn't know it when I bought it for a grand. It would drive sideways down the road, Traded it for an s-10

 

It's a tossup between the '63 MG 1100 sedan I bought new (shattered a piston at 14,000 miles and dropped the pieces into the gearbox, which is below the crank in those cars) and the '67 VW Scirocco I bought when it was 6 months old (had to be towed home 9 times before I got rid of it at 15,000 miles -- all due to fuel distributor problems).

 

rstanberry,

I passed on a '67 Buick Rivera and purchased '67 GTO like you. I had nothing but trouble with that car and was very glad when it was gone. The GTO just wasn't dependable it was always breaking down and I'm not a lead footer. When it broke down at 5 a.m. in the morning while may wife was going to work, that was the last draw. I owned the car for seventeen years, keep telling myself it's a GTO - good bye GTO............Why did it take me so long to sell the car?

CRUISER

 

bought a new 72 GTO, spent more time at salta pontiac then at base, had for three weeks and traided it in for a new 72 Monte 454 4 speed car,

 

Those early Ford 2.3L 4's were crap for sure. I sold Ford parts for years - the 2.3L 4 bangers were great for business but terrible for customers. But I have a '87 2.3L turbocoupe, owned since '90 and it still runs like a clock. Probably one of the better new Fords I've owned. those earlier turbos were nothing but a PITA. remember those godawful turbo escorts? It's a wonder they made it off the lot. Another bad one I owned was a '78 Fairmont wagon - I should've learnt from the '74 Pinto. Ford's golden years seem long gone, 'cept for the 'bird my other Fords are like me - well over 50.

 

In high school I drove for a short time an mid sixties Pontiac wagon with a four cylinder up front and the trans in the rear. What a POS. I finally traded it to a junk dealer along with minor cash for a mint '50 Ford club coupe, flatty and all. Much better! Wish I still had it.

 

1976 Ford Grenada new. Spent more time in the shop than on the road.

Have owned cars (old) in worse condition that were better than this new POS.

 

Some guys buy GM cars and trucks, and all is right with the world. For me it's always a prelude to disaster. I like the damn things, but instead of being the most reliable and easy to fix when they break, they are ultimate shitboxes. Don't know why the Ford/Mopar/Independant/Imports aren't as bad for me to keep together.

I guess the worst was the '84 Riviera. The Olds 307 ran great, and I'd love to have another (the 307, not the '84 Riv). The trans, AC, heater motor and window motors all took a crap that first year of ownership, it was carport queen with 60K miles when I bought it.

Not an anti-GM post. Just my own private deal.

 

1976 Fiat X1/9...what a pile o crap that was...driving to school one morning and two hot chicks are honking and waving...thought wow they must think I am pretty hot...then I looked in the rear view mirror and flames were shooting out the back...(mid engine pile o shit)...

coming soon: rodtees.com

 

It's interesting to see that the majority of cars listed are from the late 60's to mid 80's American cars. This really was the era that U.S. auto quality went down the tubes, and paved the way for the Japanese automakers to take over. I think the saddest part about it is we are now 30 years into it and the U.S. auto industry still hasn't been able to pull out of it. Inexcusable.

I suppose my worst was a '69 Cougar XR7. Nice lookin' car, got lots of compliments. Needed major work about every 6 weeks while I owned it. I can remember getting off work one very cold night, got in the Cougar, turned the key and the entire main wiring loom went up in smoke.

 

Ha! That's was what I was going to list.
I bought a 76 2 dr from a kid at work. I just wanted the brakes and the engine for my Fairlane. Car was all original and had the worst body gaps and panel fit I ever seen. Rusty too and this is an original CA car. Rode rough but had tons of body roll. I knew the suspension bushings were rotting but didn't know the steering stabilizer was only hanging on by one loose bolt Which explained the car shaking vibration at anything over 35mph or if you hit a hole.

Parted it out and got the engine and brakes for my Fairlane. Actually made some money.

 

Other than the Granada a POS green 71 Cutlass. Never actually drove it but when I got it to run, I smelled smoke, when I stood back to look at it I saw why the crankcase was empty.... ALL the oil made it's way out of the engine and into the mufflers which were leaking oil ! The engine was supposedly original to the car but it had mid 70's heads on it. It had a salvage title and looked ok on the surface but after digging around you could see some shady repairs were done at some point. Sold it after 1 week.

another was a 68 Dodge Dart I picked up from a friend. He said it ran good until he went to Wal-Mart for an oil change. Then the guy said he had some problems with it and said he could rebuild it (at his house of course). He got it ready to pull the engine and removed the radiator, etc but I wanted to see how it ran so I put it back together and got it to run. It sounded like it was sucking air thru a coffee can really bad and I shut it off to never be able to start it again.
I noticed fresh sealant and valve cover gasket and asked if he ever had it off, he said no. I sold it off and the guy who got it said he pulled the head and found it was missing the pushrods on one cylinder and I think the springs. He fixed it and it ran great. Shady Wal-Mart grease monkey!

 

Looks like Jaguar is winning this one. Add the S Type to the list. And it came along after Ford took over and "got Jaguar's act together".

 

1983 Chevrolet Blazer... I drove it for a week before the transfer case exploded and week after week something else would die.

 

1974 ElCamino. Always ran good but you probably couldn't have spun the tires in snow. Actually took the thing over a mountain in 8 inches of the white shit and never spun a wheel. Floor totally rotted out besides where the seat mount was. It had rotted gas tank straps so I bungy corded it and every time you need gas you had to wait til it was damn near empty so you could grab the filler neck and rock the tank til it slid back into place. Ended up pullin the 350 out and ran it in a Vega for a year til I sold that to a guy that broke the Vega in half. That damn 350 had about 250,000 miles on it

 

All time Jalopy Jim Shit Box was an 1970'ish 460 Ford Moterhome ( Moterhome from HELL). We bought for $4000 bucks, the secondtime out the moter blewup near Portage Wi towing the race car to Blackhawk farms. Cost $1000 buck to get it back to Elk River Mn. Spent $12,000 in the next three years and the longest trip was to Blackhawk farms again with only 3 brealdowns. Sold it for $2000 just to get it out of our site
Next POS was an 2001 Ford Exploder bought with 20,000 miles and the next 80,000miles I rebuilt everyrthing but the moter at least once.
Next was the Vega, bought new and scraped at 60,000 miles - use to pour oil in the moter every 100 miles from a 5gal pail bought from fleet farm ( cheap oil ).

All time best runner an 1975 Ford 1 ton 4x4 with an 300 six. paid $1000 bucks for it drove it 250,000 miles (it had 100,000 miles on it when I bought it ) and sold it for $300 to some one who restored it.

 

2001 jetta tdi, nothing but trouble. o yea any thing with a gm 305

 

98 Ford Taurus 24 valve 3.0 V6. Ran like a striped ass ape, but couldn't keep a tranny in it! Had an extended warranty from the dealership, so they had to eat 2 trannies during the time I had it. Bought it for my daughter to drive to & from school. She didn't always get there,though;......or back! the solution was simple: I unloaded it at the dealership, & swore: Never again!

 

1987 Mazda RX-7 GTU, it looked cool but thats about it, smoked like crazy, got crappy MPG and wasen't very fast, only car i have lost money on, lost $100 on it after having it for sale for 9 months, i was happy to see it go.

 

93 toyota dodo car (my daily driver since the $800.00 gas bill for one month, 57 chevy wagon daily driver and the wife drives a 94 Z71) death rattle trap , the rt rear drum is meatl to metal , 3rd gear aint there no more unless u shift it w/o the clutch , shakes so bad after 65 mph that U stay under that! headliner falling down burns oil and ck engine lite on the struts are so thrashed it bottoms out all the time ,and the Power steering does not work either ( who cares it still is gettin 30 mpg ) oh yeah and the a/c works, if you live in Texas you have to have a/c
(F@!K the brakes does the a/c work)​

 

Worst Pile We Ever Owned.

The creature from hell was actually my wife's Corvette.
She ran thru a string of good ones in the 60's and 70's all excellent cars.
Late in the summer of '79 she had her heart set on a new L82 Coupe with automatic.
Took us a couple of years to save up the scratch for it, went to the dealer in July and ordered it.
Two weeks pass and he phones us to tell her it's too late in the model run to get a 79 so we would have to wait 'till fall now and get an '80 L82 coupe instead.
The fall slowly turns into May of 1980.
Shortages of tires, oyster colored leather trim, shortages of L82 engine components,paint quality issues, yada yada yada......We finally own it!
First week we own it we drive it 1 hour north to my cousin Dana's wedding in New Hampshire.
Freakin' car shakes so bad on the highway it knocks the float apart in the stinkin' Quadrajet.
Chevrolet determins the 4 wheels are warped, wont warranty them claiming we damaged them.
I pay for new ones out of my own pocket!
Two months later she drives to Cape Cod to vist my parents.
That night she and mom go out for ice cream.
They arrive home 1 hour later and the engine sounds like solid lifters (with zero oil pressure)
Back on the ramp truck again to the local Chevy dealer.
Middle of next week they call and tell her the oil pump dropped off the bottom of the block and took rest inside the oil pan for a long snooze.
Get the car back three weeks later with a fresh short block.
By August the front bumper has had it's 4th repaint.
Paint wont stick!
In frustration I open my wallet again and buy a new bumper to ensure that this time it will hold paint.
By December we determine it's time to change the oil before parking it for the winter.
While it's draining in the driveway I happen to see some odd hair line cracks across the front frame rails.
Yep, more problems.
The front rails have numerous cracks along the kickup areas.
Back to the local Chevy dealer for a warranty replacement frame assembly.
The horror tales continue for two more years but on a much smaller scale.
In the end we sold the car to a landscaper in our town after warning him of all it's shortcomings.
He told her he just had to own it and appreciated our fair warnings.
We only lost $150 in depreciation in all that time so I guess it wasnt all that bad.
After she sold it I caught her crying uncontrolably............said she wanted to get another one!
What the f@#k is that all about?

 

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was a 1983 Shelby Charger.
I bought the car soley on the fact Carrol Shelby put his name on it.

I took delivery of the POS with 4.3 miles on it.

In the next 22,000 miles it had:
Swallowed a lifter and had engine rebuilt at around 8,000 miles.
Had the tranny rebuilt FOUR times
Had the shift linkages replaced 3 times.
Replaced Starter, Alternator, and smog pump.
Hatchback air shocks failed.
All four Goodyear Eagle tires replaced at my expense (Go Dunlap)
Had the front air dam repainted twice because the dealer had coated the car with water stains on it
I also had a dealer quote of $325 to replace the 4 screws in the armrest that slid over the emergency brake handle.

On the few and RARE occasions the car was "right" it handled BETTER than a Porsche. It had no "go" and no reliability. Looked ok for the day.

Glenn

 

79 Plymouth Valare, Special Edition. Vinyl top peeled. Repeated altenator failure. A/C repeatedly not cold. Ran too hot. Rough idle, could not fix it. Side trim fell off body when the plastic molding clips broke.

The worst was the ring gear bolts backed out. They crashed into the carrier, shearing a couple of them off with a loud bang. 7" ring gear. I was able to fish them out and replace them. The height of the POS Detroit junk, when the quality was really crap.

 

My wife's 96 Ford Explorer, 302 V8. Was never more dissapointed in a car in my life. POS was in the shop more in the two years we owned it than it was in our garage. Climate control system had a mind of it's own. Couldn't keep the check engine light off more than a month. Computer went to shit and fried the trans. Left it on the freeway, had AAA tow it to the Chrysler dealer. Bought her a PT Cruiser with the big 220 horse Neon turbo motor. 86,000 miles later, we're both still smiling.