What's the worst car you ever owned, BUT.....

[SP01715]

Originally Posted by tcrist

1965 GTO convertible, 389, 3 deuces, 4 sp, 12 bolt posi. Every time I ran it hard the carbs would need to be re- synched (sp). Would love to have it back now.
Terry

1964 GTO set up the same as the one above. Carbs were a ***** to keep synched, and I was going through tires real fast (too much fun to lay some posi marks on the pavement). I wish I never would have sold that car.

[86Sebring]

I used to work in a repair shop for Citroens, a long time ago. Those cars were never built with the mechanic in mind. I never owned one, but speaking not only for myself, but also for the rest of mechanics that worked in our shop, these cars belong into the catgory of worst cars.
Had a love/hate relationship with a 68 bigblock Vette. I replaced just about everything mechanical on it, but that car was possessed and it would find countless ways to get me to call AAA with a flatbed...
Still was a beautiful car, my first big block 4 speed, very fast and made an awesome sound, sometimes I still miss it.

[Woodz428]

Originally Posted by 86Sebring

I used to work in a repair shop for Citroens, a long time ago. Those cars were never built with the mechanic in mind. I never owned one, but speaking not only for myself, but also for the rest of mechanics that worked in our shop, these cars belong into the catgory of worst cars.


sometimes I still miss it.

I second the Citroen comments. The comment regarding the 'vette indicates it truly was a love/hate relationship...kind of like some of the women in my life.

[rokndad]

1970 Datsun 240Z. The very first of the early cars brought into So Cal, bought it new for $3500 with polished "Astro" aluminum wheels (remember those?). Had a guy named Molly do the paint striping on it (he was doing paint on drag cars from the 60's). The car was sporty, but had horrible bump steer every time you'd go over railroad tracks then shimmied for a while. Smelled like Japanese plastic and had a lousy radio. But very collectible today.

[PANAVIA]

in 1995/1996 or so--

I had a 1976 Jaguar XJ-S Coupe, Silver with Oxblood and black leather int. the V12 was toast and the former owners Son had done a "Conversion" to a 350SBC with a 4spd auto 200R4. It was smog legal -- barely.

I spent most of my ownership "Reconverting" portions of the car. Cooling, fuel system, intakes , etc.

---the leyland-Jag electrics and vintage hacked and badly welded "Conversion parts" were the bane of its existence.

It was my daily driver at the time and I was coming up on some serious downtime on the car and --well-- it had to go. -- but when things were going right, - a very cool car.

Had to do most of the work on the car myself, as no shop i took it to would touch it. --

Replaced it with a trouble free 1986 300ZX that drove nice ---but was like dating a 1980's geisha mannequin vs a 1976 Catherine Denuve.

Steve

[Ronbo]

After a while you figure out what Fiat stands for...

Fix It Again, Tony

[csx4910]

Having a X 1/9 I can attest to the acronym for Fiat but that car was a great chick magnet in high school . Pull the 1 piece convertible top off, stow it under the hood (in the front of the car) and you had an instant convertible. The car was a PIA to keep running but a ball to drive (minus the extra horsepower it didn't have). One car I wish I would of kept was my first one - 1969 Triumph GT-6. The only fastback triumph ever made. It broke more than the Fiat but I would take it back in a heartbeat for nostalgia reasons.
Ron

[computerworks]

Hands down...1970 Lotus Europa.

Biggest piece of fragile crap on the planet. Things would just fall off while it was sitting idle in the garage. Leaked every possible fluid from every possible place.

...but, man....could that thing handle.

[PANAVIA]

Originally Posted by computerworks

Hands down...1970 Lotus Europa.

Things would just fall off while it was sitting idle in the garage.

Classic--!!!! So far it seems to be Italians followed by the British in this competition.


If FIAT buys Chrysler maybe they could bring back the X-1/9.....

[JAC]

1980 Datsun 210- constipated car- couldn't pass anything

[diegokid]

1969 SS Camero with 396/4spd. Paid $250.00 for it in High School. Gas was $.29 a gallon so 12MPG wasn't bad plus it pulled like a freight train. Had a few first's in that car.

[Mac VABCH]

I had three:
1-early 70's Porsche 914, yellow had bad ignition problems above 4000 RPM
2-77 Datson B210 Hatch back, green so slowwwww
3-while I lived in New Zealand I had a 73 Toyota Hiace Van, right hand drive w/ a 4 spd on the tree shift and a cracked block. But if I filled it with water ever other day it wouldn't over heat.... Looking back it was great fun but its funny what you would deal with when you are young...Mac

[lineslinger]

A 1970 Fiat 850 Spyder. I bought the thing for $150 non running and rebuilt it. What a piece of screaming junk. I quickly became proficient at fixing it, where upon my dad bought my sister a...............Fiat 850 Sedan, it was horrible. I had to keep hers running as well and she didn't have a clue about taking care of an automobile.

The other was a Jensen-Healy. It was British junk at its best, that thing was possessed by a female spirit and would always crap out when I was on a date. The girls really liked the looks of it, and they would quickly find out about its dark side. I hate to even think of the opportunities lost because of that four wheeled turd.

[tkb289]

1970 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400, Ram Air III with functional hood scoops, Muncie M-22 4 speed 'rock crusher', posi rear end, rochester 4 BBL with secondaries that could swallow a silver dollar. Monster torque and horsepower, with pretty decent brakes and handling, for it's era.

What was the downside ... ??? In a word ... rust!

I bought the car for $2,200 in 1974 from a Chevy dealer in El Segundo, Calif. The car had over 100K miles on it and was from New Hampshire. The car had been repainted (Gold), but there were rust bubbles forming here and there and already had pin holes in the driver's door, just below the window. Later on, I had some suspension work done and the mechanic said the under carriage had rust as well, no surprise at that point.

So ... after about (3) years of fun, I sold it to a guy that drove it back east, thinking I could just find a clean California car in the future. To date, I have yet to come across a '70 Formula 400 with all of the goodies, but I do keep my eyes open.

Not the worst car ... but one I would like back the most (but without the rust !)

[55312]

1963 Austin-Healy Sprite. It 5 dollar'd me to death and I didn't have a lot of 5 dollars in those days. A real blast to drive but not much on the romance side with no back seat! Tough to beat my old 57 Plymouth for that.........you could put Miss Torkel's girl's chorus and 2 sprightly midgets in the FRONT seat!

Tim

[Guppiedriver]

1970 Volvo 164. My parents bought it brand new and wouldn't let me touch it while I was in High School. 150k mi. & years later I bought it from them, replaced the POS Strombergs w/ Webers and it ran great. Not fast, but smooth, safe and easy to work on. Wish I had it back. Would be a great car to teach the kids how to drive a stick, and how to change oil etc.

[Cobrabill]

Actually,i'd like to have all my old cars back from the HEMI GTX to the numerous Z cars i've owned.None of them were bad.

And for the Fiat folks:

F ound I n A T oilet
F ailed I talian A utomotive T echnology
F *&king I talians A ttempting T ransportation

A friend of mine back in the early 80's took his X1/9 and had it detailed.He then left it parked in the lot at Westfarms mall(stolen car capitol of central Ct. at the time)WITH the keys laying on the floor.The car sat there for two weeks untill the cops called him and told him to come get his car.

True story.

[CBattaglia]

At 15 I saved my paper rout money to buy a 72 Mustang convertible. At 16 I had the engine rebuilt. 25 minutes after getting the car back from the rubuild I wrecked it trying to pass a friend.

For the next 3 years it was a Pea Green 1979 Plymouth Champ. Ya Baby!! Try to get a date in that POS....

[RedEsprit]

Every car I have ever owned has left me stranded multiple times. I finally thought I got wise. I bought a brand new Sport Trac with a 7,000 tow package just to tow the Cobra. It has 27,000 miles on it. It has left me stranded 3 times already. I have had two really tough cars though that I loved but were simply intolerable. 1972 Jag E-Type V-12 convertible and 1980 Maserati Merak SS. There was no way you could keep up with mechanical failures on the Jag. It had something like 25 water hoses alone, all of which were ready to fail at any given time. While you were waiting for parts to come in for a given failure, a caliper would seize up or the alternator would quit. The Maserati was mechanically very sound but you could never get caught in the rain. If you did, you would never catch up with the rust. Any time you got caught in the rain it really meant a ground up restoration.

[Tom Cimino]

A bright red 1973 Pinto Pony with a 1600 cc engine. Six weeks after buying it, my wife(at the time) packed it up and left. Come to think of it, it was probably the best car I've ever owned!

I sure missed that car!