[Mark Huston]

In 1983 I bought a 1961 Mercury Comet as a daily drive. It appeared to be a solid, clean, and well cared for car. Shortly after buying the car I decided to drive from Sacramento, CA to southern Utah. As I approached Barstow, CA (the middle of a vast desert) the drive line developed a bad vibration that was getting worse. I pulled off into one of the many repair garages in Barstow to have the driveline looked at. To make a long story short I had to rent a car and leave mine to be repaired. A few days later I returned to find out that my car was not repaired. The problem was the transmission input bearing was bad and to make matters worse the part was unavailable because the transmission in my Comet was only used one year - 1961. Now I was stuck in the desert with a bad transmission that could not be repaired. In order to get home I had to drive over 400 miles on California freeways never exceeding 45 mph. Any faster than that there was a sever vibration in the driveline. In all the driving I have done with old cars I have never received as many waves from passing motorists as I did on that trip home – unfortunately; all the waves were the single finger variety! As soon as I got home I sold the Comet, with full disclosure of the transmission problem. Lost a lot of money on that car.

[AlK]

Originally Posted by Shop Rat

I didn't own it but my mom and dad did. An early 60's Plymouth Valiant. If someone sneezed the distributor cap got soaked and the car quit. Dad would have to get out, take the distributor cap off and dry it out and put it back on and hope to get a few miles before it was "wash and repeat as needed".

Now picture my dad standing with an umbrella over the engine compartment in a pouring rain in some South Carolina town, it's getting dark and we are trying to get to Myrtle Beach to our motel before they give our room away. No such thing back then of credit card guaranteed rooms.

Dad couldn't get rid of it fast enough when the 1965 Dodge Dart GT's came out. I still want to get my hands on one of those.

Would you settle for a 1964 Dart 270 Convertible.

I have a 65 Dart GT conv. but my ashes are going to be spread in that car and then I am going to give the car to my daughter

[windjamer]

1958 Ford convertable. Just about self destructed in less than a thousand miles. I convinced a used car dealer to swap me a 55 Buick even for it. This was in newport news VA. where I was stationed. I went to work part time at a gas station accross the street from him after that and the guy started doing bussness with a station near 2 miles away. Wouldnt even talk to me. Im not sure why. Was years befor I bought anouther Ford, then it was a truck.

[abh3usn]

Good thread! There's the '74 Dodge Dart my Dad owned. This was anexpierment in a zero maintenance policy. Driveshaft fell out twice, speedometer stopped working for a year, oil was never changed but we allways added used compressor oil from the NASA wind tunnel that a neighbor brought home for us. Spark plugs were never changed only cleaned and re gapped, Allways had a spare voltage regulator in the glove box. Someone stole the "Dart Custom" emblems off the car on vacation in Albany, NY.

I had a '94 Corvette that was horrible! Transmission was rebuilt twice, (Second time it was under warrenty) rear wheel bearing replaced ($400) Elecontronic Control Module ($400) Opti-Spark ignition system ($500) Rear tires $600, Tune up ($550), not to mention many other small things after three years of ownership it cost me $7,000 in mainteance.

1983 Dodge Ram 4x4. Lost a wheel bearing 300 miles from home. Took the train home from Wilmington, DL to D.C. then had to call my dad to drive me home to Newport News. Crazy. Also had a fun trip to retrieve the truck a week later in PA.

[AlK]

A 1978 Buick Regal V-6 turbo sport coupe. Paid $4,000 for it owned for less that 1 year spent $3,300 on it in repair, sold it for $3,700. Every repair was thrice the price of a normal non-turbo car just because it was a turbo. Even a simple oil change which does not affect the turbo. It was a great looking car and I would not hesitate considering buying a v-8 version just not the turbo.

[Amphicar BUYER]

Had a beautiful 84 T-Bird Black, one owner, super clean and nice car. Spent months looking for a new car and found this one, had it only 3 months when when on the way home with 4 new tires and some kid late returning his keg to the liquour store, blew a stop sign & stuck his 78 Buick in my passenger door at 35 MPH (i didn't get hurt). 2 Miles on new tires now she's totaled! I replaced it with a brown 85 T-bird. Lets just say it was painted the right color! Was never so happy when it got totaled too!

[Big Beat]

1974 Mazda Rx-4 Rotary wagon. This was our first family car and still somewhat of a private joke 30 years later. Leaf springs sagged. Brakes broke. Carpets rotted. Water leaked. Totally unreliable, rust prone, impossible to find parts for, extremely expensive to maintain and impossible to find anyone who would do a rebuild on the rotary when it inevitably died. The worst POS I ever had the misfortune to own.

1982 Olds Delta 88. It was supposed to be everything the Mazda wasn't. Except it was even worse. That car had problems I couldn't ever forsee having. Like a self-disintegrating dash, electric windows shorting out in a thunderstorm, a horn beeping on every bump and the driveshaft coming loose at 60 mph. 2 transmissions and one engine changed before I gave up. I cheered when Oldsmobile went under years later. The only redeeming qualities it had was a solid, comfortable interior. If you could look past the falling headliner, that is. And of course it was much cheaper and easier to find parts for.

1989 Colt Vista. Uggghh. Just ughhh. Great little box-on-wheels design, but horrible quality and reliability. Didn't last at all. Utter crap. Junked when the engine died.

1990 Mitsubishi Sigma. Boy, I just had a knack for finding "white elephants" to buy. I loved that car when it ran, though. Despite having to replace each front axle three times in two years at four times the cost of the same job on a Toyota (that's just one example).

[Dandy Dave]

Yeah, I met one the other night. If I didn't have one hanging around the house already, I'd be in trouble right about now. Maybe I can move the Buick out of the garage and move her in there without being noticed? TTTTttthhhhhhhhhppppppphhhhhhhhhhhh And now back to cars... LOL. Dandy Dave!

[Bluesky636]

1972 Chevy Vega: Wife's car when we got married in 1976. Couldn't afford to go out much, so on warm evenings we used to sit around the car and watch it rust.

1983 Volkswagen Rabbit GTi: Constant oil leaks. Three fuel pumps in three years. Two alternators in three years. Overheating on warm days. I traded a beautiful 1978 Datsun 280Z for the GTi. My wife has never forgiven me.

1997 Mazda Millenia: Wife's car. Beautiful car. Piece of junk. Electrical system failed everytime we took it through the car wash. Dealer manager said that was an "unauthorized use of the car." On one of the many repair trips, the car porter drove it into a wall. Unfortunately, it was not destroyed. One day whille sitting in a movie theater car lot, the gas tank imploded! No, not exploded. It literally sucked itself into a crumpled hunk of plastic due to a defective vent line.

[Clipper47]

During the Arab oil embargo in the ealry 70's I traded my 69 Plymouth Fury with a 440 Magnum engine in on a nearly new 1972 Vega. What a mistake! It started burning oil almost from the moment I bought it and it only got about 2 mpg better than the big Plymouth. I loaded it up on STP and pedalled it pronto. I then bought a very well used 66 VW that served me well for about 3 years and di get great mileage.