Girls I wish I'd Never Met

[john2dameron]

All right, we have a thread "cars I wish I'd kept. How about the dogs we couldn't wait to let go.

'53 Chev 210 sedan. Bought it and then sold it on the way home. 1957 Pontiac Catalina. Took me less than 2 weeks to dump it. 1965 Impala SS convertible. Traded my '63 Ford in on it. Big mistake. Kept it less than a year and traded it for a '65 Cadillac convertible. The one-year old '79 Dodge Omni I bought for a work car. That's exactly what it turned out to be. Seems I had it worked on about twice a month. Battery, clutch & pressure plate, 2 starters, window lift mechanism repeatedly until I finally adjusted to driving with the window shut so it wouldn't fall out the channel again. Vibration in the front end turned out to be both A-frames were loose and just about ready to fall off the car, and the list goes on and on. That was the worst thing on wheels I ever owned. Do I feel sorry for Chrysler now? Not really.

[MCHinson]

1972 Fiat and a 70 something Datsun wagon both bought by my father before I was out on my own.

Those are the reason I decided to never own an imported car again in my life.

[1937hd45]

Almost bought a '64 VW with a chopped top last month, looked like a money maker. Price seemed fair, told the guy I pick it up in two days. He called back and said a friend wanted it and would I go for another $25.00 on the price?....................I've still never owned a VW.

[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. :cool: I still want to get my hands on one of those.

[Guest DeSoto Frank]

My wife's 2000 neue Beetle.

Only redeeming quality: has heat in the winter.

[Guest billybird]

1983 thunderbird Turbo Coupe. 1984 Chevy Pickup C-10.

[Dave@Moon]

At Carlisle I bought a 1970 slant-6 Plymouth Duster that looked like a million dollars in 1993 (black over copper-brown, rust-free, loaded factory with everything to make it look like a high-end 340 Duster). That car literally NEVER was driven without something breaking. I once lost my brakes (master cylinder let go) on a busy, steep, commercial highway while test driving the installation of a new exhaust manifold that had cracked. The first time I got in the car after I got it home I leaned on the back seat and my hand ripped right through the (visually perfect) upholstery.

I later figured my expenses from driving that car 800 miles in the year and a half I owned it at about $1.50/mile.

[R W Burgess]

Interesting, I can't never remember a bad car in my yard, from my first car, a '64 Chevy, to a '68 396 Chevelle, 67 Impala, '69 Beetle (burnt a valve, but it was the wife's fault, low oil), '72 and 74 Vega (yep, sold them before trouble began), '74 Nova SS (wrecked it on the way to the shop for service:( my fault), '76 Olds Cutlass, '78 Olds Cutlass, '81 Bonneville, '85 Olds Delta 88 (very nice car...ex ended up with it) to the after ex, '80 Chevy wagon I ended up with (307?, had to turn off the A/C to pass people on a hill, really...got faster after we put that Z-28 engine in it :eek:..........much faster ).

We've been through a bunch of late model Caprices, each one a good car.

Wait? I see a pattern here...not a Ford or Chrysler in sight.

Seriously though, I realize I have been really lucky with cars, old and new.

Wayne

[Guest DeSoto Frank]

Wait? I see a pattern here...not a Ford or Chrysler in sight.

Wayne

The trick is to make sure they're old enough, Wayne !

I've not had any trouble from Fords or Chryslers as long as they were made before 1965 or so ... !

:cool:

[28 Chrysler]

In 1978 I bought a 1966 Ford Comet out of desperation for $250 and sold it after 6 weeks for $200.

Late at night about a week later it was parked in my driveway with keys and title. I sold it again for $175.

About a month later the police call and they tell me my Comet was found stripped and would be towed if I did not move it, I sold it to a scrap yard for $35. Never to be seen again

[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.

Edited November 9, 2009 by Mark Huston (see edit history)

[Guest AlK]

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. :cool: 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

[Guest windjamer]

:mad: 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.:eek: Im not sure why:confused:. Was years befor I bought anouther Ford, then it was a truck.

[Guest 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.

[Guest 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:p And now back to cars... LOL. Dandy Dave!

[Guest 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." :eek: 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.

[kevin1221]

I also suffered through the Vega experience. I had a 1971 GT that I ran on STP, instead of oil at the end. The rust was rampent and the car was only 2-3 years old. The Ohio winters were brutal on it. Never so happy to see a car sell.

Another equally bad experience was my 1969 Opel Rallye.

Both of these cars were owned in the early 70's.

[Reatta Man]

....and with all of these stories, people still wonder why the car biz is hurting the way it is.

Of course, NO car company is exempt these days from making lemons. I guess one of the reasons why the average length of car ownership is longer now than it has ever been before is that when people find a good car, they keep it....and keep it....and keep it.

Joe

[Guest HeyPop]

A definite no brainer...

1968 Austin America

1980 Mazda GLC (Great Little Car....RIGHT)

1970 Allison Daytona Dune Buggy...(right after first Winter in it)

1987 Subaru GL10 XT...#@*&%#!!!!

[28 Chrysler]

The biggest disappointment I had was a 1969 Toyota at 37,000 miles it needed cylinder head. The repair cost was going to be almost the same as a new 1972. It took me nearly a year to find a replacement engine, then dumped it on a vegetarian.

[Guest DeSoto Frank]

It took me nearly a year to find a replacement engine, then dumped it on a vegetarian.

ROTFL....

Oh that's funny !!!

:cool:

[Guest Scott G]

I bought a 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in 1999 with around 60K on the clock. It was loaded, red with black leather, and was by far the nicest front driver I've ever experienced. I loved that car...until the door handle broke off in my hand....and the replacement door handle broke in my hand...and the front struts bled to death before 65K...and the mini-headlights that shifted out of alignment every time I hit a tar-strip...and the top leaked....and the top boot blew off on the freeway repeatedly...and the transmission expired at exactly 100,000 miles...and the injectors clogged as often as the oil needed changed...and I filled up the ashtray with all of the screws that removed themselves from the various trim pieces...and last, but not least, the random electrical brown-outs that left me stranded once too often in cold Cleveland winters.

Of course I traded it in on a new PT Cruiser which developed a misfire at 10K that Chrysler couldn't figure out. The last time I had it back for warranty work this is what I heard:

Service mgr.: Is the check engine light on?

Me: Umm, no.

Service mgr.: Then there's no problem.

Me: But it's running right now. Can't you hear the misfire?

Service mgr.: Yes, I hear the miss but if the check engine light isn't on, there's not a problem.

I replaced that turd with a Ford and seem to have broken the bad karma.

Honorable mention:

'70 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible that would only lower the top hydraulically. Raising it was up to the driver.

'68 Mustang that caught fire on the way home from buying it.