Bad Mojo

[Xander Wildeisen]

Thought this would be a interesting question. We have all had cars plagued with problems, most due to age of parts or poor work. But can a car have bad mojo? If a old house can be creepy, can a car be creepy?  Or would it be just a superstitious belief?

[hullinger]

In my teenage days I had a '63 Biscayne.  A really high-optioned car with power steering, brakes, seat, A/C and more.  Now I wasn't real gentle with the car but still, I think I replaced every part on that car at least twice during my 10 years with her.  You name the part and it was replaced.  It seemed something was always failing, falling off, or the smoke kept escaping from the wiring.  One day I was driving with my dad and the passenger side front floor caught fire from the muffler being too close to the floor board.  The muffler rattled a small hole in the floor and lite up the carpet   I pulled over quick and at the first place I could, which was a gas station.  My dad started flipping out.  I don't know, I guess he felt a car fire and gas station were a bad combo.   

 

Was it a good car?  Well, when you're 18, has a heater that works, it runs and gets you around most of the time, yea, I guess so.  Maybe the car was getting back at me for how I treated her.  Maybe she was just worn out

 

Chris 

[Bhigdog]

Christine!.................Bob

[61polara]

Yes, I believe in bad mojo.  Had a 66 Lincoln and got rid of it an now have a 65 Thunderbird  I have not driven in 4 years because of that.  I start it and let it run but have not had it out on the road.  My advise is to sell it because you lost confidence in it.  Don't give up on the hobby over one bad car. 

 

Edited November 17, 2016 by 61polara
Spelling, cat was laying across my arms (see edit history)

[zipdang]

Bad mojo begat lemon laws!

[kgreen]

35 minutes ago, hullinger said:

  My dad started flipping out.  I don't know, I guess he felt a car fire and gas station were a bad combo.   

 

You have a way with your communication that seems to work well. 

[kgreen]

I had a car as a teenager that I thought was in pretty good condition.  At least for $250.  After buying the car I had the body towed to my house.  After two pickup truck loads later the rest of the parts (engine, etc) also arrived at the house and I was ready to put it back together. It was an overhead cam 6-cylinder Toyota Crown.  The power break booster went out first so I went manual.  The front rotors got out of round (warped somehow?).  Then the transmission gears ripped, I could only find a manual trans so I converted from auto to manual. That job happened in a 14 degree, unheated garage in January, in Vermont.  All went well for another couple of months until a piston came apart.  The block was shot.  That car had a jinx for sure.  It was a very ugly car, but very advanced in engineering for a '69 model.  I've never been tempted, however, to look for another...

[Guest]

Years ago I bought a Corvette that a guy had been shot to death in. Several times, when driving alone late at night the headlights would blink on and off rapidly, the steering wheel would wrench itself out of my hands no matter how hard I tried to fight it and turn onto roads I didn't know, all the while an ominous voice was shrieking over the radio speaker "GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Does that qualify?

(I left the car to my ex wife)

[victorialynn2]

1 hour ago, sixseven said:

You have a way with your communication that seems to work well. 

Yes, I agree. I laughed at that one!

[wayne sheldon]

I really do not want to believe in stuff like that? I certainly have had a couple of lemons over the years. Sometimes, that is the nature of the hobby.

 

But the strangest car I ever had wasn't even an antique by any stretch. About fifteen years ago, we had a car  (a Jaguar, one of the lemons) that upped and quit big time at a bad time for us (we were in the middle of moving). We needed a modern car to take its place as a daily driver, and my wife found a nice (then) late model Ford Taurus that she decided she wanted. So, we got it. Two days later, legally parked, it got hit. Minor ding. A couple days after that, it got hit again while legally parked. Another ding. About a week later, she was driving down the highway, about 70 mph, when a valve stem blew out of the right front wheel resulting in a sudden blow-out. No damage to the tire itself, just the valve stem missing. And a big crease down the right side where it slid on a guard rail. Being a long standing safe driver, my insurance company paid for the repairs without any complaint. 

All totaled, we had the car maybe six months, one of which, it sat awaiting and being repaired. I lost count of the number of times it was minor hit and run, but it was about a dozen times. My wife refused to drive it anymore, because it seemed that no matter how careful she was with where she put it, someone would manage to put another ding in it. It happened to me too, a few times. Once, perfectly, legally parked, across the street from the bank, I was in the bank less than ten minutes, the car was sideswiped by a motor-home (messed up the side-view mirror).

 

A little lengthy, so maybe you prefer to move on. I went to a shopping center, it wasn't very busy at the time. I needed to go to two stores, on far corners of the center. I parked the car, in the far middle of the parking lot. NOTHING within fifty feet of the car. I walked to one store. Got what I needed, walked to the car and put it in the trunk. Walked clear over to the other store. Still NOTHING anywhere near that **** car. Then, as I walked toward the door into the store, I heard a noise. A silly, yet familiar noise.  The parking lot was on a slight bit of a slope. The sound was that of a shopping cart, rolling slowly. I looked back, quite some way across the parking lot. Clear over on the far side of the parking lot, in the middle of a whole lot of empty, was a shopping cart, rolling slowly, still more than fifty yards away from my car. 

Couldn't miss.

My wife sold the car about a week later.

[Xander Wildeisen]

My brother bought a 1959 Plymouth Sport fury two door hard top. All original,factory black car. It did have some rust in the lower quarters, but a nice original car for the most part. He lived with his girlfriend off of a street call Rose Hill in Boise. The house they rented was set back behind another house, so you had to park on the street. My brothers Plymouth was parked behind his girlfriends little pickup. At about 11:00 pm they get a knock on the door, and two cops are standing there. They ask him if he owns the old Plymouth, because it has just been hit by a drunk driver. The drunk driver took off, but was caught farther down the road. Right down the road from the house he rented was a bar called the trolley, neat old bar. It was a really old trolley car from the thirties converted in to a bar. So the driver left there drunk, and rear ended my brothers Plymouth. Really pissed off my brother. AND THEN at about 2:00 am my brother is woken up by a knock on the door. A cop is standing there, and asks him if he was the one that just had his car hit earlier. My brother says yes, and the cop says it has just been hit again. Another drunk driver left the same bar and rear ended the Plymouth again. This time the car was hit so hard, it drove the Plymouth up on to the bed of his girlfriends pickup and wiped out the Plymouth. The rear frame rails were bent in a S shape, smashed like an accordion. That driver did not leave the scene. Twice in one night, two drunk drivers leaving the same bar. It was very sad, a little rust but a nice straight original Plymouth.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Xander Wildeisen (see edit history)

[TheMoneyPit]

In high school I had a 1965 Mustang, if you know the car you might remember that it had a small door on the heater box where you could hide a pack of cigarettes and a pint bottle pretty good... That is until your moms car won't start and she needs to be at work for the 11 to 7 shift at the hospital and you just got home with an already Warm car! She was not amused.

 

Another story, I was 18 and the drinking age had just been pushed to 21. A lot of packies (liquor stores in Massachusetts) weren't too particular about it yet and I was backing out of one as a brake line failed and I rolled part way into the street in front of a cruiser before I could get to the Ebrake pull handle. He stopped and not only helped me get to a safe place to work on it, but was the one who suggested I just clamp it off with vice grips and go home before having any of the Beer... I still wonder how I got away with that one.

[mtnchev]

Years ago I had a 1965 Impala (not an antique, but the only bad mojo car I've owned) that seemed to attract bad drivers.  It was hit so many times in the couple of years we owned it that I've lost count.  People would drive for hundred of miles just to leave their mark on that car.  The body shop  I used back then used to send me reminder cards if I went more than a month without bringing the car in.  

 

Otherwise it was a good, dependable car.  I still like the looks of the 1965 Impalas and have toyed with the thought of buying one, but I always think of the bad luck I had with that car and chicken out.

 

Larry

[padgett]

When I was a kid with a new license I had five or six accidents in the first year or so. All in my mother's 61 T'bird. All while either legally stopped or parked. Once sideswiped by a car entering the street I was coming out of and waiting at the stop sign. I have never owned a Ford.

[28 Chrysler]

I bought a 3 year old 1989 Toyota, problems from day #1. I had it for almost 1/2 a year sold it with a bit over 42,000 miles when it needed valves or possibly a new head. 

[JACK M]

4 hours ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

My brother bought a 1959 Plymouth Sport fury two door hard top. All original,factory black car. It did have some rust in the lower quarters, but a nice original car for the most part. He lived with his girlfriend off of a street call Rose Hill in Boise. The house they rented was set back behind another house, so you had to park on the street. My brothers Plymouth was parked behind his girlfriends little pickup. At about 11:00 pm they get a knock on the door, and two cops are standing there. They ask him if he owns the old Plymouth, because it has just been hit by a drunk driver. The drunk driver took off, but was caught farther down the road. Right down the road from the house he rented was a bar called the trolley, neat old bar. It was a really old trolley car from the thirties converted in to a bar. So the driver left there drunk, and rear ended my brothers Plymouth. Really pissed off my brother. AND THEN at about 2:00 am my brother is woken up by a knock on the door. A cop is standing there, and asks him if he was the one that just had his car hit earlier. My brother says yes, and the cop says it has just been hit again. Another drunk driver left the same bar and rear ended the Plymouth again. This time the car was hit so hard, it drove the Plymouth up on to the bed of his girlfriends pickup and wiped out the Plymouth. The rear frame rails were bent in a S shape, smashed like an accordion. That driver did not leave the scene. Twice in one night, two drunk drivers leaving the same bar. It was very sad, a little rust but a nice straight original Plymouth.

 

You can be assured that the liquor commission investigates bars that over serve.

They do in Oregon anyway.

[60FlatTop]

I have noticed cars that took on the previous owner's Karma. It is probably a lingering memory of the attitude of the deal. But I am quite sure I have avoided a lot of bad ones. I have 1 1/2 negative cars. One is from a seller who verbally agreed on the phone and I sent a check. While en-route the guy got the idea he sold that car, bought at full asking price, too cheap. He sent emails with an attitude that seeped into the upholstery That is the 1/2 one..

 

The full one was the personal car of a dealer I knew all my life and never liked. While test driving the car with his sales manager he called with an old slimy sales trick that made me shake my head and laugh. I still get an oily feeling from the seat and steering wheel. I like the car, too, but it just has that feel.

 

The cars from nice, open, and friendly people are just a pleasure.

 

Oh, cars I sold have been well received with happy owners. A little pricey, well presented, and playfully honest about their faults.

 

You can't put that many parts together for a long time, all vibrating in harmony and a part of people's lives without generating a little consciousness in them.

Maybe someday I will assemble the Data.

 

Bernie

[Rusty_OToole]

My brother used to have terrible luck with cars. Getting in wrecks, getting in wrecks with cars he borrowed from me, lending his car to friends that got in wrecks. Never his fault. Then he got married and quit drinking and suddenly his luck improved.

[60FlatTop]

Amen! I'll drink to that. (That should offend two groups, time to get back to work.)

B

[cheezestaak2000]

sold a volkswagen siricco that sat on our lot forever. we obtained the car from an older couple, whose son put a hose on the tailpipe and commited suicide. strangly enough, the next owner never had any kind of problem with that car. i wonder if we were supposed to disclose the car's history? we didn't.

 

[John_S_in_Penna]

On 11/16/2016 at 9:22 PM, Xander Wildeisen said:

... But can a car have bad mojo? If a old house can be creepy, can a car be creepy?  Or would it be just a superstitious belief?

 

Maybe I can explain in engineering terms and

remove someone's belief in superstition.

It may have been in one of Bob Lutz's books.

I'll paraphrase what I learned:

 

Car companies try to reduce the incidence of defects.

Suppose 1 new car out of 100 has some engine problems.

And 1 new car out of 100 has some transmission problems.

And 1 new car out of 100 has some suspension problems.

Simply from mathematical probability, 1 car out of 1,000,000

will have ALL those problems--engine, transmission, suspension.

That's 100 x 100 x 100 = 1,000,000.  The "lemon" is the car

where all things seem to go wrong. 

 

No demons, no goblins, no gremlins.  Just steel and rubber

and lubricating fluids not always doing what they're supposed to do!

[JACK M]

40 minutes ago, cheezestaak2000 said:

sold a volkswagen siricco that sat on our lot forever. we obtained the car from an older couple, whose son put a hose on the tailpipe and commited suicide. strangly enough, the next owner never had any kind of problem with that car. i wonder if we were supposed to disclose the car's history? we didn't.

 

 

Sometimes what you don't know can't hurt you.

[60FlatTop]

I guy followed up on a 1949 Ford with just ten miles on it. The seller took him to the garage where it sat since new, only driven from the dealership to the garage. The old guy said "Yep, I bought it for my Wife but she died and never drove it. Here, if you look close you can still see her lipstick on the tailpipe."

 

I had a '69 Buick Skylark with the dimmer switch mounted in the cigarette lighter hole. The woman who bought it new didn't have a left leg and used her hand to dim the lights. The car had real low mileage because she only took short hops.

 

Bernie