What's The Slowest Car You've Owned? Did You Enjoy It?

[58L-Y8]

For a counterpoint to the "Fastest" topic: what car and your experiences with it?

[Laughing Coyote]

1970 Toyota Corona 4 door. Couldn't get out of it's own way.

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Laughing Coyote (see edit history)

[dictator27]

My first car, bought for $25 in 1964.  1946 Morris 10 Series M saloon.  Absolute flat out top speed 62 mph.  Standing quarter mile 26 seconds, 48 mph.  Zero to 60 43 seconds.  Fun to drive?  Absolutely!  Wish I still had it.🙂

Edited August 20, 2021 by dictator27 (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

This can be a fun subject, Steve.  Let's hope some forum-goers

will delve into the earliest cars, so we can learn what

it's like to drive them.  Here's a circa-1900 Haynes-Apperson

ad which proudly proclaimed that the owner could be

"speeding away at 15 miles per hour!"

Edited August 20, 2021 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[keiser31]

My slowest car would have to have been my 1926 Chrysler 58 sedan....I drove it a few times and it was fun, but the lack of doors on one side slowed me down.

Edited August 20, 2021 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[29StutzM]

Own them right now and have promised my friends a race between them.  A 1931 Ford Widebed pickup and 1954 Willys Army Jeep, both 4 bangers and safe at about 45 but fun!

[BobinVirginia]

I’ve noticed as I get older, I really appreciate different cars for their unique character. The slow pace of early cars or the brutality of big cubic inch muscle cars. I’ve explained it to the wife as follows. Cars are like shoes, different styles for every occasion and season. She still doesn’t quite get the car hobby but she certainly understands the shoe analogy! 

[JonW]

My 1979 Lincoln Mark V that I currently own. It's a gorgeous, all original car that rides like a dream, but at 137 HP, it was dangerously slow. I did have some invisible mods done to it that helped some, and now it can at least get out of its own way and accelerate into traffic on the on ramp.

 

[Rusty_OToole]

1962 VW beetle with 36HP motor. High school ride. Slow but I had a lot of fun in that car. It would go thru snow like a toboggan.

[CarlLaFong]

My Model T was the slowest. I had a bunch of Honda 600s On a good day they were good for 65+ but not for long. My brother had a Subaru 360. It was a ton of fun to zip around town in with is funny shift pattern and the ring-a-ding exhaust note

[AzBob]

Hands down, ’26 Ford Model T runabout was the slowest car I ever owned. Nonetheless, Was a fun car to drive.🙂

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by AzBob (see edit history)

[Porsche 68]

Azbob can’t argue with you there my dog ran faster then m26 T but it was a real nice car 

[TAKerry]

I havent really had a 'slow' car, maybe a Honda civic sedan. It didnt have a lot of umph.  When I got my license dad had just traded his gas guzzling 78 Olds 98 for a brand new 79 VW dasher diesel.  I started driving with the VW. That things top speed was about 50mph, and that would be going head first over a cliff. Total pos.  He had that car for about 2 months then traded it on an audi 5000.  It was just slightly quicker.

[Fossil]

1970 VW van with a 1600cc 4 cylinder. It was like driving a chest freezer in the winter time. Terribly under powered but for some reason I liked and enjoyed driving it. Probably the only vehicle that my wife almost refused to drive. 

[Porsche 68]

Had lots of Rabbit diesels bigger injectors bump up the pump timing  German GLH Awesome fuel mileage !   A real chick magnet 🤣

[cheezestaak2000]

1964 volkswagen micro bus

[9F94M567042]

1973 AMC Stripped down Gremlin. Ran it out of transmission fluid a few times and she still kept running.

Hauled engines, rear axles and god knows what else in the back. Loved It!! 

Edited August 20, 2021 by 9F94M567042 (see edit history)

[Robert G. Smits]

1 hour ago, Rusty_OToole said:

1962 VW beetle with 36HP motor. High school ride

You are correct.  I had a 60 that I drove to college for 4 years in Iowa.  Tires were bald but it would still go through snow better than most cars.  Slowest was a old Chevy coupe, 37 or 38 I think

[JACK M]

Borrowed a friends diesel rabbit pick up once.

It was faster with the windows up.

Couldn't pass a slow truck on the freeway because it couldn't over come the wind. 

But I guess it got 50 mpg or so.

He made the mistake of putting a ski rack on it once. It took him awhile to figure out why it had seemed to have lost power.

[CHuDWah]

Model A Ford.  Actually it was surprisingly quick off the line (as symbolized by the authorized accessory "quail" radiator cap) due to the high (numerically) gears.  But it started working hard and slowed down around 30 mph.  Supposedly top end was 65 but I never had the testicular fortitude to drive it that fast.  So it was limited to in-town driving, but it was fun - an attention-getter and fiddling with the various controls while driving kept me occupied

[Larry Schramm]

I would say that my 1915 Buick truck would be probably the slowest.  It "likes" about 30 mph.  I can drive it up to maybe 35mph, but it starts to complain.  Of course what would you expect from a 28 HP 3/4 ton truck.

[RansomEli]

My 1921 Franklin 9B touring. Recommended top speed of 37mph (otherwise you can screw up the Babbit bearings).

 

It's a real time machine. When I drive it I'm in another, slower world. It loves the Texas back roads where traffic is still relatively light. Takes concentration to drive but it's very relaxing. 

[58L-Y8]

Slowest, but most fun to sport around in in good weather, was a rusty 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente convertible.  I thought it was a 200 ci six when I bought it but turned out to be the base 170 ci, mated to the two-speed Merc-O-Matic automatic transmission.   Glacial acceleration but fun as all get out with the top down all summer, lousy heater and drafty in the winter.  Good in snow because it didn't have enough power to spin the tires much.  WNY rust eventually got it, doors would pop open when I rounded a corner.  RIP old Comet, you were fun while you lasted.

[Porsche 68]

Bought this 25 Dodge Brothers Woody a year ago after sitting 31 years gave it a check over did an indicated 40 mph sounded a little cranky so it’s likes 30  and I absolutely love it 

[greenie]

1986 Isuzu Trooper. 80hp carb engine. They were really small horses. Once got passed in Western Maryland mountains by a loaded dump truck going up Sidling Hill. Should have paid more attention on the test drive.

However. It hauled my stuff to Hershey multiple years; and converted into a very cheap hotel room in the Chocolate field! The diesel versions of the same year were even slower.

[Joe Cocuzza]

1983 Ford Ranger Diesel - 59 HP / 0-50 in almost 2 minutes

1980's Toyota Corolla Diesel - non-turbo with an automatic

[John Byrd]

I guess my slowest car is a tie... two little English Fords with the tiny little flat-head 4 cylinder. Both would do right at 60 mph going down a fairly steep hill with the "Strangler" (pull a choke looking knob that opened a slot in the carb to help starting with a richer mixture) pulled out ! We put a lot of miles on both of them, and even used the little van (a 1959 Thames) to pull fence and other cars with... these vehicles had rear gears in the "5's" !!!  Absolutely loved both of them, and would have kept them if we could have. (moved and storage problems). The little black car (1959 Popular) was also right hand drive which was even more fun !  I decided to paint and "fix up" the 59 Pop, and it was so much fun because folks figured it was fast with the big wheels on it, ha ! It is still living a happy life over on Oahu with a collector who has other versions of the little cars.

[8E45E]

My '63 Studebaker Diesel is governed to top out at 2600 RPM, which is about 50mph.  I do love every minute of driving it.

 

Craig

[CHuDWah]

8 minutes ago, John Byrd said:

I decided to paint and "fix up" the 59 Pop, and it was so much fun because folks figured it was fast with the big wheels on it, ha !

 

And maybe because those Pops were "popular" (😁) in the 60s gasser wars.

[Chris Bamford]

My 1906 Orient Buckboard BR Runabout. Owned and on the road since 1994.

 

21 mph flat out on smooth, level road.  10 mph brakes.

 

4-HP ALAM Rating, but no match for the other four-horse power setup in the photo.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Chris Bamford (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

My 27 hp 3/4 ton Dodge panel is rated at no more than 25 mph with a load. It's not road worthy yet but when I get there, I'm sure I'll be grinning ear to ear.

 

Prior to that it was a toss up between a mid 60's Dart that I bought for $50 and a 66 Chevy with a tired 283  rust bucket.

My wife's 80 vette came in at a close third. Chevette...

[8E45E]

31 minutes ago, John Byrd said:

I guess my slowest car is a tie... two little English Fords with the tiny little flat-head 4 cylinder. Both would do right at 60 mph going down a fairly steep hill with the "Strangler" (pull a choke looking knob that opened a slot in the carb to help starting with a richer mixture) pulled out ! The little black car (1959 Popular) was also right hand drive which was even more fun !  I decided to paint and "fix up" the 59 Pop, and it was so much fun because folks figured it was fast with the big wheels on it, ha ! It is still living a happy life over on Oahu with a collector who has other versions of the little cars.

 

 

What's funny is the M-1 Motorway in England opened in 1959, which was their first equivilant of the Autobahn in Germany, or the Interstate.    It had a max. speed limit of 80mph upon opening, and there very few British cars that could do 80 mph all day in 1959.  Jaguar, Austin Healey (with OD), Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Aston Martin could do 80, but they were not common cars for the common folk at the time.  

 

Perhaps that was the reason the prewar-based Popular had its final year in 1959.

 

Craig

Edited August 20, 2021 by 8E45E (see edit history)

[Billy Kingsley]

My 1994 Jeep. So slow it hasn't moved an inch since 2015. Anybody want a Jeep? Grand Cherokee Limited. 

 

I call it my semi-mobile storage unit. 

[1937hd45]

Dad had a used Mercedes diesel in the 1970's, a death trap than couldn't accelerate faster than an 8 year old on a bicycle. 

[1935Packard]

1982 Volvo 240 Diesel with an automatic transmission.  Over 3000 pounds and only about 80 horsepower.  You'd floor it and the car wouldn't really do anything.  Fine car for its day, until you needed to merge onto traffic.

 

Here's someone on Youtube doing an acceleration test on an '83 model: 0-55 in 30 seconds, brings back memories.

Edited August 20, 2021 by 1935Packard (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

3 hours ago, greenie said:

1986 Isuzu Trooper. 80hp carb engine. They were really small horses. Once got passed in Western Maryland mountains by a loaded dump truck going up Sidling Hill. Should have paid more attention on the test drive.

However. It hauled my stuff to Hershey multiple years; and converted into a very cheap hotel room in the Chocolate field! The diesel versions of the same year were even slower.

I forgot about dads Trooper II.  Not sure of the year but it was probably around '86, 2 door model. And yes that thing was SLOW. With the aerodynamics of a pizza box.  About as basic as it could get. All plastic on the inside, stick shift. He did run that thing for years though.

[wayne sheldon]

Does a car that hasn't run in well over a century count? I was thrilled when I bought it a decade ago, unfortunately, my circumstances changed shortly after and I haven't been able to do any restoration work on it.

It is a blacksmith built, purpose built automobile chassis with light wagon axles and wheels with cushion "tires" (unusual combination). Sixty inch track, sixty inch wheelbase highwheeler. The gasoline engine is a single cylinder, four inch bore, eight inch stoke. Built to be very light in weight (relatively speaking), but powerful. Belt drive transmission with no reverse, chains to the rear wheels. I would estimate the top speed would be between twelve and fifteen miles per hour. Numerous elements of the engine are very early design, and likely may have been built before 1900.

 

The Ford TT truck I had years ago with its original overdrive on a good day would do 40 mph. My very stock (even had cast iron pistons!) 1916 T center-door sedan was twice clocked at 50 mph (I usually drove it between 40 & 45). (Wish I still had that center-door sedan!) The 1924 T coupe I used to have would do 45.

[oldcarfudd]

This.  I average 17 mph point to point on back roads (obviously!) including typical hills and stop signs, but not ice cream stops.  Most fun of any car I've ever had.

[Dave39MD]

This 24 Chevrolet is the slowest due mostly to the drivers will to live.

 

Dave

 

[ericmac]

The slowest car I have owned is my current 1926 Ford Model T Fordor sedan. That car is an absolute delight to drive but due to the weight of it (probably due to all the glass in it) the Fordor is at least 7-10 MPH slower than my 1913 Ford Touring. 

Honorable mention would have to go to a 1974 Peugeot 504 gas powered, with an automatic that my family owned when I was in high school. Let's just say I was concerned that glaciers would catch me if we had another ice age.