The 10 Worst Cars - Ever!

You left off a really obvious one.
When I met Missus P&R Fan, on October 16, 1987 (How many of you guys can remember the exact date you met your Wife?) she was driving a poop brown '80 Vette. That was a piece of garbage!
No, No, No, not what you're thinking! It was a CHEvette.:eek:
I almost didn't go out with her when I found out what she drove.
(Almost).;)
Jim
 
Sebago Son said:
Lefty, I had a 1978 Fiat Spyder. White with a tan top and interior. You are right! It was a very handsome car... I had alot of fun with that machine until I broke down on the L.I. Expressway trying to catch the ferry out of Orient Point....

I used to carry tools, another fuel pump, oil, plugs and wires, a distributor cap and a spare accelerator cable wherever I went

Drew.
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Hey Drew;

I would have pushed it off the ferry. Never thought of that.

Cheers;
Lefty
 
I'm with Jag on this one. The list's bogus without a Renault Dauphine. I'd trade three Renaults for any other car on the list, even up. Don't ask how I know.

Ed
 
CW Spook said:
I believe you're thinking of the Corvair, which is the one that made Nader infamous. You're right, though. In some ways it was a very advanced vehicle for Detroit. I remember the great F1 champion Stirling Moss making a fool of a Corvair critic/prosecutor in the hearings they had on its safety.
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Yes, My BAD, only had one qt of coffee.:) The Vega sounded like a sowing machine (it was the aluminum block engine yes??) The Corvair was the Nader car, but did have some features that were innovative for whatever it was worth,
 
5-Shot said:
I'm with Jag on this one. The list's bogus without a Renault Dauphine. I'd trade three Renaults for any other car on the list, even up. Don't ask how I know.

Ed
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A local guy once bought a boatload of Dauphines. They were cheap, because the ship had sunk and the cars had spent several days submerged in salt water.

With some effort, he was able to clean most of them up and get them running. Sure, he sold them cheap. But after a few months, you started to see a bunch of brokeback Renaults running around town. The unibodies would rust through, and the floors bagan to separate from the firewalls.

That debacle was pretty much forgotten by the time Le Car came around. That seemed like decent car in clear, dry weather. Any moisture or cold weather would sideline it. My Sister-in-law had one that ran about three days a week in wintertime, until the really cold weather hit in January. Then she rode the bus to work until late March.
 
Let's see... I learned to drive in mom's 1958 Edsel Corsair 4-door. It was ugly, and a sales disaster, but it was actually a very reliable car, taking the family on summer trips from California to Utah to Alberta and back for years. It finally died with well over hundred thousand on the clock. It blew a head gasket and mom didn't know it. Don't know if the idiot light went on or not, but the engine fried. Mom's one of those "know where the key and the gas go" types. I kid you not, I asked her one time what kind of car she drove and she said "blue". She couldn't even tell me the BRAND, let alone the model, even though she'd driven a Ford (or Mercury) for 30 years.

When the Edsel died, dad got mom a brand new Ford Pinto, in which I took my driver's exam. What a pile of guano. After replacing the valve body in the transmission for the third time and the thing still didn't shift right, I in my youthful innocence told the service manager that maybe the problem wasn't the valve body, but something else? I was told that I wasn't a "trained, certified mechanic" and what could I possibly know about it.

When I turned 18, by this time dad didn't work at the Ford dealer anymore, so I went to brand X for a car and got... a Chevy Vega. Which proceeded to throw a rod out the side of the block after 19 months; warranty having expired 7 months prior. I ended up taking up the garage for about three months and putting in a 215CI aluminum V-8 from a 1962 Olds. That way I didn't have to change the rear-end like you did if you put in a 327 or 350 Chev, because the spider gears on a Vega rear-end were about the size of a walnut. It ran REAL good after that. With the stock 2.73 highway gears, it was a freeway flier.

Ah, teenager-hood. When regular was 49.9 and I had hair down to my shoulders.
 
Bought a used 68 vw bus when I was a kid,ran good in the snow and off road.Would do maybe 35 mph uphill.Had one cylinder that ran hot.Owned it 3 years and rebuilt the engine twice lol.Bought toyota and ford trucks after that.
 
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I just saw a TV commercial for what has the potential of making the list very quickly... at least based on it's good looks and stellar brand history.

Presenting.... The 2012 Fiat 500.

Fiat-500-US-Spec-02.jpg
 
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My late wie had a Ford Tempo long before we met. She had a bunch of horror stories about that lemon. It was one of those cars that would mysteriously die as you tried to get across an intersection. It seems that many cars of the 80's had those odd electrical gremlins that could never be fully hunted down. It finally died after she moved to Las Vegas and she bought a Mazda 6 2-door, a very reliable vehicle.
 
My first boss was owed $500 by an unemployed customer who just happened to own two 'running condition' inspected Yugo GV's and had three more as parts cars. The boss was a bit of a cheapskate and figured he'd save a lot on gas, so he took the Yugos as payment. I told him not to do it because You go (walking) because the cars don't go.

When I saw him show up at work in a cream white Yugo, I about.. well.. Any how; right of the bat the car started to overheat. With just 18K on the odometer it had a head gasket failure. Paid a mechanic to put the a spare HG that was in the 'spare parts' cache. Car ran another week, the the head cracked. He transferred the pates to running Yugo # 2 a tan and brown monstrosity. It had unknown mileage because the speedometer/odometer had died at 8,500 or so miles.

He drove the tan Yugo for about two weeks. Put about a quart of oil a day in the darn thing because the rear main seal was shot. Finally the head gasket blew on that one. Boss had it changed out for the last spare plus used a spare head off one of the junkers that had spun a main bearing at 20K or so miles.

A few days later the pressure plate for the clutch broke stranding my boss in the middle of nowhere. You'd figure he would give up. Nope, the stubborn guy had it towed and then swapped the engine out of that Yugo into the white one he started with!. He drove his Yugo for about one more week until the head cracked. He was out of spare heads and none were to be found. Sold his Yugo collection to the scrap yard for $100.

I see him every now and then. Always ask him if he remembers what YUGO stands for.
 
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The first car I had was a 74 Vega station wagon. Drove it for years till the head cracked.

If they had only put cast iron liners in the cylinders, I think I would have lasted for ever.
 
I don't agree on the Pinto's. Had a '73 wagon in 1976. Put 106,000 miles then bought a '76 wagon. Put 103,000 on that one. Then years went by & my Mother was put in a rest home so I inherited her '73 Pinto wagon with 19,200 miles on it. This was in 1995 & Mom lived in Denver, me in Calif. Drove the Pinto for several years then in 2002 gave it to my son who promptly blew it up over revving it. Brought it back to me & I finally sold it for 100 bucks. End of my Pinto story.
 
Retired LTC said:
The first car I had was a 74 Vega station wagon. Drove it for years till the head cracked.

If they had only put cast iron liners in the cylinders, I think I would have lasted for ever.
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Had a vega wagon that i had steel sleeves put in ,shaved the head, changes the cam...little porting and polishing..header system and a Holley carb...ran mid 14's in the quarter mile.
 
The Old's/GM 350 diesel deal was a reworked 350 OLD'S gas engine which was a GREAT gas engine, but never designed to handle the loads and stress of being a diesel. Not sure who the genius who came up with the bright idea of trying to make it do something it was never intended to be. Only the idiots in Detroit/Lansing etc. could so misjudge what they could pawn off on the American consumer. That being said I have never owned any Jap or European cars or motor cycles, I still believe in "made in USA" . I usually get around 300,000 miles out of Detroit iron.
 
I owned a corvair and thought it was a nice driving small car. I never did any Nader driving in it so I had no problem with "unsafe at any speed" he claimed. It had a couple of issues but I bought it with a lot of miles on it. I traded it to a Ford station wagon to haul go carts and kid's bikes.
 
silentflyer said:
".. I still believe in "made in USA" . I usually get around 300,000 miles out of Detroit iron."
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+1. My last three Gran Marquis all got over 250,000 and were in good running condition when I let go of them. The 4.6 is a great motor. The trannys get a little punky around 125,000 and usually there is a slushbox rebuild in your future before you get to 150,000 but other than that the Crown Vic / Grand Marq is a great platform. It must be, because the masterminds at FOMOCO have just killed it off.
 
CAJUNLAWYER said:
1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra a real piece o ........... rubbish! I will never own another Oldsmobile :mad:
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Since lawyers do not buy used cars I can assure you that you are right. They do not make them any more.

However if you own a Cadillac, the motor is likely an Oldsmobile. There have been a lot of litigation about GM using Olds motors in the Cadillacs.

The car that caused me the most headaches was a Covair Sypder convertible. Bought it new and on the way home, the fan belt came off. In fact, it continued to have belts fly off during trips of 20 miles or more.
 
My first car was a 73 Vega notchback, burned a quart of oil a day if you drove 10 miles or a 100. I looked like a Mosquito fogging truck going down the road.
 
When I got married in Sept. 1961 I bought a brand new 61' Corvair coupe, I had sold my B-Gasser and got some money together to get married. Kept the Corvair 3 mos. and traded for a new 1962 Impala w/409--4 spd.--4:56 positrak and I was back in business. I liked the Corvair.

_____
James
 
anything made by Scion, namely the XB as it looks like a childs hideous plaything or someones ugly modern shoes like those ones that have the kids scribble marks on them for the soles that are a different color from the rest shoe.

and they have the gull to market it towards people like me, I'd rather be shot that be forced to drive one, save for maybe the one that seems alright the TC

A late 1980's Civic or any sort of a japanese box like that one like this one that Clarkson destroyed

Jeremy Clarkson tests the Nissan Sunny - YouTube

and I think that pretty much describes my critera of what a bad car is to a tee.

although I do like some of the later integras from about the late 90's, the type R in particular from about 96 or 97, but that was actually a fun car, not a dredfull commuter car like the old 80's civc one of my ex girlfriends owned.

Dodge Caravan - I HATE minivans and after being driven around in a 96 for a family vacation about 10 years ago I wanted to do this to it afterwards:

Miami Vice - Jeff Fahey blows up Crockett's Ferrari - YouTube

and dont worry they didnt actually destroy the daytona, its still around and in loving hands, unlike the testarossa which is lavishing in a flea market in miami with **** all over it
Ferrari Testarossa on turn-table platform: Swapshop Flea market. (Car used on Miami Vice) - YouTube

the Nissain Cube - do I even need to explain why? just look at it!

File:Nissan Cube Z11 003.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Anybody remember the OLD Mazda Rotarys? Not the Rx-7, those were for the rich guys. I had a '76 Cosmo. Actually I had four of 'em, and three actually ran. The 13B Rotary was an impressive motor. Way more power than it should have been capable of. Nobody knew how to work on them, except people who owned them. Then it was out of necessity. A friend and I owned several older rotaries, and we got so we could tear down one of the 4 BBL carbs they had, clean it and put it back together in about 20 minutes. Mostly because we had to do so every few days just to keep the dang things running.:eek:
Even so, I had a lot of fun in those little buggers.
Ah, the follies of youth.:rolleyes:
Jim
 
CW Spook said:
I owned both a Pinto and a Vega....never had a problem with either of them that I can recall. They were both fairly well tricked out with accessories and were actually kinda cute cars.
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The most important Pinto accessory was the cautionary bumpersticker: "Danger! Inflammable! Do Not Bump!"
 
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