The 10 Worst Cars - Ever!

I had a Corvair convertible when I was in the Army. I loved it, but got shipped back to SE Asia for a second tour and sold it. When I got back and joined the Police Department, I bought it back and drove it for a year or two. Then, foolishly, I sold it.

I had a '73 Pinto I bought new. It was a great car. I had it all the way through law school. Didn't have the money for oil changes, so never bothered. It ran fine and got its first oil change in three years about two months after I got out and got a job.

Again, foolishly, I traded it in on a Mustang. :o

Bob
 
A few years back I saw a perfectly restored '61 Corvair convertible at the river park. And it did NOT leave a cloud of blue smoke behind it!
I found this passing strange. As I remember, they burned oil coming off the showroom floor.
The most impressive thing was the long legged blond and her golden retriever. I would have taken them both home. But one would have peed on the carpet and the other chewed up my shoes.
 
I drove a 1981 Escort GT for 5 years without any problems. It ran great and handled great. I traded it in and somebody bought it for their kid. He totaled it a couple months later.

A friend had a 1969 Corvair Monza Convertible. He took the engine apart and used a torque wrench to put everything back together. It ran and handled great and did not burn oil.
 
A cousin of mine worked in the design group for the original Vega engine. The block was die-cast and the die was rigged up to concentrate the silicon in the alloy in the cylinder bores. The bore was machined to final size and then acid washed to remove some of the aluminum and leave the silicon pebble-grain finish to retain oil. There was no deck on the top of the block; the cylinders were free-standing. The engine was run too lean for the way it was designed and when the mixture dentonated, the cylinder would "fret" the gasket against the head and the gasket would start to leak. Cosworth designed a new head that used steel "O" rings as gaskets for the cylinders and neoprene gaskets for the water and oil. It was a twin-cam four-valve head and it used fuel injection. It was sold as the "Cosworth Vega" in '75 and '76 and was finished in black with gold striping. It could really go. You can buy one now in show condition for under $20K

The Vega was the second-best handling GM car at the time. The only car with a higher "G" rating on the skid pad was the Corvette.

The early cars had a very flammable vinyl interior. One of the porters at the dealership I worked for scrimped and saved and bought one of the first ones. He hit a bump while tapping his cigar in the ashtray and it set the dash on fire. He got out safely and watched while it burned. It was about two months old.

Russ
 
What amazes me, is that there isn't one single vehicle on the list that is British- no MG's, Triumphs, Sunbeams, Rovers, etc. :eek: It has got to be bad if anything containing Lucas electrics is a step up! :eek::D;)
 
P&R Fan said:
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
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January 9, 1959... I was 11 she was 9, she turned 10 in June...YUP 53 years:eek:
and we will have been married 42 years this year.. :D:D:D

Best thing that ever happend to me!!
 
Andy Griffith said:
What amazes me, is that there isn't one single vehicle on the list that is British- no MG's, Triumphs, Sunbeams, Rovers, etc. :eek: It has got to be bad if anything containing Lucas electrics is a step up! :eek::D;)
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Ahhh, Lucas electricals......proof that the Devil exists! i've had both an MG and a Jag. Stuff would stop working on the MG then suddenly spring back to life! I had buddies with MG's and Triumphs. SU sidedraft carbs are nothing to brag about either.....
 
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:D
 
I have had a series of Ford Pintos... all have been champs.
When I was 8 I helper my father swap a L79 327 into it.
When I was 13 I learned to drive in it on a dirt backroad.
When I was 18 I bought a 76 Vega, beat the hell out of it and it never whimpered.

Also, for the million + pintos sold... 21 people MAY have been killed by fire in the past 40 years.
Most couldnt be connected to the 71-73 fuel tank issue.
The fuel tank was less of a danger than those in the 64.5-73 mustangs or the fairlanes of that same era.


Jim
 
1964 MGB, worst car I've ever owned. Lucas Electric: "Prince of Darkness"
Had to keep an electric hair drier and a 100' extension cord in the trunk in case it rained so I could dry the distributor cap to start the engine.
 
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I put 300,000 miles on a Bobcat (Pinto with a raised hood). The only thing I ever had to do to it was rebuild the clutch. Cost me $27 in parts. I traded it in when the floor rusted out enough to give me Flinstone emergency brakes
 
Went up to Mackinac Island and crossed the bridge. They say the only car ever to be blown of the bridge was a Yugo. Don't know if it's true, but sure is funny.
 
Andy Griffith said:
What amazes me, is that there isn't one single vehicle on the list that is British- no MG's, Triumphs, Sunbeams, Rovers, etc. :eek: It has got to be bad if anything containing Lucas electrics is a step up! :eek::D;)
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You know why the British drink their beer warm? Lucas refrigeration...

My best friend's older brother had a Triumph Spitfire. He figures he replaced everything electrical on it three times. It was like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. As soon as you finished, you had to start over again.
 
I have absolutely no use for any car newer than a 1962. That's just me.;)
 

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If we are taking nominations for new cars, I nominate the new for 2012 BMW 328/528. They have replaced the naturally aspirated 3.0 straight-6 with a 2.0 turbo 4. My dad and I test drove one a few days ago - very sluggish, lots of turbo lag, sounds like a cheap Honda civic, and gas mileage that is barely better than the turbo 3.0 straight 6 in the 335/535, and probably is no better than the engine it replaced.
 
My sister drove a '73 Vega during the eight years she was in graduate school. All four fenders had completely rusted through by that time, often wondered what kept them from falling completely off. My worst was a '79 Chevy pickup with a straight six and three speed manual transmission. The most underpowered vehicle I ever drove.
 
Buick Skyhawk = Pontiac Sunbird = Cheverolet Monza = miserable piece of monkey **** masquerading as a car.

This was a car that gave subcompacts a bad name. I bought one new off of the lot and kept going back to the dealer to have him replace the interior parts that kept falling off. Alas, I was too young and stupid to know how to complain, otherwise, I would have made them take it back. This car was American engineering at its best. For example, the heating ducts all pointed at the driver - there were no ducts on the passenger side of the car. Even on a short trip in the winter, your feet were burning up while your passenger was freezing to death! To do a tune-up, you had to have the engine pulled so the last 2 spark plugs could be changed. After this fiasco I quit buying American made cars.

Regards,

Dave
 
Renault Dauphine - "The Winter Wonder Car" of the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley.

I rolled one while in college and it looked like a beer can that someone had stepped on. Got out without a scratch. Must have been my BAC that saved me.

medxam
 
Double-O-Dave said:
Buick Skyhawk = Pontiac Sunbird = Cheverolet Monza = miserable piece of monkey **** masquerading as a car.

This was a car that gave subcompacts a bad name. I bought one new off of the lot and kept going back to the dealer to have him replace the interior parts that kept falling off. Alas, I was too young and stupid to know how to complain, otherwise, I would have made them take it back. This car was American engineering at its best. For example, the heating ducts all pointed at the driver - there were no ducts on the passenger side of the car. Even on a short trip in the winter, your feet were burning up while your passenger was freezing to death! To do a tune-up, you had to have the engine pulled so the last 2 spark plugs could be changed. After this fiasco I quit buying American made cars.

Regards,

Dave
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When I got married my new wife's car was a V-6 Sunbird Coupe. After the ceremony, when we were walking back down the aisle and had been married for maybe 90 seconds, my new father-in-law shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said "your wife's car needs a tune-up."
 
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NCTexan said:
Presenting.... The 2012 Fiat 500.

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Is this one of them-there Smart Cars?

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I drive around 50,000 miles a year on business and I wouldn't drive that deathtrap across town.

Unless I can find an equivalent, I'll keep driving Grand Marqs and Crown Vics until there ar none left on the market and then I'll start pulling them out of scrap yards and rebuilding them to zero mile specs.

'Smart Cars' be damned.

Drew
 
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A babe magnet! I had to fight off the women with a fire hose.
That and my double nit plaid hip huggers and boozo the clown hair.
 
jframe said:
Well, nobody has mentioned my personal favorite piece of ****: Suzuki. As a Ford and Suzuki parts dealer who has spent seven years with Toyota, and five years with Nissan before that, Suzuki is without a doubt the biggest piece of junk I've had the priviledge of making money off of in my entire 24 year parts career.
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Our 2005 Suzuki Aerio SX must be the exception then. At around 150K we gave it to our son for a college car and I have no idea how many miles are on it now. Other than going through a set of tires every 40K there has been no unusual maintenance issues. Which is good because some parts will be very hard to find not that it's an orphan.

I had a Ford Cortina which was a vehicle only suitable for the British. If you are part of a culture that considered a 5 mile road trip to be a major excursion than a Cortina would probably seem like a reasonable automobile.
 
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