What Was the ABSOLUTE WORST Car You've Ever Owned?

[Vainglory, Esq.]

A 383 69 super bee I had in high school. It was such a pos that on one of the many times it left me stranded I simply got out and walked away. I never went back and have no idea what ever happened to it. 

The next was a 70 340 duster I had that NEVER went more than a few miles before something broke. It is the only car I have owned that broke a camshaft. traded it for a KZ-900

Before you guys decide to hang me remember that in '77-'78 these cars were everywhere and dirt cheep. I wish I had them now.

Somebody over at Moparts is posting right now about that Super Bee.  "So I heard about this place called Broadway Title..."

[SRT-68]

Probably this one.

What is that? Looks cool.

[Brock Samson]

http://www.bricklin.org/

sorry i didn't realize that site was defunkt... The Brick is generally realized as a complete dog of a car... I'd be most interested how you came to own one Kim.....
                                                                         

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricklin_SV-1

[69bronzeT5]

Hard to say.....my first thought is the '93 Cherokee Country 4X4 I had. It had tons of issues but never left me on the side of the road. If you engaged 4 wheel drive, it was a gamble if it would disengage after. Most times it would get stuck in 4 wheel drive and you'd have to climb underneath it and bang the linkage with a hammer before it would disengage. It leaked oil like a SIV, so much that I almost did a face plant a few times stepping in the oil slick. My dad changed the valve cover gasket one day and it stopped....only to start spewing out of another spot a week or so later. The front shafts were worn and caused the thing to shake badly over 80KPH. The driver's seat frame was broken so the seat had to be proped with a brick or it would flop around everywhere.....had to hold onto the console going around corners. Blew the rad hose off once (common Cherokee issues apperentley) but that was an easy fixed. Like I said, it had a ton of issues but never needed to be towed home. Well that was until the motor went at 230,000 kilometers and then caught on fire Write off....



The other one I'd say is the '99 Honda Odyssey my stepmom has. I can't bad mouth it too much because it's gotten me a lot of places however it has some bad issues. Odysseys have those stupid automatic doors and they are always giving us issues. The passenger side door is screwed and doesn't open anymore for some reason. The main issue are the transmissions in the stupid things. Ours went at 195,000 kilometers....and I mean it WENT. It got bad pretty quick, lurching in and out of gear, slipping harshly etc. When we took it in to get the transmission rebuilt, the thing was lurching so hard it actually broke the motor mounts. It's been less than 2 years later and the transmission is doing the exact same thing again, gave me and my dad a hell of a time today. Luckily we got a 2 year warranty on it so it's being dropped off on Monday to have the transmission rebuilt for free. Apperentley Honda put chrome plated clutches in these things and after a while, the chrome peels off, plugs up the transmission and then they blow. Of course they don't have a cleanable filter so once they get plugged your screwed. Honda did put out upgraded non chrome clutches for them however I'm thinking when they rebuilt our transmission we didn't get the upgrade. We better now....

[bobs66440]

I know what you mean with the Honda odyssey doors. We have a '05 and had the same problems. Turns out (on ours) the tracks were slightly out of alignment. They fixed it about 2 years ago and it's been good since. Other than that  it's been one of the best vehicles we've ever owned. We're just waiting for this one to hit 250K and we're goin' in for another one.

[Chevysrule]

Probably this one.

I have experienced the joys of several Bricklins...... I know your pain... probably the worst P.O.S ever made...

[Chevysrule]

But I forgot the worst car I ever owned was my first car which is a 68 Coronet R/T that had a wierd Crossram that stuck through the hood... I was 16, it was cool, but it was a typical early 80s hacked together relic, it was always broken and I think I have pushed that car more miles than I have ever driven it...... the best car has to go to either the 65 Dart 4dr or any of the 89-97 Chevy Cavaliers we have used as our daily crashers over the last 20 yrs....

[440 Fanatic]

That's an easy one for me,  it was a '76 Triumph TR-7

As a highschool grad present, my dad offered to split the cost of a car up to a total of $3500.00
This was in 1983,  so a decent car was easy to come by for that kind of money then.
I decided i wanted a TR-7. Found one with 35K miles on it in excellent condition and showed my dad.
He immediately said "You really don't want that car."  As a teenager, I was sure that I did because we all
know that when you are a teenager,  you know everything. We went back and forth on it and he said go ahead.
got it for $3300.00
I loved it , handled great , had plenty of power, for what it was,  2.0 L  OHC, twin Zenith Stromberg carbs / 4 Spd.
4 months later,  lost reverse,  dug into tranny, it was shot (lay gear as they called it was trash) along with reverse gear.  Parts to repair total $800.00,   found a used tranny for $275.00.
A few months later, differential took a crap. Dad bought me a used one for $225.00 as a christmas present.
Sad part is, I never abused the car to give it reason to eat the drive train.
Other probs in the next 6 months included carb diaphram rupture, driver side window regulator trashed, trailing arm bushing trashed,  oil pressure sending unit blew out thus spraying oil all in the engine bay while never indicating no oil pressure once the pan was dry. Luckily I got it shut off before any engine damage.

Bought it for $3300.00 with 35K miles,  2 years later I sold it for $2500.00  with 37.5K miles.

2 cool things happened as a result of all of this:

1. Dad never said "I told you so"
2. I took 1700.00 of that 2500.00 and bought a one owner 72 Challenger 318/3spd std in the floor owned by a parts man at a Chrysler  dealership.  It came with a trunk load of new parts and never needed any of them except oil filters and air cleaners.

Triumph TR-7  ,  good riddance !!

[hatersaurusrex]

I guess the worst one I had was the '78 Scout I bought a couple years back. I bought it from a used/classic car lot in Ill. They told me it ran out good and had the typical Scout rust in the rear fenders. Ok fine. I paid $2300 for it and another $500 for them to deliver it here. I got it home and never could keep it running. I put a total of 15 miles on it. The floor pans were rotted out and so were the rockers. When you would sit in it you had to lean towards the center or you would take a good chance of falling thru the floor. I finally got it running one day and the transmission came out of it while I was trying to back it off of my of ramps after I had just replaced the gas tank. I was close to $4k in it when I sold it for $500 to get it out of my yard.

Man that brings back memories.   I had a 76 Scout Traveller back in 93 or so.   Despite being less than 20 years old, the quarters and floor were gone.   That said it had a 304 and twin Dana 44's, so I figured it was worth 850 bucks and drove it home.   The ECU melted down the front of the firewall and it wouldn't start.  I spent a brutal winter underneath it turning wrenches before finally getting a mechanic to replace the ECU and it was back on the road.  3 months later I was on teh way to my brother's house to discover the oil pressure gauge (or sending unit) was bad, and the motor spun a rod on me right in the middle of I-24.

That said, I still miss that old truck, it was my first project.    Also, you can't very well blame a 35 year old truck for being unreliable

Did someone say 90 Ford Ranger?  I had a 91 and the SOB ran like a top for nearly 200K until I traded it for a Dakota.   Only problem I ever had with it was Ford's crappy brakes.

[Musicman]

Mid to late 70's Chevy Caprice Classic... it was always one frick'n thing after another with that car. One day I turned the key after a hard days work and the dash went up in flames.... but the most annoying thing about that car... trying to find a starter to fit that F'n 305!!! Shim,shim,shim,and shim some more. I became quite adept at replacing flywheels in a timely manner. I had 2 other GM products as well, but it's just to painful to talk about it now. 

[404NOTFOUND]

I've owned more than 40 cars and all were good except for two. Both were Chrysler K car based cars. The first was a Horizon which broke it's timing belt during the first hour I owned it. It leaked so much oil, I didn't know a small engine could hold that much oil. I crossed the border to NY state and while passing a van, the engine blew. I had to spend new years eve alone in a noisy hotel. I can't believe I was stupid enough to have the thing towed back to Canada the next day. The other one was a nice Lebaron Mark Cross convertible but, it had a Mitsu engine. A very fast starting engine but, very fragile. This was the second such engine to blow in this car. I had a shop install a rebuilt engine but I could tell the motor was hammering itself to death from day one. I sold it real fast.

[Paul G]

1989 Lincoln Continental. Loved driving that car, hated working on it. I went in to my local parts store one day after I sold the Lincoln. Told John I sold the Lincoln. He said he was sorry, I was one of his best customers.

[BBKNARF]

197? Datsun B210, it got me around but always spending money on it.

[grdprx]

1988 Dodge Daytona

88 Daytona here (well, it was the wife's; but I had to pay to fix that POS!)

**  Oops, guess I recycled this post from a year ago...   

[Kern Dog]

My first car was a 69 Dart, 318 2 door. It had a huge appetite for starters, alternators, voltage relays, batteries..... I never quite figured out why.
I had a 73 Camaro that seemed to be a wreck magnet. I was hit at least 5 times in 4 years, never my fault!
I had a 2006 Ram 1500 4wd that had terrible brake shake. It was wrecked in 2007 when I was broadsided by a guy that ran a stop sign.

[Todd Wilson]

This is a hard question for me to answer. 

I suppose the worst car I have ever owned over all was my 71 Charger.It needed the most work out of everything I have owned. Motor went out of it. Front end was shot. Body had dents and faded paint.

I had a 83 GMC van that was a POS but it was simply wore out from a hard life as a delivery vehicle. I cant really bad mouth it or GM.

I drove a 78 Cordoba that was a POS. It was on its 2nd 400 and I blew the 727 out of it. My step mom actually owned it and my step sister drove it and hurt the car in many ways. It was then given to me as my high skool driver for a year or so until I got my 71 Charger.

I have a 1986 Honda Prelude thats a POS but its simply falling apart from age. Runs great but the rest of the car is falling apart.

I have a 1974 Dodge D200 pickup truck thats a POS. Its simply falling apart from age. Runs and drives fine but rust is taking its toll on it.


Todd

[Charger-Bodie]

The worst vehicle Ive ever had was a 03 Ram 2500 Deisel. ALWAYS something wrong with it. Expensive things every time.

[TheGhost]

My current car.  99 Durango.  The 4 wheel drive works, and that's about it.  Never should have bought it.  Total lemon.

[NHCharger]

http://www.bricklin.org/

sorry i didn't realize that site was defunkt... The Brick is generally realized as a complete dog of a car... I'd be most interested how you came to own one Kim.....
                                                                         

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricklin_SV-1

My boss has a Bricklin. Since I'm a car guy he wanted to know if I was interested in buying it (doesn't run at the moment of course). I passed.

Worst car. 99 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Always something wrong or breaking on that POS. The back side of the rockers had completely rotted through on both sides. Spent an entire weekend fabbing up new pieces and welding them in. The first time the wife took it to work after I had spent all that time fixing it one of the timing chains slipped and it damaged the valve train on one side of the motor. ONLY 128k miles on that car. Sold it for $875.00 two months ago. My son's Plymouth Laser was another POS. Will never own a newer Chrysler product again.

[daves68]

Sadly- a Mopar. 1979 Dodge Magnum. First gen. o.drive lockup torque converter- 2 transmission failures in 2 yrs. headlight doors would not open below 32 degrees, intermittent short in electrical system- never found it. Lean burn computer malfunction on regular basis. Would absolutely NOT start in cold weather.

[tsmithae]

This is an easy one:

I had this car so briefly that I don't even remember what year it was, mid '90's is the best I can remember... 

It was a Volvo 850 that I drove into Chicago to purchase and got, literally, 3 miles away from the dealership and had the heater core blow out on me.  The car was filled with steam in about .5 seconds and I was on the expressway, in the left lane, out of 4 lanes... All I could do was hit my flashers, hit my horn, and start drifting to the right (all blind, coughing insanely, and with my eyes watering to the point where even if the entire car wasn't filled with steam, i wouldn't have been able to see).  I came to a stop, without being hit, about 2 inches away from a gaurdrail.  I promptly got out of the car, kicked the drivers door shut, called a tow truck, called the dealership, and told them that there car was coming back to them and that the driver of the tow truck would be handing them a bill.  Once I got there, I told them that the car would be fixed within the week or I would be canceling the check and they could keep their damn car.

I never saw that car again.

[Fred]

My  '62 VW Beetle.   Gutless wonder.

[la.68charger]

A 1994 MB SL 500! I sold the following to buy that $95,000.00 car : 1968 Charger RT, 1968 Charger running donor car, 1969 Road Runner and a 1970 GTO Convertible! The SL has electrical gremlins all over the place! It stalls on take off whenever it wants to. Parts are are gold plated, must be from the prices I've paid! The local MB dealer knows next to nothing about working on them. There is a good independent shop, but you have to wait weeks to get him to look it problem. But I have my revenge! I just bought a very nice '68 Charger with 61K original miles. Same exact color and accessories my ex '68 had. The SL is now up for sale! I'll never stray again! Intercourse all MB's!!

[Chryco Psycho]

I owned 2 Chev trucks , my first & my Last !!! Both were horrible , the first one everything broke & had to be replaced , the second one was the same , bought it used for 6k spent another 8 k to keep it on the road for only 1 year & about the higher resale value of Chev trucks well I had to give both away , could not sell either one , Garbage !!

[Kern Dog]

Mercedes=


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