Amazingly crappy cars you, your family etc. once owned.

Discussion in 'Automotive' started by Tom_Heywood, Jan 13, 2012.

  1. Barbara

    Barbara BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 29, 2000
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The first car that I ever drove that was "mine" was my parents' old avocado green Maverick.

    The first they ever bought me was a 1981 or 1982 base model Chevette. That ********er didn't even have a radio. I hated that car like poison - it broke down every couple of months and by the time I'd driven it two or three years, it was toast. (I was mostly bitter because for the same money they could have gotten me a really cute Datsun B210 but it was used and they wanted me to have a new car so it would be reliable. I think my dad didn't want to buy a Japanese car and he didn't want to admit it.)

    Anyway, I learned to drive a stick driving this home from the dealership. It was a two-door version of the car in this picture:

    [​IMG]

    The first car I bought myself was a cherry red 1985 Nissan Sentra. I loved that car.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    just shows what you know! i've never owned a deuch' but they rock the nations to their very foundations. for what they are, and were always meant to be, they are they greatest expression of automotion ever conceived, manufactured or driven. if god drives a car it's one of these.
     
  3. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    318 cid... i looked it up because it seemed small to me but it's true that the big block age had ended by '78.

    my dad had an electra 225 that had a 455 cid V-8... for those of you who live in the real world that's a NINE:eek: liter engine!

    and it was still a pig.

    i've never had a car i didn't like: an '60 MGA 1600, a '53 studebaker champion and a '68 or '69 SS camaro were the only cars i regularly drove in the US and i liked them all. my first car here was of one of the very first twingos, i loved that too... sold to get a scenic when the family grew, no complaints but not a car you can get thrilled about...

    back on subject my bro has everyone beat.

    [​IMG]

    i swear i didn't go digging for this pic: i just googled yugo and up it came. what a surprise!
     
  4. Tom_Heywood

    Tom_Heywood New Member

    Jan 7, 2012
    Club:
    Blackburn Rovers FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Wales
    The Yugo is a Communist car, and therefore rubbish apparently Couldn't find part 1:

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1XvpGSkQfY"]Top Gear: Communist cars part 2 - YouTube[/ame]
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rrUzzjtEFU&feature=related"]Top Gear: Communist cars part 3 - YouTube[/ame]
     
  5. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    on the top gear site the whole thing is in two parts.
     
  6. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France

    Top Gear begs to differ (spectacularly) :eek:

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_7fBjN0TMc"]top gear destroying a 2cv - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ9uWsvR1l0"]Car vs Boeing 747's engines! - Top Gear - BBC - YouTube[/ame]

    But it's true there is an uncommon sentimental link with this car or the Renault 4L yet Mr. Clarkson has a point : their engines are not particularly eco friendly in terms of pollutants. I don't know if there's a way to tweak that for someone who would like to purchase one of these.
     
  7. laasan

    laasan Member

    Apr 12, 2010
    that would explain a lot.
     
  8. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    What about Dacia ?

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7mVQljKggE&feature=related"]Hilarious ... poor man's tuning! Drag race ... under 40bhp! - YouTube[/ame]
     
  9. Untroubled by Reason

    Dec 5, 2007
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My folks gave me a 1980 Pontiac Phoenix for a graduation present:
    [​IMG]

    For those of you too young to remember (or who, like me, would rather forget), the 1980 Phoenix was General Motors' first failed experiment with front wheel drive. The "charming" thing about the Phoenix (and its Chevrolet sister car, the Citation) is that, when cold, it would take biceps of steel to turn the damned thing. I had to bulk up just to drive this piece of FOD to work until the car warmed up. I also recall its electric windows failing (in the open position, of course) during a drive from Virginia Beach to Alexandria (approx. 200 miles)... in December... during a rain/ice/snow storm.

    And unlike its name, it did not rise from the ashes once it died.
     
    Nacional Tijuana and locoxriver repped this.
  10. El_tri321mex

    El_tri321mex Member

    Oct 20, 2006
    berkeley
    Grew up with a Ford Taurus , God worst car ever .
     
  11. laasan

    laasan Member

    Apr 12, 2010
    hehe, that reminds me of my old Lada. had to drive home once when I was a student from Dresden in Germany in the winter, a 200km trip. I had a leak in the cooling system, loosing cooling liquid very quickly, and no money to get it fixed. so I turned on the heater full power to get as much heat out of the engine as possible, and drove quite quickly on the autobahn (well, for a Lada, i.e. around 140km/h). that worked well, apart from the luckily short traffic jam at one point, as long as I had the windows completely open, because otherwise sauna conditions. got a few strange looks when people saw me driving in a tshirt and open windows in the German winter. but I have to say, few cars would have survived driving 200km without any cooling liquid whatsoever. was very proud of that piece of crap.. :)
     
  12. Barilla

    Barilla Member

    May 17, 2012
    NJ
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Back during the 90s when I'd go with my family to Italy to visit relatives, we'd make our 6 hour trek from Rome to Calabria in.....a Lancia Beta.

    [​IMG]
    It never actually broke down along the way, but there was always something that needed fixing once we'd arrived, always needing to make a visit to the junk yard looking for spare parts that needed replacing. The engine never actually fell out, but it did get rather rusted out towards the end of it's days.

    As for the first car I ever owned, a Dodge Spirit 1989.
    [​IMG]
    Electronics on it were absolutely borked. Every time I'd press the breaks at a red light/stop sign, the engine would shut down, especially during winter weather. $800 worth, and boy did I hate that car.
     
  13. raza_rebel

    raza_rebel Member+

    Dec 11, 2000
    Club:
    Univ de Chile

    Did he say small Chrysler?

    Best worst car I ever owned was a hand-me-down Chrysler Cordoba with soft Corinthian leather!

    It was grey and you could drive it into a tree and not dent it. Which is good for an 18 year old. However, I remember if you accelerated and tried to pass another car, you might as well pull into the next gas station. :cautious:
     
  14. Untroubled by Reason

    Dec 5, 2007
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    OMG! I forgot about that car. I dated a girl in college who had one of those - on occasion, she had to spray some sort of engine additive into the carburator just to get the damn thing to start. Once started, however, it was a rhino, but with comfy-soft seats.
     
    raza_rebel repped this.
  15. FulhamFTW

    FulhamFTW Member

    Jan 18, 2010
    Midwest, US
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My first car was an '85 Toyota Camry, and it was the worst. $1000 and it only lasted me a month before the head gasket blew. This isn't my pic, but is almost exactly what it looked like.
    [​IMG]

    This is what I drive now(just bought it). Definitely a step up.....
    [​IMG]
     
  16. Untroubled by Reason

    Dec 5, 2007
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What horrible luck! Toyotas have long been legendary for their reliability, and to have that happen is quite remarkable.
     
  17. Salazar

    Salazar Member

    Jul 5, 2010
    Preston, England
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    [​IMG]

    Morris Marina, the first car I remember my parents driving when I was a kid, what a piece of crap, the thing broke down all the time and leaked too.

    I was very happy when I was about 12 or 13 and they got one of these (Audi 80) to replace the battered old Marina.
    [​IMG]
     
  18. El_tri321mex

    El_tri321mex Member

    Oct 20, 2006
    berkeley
    My brother bought a dodge avenger .....
    sigh those cars are bad
     
  19. IMK13

    IMK13 New Member

    Jul 17, 2012
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My mom owned a 98 Ford Taurus which is probably the worst 90's car ever created. These cars may go down in history as being the biggest POS ever created! I'm not sure if this is just because I'm a mechanic and have to deal with these hunks of garbage on a regular basis :D
     
  20. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    we never made any parts for taurus but from what i've seen behind the scenes of the manufacture of the mondeo and the focus i'm not surprised.

    we make precision suspension parts and i can tell you that most ford assembly plants are incapable of distinguishing OK parts from NOK parts. we used to get waves of quality incidents from a german plant, and we would very simply send the returned parts to a spanish one. because the parts were perfectly good, it was the assembly jigs in germany that were knackered and when they had assembly problems they just started returning parts... sometimes ours, sometimes other suppliers'... but could never be bothered to treat or even understand the problem. for ford, blaming the supplier is job 1.

    [​IMG]
     
  21. El_tri321mex

    El_tri321mex Member

    Oct 20, 2006
    berkeley
    Ford are horrible cars , Except for the trucks maybe I would say the Ford trucks are quality. But the cars....
    Surprisingly the Ford Focus and the 2010+ Mustangs are coming out to be quite good .
     
  22. IMK13

    IMK13 New Member

    Jul 17, 2012
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was reading about the new '13 Fusion and it sounds pretty nice. Especially with the EcoBoost.
     
  23. song219

    song219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 5, 2004
    La Norte
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Vanuatu
    My first car was a '78 Ford Thunderbird I bought from my uncle in '86. It lasted less than a year. My last 4 wheel vehicle was a '94 Ford Ranger I sold in '08. Your experience with Fords sounds the same as mine.
     
  24. WondoSoWonderful

    May 3, 2012
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    gt40=more awesome than a vette
     
  25. Untroubled by Reason

    Dec 5, 2007
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Hey, hey, let's not get off topic here. We're talking about crappy cars, not awesome and more awesome.

    Speaking of crappy, did I tell you about the second generation Dodge Charger I owned? It was the first car I bought new, and it was pure sh!t:
    [​IMG]
    Two liter four cylinder, no fuel injection, no power, and dying before the payment book ran out.
     

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