Author Topic: Worst car you ever drove  (Read 54350 times)

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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #50 on: August 26, 2013, 04:25:08 PM »
My worst car (Which I still have) is a 96 Savanah conversion van.  Chronic transmission and fuel pump issues, as well as an electric system from Hell (The latter in some respects due to all the accessory wiring installed by the converter, but still...).  Horrible ground clearance, due only in part to the trim and fairing installed by the converter, the tailpipe would still drag entering the average suburban driveway even without the fairings.  Did I mention how much I think GM automatic transmissions suck?
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Offline biersmythe

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #51 on: August 28, 2013, 10:05:04 PM »
My worst car (Which I still have) is a 96 Savanah conversion van.  Chronic transmission and fuel pump issues, as well as an electric system from Hell (The latter in some respects due to all the accessory wiring installed by the converter, but still...).  Horrible ground clearance, due only in part to the trim and fairing installed by the converter, the tailpipe would still drag entering the average suburban driveway even without the fairings.  Did I mention how much I think GM automatic transmissions suck?

Most transmissions after the th400 or the th700r4 suck big time...the 700r4 CAN be made reliable by talented hands and even hold up to power, but stock its iffy at best. After that they are all stuffed full of servos and sensors. Which makes much fun trying to rebuild...lol
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Offline seahorse513

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #52 on: August 28, 2013, 10:25:05 PM »
'76 Ford Ltd.  Like this one, except it was shit brown.

That is not a car, that is a bloody boat!!
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Offline Chris_

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #53 on: August 28, 2013, 10:25:49 PM »
My brother had one of those, but that was back when gas was a dollar a gallon.
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Offline biersmythe

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #54 on: August 28, 2013, 11:23:51 PM »
My brother had one of those, but that was back when gas was a dollar a gallon.

so back in the late 80s early 90s?
Teach a man to build a fire, and he will be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life!!!!

Knowledge is half the battle.
The other half is violence!

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Thomas Jefferson

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Offline Chris_

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #55 on: August 28, 2013, 11:25:44 PM »
Early 90s.  Definitely handled like a luxury yacht.  "Handling" doesn't come close to it.

I think the brakes eventually failed and it was left to rot.  It wasn't worth fixing at the time.
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Offline DefiantSix

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #56 on: August 28, 2013, 11:56:02 PM »
That is not a car, that is a bloody boat!!

Boat hell! That is a full blown SHIP, young lady. I wasn't the damned driver, I was the helmsman. Get that honkin' nose turned into the wind, and I could conduct flight ops off the hood of that leviathan, and string arrester wires across the trunk for night traps.
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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #57 on: August 29, 2013, 12:23:19 AM »
1978-1979-1980-1981-1982-something-or-another Toyota 4x4. Six inch lift, on regular size wheels and tires.  I'm sure at one point in its life, it was a good vehicle, but those years had long since passed by the time I came into possession of this scrap heap.  This poor thing was cobbled together from at least three different  years of pickups.  I never got it registered in my name, because there was no way in hell it would pass a motor vehicle inspection.  Some highlights:

-Cab completely rotted out, so I jacked up the cab and stacked sawed-off railroad tie ends that I duck taped to the frame to make it look sort of even.  The top railroad tie end had to get progressively bigger, as the cab morphed around it, and would swallow the top tie, causing the driver's side of the cab to lose about two inches while traveling down the road.

-Dash cap almost completely eaten away by mice.  What wasn't ate had been pissed on.  I took it out, and was going to make something out of denim to make it look presentable.  Well, presentable for this thing, at least.

-That key you see in the ignition?  That was a Datsun key.  It was handier than a screwdriver.  The only downside was trying to fish your keys off the floor before they went under the seat, or fell through to the pavement.  

-Unbeknownst to me, the alternator that was installed when I purchased the truck was an AC Delco.  It died one day, which is when I noticed it was not bolted to the engine or frame with a single bolt, but held to the passenger frame rail with a very complicated series of ratchet straps that kept it close enough to the engine to keep a belt on it.

-When the AC Delco alternator died, I went to buy another alternator.  I was told an internally regulated alternator was almost $100, while an externally regulated alternator was $30.  "Give me the $30 one", I said, "I'll just wire in a push switch to charge the battery".  What a mistake that was.  

-Broken windshield, part way through ownership.  This happened when I high centered it on a dry pond bank (as seen below) at the back of my parent's land, trying to impress my girlfriend, who is now spousal unit.  

-Most of the seat guts were gone, so I had lots of duck tape and blankets to sit on.  The blankets came in handy, because there was no carpet (the carpet really was carpet, and I took it out, since it smelled like pee), and the door panels were rotted out and removed.  The heater worked, but you didn't want to turn it on.  More on that in a moment.  

-Gas pickup tube had broken off 3/4 of the way up, resulting in a total range of whatever you could get out of 1/4 of a tank.  Due to this odd tube arrangement, when making a long-banking right hand turn, the total range would drop to about 200 feet.  Restart involved coming to a complete stop, letting the gas settle, then starting the truck again, much to the chagrin of anyone stuck behind you.

-Too many electrical faults to even discuss.  Broken odometer (at 173000 miles).  

-Aisin carburetor.  I did the best I could with what I had.  It idled at about 2000 rpm and would die at anything below that.  There was no air cleaner when I bought it, and I never put one on.  

-At some point in time, the front end became slightly smooshed, resulting in the hood having a tendency to fly open at highway speeds.  The hood soon became tack welded shut, after my father witnessed my attempt one day at fixing the hood myself (which involved me slamming the hood shut, crawling up on top of the hood, and jumping up and down on the hood as hard as I could while yelling "There!  Now we're even!").

Probably the worst part about the whole truck was my fault though, when I switched the alternator over to an externally regulated unit.  I wired the charge circuit to the battery via a click switch that hung from the bottom of the dashboard.  It took me about two days to develop a profound respect for the task that an alternator regulator performs.  A typical drive to work for me at the time (about four or five miles) would have me clicking the alternator click switch on and off about 40 times.  It really was a huge chore.  Since the other gauges weren't really useful due to broken parts (such as fuel gauge that was only good for the first 1/4 tank), or sporadic in their readings (speedometer), most of my time driving consisted of me frantically darting my eyes between the road, a voltage gauge I wired in, and fumbling for the click switch that hung by its two wires under the dash.

The absolute worst possible time to drive was at night, in the rain, in the cold, while making a right-hand turn.  One had to juggle clicking the alternator on and off (I boiled the battery once by not being cautious enough with my charging clicker) while running the headlights, the wipers, the turn signal and the heater, while simultaneously trying to prevent complete and utter stall-out of the engine, from fuel starvation.  The heater truly became a luxury that I only treated myself to when company was with, such as the then girlfriend, now spousal unit.

I managed to scrounge up a few pictures.  I have one of the front end somewhere (no bumper- missing when I bought it), but can't find it tonight.  At one time, I did try to paint the truck with white paint and spray-on bedliner, with predictable results.  Behold:









If I can find more pictures, I might post them later.  All in all, it was the worst $600 I ever spent.  I traded it to my brother for a 1998 Gary Fisher Marlin bicycle, which I still have.  




  
« Last Edit: August 29, 2013, 12:26:19 AM by BattleHymn »

Offline Eupher

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #58 on: August 29, 2013, 10:47:07 AM »
BH, that story is DEFINITELY worth a BUNCH of h5's.

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Offline CG6468

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #59 on: August 29, 2013, 11:42:06 AM »
I really like the custom dashboard! Makes it easy to work on!  :-)
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Offline obumazombie

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #60 on: August 29, 2013, 11:50:46 AM »
That car must have inspired a writing muse to detail with wonderful prose.
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Offline biersmythe

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #61 on: August 29, 2013, 04:00:51 PM »
BattleHymn all I have to say is.....wow

You Win!!!!!

cant top that one.....i dont even think I have seen anything like that on the road....
Teach a man to build a fire, and he will be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life!!!!

Knowledge is half the battle.
The other half is violence!

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Thomas Jefferson

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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #62 on: August 29, 2013, 05:06:54 PM »
cant top that one.....i dont even think I have seen anything like that on the road....

If you do, steer clear.  I forgot a bunch of stuff that was wrong with it hat came to me today, like the shifter arm bushing being made of duck tape wrapped around the shift arm, or that the passenger wiper arm became stripped.  I'm glad those days are over.  

The vehicle I replaced the Toyota with was an experiment by my older brother- a 78 Datsun 280Z that had been turbocharged, after having all the fuel injection removed from the vehicle.  The plumbing from the turbo to the two barrel carb was just that: actual plumbing supplies.  The two barrel replaced an earlier attempt at using a flattop Hitachi SU style carb:  







The Z was marginally better than the Toyota, and at the very least reliable (and fast), so long as you didn't let the turbo backfire into the plumbing.  When that happened, the carburetor blew off from the rest of the plumbing, and the only thing that prevented it from falling off onto the road was the throttle cable that I always made sure stayed FIRMLY attached.  
« Last Edit: August 29, 2013, 05:33:35 PM by BattleHymn »

Offline biersmythe

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #63 on: August 29, 2013, 05:10:58 PM »
HOLY COW!!! bud you were much more daring than I...hehe I like the carb being held on by the throttle cable comment...
Teach a man to build a fire, and he will be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life!!!!

Knowledge is half the battle.
The other half is violence!

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Thomas Jefferson

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Offline CollectivismMustDie

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #64 on: January 07, 2014, 05:29:05 PM »
Worst car? Thats not even a contest.

1994 neon.

The ONLY car I have ever worked on that required the passenger side front tire to be removed, an engine mount removed, and the engine jacked up...

To put on an alternator belt.


It got to the point where it was worth more as scrap than as a car, so we took it to the scrap yard.

Seeing this latch on to its roof was the happiest experience I had with that car:



Honorable mention:

Anything ford.

I do all my own work where autos are concerned, and fords are just...backwards. Not as bad as dodge, but they're bad.

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Offline Purple Sage

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #65 on: January 07, 2014, 06:32:45 PM »
Battlehymn, your spousal unit is a keeper.  LOL
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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #66 on: January 07, 2014, 08:21:52 PM »
Battlehymn, your spousal unit is a keeper.  LOL

Thanks.  I would tell her you said that, but she'd ask what brought it up, and so I would tell her.  Then, I'm sure some form of beating would be in order for me because I reminded her of her bad memories.  :-)

Offline biersmythe

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #67 on: January 07, 2014, 08:55:57 PM »
 :rotf:
Teach a man to build a fire, and he will be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life!!!!

Knowledge is half the battle.
The other half is violence!

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Thomas Jefferson

The box said: "Requires Windows XP or better." So i installed Linux.

Offline Chris_

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #68 on: January 07, 2014, 09:13:32 PM »
If you do, steer clear.  I forgot a bunch of stuff that was wrong with it hat came to me today, like the shifter arm bushing being made of duck tape wrapped around the shift arm, or that the passenger wiper arm became stripped.  I'm glad those days are over.  

The vehicle I replaced the Toyota with was an experiment by my older brother- a 78 Datsun 280Z that had been turbocharged, after having all the fuel injection removed from the vehicle.  The plumbing from the turbo to the two barrel carb was just that: actual plumbing supplies.  The two barrel replaced an earlier attempt at using a flattop Hitachi SU style carb:  

The Z was marginally better than the Toyota, and at the very least reliable (and fast), so long as you didn't let the turbo backfire into the plumbing.  When that happened, the carburetor blew off from the rest of the plumbing, and the only thing that prevented it from falling off onto the road was the throttle cable that I always made sure stayed FIRMLY attached.  
What, no blowoff valve? :rofl:
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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #69 on: January 07, 2014, 09:42:27 PM »
What, no blowoff valve? :rofl:

The blowoff valve on a zx is on the intake manifold, so, nope.  :p

Offline Chris_

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #70 on: January 07, 2014, 09:43:15 PM »
I figured there was something in the plumbing department at Home Depot that could have been used.
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Offline rustybayonet

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #71 on: February 25, 2014, 07:39:59 AM »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA0Pg2Qnju8&feature=player_detailpage

Lies - all LIES  It wasn't mine - My dad got one and guess who got to drive it most of the time - yep ME.

Straight stick, 6 cylinder.  Transmission didn't make it home the night we bought it - replacement still didn't get us home 4 days later.  After next replacement trans stuck in 2nd and only way to make it into 3rd you had to call a weight lifter to shift the damn thing, so another replacement. Finally got a trans that worked - three days later engine overheated and caught fire, so yep new engine.  After that it was almost a car- except for the rust - boy the color of nature as seen through holes made by rust, and the seat covers that disappeared really brought out the best looking foam you ever saw.  Where paint didn't dissappear from rust, it peeled off in chunks leaving the prettiest metal and rust camouflage you can imagine.  But on the bright side - our high school auto shop had a specimen for learning -- [how not to built cars].  The happiest day of my life - when dad donated it to the junk yard - but it probably gave them a bad name cause they went out of business less than a year later.

Damn look what I just found - think it might be 'it's' twin --- :yahoo:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YM_A-5jGbHw
« Last Edit: February 25, 2014, 07:43:22 AM by rustybayonet »
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Offline obumazombie

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #72 on: February 25, 2014, 09:41:21 AM »
Another belvedere owner gets beat up...by his belvedere...

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrl14wI6orM[/youtube]


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Offline Wineslob

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #73 on: February 25, 2014, 02:31:05 PM »
Quote
The blowoff valve on a zx is on the intake manifold, so, nope.


Isn't that how it works.......? :whistling:
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Offline Dacabeti

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Re: Worst car you ever drove
« Reply #74 on: March 31, 2014, 02:34:56 PM »
Triumph TR250 hands down.

Had a straight 6 with 6 1 barrel carburetors. Every Thursday I would tune the carburetors to get them working together. By Monday the car would start to backfire, on Wednesday it would not start. I hated the car. in 88 I was made an offer on the car so I jumped at it. I used the down payment for a Ducati 851 Desmo. I was 19 and a Paratrooper in the Army. Pretty much bulletproof.
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