Worst car you ever owned....

[Mikey]

What's the worst car you are embarrassed to say you ever owned?  Mine was a 1974 Chevrolet Vega hatchback.  It got about 30 miles to the quart of oil.....  Here's a google image:

[Desertponder]

Probably a Datsun GSX that I bought right before DH and I were married. What a piece of junk that thing was. 
I could get out and push it faster than it would drive on its own down the road.
Traded it in soon after DH and I got married.
Next in line would probably be a Ford Escort that I had. It was always breaking down even though it was new.

[marla]

The first new car (dealer's model) I bought, a Plymoth Fury Sport......it was a horrible starter in the cold, I would have to take off the cover of the air filter and place the bow of my sunglasses in the butterfly valve to hold it open and then go turn it on, the only way to get it started.  Ran good in the warm weather.

[PondmaninAL]

Mine was an '84 Ford Escort. It was a four speed. I think I had to replace head gaskets and CV joints ever so many miles.

[landey1230]

1982 Grand Prix Brougham.  I bought it for $700 from my cousin.  Worst investment ever.  Windows wouldn't roll up.  It would always overheat.  Chicks didn't dig it.  :'(

[karen J]

1976 Mercury Bobcat. Ugggh.

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[Brian]

Recently I bought a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GT that turned out to be a "Grand Prix-ce of Crap" as I ended up calling it.  I think the Grand Prixs are a great car, just this one was bad.  I test drove it and everything, but my mistake was not taking it to a mechanic first to have it checked out.  The test drive didn't turn up any major issues, but turns out the car had major transmission issues when it got hot, the key wouldn't come out of the ignition half the time and the longer I owned it, the worst the cigarette smell got...hardly noticed it during the test drive.  Anyway, owned it for a month and a half, and sent it to auction and got rid of it at a $1300 loss.  Still paying on it too.   

Mikey, my friend had a car once that used a lot of oil like yours did...I told him that essentially he had a 2 cycle engine!!!

[Joyce]

Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.    
(When purchased, this was my DH choice, not mine. 
I wanted the Chrysler Cirrus in a nice pale moss green with tan leather interior, but it was $500 more than the deathtrap Cutlass, and that $500 my DH would not pay cuz he's a butthead)
A year after we bought it, the airbag deployed FOR NO REASON while I was driving, my 4 year old daughter in the car,
and my best friend Rebecca. We were on an 8 lane highway passing under the main gate of Camp Lejeune, USMC.
It was lunchtime rush hour, and we were going about 55-60mph. Then KA-BANGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG...
I was stunned, head whipped to one side because I was turned toward Rebecca discussing where we were going to lunch.
The car was instantly filled with acrid jet fuel fumes (jet fuel was used in ths particular airbag), some kind of powder that is packed into the airbag.
My mouth was bleeding, my left eye was bleeding, the nose was bleeding, my left earring was implanted into my skull behind my ear.
The airbag impact blew the center console into Jamie's lap, but she was OK.
Somehow I made it to the side of the road without hitting another car even though I was blinded and in the far left lane when it happened.
Jamie was shrieking, which I could barely hear above the whining and ringing noises that my ears were making because of the loud bang of the airbags deploying.

Found out when all was said and done, I had torn ligaments in my neck, and a fractured wing on one of my vertebrae in my neck (and 2 'possible' fractured vertebra on either side of that one), and a resulting condition called Cervical Spondylosis.
This CS condition will slowly deteriorate over time, and I will need several operations as I get older to remove calcifications that are building up between the damaged neck vertebrae.
Also found out there was a recall on my car because of defective airbags...and that I should have been called, notified in some way about 6 months before this happened.
So we sued, and I got a settlement. Does not hardly cover anything that I had to go through, because the car companies are such evil bullies.
They even made me sign a gag order. I finally just gave in because I needed a new car, a new life, and to just put it all behind me and be thankful we survived. 

[Jerry]

I think Joyce had the worst so far.  Horrible!

[Julles]

My first car was a '68 Volkswagon Squareback station wagon, manual transmission, bought used in the mid-to-late '70's, which I loved to pieces.  But it wasn't such a hot car, especially after the ex BF put dirt in the oil tank.

When I went to sell it back to the dealer, it ran so poorly and was so cantancerous to start up, that I left it running while I went inside to see if they would buy it.  They said, "yes," and I gave them the keys, took my money, and walked away, with the wagon still idling in the parking lot.

But by far the worst was a company car that I drove when I worked for the funeral home.  It was a black Lincoln Town Car, and had been worn just about completely OUT.  Drove poorly and broke down a lot.  Even though they had their own garage and team of mechanics, they also didn't do much in the way of upkeep or repairs, even though I asked repetedly.

They expected me to travel back and forth across Texas and Louisiana in it.  No A/C, the headliner was loose and sagged down around my head like a shroud, the brakes were so bad that I once rear-ended a gal on the highway.  And the final last draw was when I was driving to see my boss, and the car literally caught on fire... Flames and smoke were shooting from under the hood! 

[Jerry]

looks like a tie Julles!  just awful. :'(

[LeeAnne151]

It was a four speed Ford Escort.
I can't remember what year, one in the 1980's. It was a real POS. 

[CoolShades]

Okay who remebers the mighty Hillman, I had a 1968 model with a hatchback.  One of those British Leyland cars that either leaked, smoked or just plain would give out for no apparent reason.  It wasn't even fun to drive unlike my other BL cars such as the Stagg or TR-6.  Back when I was growing up as a teen, paying $0.25 for a gallon of gas we use to go to a small mall called Dadeland since it had a new thing called air conditioning (in Miami it use to be considered a luxury back then!!!).   Unfortunately, I can remember multiple instances breaking down in the middle of nowhere on the Palmetto expressway (go there today and I think they have started building homes on top of each other).  However, one time stands out in my mind.  So as I said the car virtually stopped running so I had to go make a call and saw some houses on the opposite side of what appeared to be a drainage ditch.  Being a nimble teen I hoped the fence in a single bound and landed on something solid, but I kept moving forward 10 or 15 yards.  As I turned back I saw a gator bigger than me (probably a 6-8 footer) hissing with his mouth wide open, needless to say I was grateful for my blazing speed as I never looked back.  After I made the call for someone to get me I went home to clean up and change my shorts.  I guess the moral of the story is look before you leap.

[MikeW]

LOL Gary - although not funny at the time I'm sure.

Chrysler South Africa in the early 70's was selling a Hillman Vogue. An American chassis,  British coachwork, and a French engine. A friend of mines' mother had one, which we borrowed for a 10 day jaunt around Rhodesia and Botswana, with a hapless Aussie tourist in tow. One comment, as things were falling off was "Why don't screws ever shake themselves tighter?"

The main 'highway' through Botswana at the time was a dirt / sand track that was graded annually by a tractor pulling a piece of tree behind it. The Hillman never stood a chance. After three hours, the shocks were gone, and we were dragging the tailpipe. A passing truck, filled with amused villagers, flagged us over and kind of bound the whole thing together for us with pieces of wire, so we could at least limp back to the South African border and paved roads.

Your hatchback Gary - was it the Hillman Imp?

Cheers,
Mike

[Mikey]

An American chassis,  British coachwork, and a French engine.

LOL, what a combination

[CoolShades]

Hey MikeW:

Yeap you are correct, but I like your description and I have always wondered about screw and bolts too.  Does this mean we should use left handed screws? I learned as a teen I could fix most things wih a hammer, screw driver and duct tape.

[reddad35]

An American chassis,  British coachwork, and a French engine.

Strong chassis, soft seats and an engine that will quit at the first sign of trouble.