SA Footy

As the title suggests, what is the worst car you have ever owned?

For me it was a 1990 Magna (the orginal shaped Magna)

It was a nice enough car to drive, yet in the Nine months that I had it the head cracked twice and the clutch burnt out, then the electrics Sh*t themselves, the end result was $120 being placed in my hand from a place place advertising that they take unwanted cars away! I figured I did well to cut my losses!

So what is your horror story?

1997 Holden Vectra. In 18 months I spent almost $3,000 on repairs. Managed to get $1,000 more than I paid for it so it wasn't a complete loss but it still sh!ts me that I bought it.

1992 Maserati biturbo 222E.

The b|**0/ thing spent 25% of the time I owned it off the road waiting for parts. It was a brilliant car to drive the rest of the time, but you just couldn't trust it. The, printed on plastic strip, circuits connecting the touch controls for the air conditioning cracked up in the Adelaide heat, the coolant hoses bifurcated as they went over the exhaust manifold, got hot and hard and split, and every time you hit a speed hump a bit fast you wiped out the air pressure sensor and the fuel injection system stopped - it didn't even default to running at standard sea level settings!

I vowed to never buy another Italian car again, and traded it on as soon as I could negotiate a good deal for another make.
An acquaintance over here has a current model. He tells me they haven't changed much.

Second worst car, again primarily for poor reliability, a Datsun 2000 Fair Lady soft top I'd bought second hand years earlier - about a 1968 model I think.

I've done better sticking to German stuff since.

PS: My first car - an old FJ was better than either of these.

a ford cortina i bought from a mate ... reversed out of his drive way and cleaned up his letter box.... lol

dinglinga wrote:a ford cortina i bought from a mate ... reversed out of his drive way and cleaned up his letter box.... lol

.............and that's the cars fault ?

datsun 200b heap of s...

92 hyundai lantra

In 1999 I needed a cheap car, went to a car yard and bought a 1979 4.2l HZ Holden. I drove it off the yard, two yards down I stopped to get petrol, filled it up and it wouldn't start.

I went back to the caryard who joked that it had a 'concrete warranty' (you drive it off our concrete, that voids the warranty), but they did the right thing and came down to try and fix it. They couldn't but by christ they bashed the crap out of the starter motor.

We called the NRMA and he said that the ignition was buggered.

The NRMA said to me that I could get it fixed for about 160 bucks, which I didn't have, or I could have a workaround (which I'm all for in comparison to 160 bucks):

[list=]put the car in park (difficult when the park 'stick' was broken on the column auto)
put the hand brake on
lift the bonnet (pair of pliars required to pull the bonnet lever)
grab the lead that the NRMA left under the bonnet of the car (bypassing the ignition) and touch the leads on the battery.[/list]

Presto, instant start! This routine became a good joke after a while.... "watch gadj start the car" and people would gather around laughing at me.

But the NRMA warned me, DO NOT forget to put the car in park, otherwise it will run over you. They had a case weeks before me where a guy's HZ ran over him - cos of course when the car is started, it bypasses the ignition (not realising it's in park) so it just 'goes'! As it was, I almost got run over once when I forgot. Thankfully I was in a car park which had permapine logs on the ground.

This car got stolen from my front yard in Canberra.

My second worst car was my first car, 1973 LJ Torana. The only real bad aspect of it was that the door locks went on it at the same time, so I had to drive around with octopus straps across me, and hooking onto the arm rests otherwise the doors would fly open!

Total paid for the two cars was less than 1500 so I shouldn't complain.

My worst car was an 86 TM Magna.

In front of it's time when new, but cheap electronic parts were the downfall.

Fabulous car until the Electronic Trans pooped itself.

The place that tried to fix it were robbers.

I decided to cut my losses and get a commodore.

A Mitsubishi never again.

I've owned a lot of cars, most have been reliable the worst would I actually owned was a 1962 Fiat 500, terrible electrics, broken drive shafts etc. I have generally found early Fords and Holdens very reliable, terrible self destructing body work and poor quality control, but bullet proof mechanicals.

My father always liked pommie cars, some notables, he bought in the 60s 70s and 80s:

1962 Humber Super Snipe - don't ever tow anything with one of these, the diff will sh*t itself
1968 Austin 1800 Mk11 - good concept let down by a lack of quality, very unreliable
1971 Jaguar XJ6 - looked like it had been put together by a blind man terribly quality control
Early 1980s Rover 3500 V8 with "Lucarse" fuel injection. Like rolling a dice whether that bastard would start!! But you got to luxuriate in fine English leather and walnut veneer whilst waiting for the RAA

My old man had a 95 Landcruiser. Paid about 54k for it through work. The dash was replaced after 6 months because it warped. The engine was replaced after less than 30,000ks even though it was a diesel. In the last 18 months he spent $19000 on it trying to keep it on the road. he was told that he needed to spend another 2 to 3k to get it 'roadworthy' and I finally convinced him to get rid of it.

He's had a heap of lemons. A welded together WB Statesman, a Mini that caught fire in our driveway. An 85 Magna that the guts fell out of in our driveway (as stated by other posters above - they just fell apart for no apparent reason). The list could go on and on.

I had an old VW Polo. Got it in the 80's. It leaked so bad I had to drill holes in the passenger side footwell so the water could drain out. Once the bulkhead bolts sheared and the engine nearly fell through the bottom. It hit the exhaust breaking it in two. Unfortunately I was driving it at the time so I had to lever the engine back up using the gear stick and drove it home in 2nd. Eventually the the pistons lost compression when I was driving on the motorway.

I got it home, and a mate and me went to the scrapyard and bought a 1200 VW Sirocco engine and fitted that it. Worked a treat (for a while )

Easy.. my first car, 1983 Nissan Bluebird from Hell. It was posessed (no..really, it was!)

This was a car that would cut out at any given point in time without warning, ie: I could never drive in the right hand lane for fear I could cause a traffic jam). It was thought that there was a problem with the fuel line somewhere, however no-one could ever find it.

example of being posessed: One night, I reversed out of the driveway to go to work, I put it in 1st gear - then nothing. Cut out completely, no lights, no radio, no nothing. Wouldn't start - wouldn't even attempt to turn over. My car was stuck in the middle of McPherson St (in Horsham) and I had to move it before the semi's came hurtling down the street. So I went and annoyed the neighbour, who came out, got in the car....and it started first time for him..

It did the same thing right on the border too. My car was literally half in SA and half in VIC.

It too was stolen... on Mothers Day 1999. Stupid theives, they didn't get to far with it anyway, found at Beckman Ave, Highbury down the creek at the reserve there with a busted Chassis..

EA Falcon ... Actually loved the car, but everything went on it ... The Head, the aircon, had to replace 7 electric windows etc, radiator, hoses, you name it - was a moneypit for sure.

One of the younger fellas at my place of employment came to me and said

Can you help me, I can't seem to get my car started...?

Dashed home and got my jump starter.

Started the EH (1962 Holden) but it kept stalling..?

I got in (being the oldest)and a group of the guys push started me..

Bloody hell, the floor was worn out so much I could see the road through the floor....

Don't worry Mr_Dog_ger, it lets the water out.....

mick wrote:My father always liked pommie cars, some notables, he bought in the 60s 70s and 80s:

1962 Humber Super Snipe - don't ever tow anything with one of these, the diff will sh*t itself

I have to confess that 1960's British Cars are one of my passions and I also confess that I would be very much stoked to add any model of Humber to my collection!

The Ford Mk 1&2 Zephyr is one of my favourites along with the same model Zodiac, yet I have to admit that I do have a soft spot for the old Humber!

This thread begins and ends with this lemon, the 1974 Bowen Lockwood....



regards,

REB

1985 TM Magna Elite.$5000

Roof liners were shizen, had to replace it as fell down.$3500
Starter motor, alternator, numerous batteries
Auto Transmission was shizen. $1000
Electric window problems
Ended up selling for $200 with a blown head gasket!! (had for 4 years)

Rik E Boy wrote:This thread begins and ends with this lemon, the 1974 Bowen Lockwood....



regards,

REB

Bowen Lockwood . Wasnt he a circa 1978 Port Power "lemon".

Mind was a Gemini, put me off Holden's forever.
The worst care Ive been in though was my old man's Hillman Hunter. An absolute shocker!