How Did Your Last Vehicle Die?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

My trusty 1982 Volvo 244 DL simply died of old age. The engine was still strong as a horse (or three) but the entire car surrounding it was literally falling apart. The transmission, master cylinder and driver’s seat were all in a shambles. Replacing the automatic transmission alone would have cost more than I paid for the entire car. The combined expense of replacing the driver’s seat and master cylinder would have equaled it again.

It was sorrowfully donated to the local Abused Women’s Shelter late last year. [sniff] My 1988 740 turbo four door is twice the car, but I’m sure its engine will be no match for the old DL.

How did your last transportation kick the proverbial bucket?

#2

Does destroying your vehicle count? If so, I was going through a yellow signal (really, it was yellow) about 5 years ago, wondering why all the other cars were stopping. It became evident a couple of seconds later that they were stopping for the ambulance with siren/lights on coming from the left. I slammed into the ambulance, my Volvo collapsed in the front - I escaped with a minor scrape from the airbag.
I jumped out of the car without putting the brake on, and it rolled down the street and hit other cars. Yes, the ambulance was carrying a patient, and to add insult to injury, my husband is a paramedic/firefighter and showed up a few minutes later.

#3

Fortunately, the piece of shit 305 in my El Camino hasn’t died yet, because I haven’t found a 350 to replace it yet. :wink:

#4

The last car we had that died, died, was my bride’s 84 vanagon. I was driving into Portland for work when It shuddered and started belching out oily black smoke. Not just a little, but smoke that obscured a 4 lane highway to where people were slowing down and turning on their lights. I coasted to a stop and restarted the engine it ran very roughly, the whole car was shaking, and it was just pumping out the same smoke. I was really amazed that it could produce soooo much smoke. So i shut it off locked it up and watched the cloud drift off and started to hitchhike. A car going the other way flipped a u- turn and a really cute girl pulls up next to me. I’m thinking " Oh Yeah, I’ve still got it going on", and one of my wifes coworkers hopps out says “Gary do you need a ride?” Big build up big let down. I went to work, had the car towed to The Fix-Um-Haus and I called the next day just to have him tell me that I really needed to get a new car.

#5

telephone pole. Tends to kill cars quite effectively. snapped the front axle, smashed up the front, airbags went off, windshield shattered, and I walked away with bruises. I loved that car too.
-Lil

#6

1986 Plymouth Colt Vista hilariously disintegrated right before my very eyes. I watched the small patches of rust grow larger and larger. I fixed a hole in the floor that I could put a size 11 boot through, and began to wonder about the physical properties of Bondo in a front-end collision.
One day I found my trusty minivanlet had bled transmission fliud all over the parking lot at work. The guy at the garage put the dislocated axle back in place, and gave it back to me with a message on the receipt “CORNER SLOWLY”. I thought perhaps it was time to trade old Colty in.

#7

My last car died from exposure to a female!!

It was a great little Mitsubishi pajero, V6, midnight blue, bullbar and all the fruit. A little “go anywhere 4WD fun machine”.

How did it happen?
I went on a weekend away to a little place north of Broome, Western Australia, with a good friend who i was hoping would become a much better friend. We stayed at a very nice place, fantastic view over a lagoon with the setting sun over the ocean etc.We had a nice feed and a midnight swim. Left to go home the next day, my friend said she would drive if i was a bit tired, fine by me.

The road home was 110 kms of corrugated dirt road but we got there the day before without an incident. We didn’t get home incident free though. A perfectly executed two and quarter turn barrel roll saw to that.

My friend just lost control around a corner. The car got a bit sideways and we hit the soft shoulder, side on, doing about 90 km/h and away we went. 2 1/4 turns later every panel on the car was dented, the rear diff was no longer attached to the car but was resting about 30 metres further down the road. Every window was smashed, none of the doors would open, the chasis was bent like a banana and the roof was caved in to the level of the headrests on the passenger side (my side). I was half flung out through the windscreen (always always ALWAYS wear seatbelts!!!) and my friend smashed the drivers side window with her head!

The worst part was after we stopped rolling. I had to get back in the car to get out because my seatbelt was still on (only my head and torso went through the windscreen) and i had to release my friend from her seatbelt, as she was suspended from it due to the car being on its side. I was just in an accident, i wasn’t thinking straight, i pressed the release button on her seatbelt and…WHUMP!!..she landed fair on top of me! Knocked the wind right out of my sails, adding insult to injury… but only minor injury.

We ended up getting out the hole that I’d made in the windscreen (lucky i did that eh?) and then laughed like two people that had just looked death in the face and called him a pussy! Both of us walked away with only scratches, a few bruises and a sore head. Then we watched as the car that was about five minutes behind us drove straight on by without stopping (may the fleas of a thousand camels infest their nether regions!!). Some people stopped to help us a couple of minutes after that, gave us a lift back to broome and the rest is an insurance claim.

I’ve got a shiny new 4wd now that my GF (different girl to the above story) wouldn’t drive if i paid her to, courtesy of Mr. insurance.

#8

Wasn’t my last car, but it’s the best story:

Abandoned it in downtown Athens, Georgia. Never went back. When they finally found me to collect their $142 worth of parking tickets, I said, “How about you keep the car and we call it even?” They were cool with that.

#9

I have owned 2 cars and 1 truck in my life. All three are still on the road. The first car I owned got to nickel-and-diming me stage, so I sold it to someone who had the tools, space, and inclination to work on it. It’s still on the road and running fine at the venerable age of 15. The present owner is considering using it for his teenagers first car - not sure how well it will survive that.

The other two vehicles are 5 and 2. I expect/hope to keep them going for a long time, too. (And avoid accidents)

#10

My Mitsubishi Mirage died by the hands of a little old woman who couldn’t see over her own steering wheel.

#11

Seven
Mum says she’s sorry

#12

Smushed in front end, just over a year ago. When another car jumped out into the intersection, making an illegal and totally unexpected left turn in front of me, my little Saturn gave its life so that I might walk away from the crash with only minor bruises.

#13

I noticed it was dripping water a day after a rainstorm, then I noticed it was still dripping 2, 3, 4 days after a rainstorm. So I went out and it wasn’t rain, it was gas. It started leaking gas from the gas tank, and gas from the gas line. I thought it best to get a new one.

It was an '88 Honda civic, died 2 years ago, so it lasted 13 years in Wisconsin winters without a garage. I did get $1000 on trade-in though.

It was scary driving that thing to the dealer, I made sure I was always moving, didn’t want to idle with a leaking gas tank. Kinda dumb to be driving it at all.

#14

Smashed to hell. Long (rather funny) story short…4:00 AM very drunk driver comes flying down the street at about 45 MPH. He swereves back and forth. At one poing he cocks the wheel to the right ans smashes into the rear driver side quarter panel (one way street, parked on right side), my rear wheel is now perpendicular to the curb. As he does this he pushes my car into the car infront of it, whose owner was a friend of mine. Anyways, after he hits my car his car bounces off of it, but he still has the wheel cocked to the right, so he smashed into the car in front of mine. He ended up totaling BOTH cars. Both of us were sound asleep when this happened. We know EXACTLY what happened because about 1/8 of a block before it happened he passed an officer with flashing lights on, standing outside of his car wrighting parking tickets.

#15

'82 Ford lazer. Last year I went away in my elderly Lazer. It told me it was hot. I gave it water. It told me it was hot. I gave it water again etc etc etc .
Finaly it decided to let me know that the frigging great big hole in the hose going to the radiator would never be satisfied and the engine decided to steam itself to death on the side of the road 2 hours from home.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh memories

#16

Car before this didn’t so much die as just not have any air conditioning in the middle of Texas summer. To get it installed would have cost as much as the car did originally, almost, so I traded in my beloved Mirage for a brand new Ford Focus.

It was not, as I recall, an even trade. :smiley:

The last car that actually died I broke. My own fault. I came too fast off the highway offramp and plunged straight into a tow truck that had decided to stop right in the middle of the intersection. I thought it was moving…

crunch

My dearly-missed Bronco II was effectively totaled. She never recovered.

#17

Last I heard, my old '90 Ford Festiva was still on the road.

#18

'92 Buick Skylark affectionately named ‘Bucky’, died from complications due to rat infestation and a transmission that was terminal anyway.

The apt we lived in prior to buying the house was infested with rats, which in turn found Bucky’s engine to be a fine place to live. They turned the hoses and wires into swiss cheese and played around with the transmission. Shortly before moving into the house, MetalGuy and I pushed Bucky 3/4th of a mile down the road BACK to our apt (with the help of a nice lady in a van who also loaned us $200 bucks for repairs…thanks whoever you are!) and decided to fix him up one last time. He lasted for a little more than a year before we sold him off and picked up Luna, my sporty little '02 Dodge Neon who is ultra cute despite being a bit banged up from a few parking lot encounters.

MetalMaven

#19

I trade in every three years. Let somebody else kill 'em.

#20

Don’t those Alaskan winters sort of do that for you as it is?