I owned a 1959 Renault Dauphine, because my father refused to sign for anything else. That particular car appears on many of the “ten worst cars ever” lists. The best thing about it was that it was a rear engine design; the front luggage compartment made a terrific ice chest. The thing was in great demand for high school beer parties. The rear engine compartment featured the radiator filler cap being located within a couple of inches of the gasoline filler cap, neither of which was very well identified.
I also owned a 1978 Honda Accord—also on many of the “ten worst cars ever” lists. The engine in this thing was noted for early failure of the piston rings due to excessive carbonization of the combustion chambers, caused by one of the most poorly designed exhaust systems ever. The body of this thing would rust while you were looking at it; washing this car was a major mistake. IIRC, the crankshaft journals were allowed to differ significantly in size; one could not buy a set of rod bearings–each journal had the potential of requiring a unique bearing. Lots of interesting little design flaws in this car.
A 1960 Rambler Super. God help me, it was pink. Needless to say, not only did I not get laid in high school, I didn’t even have a date. This thing was a laughing stock, even to people with Corvairs. The only advantage to this POS was that when others were stuck in the snow, I was still movin’ thanks to the posi-trac rear end.
I had a couple of other clunkers, including an 80s vintage Mercedes 240D and a Fiat Panda that were pretty bad, but nothing ever came close to that pink nightmare.
Actually, I can’t really say I’ve had a ‘worst car’.
My first MGB listed to the left when I got it and I never got new springs. Wasn’t too bad, except that the muffler would drag on particularly high speed bumps. The second MGB occasionally had electrical problems, but they were minor and quickly fixed. The third MGB was fine. The Porsche 924 smelled of gas when I topped off the tank. Never did find a leak. And the wiper switch was faulty, so I had to pull the fuse. Both CJ2As did what they were supposed to do, but they were too slow to use regularly. The Chevy Sprint was great, except on long steep hills. The Porsche 911SC never gave me troubles. My Cherokee was my first new car. Can’t really fault it. The Triumph Herald has a vacuum leak that causes peoblems sometimes, but generally it runs very well. Anyway, I haven’t started restoration on it yet. The latest MGB is still in restoration, but when it’s done it will be like new.
So there have been minor problems that can be expected on old cars. But I’ve never actually had a POS.
The 1980 AMC Eagle I drove in high school. We called it “The Cockroach” because it was big, brown, dirty, ugly, and no matter what happened to it, it refused to die. It was a horrible car; everything went wrong with it. I remember the belts squealing LOUDLY whenever I’d go from a stop to any kind of forward motion; the tape deck stopped working in mid-song; the radio died soon after; the radiator vomitted all over a friend’s driveway (with LOUD wrench-thrown-under-the-hood sounds); I don’t even remember what else.
Worse was the 1974 Chevy Impala my father surprised me with my senior year in college (1994, for reference). I needed a car to drive for my senior internship but had no cash; I assumed I’d just be using my mom’s Volkswagon Rabbit. (My folks owned 4 cars at the time!) Dad instead bought the Behemoth because he saw Big Car = Safe Daughter. It turned into a Big Mess.
During its few months with me:
The a/c system was completely replaced
The brakes were replaced
Within 3 months at college: the engine cracked a gasket head, sending steam spewing in large clouds out the tailpipe (I wound up hitching rides from friends or borrowing another of my parents’ cars to get to my intership for months while dad labored over the engine)
The carburator was replaced
The radiator was replaced
The battery was replaced
The starter was replaced
The air filter was replaced
And most fun: driving it on the freeway a few months after graduating (and once Dad had fixed the engine), I heard these horrible BANG BANG BANG sounds. The entire engine fan had broken loose from the engine and was bouncing around the compartment. :eek: I’m lucky I stopped when I did, or those blades would have chopped up my new radiator. So…the entire fan clutch and assembly was replaced.
My Dad felt terrible that the car turned into such an expensive lemon, and I felt terrible because I felt I couldn’t complain–crap that it was, they STILL had bought me a car. We finally gave up the ghost–Dad sold the car, and I matched the funds he received for it. We went car shopping together and I came home with an '89 Honda Civic hatchback that I loved. A much happier ending!
I bought it right out of school, when my 1974 Dodge Dart didn’t pass inspection – the only loan I’ve ever taken out for anything. A basic compact like the Dodge Omni, it was dressed up a little to look sporty (hey, I was young).
In the first week, the air conditioner died and the glove box door fell off. A few weeks later, the speedometer cable started making a loud noise, and the dealership tried to charge me $100 for fixing it, claiming that the ‘bumper-to-bumper’ warranty didn’t cover it. Come to think of it, the dealers were a big part of the problem, but I’m sure they were facing a Sisphusian task fixing those lemons.
From the beginning, it had a nasty tendency to stall when cold, which I dealt with by avoiding sharp turns for the first few minutes. The stalling gradually got worse, and the dealerships couldn’t do anything about it. (A shade tree mechanic back in my hometown in West Virginia was able to reduce it somewhat).
Keep in mind this was a new car.
The struts were shot in less than 20,000 miles (none off of paved roads), and the catalytic converter soon after (thankfully, the law required it to be replaced free).
I now drive a Subaru, and whenever someone questions my patriotism, they get this story.