Cars You Have Owned That Were Crap But You Loved/Missed?

[HowardD]

In 2001, I treated myself to a Lotus Carlton J909 BAR. It was one only a few hundred RHD LC's. It was ten years old and was the worst, least reliable car I've ever owned.

It was furiously quick, for such a heavy car - but then it did have a twin turbo, 3.6l lump.

In the following 12 months it went through 3 clutches, and new brake discs all round.

The problems was Vauxhall who did not maintain an adequate supply chain of basic parts.

Each clutch was 1500 pound, and the discs cost 2200 to replace - and took 9 weeks to be manufactured. It was an awful feeling wondering what would break next and where i'd be when it happened.

It all ended in 2003, when it was hit by a lorry, and written off by the Insurer company, who paid the agreed insured value (as a classic car!).

I once had it rolling road tested by a firm in Uxbridge called Power Engineering (I dont know if they even still exist). They strapped it down, four big lads sat in the car, and 2 on the bootlid - and they still had to do 3 runs before it would stop wheel spinning at 170mph!

I kept expecting to hear it go bang!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHbAu9uaqKk This video is a bit of an urban legend, it's a police car camera where they're chasing an LC.

 

[nickcc101]

E type jag, rust bucket with leaking fuel tank due to water ingress from rear door seals. Rubbish brakes, twin master cylinders and unable to buy replacements (1968). Handbrake u/s as oil leaked from diff seals onto inboard discs. Wish i still owned it instead of selling for £350 in 1970.

 

[Barbanasos]

Renault 5 GT Turbo when I was 19 at university. Spent a fortune not only on repairs but on insurance well. Kept it 4 years, 3 running and 1 in my back garden (as I loved it to much to sell). Tuned to realistic 170bhp drove twice to greece in it, once breaking down from blown gasket in france and staying in Basel for 1 week until the Renault dealsership got it repaired (expensive but the only place).

I have many stories from it, and plenty of smiles having wasted plenty of Punto GTs in Greece and in england Vauxhall Nova 2.0 gsis, RS turbos, 205 GTis 1.9.

Best hot hatch ever and outstanding engine layout for turbo performance, including at the time a fan to cool the carb and fuel pipes. I will get another one, one day.

 

[Howard]

Are there any left ?

Not seen one for over a year , thought they had all rusted away / been wrecked / fallen apart ?

 

[gaz_l]

When I was 18 I bought a 1967 step-front Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT Veloce, which I have to admit was a bit of a shed. I had neither the money nor the skills to do any kind of decent restoration of the car in those days, and consequently it got sold on.

Fast forward to the present day, where a 25 year career in engineering have a) lined my pockets to a reasonable degree and b) built up a long list of contacts who can make or repair practically anything, I'd love to have that car back now. Good ones sell for mega money nowadays, but I'd just put it back to as new, park it in the garage, and drive it on sunny days. Sigh.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[timk]

Fiesta 1.25 Zetec - looked like a trout that had swallowed a lemon and smelled a very bad smell, but on skinny 13" inch tyres boy did it love to be chucked about and thrashed, one of the best handling cars I've ever had. Stuck a Becker stereo in it that was worth more than the car and I thought it was the complete package, in 1999...

Boxster 2.5 - slower than a glacier but enormous feeling of engineering excellence and smug satisfaction in the way it steered, handled and stopped. I found the big downside of Coxster ownership to be the abuse other road users seem intent on giving you - van drivers gobbing in through an open roof, hand gestures, tailgating etc etc Didn't stop me buying a 3.2 a few years later though..great cars but massive image problem sadly.

 

[camerafodder]

Are there any left ?

Not seen one for over a year , thought they had all rusted away / been wrecked / fallen apart ?

Amazingly I've just started noticing one here that I think lives in a neighbouring village.

 

[ringway]

Renault 5 GT Turbo when I was 19 at university. Spent a fortune not only on repairs but on insurance well. Kept it 4 years, 3 running and 1 in my back garden (as I loved it to much to sell). Tuned to realistic 170bhp drove twice to greece in it, once breaking down from blown gasket in france and staying in Basel for 1 week until the Renault dealsership got it repaired (expensive but the only place).

I have many stories from it, and plenty of smiles having wasted plenty of Punto GTs in Greece and in england Vauxhall Nova 2.0 gsis, RS turbos, 205 GTis 1.9.

Best hot hatch ever and outstanding engine layout for turbo performance, including at the time a fan to cool the carb and fuel pipes. I will get another one, one day.

A mate of mine had one in the mid-80's.

A couple of quid for the timing chain and around £450.00 to fit the thing.

 

[ringway]

I miss my MK1 golf cabrio as well ....

Seats perpetually damp from the leaking hood , strange creaking noises from the front suspension , the way it ran out of go at just the wrong moment ( usualy as you were right alongside someone on a country road with a blind left hander coming , as 19 yr olds are prone to doing )

Here's a rather younger ( and slimmer ) version of me with her ..... she was a good old bus !

See here!

 

[lennonized]

Had a Viva HC with no brakes and one directional steering. Then a 950cc Fiesta mk2 that I thrashed to college every day. Would just touch 100mph. Then a Toyota Corolla that was ok but I blew the head gasket. I had an Astra mk3 that I also blew the head gasket on. Wheres the worst possible place to have that happen? On the Dartford tunnel no less- the b@@tard. I always looked after my cars but also drove them hard- until I got Mercedes they always eventually gave up on me.
I don't miss any of my cars pre Mercedes. Got my 230 w123 first 13 years ago and will never part with it. My dad had a 2002 tii years ago I liked and an e21 323i but thats when BMW's were rare and interesting instead of the anonymous incoherent design disaster they became. When we had BMWs years ago,lots of them I hated Mercedes as the enemy- its only afterwards I realised that I was wrong all along and that Mercedes was far advanced.

 

[Howard]

Blimey , my secret is out ......

 

[EDZ649]

I don't miss any of the crap cars I have owned!

 

[Doodle]

Alfa 75 V6. Total rust bucket but amazingly 100% ok on the electrics. Went like the wind and used to really piss off the modern hot hatches, spent most of its life going sideways c/o rwd w/ limited slip diff. Eventually the gearbox let go, at which point it went on ebay as spares or repair.

 

[lil.smartie]

750cc Fiat Panda that taught me pretty much all the car mechanics I know today! If it could go wrong, it did on that car but it was bright, funky, cheap to run & insure and I got back what I paid for it (just cost me for replacement parts!) when I traded it in for a Citroen Ax which was also a great little car which only got sold as it wasn't being used once I got my Smart!

Still have the Smart 10 yrs on just added to with a couple more cars....

Kate

 

[Rayny]

1978 Capri 1.6L, bought in about 1999 for £180.
Worn camshaft and generous helping of rust, but it did me for about 14,000 miles over an 18 month period without letting me down once.
Gutless - but it was my first Capri.

 

[rsutt1]

Fiesta Mk1!! Was a load of ****e but I loved it

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Fiat Strada

It was nearly new and quicker than all my mates minis and escort 1.3s.

If I wasn't such a fat, pampered git I would consider a small sporty Fiat as a 2nd car.

 

[Charmer]

Alfasud Ti. It was so much nicer than the XR3s all my friends had at the time.

Unfortunately their cars started most mornings and mine didn't!

 

[grufflybear]

Lancia Gamma - fantastic rotting folly - it only did about 30,000 miles by which time nothing electrical worked, the engine was cooled by permanent chocolate sauce even after head rebuilds and the body work was dissolving - was it worse than many other 70's cars ? Well yes, it was too complicated to patch up but it felt so glamorous to drive and made a nice noise, it was also a rare car so it was quite exciting to see a fellow Gamma owner anywhere and exchange sympathetic glances

 

[renault12ts]

Alfa 75 V6. Total rust bucket but amazingly 100% ok on the electrics. Went like the wind and used to really piss off the modern hot hatches, spent most of its life going sideways c/o rwd w/ limited slip diff. Eventually the gearbox let go, at which point it went on ebay as spares or repair.

Oh yes. I had an Alfa 33. It was scrapped at 6 years old due to incredible rust. Also had automatic dip/high beam headlights ( at least until I sprayed WD40 on the relay one rainy night).