Worst..... car..... ever......?

[Idle]

The subject came up tonight among a bunch of barflys and I thought it was worth tossing out here.

Nothing recent. Stuff that has proven to be rubbish, time tested rubbish, Yugo class rubbish, although I think the Yugo is in a class by itself when it comes to bad.

And please keep it to cars sold in the US or Canada.

My vote is for the first generation Ford Escort, something from the early 80's. Everything about it broke down except for the seats and I think they would have worn out, too, except that the car wore out first at about 70,000 miles.

The Chevy Vega is also on my worst list. I rebuilt a few of those engines and it was like trying to make a toy engine run and last more than 20,000 miles.

And others you can think of?

[jake12tech]

The Corvair. Hands down.

[JimFreeh]

Originally Posted by jake12tech

The Corvair. Hands down.

Please explain.
Did you ever own one?


Our experience with several late (65-69) that were daily drivers from the early seventies thru the mid eighties gave me a genuine appreciation for these maligned cars. Not only very pretty, but dead reliable, and when properly equipped (turbo or 4 carb engine and 4 speed manual), a lot of fun to drive.

Most hits against the Corvair are old repeated untruths, or based upon very poorly maintained examples.

I can think of a number of other cars that hit closer to the Yugo than the Corvair.

Jim

[Idle]

So many memories. Bad ones, that is.

The Omni alternator thing: I had one of those, a 1978 I think, and the alternator kept burning out. Then I ran into the turn one way and it dies problem. I dropped it off at an auto electrical shop and the guy there fixed it in five minutes. It seems that for some reason the grounding strap of the engine would eat itself away and then you had no ground when it flexed just right. He replaced the grounding strap and it was all OK until it started doing it again.

Pintos were sort of fun to drive. I had a top of the line Mustang II that was more comfortable but still a Pinto at heart. It was constantly needing something and it leaked oil from every pore.

I finally lost my lust for cheap cars, but I still enjoy interesting ones even if they are proven time bombs.

[Idle]

The Chevette was a bit of a disaster. I never owned one but everyone I knew that did could not say enough bad things about them.

[LUVMBDiesels]

Originally Posted by JimFreeh

Please explain.
Did you ever own one?


Our experience with several late (65-69) that were daily drivers from the early seventies thru the mid eighties gave me a genuine appreciation for these maligned cars. Not only very pretty, but dead reliable, and when properly equipped (turbo or 4 carb engine and 4 speed manual), a lot of fun to drive.

Most hits against the Corvair are old repeated untruths, or based upon very poorly maintained examples.

I can think of a number of other cars that hit closer to the Yugo than the Corvair.

Jim

Mine was a 1963 Monza 900 convertible and I loved it. It handled very well out of the gate and even better at 70+ when it seemed to suck down to the road.
The engine was reliable, well except for that damn fan belt, but I just carried a couple spares in the front trunk. It was stylish, got great MPG, and turned heads wherever I took her.

I wish I still had it.

[LUVMBDiesels]

My vote for worst car ever, would be
The Trabrant worldwide, and for here it would be a tie between the Vega and the Pinto

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

My vote for worst car ever, would be
The Trabrant worldwide, and for here it would be a tie between the Vega and the Pinto

As primitive and shoddy as the 'Trabby' was, at least it was a fairly contemporary FWD design. Anyone remember the rear-engine 1969 Subaru 360? One of the few new cars ever rated 'Not Acceptable' by Consumer Reports, who said "If you can afford no more than $1400, it's hard to imagine any used US car for that price that wouldn't be a better value (and we can imagine some pretty hairy used-car deals)"
Some years later, another critic in Autoweek called it "....a car designed to get you up to 50 miles per hour, then pitch you into oncoming traffic!"

Happy Motoring, Mark

[JimFreeh]

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

Mine was a 1963 Monza 900 convertible and I loved it. It handled very well out of the gate and even better at 70+ when it seemed to suck down to the road.
The engine was reliable, well except for that damn fan belt, but I just carried a couple spares in the front trunk. It was stylish, got great MPG, and turned heads wherever I took her.

I wish I still had it.

The fanbelt trick was to find the pulley guides some of the cars had. these kept the belt from popping off the two idler pulleys. Second trick was to use a certain type of belt, don't remember, sold our last Corvair 20 plus years ago. Lastly, don't overtension the belt. More was not better.....

I've still got my special Corvair fanbelt wrench. Open 9/16 on one end and a swivel 9/16 socket on the other.

I do remember stop light drag racing in the 66 Corsa with the 180 turbo and 4 speed. When that belt popped off, it felt like you got another 20 horsepower. For a short time.

Jim

[TwitchKitty]

Originally Posted by JimFreeh

I've still got my special Corvair fanbelt wrench. Open 9/16 on one end and a swivel 9/16 socket on the other.


Jim

That's funny. I still have that same wrench. I had to shorten the swivel socket to fit behind the oil filler or fuel pump or something to get to the tensioner pulley.

A Corvair easily could have killed me and didn't. It is certainly not one of the worst cars ever as evidenced by the fact that I am still here.

[t walgamuth]

My first car the 1960 Simca Aronde with the Flash engine has to rank up there. Short lived engine and fragile transmission had me changing the engine three times and replacing first gear in the tranny only to have it broken almost immediately then driving it three or four more years through college with a chipped first gear. Great ride and handling but mechanically rubbish.

My second car was a 61 Bugeye sprite. It was close to tied with the Simca for worst ever but that perhaps was mainly because it was so comprehensively worn out when I got it....but it was very very fun to drive if you could keep oil in it.

The 66 Corvair with the 110 motor I had later was a lot better car mechanically but the heater was rubbish on it.

[Stretch]

Most things made by the French - in particular the Renault 8 / 10 and the Citroen Visa

1970s and 1980s Skodas were dreadful

[spdrun]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Most things made by the French - in particular the Renault 8 / 10 and the Citroen Visa

1970s and 1980s Skodas were dreadful

The DS's were/are lovely cars, albeit maintenance-intensive. I'd also love to have a 2CV to play with

Worst: I'd have to add any mid-1980s GM 350 V-8 cars to the list. Neither powerful (choked down with primitive smog equipment, get 150 hp on a good day), nor reliable (father's Olds wagon cracked the heads at 50,000 miles), nor economical (15 mpg on a good day).

[tbomachines]

Originally Posted by spdrun

The DS's were/are lovely cars, albeit maintenance-intensive. I'd love to have a 2CV to play with

Worst: I'd have to add any mid-1980s GM 350 V-8 cars to the list. Neither powerful (choked down with primitive smog equipment, get 150 hp on a good day), nor reliable (father's Olds wagon cracked the heads at 50,000 miles), nor economical (15 mpg on a good day).

I would also love to have a DS to work on. Design wise, they are incredible. I do know that the maintenance is a bit crazy on them with the hydropneumatic system but I think it would be worth it.

[Medmech]

Pinto.