Cars You Drove Back In the day, you wouldn't dream of driving today!

[OldTrucker]

How many had a car or cars that were in such terrible shape that you wouldn't dream of taking it on the road today?

Had a Corvair convertible that the floor was so soft you couldn't open both doors at the same time unless you wanted to use a floor jack to get them back closed.

By my self was ok but just 1 passenger and you couldn't close even one door!

Another was an old Studebaker that smoked so bad a State Trooper said he had followed me for miles and I never saw him until I parked at home! He tagged it unsafe and told me not to drive it again!

64 Falcon that had no starter (always parked on flat ground or hill) and floors patched with plywood and tar.

[espo]

Had more than a few, but that was all I could afford early on. 

[JollySipper]

My old Dodge pickup (which I would love to have today in spite of it's problems). I had a '71 Sweptline short bed with a hot-rodded 318 (with a Quadrajet Chevy carb...). It was manual drum brakes, manual steering, and the wheel had about a half turn of play. I had rebuilt the brakes, and had it to where it wouldn't pull to either side while stopping, but the play made slowing interesting.

They make disc brake kits and suspension upgrades for those old trucks that would solve all the issues it had.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Hmmmmm...interesting concept and responses.

When my cheap old vehicles had problems, I fixed them.

I didn't realize I was just supposed to accept driving dangerous, unreliable junk.

My bad.

EDIT: I did in fact have an S1 E-type that was so bad structurally (much like Johnny's Corvair) that you couldn't open either door without jacking the middle up...though it had been "repaired" by chimps who glued linoleum to the rocker boxes and floors, then covered everything with bondo and undercoating.

But it was never a driver. Bought it for $400, tripled my investment just selling the bonnet, made lots more parting the rest of it out.

Still occasionally kick myself though, as we all know what that car is worth today.   

Edited March 12, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[cobraman]

Worst car I had was hands down a Austin America. I think a 69 ?  Still confused a to why I bought it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

6 minutes ago, cobraman said:

Worst car I had was hands down a Austin America. I think a 69 ?  

Was it an automatic? They were pretty awful, but I kinda liked the manual version.

Edited March 12, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy

[mchook]

When I was 17 I got a 66 F250 for free. It was worn out and the old 300 6 cylinder burned more oil than gas. It seemed like every week it would blow a brake line, luckily it was a 4 speed so I would just shut it off and let the clutch out to stop.? Not something I would want to drive today for sure.

[Mike C.]

My '77 Westfalia bus was great when sitting still but not to drive. First of all the fuel injection system would never work right. If you could somehow get past this the thing was not a very highway savvy vehicle. One time a gust of wind hit me from the side and suddenly I'm in the left lane on a 4 lane divided highway. Wind was not your friend with this one. The awful heat system meant that I would just park it in the winter and borrow one of my sisters cars or dads truck.

[cobraman]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Was it an automatic? They were pretty awful, but I kinda liked the manual version.

Yes it was an auto.  I want to say it may have been a 4 speed auto ?  Is that possible ?

[JollySipper]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

When my cheap old vehicles had problems, I fixed them.

I didn't realize I was just supposed to accept driving dangerous, unreliable junk.

In my case, I was a 20 year old working with a house painter's wages. I did fix or replace things as the need arose, but it was difficult finding decent parts.

[MrObsessive]

In the mid '80s, I had a 1971 MG Midget (actually a Healey). NO WAY I'd have that car today! Waaaaayyy too many big trucks and SUV's on the roads. They'd ram into into me and swear they never saw me. ?

And yes, I was able to get into it. I don't think I'd be able to now though!

[NOBLNG]

I had a ‘74 Maverick with a rusty floor pan. I’m sure if I had to hammer the brakes the seat would have flipped over backwards.

[Kromolly]

My first car was a '68 Ford Galaxie fastback.  What's wrong with that?, you say?  Well, it was probably the only one to roll off of the assembly line with a 240 CID 6-cylinder and three in the tree and really tall gears, like 2.7 or 3.08'ish.  My dad wouldn't buy anything unless it was an inline 6-cyl and manual.  He gave it to a friend after he bought a new pickup.  Not long after, I was old enough to drive.  He made me buy it from the guy and that was my first car.  Man, I was pissed.  Anyway, gutless 6-cyl, manual steering and brakes.  What a pig, couldn't get out of its own way.  I hated that car, put a FOR SALE sign in it on my 18th birthday and brought home my '65 Buick Skylark Gran Sport that I had been hiding.  Now that car was another story... 401 Nailhead with 325 factory HP and 445 lb-ft torque, dialed up by my rebuild and hot cam.  And alas, manual drum brakes.  Man, that thing would not stop!  Loved the Buick, it was fast.  But I wouldn't drive either today.  I would burn the Galaxie to the ground, and I would put modern braking on the Buick and have a ball.  

[restoman]

5 hours ago, cobraman said:

Worst car I had was hands down a Austin America. I think a 69 ?  Still confused a to why I bought it.

The first new car my Dad bought was a '71 America, in Royal Blue.

Beautiful car, but by 50,000 Nova Scotia miles, it was done. 

[restoman]

The only car I had that I wouldn't drive now was a '77 Aspen. It was very roadworthy - I'm anal that way - but the darn thing took forever to warm up to the point where it would keep running on damp days. Spring thaw days... it's a good thing the battery was strong. It had to be started at every stop for the first 10 minutes or so.

After that, it was good. Or as good as a brown, four door, slant six Aspen could be.

I finally put a manual choke on it. That made it a little less stall-prone.

[forthlin]

I had a '71 Chevy Impala back in the fall of 1984 that ate oil at a rate of a quart every 20 miles. I had to clean the oil off the plugs every night after I got home from work so it would start the next morning to go to work & reclean them when I got off work to go home & my job was only 8 miles from home. It smoked so bad it was like setting in a fog when I had to stop. Unbelievably a neighbor offered me &125.00 for the car knowing what shape it was in.

 

[MeatMan]

This is an odd selection for this topic, but because of the cost of fuel now I wouldn't drive the 70 SS454 Chevelle I had in the eighties.

There is no way I could afford to drive that thing now except down the street and back as I think I got about 8 MPG. It had a 750 double pumper Holley, 10:1 compression, and 4:11 gears. I did swap out the solid lifter cam for a Competition Cams hydraulic, which helped a whole lot, but it also resulted in higher true compression because of the improved low speed fuel flow, which forced me to add water injection to stop detonation.

But man, that thing was a beast! I could smoke the tires from idle. But, it was also an accident magnet (other people kept hitting it, not me hitting others), which is why I got rid of it.

I'll be building a replica of it based on how it looked about the time I got rid of it, minus the dents, tho.

[Joe Handley]

Right now the only one I can think of is the ‘86 Pontiac 6000se my Dad had when I was first learning to drive, it wouldn’t stay running for the first 10min or so after start up and Dad would have to drive it 2 footed, it understeered so bad that if it slick, it wanted to keep going in a straight line, especially if there was negative camber to the curve unless you were aggressive when stopping the brakes were so jacked up the rears would lockup and swap ends before you catch it, even more so in slick conditions. Fortunately, it’s third wreck was the one that finally killed it, first time it was backed into and damaged the left rear corner, second Dad tried taking an exit ramp in Gary, IN in the rain and the car went straight……into a guard rail, and the kill wreck was when a pick up stopped short in front of him, possibly with “intermittent” tail lights, as I seem to remember him saying that the cop that showed up was familiar with truck and driver and was quite unhappy with him, kinda eluded to him going around and causing accidents on purpose and that turd  of a Pontiac was a perfect mark. Then there was one last parting gift that resulted help our insurance from American Family, which was they called the house to demand Dad call the yard that towed the car and have them release it to AmFam, but Mom and Dad were both working and my Sister were barely home from school ourselves, she was still in grade school and I was 15 at the time. My Sister answered the phone and the person on the other end of the line was rather aggressively telling her she needed to get Dad to to make that call when she handed the phone to me. I said “Hello?” and that person suddenly goes “Oh, Hello Mr. Handley, I’m calling from American Family about your Pontiac…..” I told, I think, Her that it wasn’t my car and I was the one she was looking for. IIRC, She responded “Oh, you think you could call the towing company saying you are your father and release the car to us?”  Obviously, I told her “No!” then said I would tell Dad when he got home.  Well Dad did make that call, as well as one back to AmFam and tore into them about how that one rep thought it would be ok to ask me to  call the yard and impersonate him to release that car to them.

[Rob Hall]

I never had anything too sketchy, but the '79 Dodge Power Wagon 4x4 pickup my Dad had in the 80s and I learned to drive in was subjectively awful. It only had 25k miles in 1985, but the steering was numb and had no on-center feel (I would drive down the road constantly steering to keep it in a straight line)...the suspension was very bouncy, and it would stall on left turns.  

Another car I learned to drive in and drove some in high school and college was my Dad's '84 Ford Escort L diesel 5dr hatchback w/ 5spd manual.  He bought it to tow on the back of the family Winnebago.   It would be ideal today as far as the gas mileage--got up to 55 mpg on the highway, but it was slow to accelerate and was very spartan inside (red vinyl interior, manual windows, am radio, A/C was the only option I think). 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Rob Hall

[Ace-Garageguy]

14 hours ago, JollySipper said:

In my case, I was a 20 year old working with a house painter's wages. I did fix or replace things as the need arose, but it was difficult finding decent parts.

Yes, and I understand it's also tough to keep up with repairs when the vehicle is in constant service for making a living.

Being in or close to the automotive industry most of my life, I had opportunities and options the average guy probably doesn't.

[iamsuperdan]

I guess I'm lucky. I've never had an unsafe vehicle, or an absolutely basket case of a vehicle.

 

I've only had one vehicle that was unreliable. It was a 1990 Jeep YJ Islander with the carburated 4.2L inline-6. Fixed a lot of things when I bought it, but never could get it running right, always carb issues. Finally just got frustrated after getting towed for the umpteenth time and traded it on a new 2005 Jeep TJ Sport. 

I did have a 1985 VW Transporter Doka. Did an engine swap on it to a TDI from a 2004 Jetta. Engine swap went smoothly, but it seemed like every month I was replacing something. Starter here, headlight relay there. The nickel and diming got old after a few months and when someone came along and offered me dumb money for it, I couldn't resist. Should have kept it, was a fun truck most of the time.

 

 

[Rob Hall]

I've never had anything unsafe or a rust bucket, but I have had a few high mileage semi-unreliable vehicles.  I never want to depend on anything with over 100k miles again.  Old high mileage vehicles could be fun as occasional use weekend toys, but I don't want to depend on one as a daily again..been there, done that..having to get a AAA tow twice in the same week is no bueno. 

Edited March 14, 2022 by Rob Hall

[Ace-Garageguy]

15 hours ago, cobraman said:

Yes it was an auto.  I want to say it may have been a 4 speed auto ?  Is that possible ?

Yup. Pretty sure the Americas were 4-spd automatics. Slow as slugs too.

[cobraman]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Yup. Pretty sure the Americas were 4-spd automatics. Slow as slugs too.

Oh, it wasn't that fast . ?

[TransAmMike]

For me, I gotta say there probably isn't any car I had (and there were many) I wouldn't want to drive today that I had in the past. In fact, I'd take any of them back now. But, I did have to drive a company supplied vehicle that was the terrible vehicle I was ever saddled with....an Isuzu pickup in the early 80's. Rode hard and was so slow it couldn't get out it's own way.