The worst car

[Aldo]

This thread begs a read from the beginning again - there's good stuff in here - I just pulled out a book I keep in the office , " Cars " by Richard Porter - hilarious take on many shining examples of crap car!
I'll go back and add in his takes with originally mentioned cars earlier in thread - pretty amusing!

[bagtagley]

The late 70s and 80s are a goldmine. Cadillac Cimarron anyone?

Funny thing is, they were weird enough and there’s enough nostalgia that a lot of those turds are making a comeback. Just recently I’ve seen 350/LS swap “restorations” on a Pinto, Gremlin, and a Mustang II.

[Aldo]

Cimarron you say?
One of the best pages in the book!

[Aldo]

[BmillsSkier]

What a car.

[Aldo]

Chevy Vega, we had two of them.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

For the Vega crew , myself included!

[oftpiste]

It's amazing how few of some of these cars are still on the road. Like the Vega. and they made bazillions of them.

I had a '78 Fiat 124 Spyder in my 20's. 'nuff said. Most fun car ever, and fuck what a pain in the ass to keep running. Would buy again though.

[Flyoverland Captive]

I had a '78 Fiat 124 Spyder in my 20's. 'nuff said. Most fun car ever, and fuck what a pain in the ass to keep running. Would buy again though.

A friend in high school had one; it rarely ran. He traded it for an X-19, which was even worse.

[riser4]

It's amazing how few of some of these cars are still on the road. Like the Vega. and they made bazillions of them.

Not really that amazing. Click and Clack nailed it when they said the truth that the Vega was made from compressed rust. My dad had a series of 4 daily drivers and at least 2 bought for parts Vegas. Pretty amazing that he stuck with them that long. However, he got good at wrenching on them, and people would almost pay you to take them off their hands. The guy definitely had dedication as he tore at least two engines down and had steel sleeves installed. He could fix the mechanical shit, it was the rust that he couldn't do anything about. The hatchback looked better but the wagon was more useful.

[Aldo]

I got stuck behind a gem exactly like this today. For the better part of an hour and a half I was treated to the rear end view of possibly the worst car ever made thanks to some asshole wrecking on a 2 lane road with no turnouts in morning rush hour traffic.

A late eighties shitbox of the highest order: the LeBaron Town and Country convertible Woody. That's a fucking mouthful just saying it's name.

Whoa - they're multiplying! what on earth is happening in that lot??

[Aldo]

If anybody was wondering where all the Corinthian leather went..

[Ted Striker]

Click and Clack nailed it when they said the truth that the Vega was made from compressed rust.

I was going to say the same thing. Smog and clunker laws killed the first batch. Rust killed the rest.

[Ted Striker]

I couldn't remember the Laverne & Shirley song so I googled it...



dafuq?

[jono]

The Audi talk brought up a painful repressed memory for me. I had a 73 100ls in the early 80s. That bitch would sit in the parking lot and laugh at me every pay day and say “where’s my half half asshole?” Funny thing is I really loved that thing on the four days a week when it deigned to run.

The repressed memory part of this post speaks to me but is it really possible for the worst car to be one that you love when it's not taking your money? That's just an expensive date.

There are disappointing cars. There are bad cars. Unreliable cars and reliably unreliable cars. High maintenance, expensive, ugly, and even stinky. But the Worst cars don't just strand you with no money, they tear apart relationships and ruin lives.

The Vega sounds aspirational, but I still don't see anything that compares to a Renault.

[BmillsSkier]

Whoa - they're multiplying! what on earth is happening in that lot??

Holy shit, I remember that day.

How many fries do you think are stuck between the cushions of that fine Corinthian leather?

[ötzi]

Does the Merkur make the book Aldo? My brother had one. He finally sold it and bought a Crossfire, which he still has. Not exactly a car guy, the brother.

[BmillsSkier]

Wasn’t the Murkur (can’t not hear Berzerker from Clerks when I type that) just a rebadged Ford Sierra Cosworth?

[fatnslow]

I almost bought a used Merkur Scorpio but I woke up from a potential nightmare. Growing up my family did own 3 Chevy Cavaliers and my uncle drove a Cadillac Cimmaron since he had more cash than us ! They all met the same demise of the rack/pinion leaking like the elderly folks at the retirement home.

[Aldo]

How timely

Ice did he have the xr4ti? That car had a following - apparently by this guy too - but there’re few Marques I expected to see in here but didn’t - namely nothing fiat??? Huh??

edit to add - yeah crossfire? see your point. what could possibly be next?

[Aldo]

Wasn’t the Murkur (can’t not hear Berzerker from Clerks when I type that) just a rebadged Ford Sierra Cosworth?

what about the cosworth vega!

[PNWbrit]

Wasn’t the Murkur (can’t not hear Berzerker from Clerks when I type that) just a rebadged Ford Sierra Cosworth?

Nope.

The Cosworth Sierras were an entirely different beast. And fucking Incredible.

[plugboots]

Another sales rep out of my office in '86? bought a Cimarron new. I didn't know about the purchase till we went out to the parking lot to take his car to an account. I thought it was a some sort of weird joke, because the guy was a really funny dude. I kinda had a twinkle-in-my-eye kinda smirk going on for the first 15 minutes or so waiting for the joke.
That never came.
I never understood any of the GM cross branded cars. Just get the Chevy, right? Maybe add an option or 2 to make it almost as nice as the Buick/Caddy/Pontiac

[Timberridge]

I always get Cosworth and Cogswell Cogs confused.

Back in the day when I used to work past 5pm, I became friends with our office janitor. I think he came from money but was shunned by his family because his IQ was below the family minimum, but as nice a person as an Alaskan winter is long. Anyway, one evening, he comes into my office very excited because he bought a new car. We walk down to the garage and there's his new Cadillac Cimarron. It's got one of those $3.50 stick on custom engraved plates on the glove compartment trim. "This Vehicle Expressly Made for Ray Pond." He tells me the salesman got this custom made for him. God bless Ray.

[bagtagley]

If anybody was wondering where all the Corinthian leather went..

Oh man. My mom worked with a wine rep who bragged for months about his "Maserati". I finally got to see it and probably for the first time in my young life uttered the phrase "what the fuck?". The disappointment was impossible to hide.

Wasn’t the Murkur (can’t not hear Berzerker from Clerks when I type that) just a rebadged Ford Sierra Cosworth?

The XR4Ti was a Sierra, but not a Cosworth. Still a much better car than most of the other Ford offerings of the time. The Scorpio not so much.

It's a shame the Vega was such a pile cause the hatchback and wagon were damn good looking vehicles, especially for that era.

[Timberridge]

Nope.

The Cosworth Sierras were an entirely different beast. And fucking Incredible.

Yeah but they looked like an ass sphincter compared to the M3 and MB 16 valve.