Your Worst Car?

[Stompie]

There have been a few candidates, an OH who can't resist a bargain has made sure of that but the one I loathed most was a Mk2 Capri.
That car hated me. It would start, let me drive out of the drive then stall and refuse to start again. Of course I was told I'd flooded it, use less choke blah, blah. Eventually even OH had to admit I was doing nothing wrong, the car just didn't like me. It always behaved for him.

[Lapourtaider]

I'm with jsks on this one. Although I didn't own it, my then girlfriend (who has now been my wife for 27+years) had a Hillman Imp. She had already bought another car to replace it, so I drove it just the once to the scrappy. I can tell you once is more than enough for anyone. Hopefully it was used to make something useful. It was sold to her by her grandfather, he must have really disliked her!

[Aardvark]

Series III Sunbeam Alpine.
Bought new. Sold it on in less than a year. Build quality was total shite. Even worse than the Citroen AX.

[Spardo]

One of those great big Fords, forget the model name, with a large bonnet area and short, rather square, boot. I watched it being pushed into the auction, someone mumbled about the starter, and bought it for a fiver.

Later, with some difficulty, got the bonnet open...........and there was no engine. So I just left it there.

But I did run a good one of those on the road and it was a very good car. Pre Granadas I think, have never been able to remember the name.

Another Ford was a Consul. Ran ok but it had this rattly noise as I drove along. My friend hung his head out of the window and said it is coming from the back wheel. We stopped and removed the hubcap and found that the wheel was secured by just one nut. Mind you, all the rest were there alright, it was them rattling around in the hubcap that made all the noise.

[Ally]

Series III Sunbeam Alpine.
Bought new. Sold it on in less than a year. Build quality was total shite. Even worse than the Citroen AX.

Pound for pound it has to be the AX too. Although I've had other piles of shit, the AX was new. I had an Alpine as a courtesy car for a fortnight. Holy moley! How were they ever passed as safe to be on the road? No power and no road holding.

[Nifty]

One of those great big Fords, forget the model name, with a large bonnet area and short, rather square, boot. I watched it being pushed into the auction, someone mumbled about the starter, and bought it for a fiver.

Later, with some difficulty, got the bonnet open...........and there was no engine. So I just left it there.

But I did run a good one of those on the road and it was a very good car. Pre Granadas I

I had a Zephyr v6 that fits above description. It was rather thirsty.

Engine good. Handling and braking system near useless.
The handbrake system was designed to fail.
I made the error of lending it to a mate who lived in Manchester. He returned it with a dent in the bonnet and a new windscreen. The dent was made by the scaffold pole that one of his associates put through the windscreen.


I compounded my error by importing the car into England.

[Aardvark]

I bought one of those (non starter) from a neighbour across the road for £10. We used a winch to tow it up his drive, across the road, and up into my drive. I replaced the bakelite/plastic/resin timing gear and got it running fine. Drove it to work for a week and found it comfy but too thirsty so I sold it to a window cleaner for £150. Result!

[treiziste]

An easy question to answer:

A Morris Marina.

I could never get the bugger to start if the outside temperature fell below 10 degrees C !

[Mrs Archy]

early 1970s OH bought an old Fiat 127 - would stall if raining hard - especially at roundabouts in the early morning rush hour!

early 1980s OH bought a new Fiat Panda - leant on the door panel and it dented like a bean - so that had to go!

early 1980s OH bought a new Alfa Sud 1.3 - jumped onto the pavement when braking and rust showing after 1 year but OH loved it so much that he swapped it for another Sud 1.6 that had the Ziebart treatment that one was perfect!

[Plog]

A Mini in the early 80s..rust, starting problems, water ingress probs..

Shortly followed by a DAF Variomatic...... that was so weird it was actually fun....