best and worst vehicles

[townlineterry]

Saw this thread on another forum, thought it was a good one, and we're a lot cooler than those other guys.

So what have the best and worst cars or trucks you have owned?

My best, the first vehicle I owned, a 72 Jeep CJ5. Not very comfortable, not fast but thing was bulletproof. It took me from Pa to Oregon and back twice. Out to the Dakotas, allover Wyoming and Colorado. never let me down, was rearended and totaled in 79, still miss it. Mecury Zeypher, good gas milage,very reliable, first wife got it in the divorce. 79 F250, 200,000 miles, no major problems till the cab rusted out, plan to resurrect it. 90 Cherokee, another bulletproof car, second wife totaled it. 02 Dakota, 200,000, still chugging along.

Now, the Hall Of Shame. 74 Chevy pickup, what a piece of crap, 9 miles a gallon, the 350 couldn't get out its own way, terminal rust.. 83 F250, another gas guzzling pig, had 351 that blew up at 80,000, swaped it out for a 300, that solved the motor problem but never could straighten out the electical system. 94 Cherokee, after the wife totaled the 90 we bought another, man had they cheapened them, was a piece of junk, engine blew up at 70,000. 05 F150, in 80,000 miles the altenator went south, Bad injectors, brakes and rotors all around, and stuck in 4wd which trashed the front hubs. And a 03 S10, what joke of a truck, dosen't even qualify as a toy.

So let's hear some other expiriences.

Terry

[Pammark]

Worst – My dad had a 1960 GMC 1 ton with a V6 in it. This particular engine had the sparkplugs located in between the intake manifold on top in perfect position to catch any fuel vapors on fire. That did happen once. We flooded the carb and up she went. I quick bucket of water fixed it. I bought a 4 year old 84 chev caprice V-8 (60,000 mi) that started to burn oil three months after I got it. I pulled the engine apart and the amount of sludge inside the engine was enormous. When I pulled the rocker arm covers off, you could see the imprint of the underside of the cover in the top of the gook. I had to fish for the head bolts. The lifter trough under the intake was piled high with crap too. I noticed in the glove compartment a book listed the previous owner as part of a Quaker State Oil Club and that explained it. Never use Quaker State oil. I pulled the pistons and the oil rings were clogged shut. I put new rings in it, cleaned the piles out and she ran well.

Best – I had an eyesore of a car years ago that started out to be a pain, but after I fixed a few things, it ended up being pretty good. It was a cross-breed between a 64 and 65 chevelle with a 283 V-8. Looked like shit, I called it my Junker. I got it from some hillbillies that traded for another car I had for parts. I put an overdrive in it and it rolled down the highway cruising at 80 or better if you didn’t watch it. I finally had to condemn it to the scrap yard after 8 years when the body got so rusted, the back part was not connected to the frame anymore. It took two jacks to change a rear tire; one for the bumper and the other for the rear axle. When I was ready to stop running it, I wanted to salvage the engine. A junkyard friend of mine suggested to preserve an engine, take a quart of new oil and pour it down the carb as fast as you can with the engine running which will coat all the internal parts. When the engine dies, pour the complete can down its throat. Years later, just change sparkplugs, oil change and start her up. I poured the oil down the carb, but had to turn the ignition off because the engine never died. What a smoker. I still have the engine in my barn now 20 years and it turns over easy.

I got a 93 Astro van that has 180,000 miles and never touched the engine.

I currently have a 95 civic hatchback that I hope will run forever. It had near 200,000 mi when my son-in-law (he bought it new) started having oil pressure problems. He had a new oil pump and parts put in by Honda, and still the oil light came on a few weeks later. I started to drive the car and a few months later I was 100 miles from home and the oil light started to blink. I pulled over and checked the oil and it was good. The engine ran fine so I continued on with the idiot light burning. I got within the last 4 miles of home before the engine started to make noise. I pulled the engine (1.5 liter) and was really impressed on the beef in it. I had never seen so many main bearings in a four banger. There are 5 mains, one between each piston. The oil pan had (looked like) old gasket material in it. The oil dipper tube screen was plugged. So much for Honda mechanics. They wanted $700 for one new connecting rod. I bought a junkyard special engine and swapped out the crank and the rod I needed. I put new rings, mains and rod bearings, honed the cylinder wall and slapped her together. I have 20,000 miles on it already and it runs like a champ. You cannot beat the 40 MPG city and over 50 highway. I hope to get another 200,000 out of it. Oh, I installed an oil gauge too, plus the idiot light.

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Wow. I'd have way too long a list, I think. I can't say that I've had that were truly junk, though. Some have their little issues, but none that come readily to mind that I wasn't able to work around.

Here's a list, in order of my having them (dates in parens is when I got them).

These are all cars I owned for at least a year. There were many others that I didn't keep very long. I had this penchant for finding things in decent shape that I didn't particularly want, but could sort-out and then resell. None of mom or dad's cars are in here unless I got them as hand-me-downs.

None of the racing cars, from the junkyard dirt cars to the road racing formula cars are included. I don't think we want to discuss issues that one has to deal when racing....

1959 Ford Mainline (1977).

My first car. One of dad's leftovers. This one taught me to hate drum front brakes and vacuum windshield wipers.

1966 Ford Falcon (1978).
1967 Ford Falcon (mom's leftover) (1979)
1965 Ford Mustang (1980).

These were all straight-sixes with automatics. Still drum front brakes which needed deglazing far too often.

1970 Chevy half-ton pickup (1980).
1970 Ford Mustang (1980).

Decent enough. Disc brakes on the fronts, too!

1974 Fiat X 1/9 (1980)

Well, this one taught me about handling *and* disc brakes (on all four wheels to boot). None of the prior cars could steer or stop worth a damn! It had no horsepower compared to the V8's, but could easily out-do those straight sixes. Had this wonderfully snappy manual shifter, too. Was one hell of a rust bucket, though. I thought those prior cars rotted too fast - I had seen nothing yet!

Oh, and it had some cooling issues that were problems to everyone else but easily solved by the strategic placement of muffin fans (from old computers) with toggle switches.

1976 AMC Pacer (1981).

Yep. It sounds horrid, but this was the *best* winter car I ever had! At this point, I was killing off the older cars, except for the 65 Mustang, in the winter to save the X 1/9 from it's penchant to rust.

This thing had an odd rear end. It locked solid if one wheel spun and it stayed locked until you reversed. So, when the road was slippery, it would lock up and you'd keep going until it got you home. You had to dirt-track the thing to steer, but you'd be doing that anyway! Sweet. Never had one running problem until the rust got it.....

1982 Chevy S10 (1982)

Ah. The first new car. By now I was working full time at IBM and had lots of money, being single.

This one had issues with driveshaft U-joints until I switched the yokes and shaft for larger ones. I think that was due to it having a V6 whilst designed for a 4-banger.....

It also spun the #2 rod bearing at 96k miles because the #1 and #3 were found to be too large and, I strongly suspect, were installed oversize at the factory. After the rebuild, it was OK. BTW, this was the first engine I *had* to rebuild, not counting racing cars, of course.

1979 Fiat X 1/9 (1982).

The 65 Mustang left for a pile of cash, and the 74 X 1/9 had dissolved by this point, so.....

This one had the larger engine, an extra gear in the tranny, and galvanized sheet metal. No more rust!! But, it still had the cooling system issues though I knew how to fix that from the 1974 rust-bucket.

The larger engine tended to eat the dual-race, ungreaseable, rear wheel bearings, though. After the second set chewed up, I replaced them with fat Timken roller bearings (with grease fittings as well).

Otherwise, it was OK although still underpowered.

1963 Ford Galaxie 500 XL (1984)

This was the elderly neighbor's car. It had 23k original miles on it. It was their Sunday church car. Really!

It had started (sigh) rusting in the rear. I had lots of body work to do. I was back to drum front brakes to boot, but I loved this car. I drove it for a decade and then sold it to a collector when my body work - rusted again.

1979 Ford F150 super cab (1986)

New puller for trailers - replaced the 70 Chevy. (See Rust......)

Pulled out a rear wheel bearing towing.....

1967 Lotus Elan (1986)
1973 Lotus Seven (1987)
1974 Lotus Europa (1987)

These replaced the Fiat. Now, I had handling *and* power. Lots of Power! These things are racing cars that also have licence plates. Basically, I reworked the Elan and the Europa and resold them such that the Seven was a free car. And, I still have it!

1980 Ford F250 super cab (1987)

New puller for trailers. With full-floating axle this time! It was a bit rusty, though.

1983 GMC one ton crew cab (1988).

This one had a 454 and was intended to pull trailers with race cars and also tractors. Crew cab, so it was grand for, well, the crew! Except for the gas it ate with relish. Really! You put a jar of relish in the tank every time you filled up - in the hopes that it would clog the fuel lines and stop draining the wallet!

1984 Chevy S10 super cab (1990)

The 82 S10 was rusting, so I sold it and found one that wasn't and had a super-cab to boot.

1993 Ford F350 crew cab diesel (1993)

OK. I gave up feeding the GMC and that 454 gasser, so I went for a 444 diesel and got 20+ MPG towing. Kept this until 1997. By then, I was in NC and no longer in NY. I had sold everything in 1994 except for the Lotus Seven and the F350 and moved to a state where things don't rust!

The only thing I can point to as 'bad' is the stupid vacuum pump for the brakes. It likes to fail catastrophically without warning and then you lose the serp. belt and - everything else. Fortunately, I saw that as a potential problem early on, and decided to carry a fully assembled spare with me. I was right to do so, too.

1997 Ford F350 Crew Cab Power Stroke Diesel Dually (1997)

In NC, we'd pull to the tracks on hot summer days. The non-turbo F350 would groan a lot. I was into enclosed racing trailers now, too, and the non-dually would sway a bit in the cross winds. It was time to step up a bit, as it were.

I still have this one, and it has almost 300k miles on it. I've had to replace a few things I call 'maintainence', like the water pump, alternator, etc. I had to rebuild the front-end (230k miles) and do the u-joints once so far. But, I still call that maintenance.....

Oh, and it still has that vacuum pump issue. Carry a spare!

1992 Ford F150 super cab (2000)

Used this one as an open-bed pickup (the F350 is enclosed) until a couple years ago. It had the old 299 straight six, fuel injected, and is still running fine for the farm neighbor I sold it to.

1990 Ford Crown Vic Station Wagon (2006)

Yep. I'm going backwards! I recall my dad always using wagons as small trucks, yet could be a car too. I saw one for cheap and decided to have my mid-life crisis with a wagon. Hey! I drove a lot of race cars, so a Porsche just won't do it for me!

This one was a mistake. Way too much worn-out stuff. I put far too many bits onto it, plus it was a bit, dented, shall we say. The tranny lost 4th gear band, so I decided to park this one and get another one.....

1990 Mercury Colony Park (2007)

OK. Fancy names. It's the same as the other wagon, except for a few trim bits. Oh, and this one is tan with the fake wood on the sides. The Ford was a grey 'steelside'. Not that it matters all that much.

I've had some age related wear to deal with here. Leaking gaskets on the engine, new water pump, power steering pump, alternator, window lifts, door locks, etc. Just like the other one.

Fortunately, I have a Spare Parts Mine out behind the tractor barn!

This one has a fine running engine and tranny, though. Much better. Both cars had 180k or so on them when I got them, so I think the deal is that the Mercury was well maintained whilst the Ford was neglected.

So, there are my cars. There are some others that my wife has had since we were married, but I have not included those.

later!

Stan

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

I have some others that didn't really fit into the other category. These are ones for special uses, or ones that I spent some time driving but didn't actually own.

1946 GMC Pickup.

I learned to drive on this one. It was our Farm Truck growing up, so it had a six-mile range on the Farm tags. I could drive this at age 12, not having to wait until I was 16, see. In practice, it stayed on the farm or the local farm road. Not the highway.

I found out that one does not want to own cars with enclosed driveshafts, A-frames, or engines with babbet bearings from this thing. It also had straight gears in the tranny, so it also taught double-clutching!

1929 Essex

Hoo boy! Non-pressure oiling. Single band-brake. A tranny one needed a jack to operate. Wooden spoked wheels. Yep. And, I had to *race* this in recreations of things like Albany-to-Buffalo events!

You had to get out every ten miles, open the hood, and use an oil can to refill the drip oil reservoirs on top of the valve cover. It was OHV, but the bottom was splash oiled, so no pump.....

One brake for four wheels. Imagine that fun! And, here I thought that front drum brakes glazed in a hurry!!!!!

Tires that went flat. And flat. And flat. You popped the tire off, not the whole wheel, and patched the tubes and continued. Carry at least six spare tires for 300 miles, too. You're going to need them!

1933 Ford 5-window coupe

This was a car my uncle had. It overheated a lot, so I was given it to fix. Turned out it had a lot of casting sand in the water jacket. It stayed put for decades, and then came loose to cause clogging. What a mess. Eventually it was cleaned out and then my uncle took it back.

This thing had 4-wheel brakes, but they were mechanical. An adjustment nightmare. I began to pine for hydraulic drum brakes! I drove this a lot as the cleaning meant a lot of running, flushing, running, etc. I had a 20 mile commute, so I drove it as often as I could that summer. I also had to adjust the brakes ever couple of round trips.....

Well, I'm sure more will come to mind.

I may even get into some of the purpose-designed racing cars (as opposed to the ones we make from street cars) and their issues as the thread goes on.

For example, the one with the fiberglass body and no frame - they used perforated steel plates bonded into the one-piece fiberglass body for the suspension and drivetrain mounts. Imagine what happens here after a while!

Or, the ones with 'hung pumpkins' and rubber driveline couplings. Those need a really smooth foot or they buck like an old dumped clutch....

Ones where they used the frame tubes as coolant lines, or worse, fuel lines. gas tanks over your legs. Radiators right in front of your feet and feet out in front of the axle.

You get the idea. This may be why I don't tend to find a lot of faults with most of the street cars I've had!

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Oh, yes. The wife's cars. We didn't meet until 1996, so there are a lot of cars I don't know about. here's the ones I do.

1980-something Chrysler mini-van.

Ran great. never died. Although, I wished it would! It smoked a lot, yet never blew up, and also was both daughters first car. Not that they drove it longer than it took to save money for their first *real* car.

I gave it away to someone that was in dire straights, having totalled theirs with no money to get a new one......

1996 Chrysler mini-van.

Nothing wrong with it except for the transmission, which kept eating the 4th gear band - and was fixed twice under warranty. It left in 1999 for.....

1999 Ford F150

What in heck did Ford *do*?

I could never find a comfortable driving position in this thing. Was the old cab so dated as all that?? It's a truck for cryin' out loud!

It has that 'new' 5.4L V8 in it, and I find it to be too eager to accelerate. It's hard to control -either lots of go, or lots of engine braking- and the gas mileage suffers accordingly. What was wrong with the 302, anyway? It had as much power and was much smoother to drive. And, let's not talk about the 350, which was even better (although it's gas mileage and the 5.4 is about the same).

Then, their was a fault in one of the ignition coils, and it screwed up the transmission! It apparently caused RF to get into another wiring harness and so the computer blew the tranny. Oh, Ford fixed it under warranty, but apparantly *all* the coils were faulty so we had to replace them all, one by one.

Later, it popped a hole in the heater core. Twice, actually. Eventually, they decided that the thing had too much coolant force applied to a bend in the aluminum core tubing and put in a flow reducer. It was wearing holes in the lines, you see. Still, several cases of hot coolant on the passenger floor.....

Then, there was a fault in the A/C compressor and they changed all of those bits as well. I think they spent more on warranty repairs than they made on the fool thing....

We still have it. Use it as the delivery truck in the screenprinting business. But, it recently popped *another* ign. coil. I hope I'm not in for another round of coil changing here....

2008 Ford Escape

Another new car. So far - nothing. They maintain it for some number of miles, so whist we've had it almost two years, I haven't worked on it beyond pulling nails out of two of it's tires.....

1990 Toyota P/U

She got this as a backup to the 1999 F150. It was so cheap it was almost free. 208k miles on it, so I expect it to die every time I start it. But, it keeps on chugging. I put a new timing belt on it when she got it, and it probably should get another one by now, but other than that, it's boring!

It also can't haul diddly/squat - either people (2) or cargo. It's unhappy at 500 pounds in the bed. It does run on, though, and gets 30+ MPG, so it gets used somewhat.

Notice how I've had a lot more cars than she has......

later!

Stan

[townlineterry]

This technically wasn't my car, so it gets honorable mention.The Black Moriah, was my parents 64 Plymouth stationwagon, black or course. I drove it in highschool, nothing flashy but the best date car ever.

The back seat folded down and I was dateing this little blonde cookie at the time. The things that went on back there, if my mother had known she'd have pitched a fit

Terry