Worst/Best car owned.

[V-Tally]

2 worst cars- volvo 850 (burst into flames), 2001 volkswagen passat with the 1.8 turbo as well, tried to cook itself, replaced the radiator, then the wahterpümp shattered and had to replace everything all over again after 4 months. Many Best cars- any of the Town car's I've ever owned, even the first one- 348000 mile ex-taxi with broken drivers seat, no cruise control, and I spun a rod bearing (and It still beat the europeans by a mile).

 

[*Maverick*]

Well, I read over everybody's posts and was trying to figure out what my best/worst vehicles would be, so I made it into a few categories:

Most fun/favorite: my 93 Mark VIII

Most dependable: 1991 Ford Ranger 2.3 5-speed 2wd .Trust me, that truck took tons of abuse during my teenage years raising hell on the road and farm, and the only thing that ever had to be replaced was brakes and the clutch.

Worst car: Would definitely have to be the 94 Honda Accord I had for a few months. Granted, it wasn't bad to me because I never put it on the road, but it was a total pain in the a$$ for alot of people. I bought it from my buddy who'd just spent $12k on it having a built JDM H22A (for those who know Honda-speak) and built LSD auto transmission swapped in it. He drove the car 20 days after getting it out of the shop, and the brand new transmission went out. By that point, he was out of cash to spend on it, so he sold it to me for cheap. I knew alot of money had been put into the car, so I figured I'd get around to fixing it someday, but then another friend came along and wanted to buy it for more than I had in it, so I sold it to him. He ended up first swapping another automatic into it, which burnt up after just a couple weeks, then swapping a 5-speed into it, which lasted maybe 3 weeks until the engine blew up on him one night when he was racing it. As for what happened to the car? It ended up being parted out lol.

As for a few other notes based on other posts:

87TTOPGT: I had a 95 T-Bird 4.6 for a couple months last summer. I bought it from a friend who was having financial troubles, and, even though I may not have had it long enough to form a solid opinion about it, my friend certainly had a strong opinion about it. He called me one day and told me he'd actually borrowed some money to buy his car back and if I would sell it back to him, which I did.

JAX: I love that 76 Ford. I had a 78 Bronco 4x4 (the BIG ones) with a 400, and it was a hell of a truck. It would go through anything you asked it to without a problem. I'd love to have another one and do a 460 swap, but with gas going higher and higher, that might not ever happen.

thaywood: I had a 81 Mustang coupe 2.3 4-speed, but mine didn't seem that sluggish. Granted, it was by no means fast or anything close to it, but it seemed peppy for what it was. I actually got it about 10 years ago when I was 16. I was wanting a foxbody Mustang for a 460-swap I never ended up getting around to and my friend's dad had it sitting out back at his shop and sold it to me for $50.

 

[AVEY10]

well ive only owned two vehicles so far.
my 1997 mercury mountaineer (willow)
and my 1995 lincoln mark viii.

id say the mountaineer has been superior to the mark maintance wise.
i feel like the mountaineer was built like a tank, have had it for 3 years and put 20K on it, shes up to 137K now. Have gone through about 5 sets of front rotors, put upper control arms on it, replaced the rear brake lines, and basic maintance. Went through because im a very aggressive braker(if thats a word lol) and put new uppers and lines on because i just a set of tracks went up about ten or so feet came slamming down, and broke the balljoint and rear brake line, and put a 6 inch crack in the oil pan, but she is still movin around.

the mark has been a nightmare since i bought it and i dont wanna talk about it. lol.

 

[TheBigRedOne]

I had a 1984 Ford Ranger with the 2.3L 4 cylinder with the 4 speed manual transmission. Got it from my parents when I graduated from high school. Although it wouldn't break any speed records, the only major maintenance I had to do on it was replace the timing belt after it broke. Luckily it was a non-interference engine. I had it from '86 to '96.

Nearly all the cars I've had have been good ones. '84 Ranger, '91 Thunderbird, '94 Mark VIII, '97 Mark VIII.

 

[THANATOS]

worst car 95 olds aurora, trans went out a week after i got it. A bad ground at the starter caused a electrical fire, ended up junking it.

Favorite so far is my 98 mark viii

 

[95mark8newyork]

ive only owned one car and its my 95 mark viii, i love this car!!

 

[slowmkviii]

I've only had one front wheel drive car and it was the worst car I ever had
An 86 or 85 dodge daytona 5 speed bought it as a favor to a friend that needed money
I showed a girl how to drive a stick in it and that's all it did. When I blew the t5 out if my mustang I went to drive the dodge so my friend was going to bring it to me and it blew up.

 

[Gilby959798]

Best 91 explorer, sold it for more than I paid for it and it had 330000 miles. Worst... Well so far I haven't had too much problems with them. But my favorite is my f250 psd or my cobra...

 

[lincoln_lurker]

cars i've owned:
89 grand marquis
93 sable
92 ranger 2.3 mtx
88 lesabre custom
97 sable
08 milan mtx
01 zx2
98 mark viii
06 impala

worst one of those was probably the 93 sable, spun crank @ 76k, rebuilt engine, random check engine lights and stalls, trans slips, sold it 15k after the rebuild

best car would be my 08 milan (current daily driver), not the most fun but is good on gas and has enough features to keep me interested

most fun would be my grand marquis, but that was because it was my first car and it took the beatings i gave it and kept on driving.

 

[ford nut]

Worst car....1972 Midget.
total pain to work on, always broke.

Best car to drive on the street, have fun.
1972 Midget top down, sunny days
When the SU carbs were synced, points were working, it had a good head gasket, clutch throwout bearing was not fried.
The car was a flat out blast to drive.
over steer.....under steer no problem with that go cart.
I was so happy when I sold it.....still miss it.
It needed a 2300 swap.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Worst was my first car, 91' Grand am. Thing almost lived in the repair shop. But it was my first and I drove the crap outa it.

Best was prob a hand me down 97' cavalier. Starter, Alt, 4 plugs and a vcg is all it needed in 150k.

My fav car is the viii. I treat it much like I did my old caprice.

 

[thaywood]

I just remembered another "worst" car. It was a 1982 Mustang Ghia hatch with the 2.8L V-6 and automatic. After I bought it and got it home I decided to change the oil. While it was running, I took the filler cap off the valve cover and the blowby was so bad it felt like a hair dryer. Promptly stopped payment on the check and returned the car to the seller. I owned that car for less than 24 hours.

Next on the list of worst cars would have to be my '78 Mustang King Cobra. I don't even know why I bought that car. It had a slightly massaged 302 with an automatic. Handled like crap, rode like crap, and had zero back seat room and not much front seat room. It was waaaay too small for me. I didn't keep it long either.

One of my favorite cars was my '79 Lincoln Town Coupe. Oh how I loved that car. The 400M V-8 was a pathetic boat anchor of an engine, but that car was such a sweet ride. I miss it.

I have to say the most reliable and pretty much bulletproof car I've ever had was my '87 Mustang 2.3L 5-speed hatch with T-Tops. That's the one I put the '88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe rear end, sway bars, brakes, wheels, and electronic shocks/struts in. I also put in a '79 Mustang tubular header and open element air filter with no silencer. The only time that car ever gave me any problems was when the clutch finally gave up. I bought it witht 60K miles and sold it with 250K. Never turned a bolt on the engine except for regular maintenance and tune ups. And it got 30mpg all the time! Didn't have a lot of power, but it was so much fun to drive with that T-Bird adjustable suspension. I miss that car.

 

[topher5150]

The worst would have to be my 8 jetta. In the few months that I owned it the front caliper seized an hour from home. The back wheel cylinder got stuck open, reverse and 5th wouldn't stay engaged I oils see through the floor boards and rocker panels, no speeding, the exhaust popped off, and then the tyranny went bye bye

 

[*Maverick*]

I just remembered another "worst" car. It was a 1982 Mustang Ghia hatch with the 2.8L V-6 and automatic. After I bought it and got it home I decided to change the oil. While it was running, I took the filler cap off the valve cover and the blowby was so bad it felt like a hair dryer. Promptly stopped payment on the check and returned the car to the seller. I owned that car for less than 24 hours.

Those early-80's Mustangs just weren't very good to you, were they? That reminds me of the '82 T-Bird Town Landau I had. Would have been a nice car, except it had the crappy 4.2L 255 V8 (basically, a de-bored, de-stroked 5.0 if I remember correctly). TERRIBLE engine. Reliable, maybe, but didn't have the power to get out of its own way. No wonder they only built that anemic engine a couple years. I should've done an engine swap on it. It would've made a hell of a sleeper, but I never did. Like many of my other old cars, I still have it, but I ran it into the ground and it's been sitting several years. It'd take alot to fix it up now, much less to resto-mod it.

One of my favorite cars was my '79 Lincoln Town Coupe. Oh how I loved that car. The 400M V-8 was a pathetic boat anchor of an engine, but that car was such a sweet ride. I miss it.

Oh man, nice ride! I love those 77-79 Town Coupes after they went to that big Rolls-Royce grille up front like the Marks had. That's the bad thing about the 79 models though- that was the first year the 460 wasn't available as an option.

 

[thaywood]

Oh man, nice ride! I love those 77-79 Town Coupes after they went to that big Rolls-Royce grille up front like the Marks had. That's the bad thing about the 79 models though- that was the first year the 460 wasn't available as an option.

Oh yeah! That car was just plain awesome! It was enormous, comfortable, roomy, smooth riding, quiet, and luxurious. Plus it was, in my opinion, a beautiful automobile!

Here she is/was:



This is yet another car I kick myself for selling every time I think about it.

 

[*Maverick*]

Oh yeah! That car was just plain awesome! It was enormous, comfortable, roomy, smooth riding, quiet, and luxurious. Plus it was, in my opinion, a beautiful automobile!

Here she is/was:

View attachment 68307

This is yet another car I kick myself for selling every time I think about it.

That is one good looking car! I see you had the BIG sunroof too. That's one thing I wish my 72 Mark IV had, but those seem to be much more popular on the late-70's Lincolns than the early-70's. If I'm not mistaken, I remember hearing about late-70's Continental Coupes/Town Coupes with glass roofs. This was way back about 10 years ago when I'd first got my '72 and was on a few classic Lincoln groups/forums (back when you could actually find some good ones for the 70's Lincolns). I don't recall ever seeing a picture of one, though.

 

[*Maverick*]

Just did a Google search. Here's one with the glass roof.

 

[thaywood]

Now that's interesting. I've never seen one of those. It's pretty cool, but I really don't like that color I would love to find another one like the one I had, but I haven't seen one in 20 some years I don't think there are many of them around anymore. It would be a perfect candidate for a 460 swap

 

[bigltc]

Worst: 1983 Chevrolet Celebrity. This thing ate water pumps and radiators. The heater grid plate on the carb was replaced a couple of times. The guy I got this car from only had it dealer serviced. Literally every other bolt on the car was stripped.

Best was my '86 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series. Had it for 13 years.

 

[*Maverick*]

Now that's interesting. I've never seen one of those. It's pretty cool, but I really don't like that color I would love to find another one like the one I had, but I haven't seen one in 20 some years I don't think there are many of them around anymore. It would be a perfect candidate for a 460 swap

You could probably find another one. I don't see them often, but I do see them occasionally (the more common ones I see are Continentals and Town Cars in the 4 door models, but I've seen Coupes too). There was one on Craigslist recently, but it was a 76 model I think (had the wide grille instead of the Rolls-Royce style grille like the 77-79's). I believe it was either in the Charlotte, Winston-Salem, or Greensboro craigslist because those are the ones I check most often.

EDIT: Here's the ad ( http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/2864998825.html )

Best was my '86 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series. Had it for 13 years.

I grew up in one of these, and I think that's really what got me started on Lincolns because I thought that was the coolest car as a kid. I was born in '86 and my parents traded my mom's '79 T-Bird in on an '86 Towncar base model (slightly used at the time) because they needed something with 4 doors to haul me around in. The car was white with a navy blue leather interior, and we kept the car until 1997 when my parents traded it on on their first Mark VIII (94 Champagne).

 

[Dave 88 LSC]

Since you guys brought up Town Coupes, which I love.
I thought Id put in this pic of my 73 I had a few years back.

 

[Dave 88 LSC]

I thought Id put in this pic of my 73 I had a few years back.

[/quote]


Car was built well. Very strong. But it was a useless car. It was huge on the outside, not that big on the inside. Was slow, got 6 MPG.
It was a great looking car and very cool to look at, even to drive it once a week or so. People stared. I once rolled up to a Prius asked him to roll down his window and said " I get 6 MPG in this thing" smiled and rolled away.
Otherwise, the car was totally useless.

Must have been cool driving around in 70s with a few girls, a couple of 8 balls and some funky music.

Dad had a 79 Town Car Collectors Series back in the day. Since then I love Lincolns. One day Ill get me a 78 Town Car. 460 and all.One day.

Here side to side with the 7

 

[slowmkviii]

That is an awesome car to bad you didn't get a mark III that had some balls.

 

[Dave 88 LSC]

That is an awesome car to bad you didn't get a mark III that had some balls.

I never liked Mark III. Its cool and and all but not what I like.

I was gonna use Mark III Dove heads and all. I was saving for a house at that time and keeping that car was just not that important. And again, it was useless as a car. You couldnt drive it every day, and paying 150 for a garage spot was just not worth it at that time. I Sold it and bought a Mark VIII so I wouldnt have to use my VII that often.

 

[kaha]

I never liked Mark III. Its cool and and all but not what I like.

And THAT, my friend, is the only thing that really matters.

I love my VIII to death, it's everything I wanted in a car. If I were a wealthy man I'd search for a '96 LSC in mint condition with less than 20k on it, and would slap down 50k for it without batting an eyelash.

But I like your VII as well, and I'm curious about them. Never had the pleasure of driving one.