Regrettable Vehicle choices.

[Foxtrot X-Ray]

After having to purchase even more tools to work on the (Would be, if it #$%@-ing Worked) daily driver, I thought it'd be a fun thread to tell the story of... Ill advised vehicular choices.
What was it?
What did you choose it over?
What was the plan for the one that got away?

My story.

What I had originally planned upon was a 1994-1998 Mustang Base model.
As I had no intention of racing with it, I specifically aimed at a V-6 model for Fuel and insurance reasons.

However, I soon spied a Black on black, '98 GT for a mere $1200.
82,560 actual miles, but it did look like it had fallen off the set of a Mel Gibson movie.
The reason for the low price tag was it's appearance and the fact that it didn't run right - No power.
Upon investigation, the problem turned out to be an incomplete swap from Automatic trans to manual - you MUST either replace or reprogram the Engine Control Module in these cases... They had not.
It also needed most of it's interior reassembled, a stereo and the A/C was only evidenced by empty compressor bracket and amputated hoses

All in all, with half an hour under a shade tree and $100, it was a driver, and I could replace the rest a bit at a time as I went along.

"I think this one will be MINE..."

Planned alterations included replacing the front bumper (It was from a Cobra, I prefer the standard) a Wings West front lip spoiler, Mach-1 style ram air hood, shaker air intake, Saleen S281 style rear spoiler and something less Blingy in the way of rims.


Then, Mrs X-Ray texts me a photo of a silver 2000 Mustang at a local car lot.
Her wording was "How about THIS one? It's Prettyt"
$4950, V-6, 5-speed, Great A/C and an even Better Stereo
And the wife hated the Black on black.

Well, I mulled both cars over for a few days, then one morning, I leave the house for work at 7:30 AM and it had already hit 40C...

"I'm getting the one with good A/C"

Since then, it's had numerous electrical faults, a cracked exhaust manifold and a plugged/melted Catalytic Converter


Wish I'd bought the cheap, ugly car.


Your turn.

[themanw/oaname]

my fiance hates my 98 mustang gt convertible but she hates everything i really like.

so she can deal with my mustang. i dont give a shit what she thinks.


anyway, it's going through it's "im almost 20 years old, man." repairs now. i have some plans to make it look like the v8 BOB; having looked into hard tops for the convertible top, cervini ram air hood, the correct radials and same model wheels (backspacing seems to be what's slowing that down). the interior and paint are shot and i havent had A/C in two years (but i have windows and it's a convertible). i wish i could find some vinyl seats that look like xb fairmonts and fit my seats, i'd get them in a heart beat.


the ONLY vehicle regret i have is that shitbox cavalier ss some garbage that i was forced to have between mustangs. seriously the shittiest piece of shit to ever come by. everything on that car was garbage. it ran like garbage. it didnt say it was low on oil and the engine died. i spent way too much on that car and way too much to repair it and a third of that was what that pile of shit was worth. i was so pissed when i bought that car and i was so happy to get rid of it. i was forced to get it, because my 98 was in a car accident - there werent ant 98's available at the time - and my dad had this dumb shit idea in his head that a cavalier was the same or better and he wouldnt let it go. he forced me to test drive it, i didnt say a word the whole time except that i hated the fucking car and i have no part in buying it. that was when i was a lot younger and my parents had more influence with decisions in my life - though at the time i'd been living on my own and taking care of my finances for years.

[zebramoth]

The worst vehicle I ever bought was a 1994 BMW station wagon.

[Nightwalker]

About 6 years ago I had a Fiat Tempra S.W. One of the basic models but I loved the car. A lot of space inside for transporting big stuff and I did some modifications myself.
At that time I had to drive 100km a day to work and back. The fuel costs of the Tempra where twice the travel expense I got from work. So I was already looking for an other Fiat with LPG. But I always though by myself; "I will never by a shitbox like the Palio Weekend." Damn ugly car.
But one day during winter, I was just a few hundred meters from work, I was on a parallel road, a few meters higher, next to the highway I just left.
When I got to a curve it turned out the road was completely iced up. Steering, braking, nothing had any effect. The car just went straight on. I hit a tree stump with the left front wheel what lifted the car up at that side. The car landed on his right side nose down facing the highway. The subframe took the whole impact, so the whole chassis was bent a little bit. You could barely see it. That was the end of my Tempra S.W.
I phoned to my mother (we live in the same street) that I crashed my car. She started looking for an other car on the internet.
After work she told me she had found an other Fiat stationwagon with LPG G3. A Palio Weekend.
I needed an other car very quickly because the travel distance for work. So this became a very impulsive buy. Sigh
The car was of real South American quality. Build in Brazil. A real money pit in repairs.
After I bought it I made an appointment with the Fiat dealer (didn't bought it there) for a checkup and to replace all the belts and stuff. Had to wait three weeks. After one and a half week three quarter of the ribs of the timingbelt came off. 16 Bent valves. no further damage tho. Spent a lot of money on fixing the engine. Mostly myself. After that I had more repair done over time. Broken alternator, DIS-ignition coil and more. And the cylinderhead has been removed 3 times in the time I had the car. Those 1.6 16V engines are strong engines and run well, if they run
Eventually the car didn't pass the APK (our version of the yearly inspection) because it was completely rotten under the plastic side skirts.
Finally the end of that shitbox. Now I have a Marea Weekend HLX with a 5 cylinder Lancia Kappa engine. Very reliable cars.

Here's a picture of my Palio with a trailer with my Bertone X1/9 hobby car on it.

[Turbofurball]

Heh, sooo many. Mostly ones where I've thought "Hmm, there's problems, I should probably walk away, but I really want this!"

The most recent was a 1980 Honda 250, no two panels matched and while it had had loads of work done it still didn't run right ... sold it recently at a loss after fixing most of the problems, it still didn't run quite right though, lol. Still, it did teach me a couple of new things about fixing old bikes, and my girlfriend took her first steps into motorbike riding on it, so it wasn't all bad