A car you owned, and still love, but would never own again.

probably my maximas. Great cars, reliable, decent mpg, and had good interior space.

Just one problem, they are FWD. I'll probably own a minimal of FWD cars from now on.

~Alex

2000 Land Rover Disco II. Learned there's a reason why used ones are so cheap.

'73 Merc 220 gasser. Regal and elegant and SLOW!!!

My z31 I got back in '98 while still in high school.

Loved that car, did lots of mods to it. Great fun car. But the thought of dealing with the wonky electrics (now another 10 years later), persistent part throttle hesitation around 2800rpms that we could never fix or the absolutely abhorrent rear suspension geometry.

But I loved it then!

EricM wrote: Fiero, I miss it everyday, I will NOT buy another one. It was like a lovely girlfriend, who had a drug addiction. She was nice to you and then BAM cold hard bitch.

This!, I had a couple of them. Loved them dearly. But the time i had to replace the exhaust manifold on the four banger I swore them off. I miss them so much. I LOVED how to could push them to the edge till the front started sliding just a hair and just ease off the gas and everything was good. great car, PITA to work on

Stealth RT/TT. Loved that car, deeply, for a variety of reasons. In all honesty, it was probably instrumental in landing the girl of my dreams (still with her 13 years later - she's pouring me a whisky right now!)

I want another one sooooo bad. But I have cold-sweat anxiety dreams about the repairs. Ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag, those cars. Damn shame.

I'm probably not smart enough to avoid buying one in the future, purely out of blind nostalgia. I'll regret it. But that's what we do, right?

Right?

A '73 Triumph Stag with a Buick 232.

My 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super. I labored on that car from 1986 through 2002, then finally sold it (after turning it into a really hot street Alfa) to a guy who finished what I started and made it into a racecar. He won a championship and also blew up several engines. I took the money and bought a 2003 MINI Cooper S. I've never looked back, and never regretted the decision.

alex wrote: I *want* another one sooooo bad. But I have cold-sweat anxiety dreams about the repairs. Ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag, those cars. Damn shame. I'm probably not smart enough to avoid buying one in the future, purely out of blind nostalgia. I'll regret it. But that's what we do, right? Right?

Depends. Weekend toy or daily driver? Do you have a place to put a toy car? Repairs can be easier to deal with when you aren't under the gun to get to work the next day. From what I've seen, nice clean Stealths are getting hard to come by and have the potential to become a future 'classic' in the same vein as other semi-popular Japanese cars that don't seem to have survived well.

Mazda RX8. It was my dream car of a first car that I would buy after engineering school. I graduated and got a job and bought one. The Winning Metallic Blue color with the exact options I wanted (basically a base model with the LSD).

That car handled beautifully! However, It is a gas hog and slower than my FC Turbo II.

I think those cars would be perfect with a NA 20B under the hood.

1990 turbo grand prix. swapped to 5 speed manual, bigger turbo, custom programming, faster than my vette. but it was FWD, i loved the car but hate FWD.

Corrado SLC. Contrary to the collective experience on this forum, mine was 100% trouble free for 75K miles of road and track. Now and then I see one, sigh, and walk on. At the age they're at now, owning one would have to be an utter nightmare. But for some perverted reason, I'm pfaffing about with late E30 Tin tops.

m

Never is such a harsh term. Heck I've had cars that I've hated that I'd own again under the right circumstances.

Only thing that pops to mind is my 1990 Chevy Cavalier. But I didnt love it then and I still find them tremendously boring. But then again, for the right price and circumstance (BABE rally?) I'd own another just for giggles.

My name is Jim and Im a caraholic.

The two Spitfires I currently own. If I could sell them I wouldn't likely buy any more. I want a proper TR, a 3 through 6, something with some legs.

Interesting thread!

There are several cars I have owned and enjoyed but would probably never want to own again.

I have always wondered why the Jaguar Mk 9 doesn't get more love. All of the styling and none of the foibles of the early 50s Bentleys - a real embodiment of the Space, Grace, Pace advertising slogan Jaguar used to use. It had big 4 wheel disc brakes, a 3.8 DOHC engine (while the Rolls and Bentley had a pushrod and all drum brakes) and while it had all the aerodynamic qualities of a billboard, I did have it up to 110 MPH on occasion. It weighed no more than a more modern but smaller XJS did and had real walnut and heavy leather and wool interior, not the MacTac we see today. Bought it in the early 1970s, used it to drive to the church to get married in the late 1970s and finally passed it on to a new owner. Still wonder where it is, but happy I don't know lest nostalgia tempt me to consider repurchasing it. ot many of these stately beasts left now.

I have also owned at least a dozen Triumphs. Had two favourites, a very stock low port head 90 BHP 1954 long door RHD TR-2 that I mostly drove with Brooklands screens. At the track day at Westwood in the late 1970s, it would do an honest 110 MPH at 5500 rpm (about all one should risk) and one tended to overlook the almost complete laclk of brakes (all drums) after the first lap) and the typical idiosyncratic Triumph handling. (Same period, same number plate). Build quality and ill handling chassis that things kept tearing off finally disinclined me against owning any more TRs, much as I have enjoyed them (have owned TR-2, TR-3, TR-3A, TR-3B, TR-4, TR-4A, Swallow Doretti)

Finally, I havbe a lot of love for the 1988 Fiero (and almost complete disdain for the earlier ones, which were garbage based on Chevette and Citation components). They handled well, and after I turboed a stroker engine for mine, also went very well. Now selling it after owning it for almost 20 years, in favour of a new acquisition, the 09 Solstice coupe. At the rate GM puts out cars that have any interest to me, I don't expect to see anything that tweaks my imagination until about 2025, and I doubt that I'll be interested.

Fiero in foreground , strips of rubber not mine! I miis (or will miss) all of them but wouldn't want to own any of them again.

Lamborghini Jarama S. Fantastic sounds, smooth power, unique looks and an absolute nightmare to keep on the road.

Jensen Interceptor. Owned a few of the things-including a RHD, fabric sunroof equipped National concours winner. Very nice cross country tourer and I even auto-X'd own of mine a few times. All that being said, they essentially needed a complete rewire and a revamp of the cooling system to provide anything resembling reliable transport.

350 SLC. Just way too expensive to fix the rust on (and EVERY ONE that I have seen has been rusty). 3.5L was silky smooth, with lots of high end power. Nicer than the 4.5 that we got on this side of the pond.

forzav12 wrote: Lamborghini Jarama S. Fantastic sounds, smooth power, unique looks and an absolute nightmare to keep on the road. Jensen Interceptor. Owned a few of the things-including a RHD, fabric sunroof equipped National concours winner. Very nice cross country tourer and I even auto-X'd own of mine a few times. All that being said, they essentially needed a complete rewire and a revamp of the cooling system to provide anything resembling reliable transport.

Funny coincidence that two of your 'never again' cars are two of my current stable! The Lambo I have is an Isleor S but still an early front engine 400 GT with the same engine, and I also still have a couple of Jensens (one an Interceptor). Agree that they are great grand touring cars and also agree that the big Chrysler did tend to cook the insulation on the engine bay wiring loom! No problems with the cooling.

Neither has pissed me off enough so far, that I would be tempted to add them to my ex-car list.

wspohn wrote:

forzav12 wrote: Lamborghini Jarama S. Fantastic sounds, smooth power, unique looks and an absolute nightmare to keep on the road. Jensen Interceptor. Owned a few of the things-including a RHD, fabric sunroof equipped National concours winner. Very nice cross country tourer and I even auto-X'd own of mine a few times. All that being said, they essentially needed a complete rewire and a revamp of the cooling system to provide anything resembling reliable transport.

Funny coincidence that two of your 'never again' cars are two of my current stable! The Lambo I have is an Isleor S but still an early front engine 400 GT with the same engine, and I also still have a couple of Jensens (one an Interceptor). Agree that they are great grand touring cars and also agree that the big Chrysler did tend to cook the insulation on the engine bay wiring loom! No problems with the cooling. Neither has pissed me off enough so far, that I would be tempted to add them to my ex-car list.

That is amusing! Don't get me wrong, I still love both cars and have had some memorable experiences, indeed, with Interceptors in particular. I've simply found vintage Ferrari's to be far more reliable and usable than Lamborghini's(although I would like to have my old 400GT back in the fleet!). Cooling issues on my Jensen's were exasperated by my need to continually flog the beasties!

wspohn wrote:

This car is better than sex. BRG, wire wheels..............

pete240z wrote:

wspohn wrote:

This car is better than sex. BRG, wire wheels..............

Yeah, although I was also racing my Twin Cam MGA at the time, I wanted the TR-2 to handle decently even though I just took it out for a couple of track days.

I had another TR-3 that was fast - 'only' about 135 BHP with a 2.2 high compression engine. Ran it on the street on some rather rare competition MGB wire wheels (several MGB guys were bent out of shape that I wouldn't sell them to them). 14x5.5 and I ran modern low profile tires, so the effective diff ratio was dropped to maybe 4.1, but it had OD so I didn't care. Probably the quickest TR I ever built, but like all of them, a diabolical handler even with Konis, bars and everything else you can do to tame them.

Drove a friend that was also a racer (Genie Buick sports racer) along a winding road in the TR3 and he swore I was crazy and trying to kill us. I just handed the keys to him (he also owned a TR) and said he should have a try. Afterwards, he agreed that the TR was trying to kill us both. Reasonable on the street, but a handful on the track.

I fitted 5.5" TR6 wires (strong enough for the track), some uprated shocks and a sway bar to try and keep it reasonable. Still diabolical when really pushed although quite decent when running 810.

As for sex, that is my wife hiding behind my nomex bandana....I wouldn't presume to rank the two.....

phaze1todd wrote: 2000 Land Rover Disco II. Learned there's a reason why used ones are so cheap.

QFT, only mine was a '98. Extremely random electrical problems, window regulators that like to break at the most inopportune time (like while snowing), and a ignition tumbler that only liked to release the key after fumbling with it for 5 min. The worst part was mine was only 3 years old when I bought it and had low mileage.

Not to mention it drank gas and was never as sure footed in the snow as I thought it should have been.

I still like the looks of them though and even looked at one last year. Luckily I came to my senses.

Marty! wrote:

phaze1todd wrote: 2000 Land Rover Disco II. Learned there's a reason why used ones are so cheap.

QFT, only mine was a '98. Extremely random electrical problems, window regulators that like to break at the most inopportune time (like while snowing), and a ignition tumbler that only liked to release the key after fumbling with it for 5 min. The worst part was mine was only 3 years old when I bought it and had low mileage. Not to mention it drank gas and was never as sure footed in the snow as I thought it should have been. I still like the looks of them though and even looked at one last year. Luckily I came to my senses.

Mine kept on frying engine block sensors due to a valve cover gasket leak. "Just change the gasket", you say? You need to pull the whole intake system just to get to the valve covers. If the shop manual quoted 8 hours to accomplish this I wasn't about to berkeley with it my self and I wasn't gonna pay for 16 hours of shop time to do it. A month later at 65,000 miles the valve train gave up the ghost.

And to add a second, I loved my 84 3rdgen camaro to death. Full bolt on Ls1 power, 6 speed. Piece of E36 M3. crap rear end, rattle trap E36 M3 can leaky t-tops. I had a roll cage and new t-top seals. Tach would randomly stop working. Speedo would randomly squeek. Rain would somtimes come in the lille triangle filler panel between the door and glass. Broke a torque arm....

god it was fast, Dyno'd 390hp at the back tires

MG Midget and a GT6. Loved them. Fun as hell to drive but my body says 'no way will you ever get out once you get in'.

Oh.... who am I kidding, I would kill for either of them again