Cars you KNOW are terrible ideas that will end in tears and sadness, but....

alfa 164

e46 wagon

uh, this..

" 2 for $900 they run ,,,1976 lancia scorpion , same as fiat or alfa - $900"

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/cto/4796816661.html

bluej wrote: uh, this.. " 2 for $900 they run ,,,1976 lancia scorpion , same as fiat or alfa - $900" http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/cto/4796816661.html

Is he another GRM'er? Interesting list of trades he'd take...

I've always wanted one of these:

poopshovel wrote: I have a bad habit of doing a sub $5k search for "AMG" on craigslist.

It's like looking into a mirror...

I also lust for a Biturbo with a 4.8...weekly.

The LWB Range Rover would just be justified as the cost of doing business. Same with a 200 20VQ Avant (a major want).

bluej wrote: uh, this.. " 2 for $900 they run ,,,1976 lancia scorpion , same as fiat or alfa - $900" http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/cto/4796816661.html

Crap, I didn't even see this when I posted the Lancia photo. I'd buy one gargaged runner for $900 in a heartbeat, but I know that there's no way that I'd survive two trips to DC and back towing a trailer.

bluej wrote: uh, this.. " 2 for $900 they run ,,,1976 lancia scorpion , same as fiat or alfa - $900" http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/cto/4796816661.html

So very glad that these are out there and not near me. I would have to live in a garage to rebuild one of them.

I've owned at least three of the nightmare cars on this list (1G DSM, modded turbo FC RX-7, Alfa 164). The DSM was an unmitigated disaster, mainly because it it combined the DSM's unreliability with a metric butt-ton of rust. I was so happy to see it get carted away on that flatbed.

I still have the FC and 164. The FC hasn't left storage for years, so I will be selling it once winter is over. I have 2 spare engines but have had no time or space to work on it.

The Alfa suffered a bent conrod thanks to a bad injector hydrolocking a cylinder, but I consider that a self-inflicted wound (That's what I get for not testing the new old fuel injectors beforehand. ALWAYS test your injectors, people!). It hasn't been bad otherwise. You don't get a mid-90's Italian car to over 200,000 miles on the odometer unless you do something right, and it's still damn quick to boot.

As for my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad project car idea, I'd love to import a Delta Integrale now that they've become legal. All of the Alfa 164's unreliability, with none of the parts support in the US!

Ummm.... I bought a V-10 M5. How bad can it really be?

Here's a list of all that has gone wrong since I bought it... in September...

• thermostat
• cats, O2 sensors, exhaust manifold
• steering position sensor
• cross threaded license plate bolts
• steer column adjustment control not working
• alternator
• new battery

All that said, I haven't shelled out a dime yet. CarMax has taken care of them all.

And the car, even with the check engine light on, is flipping spectacular!

http://www.alsoranracing.com/?p=568

If I had the scratch:

I am not sure my list fits but here goes:

• Ford Escort Cosworth or Sierra Cosworth.
• Mazda RX-7 - make it a turbo.
• Audi 90 Quattro with a 5 cyl turbo motor swapped - nothing sounds like a 5 cyl bouncing off the rev limiter!!!

Swank Force One wrote: In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid: So you're saying you know those are all terrible, but you would highly consider buying them anyways?

Oh for sure

As someone that's had more than a few dozen Alfas and Fiats, you'd think I would know better. But...there's an Audi R4S for sale at the local dealer...and yes...I seriously want that car.

In reply to racerdave600:

I had a guy at work with a B5 S4 @ 151k that broke the timing belt. He was trying to GIVE me the car and I thought long and hard about it. He had just replaced the turbos at 140k. Ultimately... I walked away because I couldn't find anything cheap to swap into it that was more awesome that what it had and the junkyard wanted huge money for a low miles 2.7L. Not really huge, like $4k, but I figured I could have bought a whole running car with that mileage for $7500. I didn't know the VAG stuff well enough to wing it and so I told him to put it on CL for whatever number he could get. He put it up for 3k and it was gone in a couple hours.

DOH.

The trident beckons me. Let's go big on bad ideas - salvage title modern maserati. OTOH, when the f-1 clutch packs take a dump, it could make a wicked locost with that F-car sourced v8. Seems like there should be other transmission options if you weren't saddled with the combo tranny/diff thing

BradLTL wrote: Ummm.... I bought a V-10 M5. How bad can it really be? Here's a list of all that has gone wrong since I bought it... in September... - thermostat - cats, O2 sensors, exhaust manifold - steering position sensor - cross threaded license plate bolts - steer column adjustment control not working - alternator - new battery All that said, I haven't shelled out a dime yet. CarMax has taken care of them all. And the car, even with the check engine light on, is flipping spectacular! http://www.alsoranracing.com/?p=568

How does THAT go bad??

I want to do an expedition build on a 1998 ML 320. I know it's a terrible idea. I find myself looking at the Porsche Cayenne Transsyberia race trucks, and thinking they'd be cooler as warmed-over Mercs from Alabama.

Um some of these cars are never terrible ideas, like the w126 560SEL. Are the e38 and e31 with V8's really that bad?

That said: I really really find myself looking at cheap BMW's and Mercedes of the 90's with v12's.

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/4787465803.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/4799750813.html

And old Bentleys for under 20k: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/cto/4789098854.html

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4797597394.html

Every time I watch a Mecum Auction i see dozens of late 90's and early 2000's Mercedes V8 and V12 roadsters sell for under $20k, even some AMG's. They're really slick looking cars I think, but I always wonder how much fun they are to drive (like if you put good tires on one will it actually turn?) and also are they actually unreliable or just hella expensive if something breaks?

Mike wrote: I want to do an expedition build on a 1998 ML 320. I know it's a terrible idea. I find myself looking at the Porsche Cayenne Transsyberia race trucks, and thinking they'd be cooler as warmed-over Mercs from Alabama.

We enable here...

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4794917339.html

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4767273506.html

My list...

Porsche 928. Always wanted one, loved them since I was a kid.

Land Rover. Cheap, cheap, cheap on Craigslist. How bad can they be? :)

Twin Turbo Nissan 300Z. Not unreliable, but they do not look like they are fun to work on.

I went and did it, several times

1. Range Rover 97 SSE Supercharged Cameron Concepts, one of three

2. Alfa GTV6

1. Triumph Stag x3, yep three of them, used to have 5

and there is more where that came from..

Things that I actually could have bought:

Range Rover (Classic or P38) Citroen SM Maserati Quattroporte III Mercedes 450sel 6.9 Mercedes w140 300SD Jaguar XJR Infiniti M45 (the last 2 mainly because of how hard they would be to get to pass smog in California).

Things that I want but couldn't afford even the purchase price: Aston Martin Lagonda S2 or S3 Lamborghini Espada

I owned a Milano for a while, they aren't scary. Certainly not perfect, but it was actually pretty reliable and easy to work on. I owned a w126 too, although it was a diesel. They aren't scary either, but can get expensive when they have 450k miles on them.

Fiero?