General non-MG related discussions. No politics here please!!
What was the worst POS you ever owned that fell in the circle of LBC's. Mine was a TR4 that I bought from a Horse trator but I could not help myself, I needed this car the same way a junkey needs a fix. We spent six months together, all bad. Had something to do with blonds and college.
Dave
dte948 Wrote:
Thats easy...
1972 Honda 600- It had a 2 cyl. 600cc. engine. I can't even begin to list everything that went wrong with it and parts were impossible.
I will say I learned how to "make do" with this car. Duct tape and coat hangers.
My motorcycles had bigger engines. I think the tires were 9 inches.
I can see my father now shaking his head...
Shoot Don, I'd forgotten the 600 Honda. Lived on a diet of spark plugs and 12" tires that shredded themselves monthly. Unsafe at any speed. However, if we are talking LBCs, then a '64 MG 1100 had to take the prize. Beatiful inside and outside. DPO had Goodyear Blue Streak racing tires on it. Thought it ran pretty smooth til I went by a friends to show it off. He took one look and said "unload that thing NOW!" I did and I heard that within a week the engine exploded on the next guy that bought it (from a dealer). It was filled with STP.
Don That's funny. I picked up one of those with a blown engine about 1982. Rebuilt the engine & trans, did the brakes & sold it to my sister-in-law. She was living in thurmont & going to school @ Hood College in Fredneck. Then she graduatedfrom Hood, got divorced & started going to grad school @ GWU, still living in Frederick County & commuting in the 600. for her last year of grad school we upgraded her to a Civic 1200 but the 600 hadn't failed, her back couldn't take the bouncing.
Worst LBC probably the1200 Spit that the floors were so far gone on that the axles floated in the wheelwells. That one had one wooden floor & one made out of galvanized roofing material.
1964 Tr4 which I talked my Dad into buying. We missed out on a beautiful 64 Alfa spider
that was for sale for 900.00 The TR was 800.00 and my Dad had it for about a year before he sold it to me , SMART MAN! I drove up and down the driveway for a year until I got my license. Took a girl to the Jersey shore on a first date and enjoyed leaking oil streaming onto the head pipe in bumper to bumper Rt.9 traffic. Totally rebuilt the engine and replaced the rusty perforated fenders and it still leaked! Dumped it on an unsuspecting mechanic. Bought a 65 GTO ( Rusty) and had fun stoppin my foot to the floor. Of course after I wrecked my 65 goat I bought a TR6, so you know this LBC stuff is a real disease.:)
My '69 Sprite lived outdoors behind a barn for years until the PO bought it from the farmer, got it running, and sold it to a sucker (me). I have no idea what held it together. Prayer, mostly.
..it wasn't mine, but I felt like I was part owner,I worked on it and towed it home for my friend many times.....a 69 Lotus Elan
here it is after I had worked on the engine and just come back from a high speed test run,notice the wheel and KO in my driveway. He had dropped the car off at lunch time for me to look at. He had been working on the brakes and forgot to tighten the KO's
I also had a 64 Karman Ghia that gave me headaches for sure...the battery fell out while driving of the back seat, through the rusted floorboards and one time I lost a
rear wheel..just went rolling past me with a 20 foot rooster tail of sparks....Ahhh, those were the days.
When I joined Facebook many old friends commented that I always had a crazy car.
A 1969 Ford Torino GT fast back. Bought it new and it was fine in the summer but in the winter I could never keep the door locks from freezing. Had a 69 Ford Fairlane at the same time and that was fine. Came out of work one night when it was colder than a well diggers you know what and I couldn't get either door to unlock. Finally I broke the window and crawled in. I took it to the dealers the following day and when I drove in adn I climbed out the window. He wrote up the repair sheet and told me to put the car "over there". I said it's in your facility now and it's your job to move it. When he asked me how I thought he was going to get in I told the same way I just got out. Dumped it before another winter rolled around. Neeldless to say he wasn't too happy with a pretty good number of customers standing around. I did get a round of applause from them though.
George
...Peter, my wife bought one of those,..........I have never driven a bigger POS.
65 pull-handle MGB that was not really even suited to be a parts car, but I drove it anyway:
LBC wise, I have loved everyone I have owned.
Biggest POS was a 98 Ford Contour that owned for all of 6 months, out of which it spent probably close to half of that in the shop. Traded it in on the 98 Grand Am whichi n 18 months has had one problem - a worn clutch at 114,000 miles. It now has 144576 miles on it.
Give us a clue, I get POS, but LBC??
Layland British Car?
Late British Car?
LBC = Little British Car. It's a (damned) Colonial thing. :)
Worst one was an extremely rusty Midget parts car. A friend of mine traded a guy a Grassroots Motorsports T-shirt for it. My friend kept the taillights and I got the rest of the rusty carcass. I got a few good parts off of it.
Don, that is a kick-ass ride! I wish I had one! The worst car I ever owned was a 4 cyl Mustang II with an automatic transmission. The top speed on the car was 60mph. My 74 B is my 1st LBC and I don't ever intend to sell it.
72 Midget. Had to brake with the parking brake, every time a front came through, I had to re-tune the carbs, blew the engine. I'm 6'3" and it wasn't, the seat would freeze solid in the winter and I would, literally, freeze my a$$ off, my head would push up the top until the seat thawed.
Loved every moment in it.
Not a LBC but the worst car I've ever owned.
1976 Plymouth Volare
Everything but the engine was a problem. Had to keep a igniton ballast resistor and fuel filter with you at all times.
This ist of bad things in the first 2 years is toooo loing to list.....
I hear K cars were worse.....
LBC's? 61 TR-3A. I bought it from a prof at school in 1966 as my very first LBC and it was falling apart. It was the sort of car that LBC Urban legends and britcar mythology were built on. The prof was a gyro gearloose type who knew nothing about maintenance but lots about math. But even so, so much on that car was rotting away or falling apart and it was only 5 yrs old! Seats rotted, fenders rotting, carpet but a memory, front suspension bushings gone to hell, cooling system that had found every leak in itself, pot metal pieces that broke regularly, and Lucas Electrics that would have made the Prince of Darkness proud! And it rode and handled like a buckboard.
I suppose that this should have caused me to swear off of LBCs, but the next one I owned, also a 1961, a 1600 MGA, was almost the polar opposite, and it hadn't even been all that well maintained! I had few problems, it rode and handled far better, and served remarkably well in 1970s Los Angeles traffic for several years. Probably why I am into MGs and not TRs.
Since I'm new to MG's and British cars for that matter, I can only comment on the only car I've ever owned that I absolutely hated.
My 198-something Plymouth K-car ...Cant remember the exact year, I think it was a 85'.
It was white with the most uncomfortable,ugly, bright red, bench seats. I bought it for about $500 just to get from home, to school, to work and back home again.. that's it. The car was the biggest POS I ever owned (I and I've owned a few dossies). Ride was horrible and it looked like a white box on wheels. Had it for about 2 months when the engine mounts broke about 3 blocks from school and the engine was hanging down. The car was bucking all over the place cause the engine was angled away from the transmission. I remember going under the car and bench pressing the engine back up and resting it on what was left of the mounts... limped back to the school parking lot and waited for the tow truck.
Had em tow it right to the scrap yard.
worst car I ever owned,.,.,. 1973 buick riviera,. I bought this from a pontiac dealer,. 1977, had 50,000 miles,. copper and white,. looked real sharp,.boat tail rivi-
everything on the car very quickly fell apart,. steering wheel bearing went out over and over,. power windows went to hell fast,. engine had to replaced- ( got a used 455 buick from a junk yard) bumper to bumper pure junk,.,. and gas mileage around 8 mpg.
best car I ever had was a 1966 olds toronado,. silver,. bought from local olds dealer,. in 1972,. this was a great road car,. very well built,. not one complaint,.
after the bad buick,. drove chevy trucks,. for many years,.
then got into VW bugs,.,. and karman ghias,.
never planned on ever owning an MG,.
Never driven a POS, but I bought many of them. Built them drove them and sold them. With the exception of the cars I bought for my Ex I have always basically built my own rides. I do have a F150 and Grand Am now but still have the MG project and my '66 Chevy stepside project that I have had for almost 30 years. One day hopefully both will be finished.
Worst of all the "adopted" cars my Ex had a 75 Mustang II that I refused to work on. It finally was knocking so bad she quit driving it. I sold it to the garbage man for 2 cases of beer, Boy was he a SUCKER!!! :drinking:
The bugeye I am restoring. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2203663
Pete
