Unlucky Cars | FerrariChat

Unlucky Cars

Discussion in 'Australia' started by moretti, Dec 20, 2014.

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  1. moretti

    moretti Five Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Nov 1, 2003
    58,222
    Australia
    Full Name:
    John
    I don't know if other people have had them but I've had a couple of cars that were just UNLUCKY.

    Currently the Lexus is filling that position, last 3 Xmases running it has been backed into by women reversing out of carparks.

    I previously had a 3 series BMer that also had monumental bad luck while parked, it got banged a few times while parked, crashed into while sitting at lights, run up the bum by a Starion in an 80 kph zone where I was NOT doing 80 (well over in fact) and the driver said they weren't watching the road.

    I thought my MGB was an unlucky car but in hindsight it was just a pommy POS so all the events in it's life were due solely to the rubbish build.

    But for sheer bad luck the Lexus has them all beaten and yet it is one of the nicer cars I've owned .... it is just jinxed :(
     
  2. ButchFoord

    ButchFoord Karting

    May 3, 2014
    116
    Sydney
    Full Name:
    Aaron (Butch)
    of the 50plus cars I've owned over the years, one stands out as unlucky; a nice top-of-the-range 03 Subaru Outback which was innocently parked on the side of the road when it was involved in a 4 car collision which included a truck. The car looked like it had been in a head-on ($14k damage covered by insurance). A month after I got it back from the panel beaters, it had the whole side almost ripped off by a rubbish skip which was being moved out of the space next to it! Insurance fixed it again and then I sold it, worried that the 3rd time someone might actually be in the car. It seemed like a collision-magnet!
     
  3. PAP 348

    PAP 348 Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Dec 10, 2005
    99,167
    Mount Isa, Australia
    Full Name:
    Pap
    Wow! That's some bad luck right there! :D
     
  4. greg246

    greg246 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Jun 2, 2004
    25,469
    Sydney,Australia
    Full Name:
    Greg
    Triumph Stag, 'nuff said
     
  5. wrxmike

    wrxmike Moderator
    Moderator Owner

    Mar 20, 2004
    7,573
    Full Name:
    Mike
    Hands down winner is the 355C.

    In 30 + years working on many, many cars it's the only one where I have significantly injured myself working on it, nearly blinding myself in one eye. Lots of blood, a deep cut and concussion where the result.
    And of course there was the episode with the delaminating Yokohama A048R tire.... happened the first time I took the missus for a drive.

    For speeding fines my wife's VP Station wagon was the worst, in '93 within 2 month of buying it I had lost 11 of my 12 points in it...... and had only driven it perhaps 10 times.

    M
     
  6. moretti

    moretti Five Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Nov 1, 2003
    58,222
    Australia
    Full Name:
    John
    Oh, I thought I was the only one who had issues working on cars :eek:

    Working on my 355C is a huge pleasure after the Gt4 and the QV, I only get scratches on Satan, the QV and GT4 gave me huge bruises and my swearing vocabulary was extensively used .... particularly when working on either the starter motor or alternator, ...... those who have pulled either of these out without removing the front exhaust will know what I mean.

    I got booked 17 times in a months 25 years ago when I knew my license was toast :eek:

    They gave day licenses back then
     
  7. GTRMagic

    GTRMagic Formula 3

    May 18, 2004
    1,902
    Sydney, Australia
    Full Name:
    Hey Mr Dee Jay....
    Morris Mini K 1100 in white.

    Great little car, nicely balanced on the Michelin X radials.

    Thankfully the police never noticed it enough to pull me over

    But everything kept breaking.

    Most weekends were spent replacing something... universal joints, speedo cable, brakes, carby troubles, water pump, radiators, water hoses, oil leaks, fan belts, crap ignition points, sticky starter solenoids..... it was still pretty easy to get bits from the wreckers back then.. and they didnt want the earth for the key bits

    All these years later I still have marks on my hands and legs when the thing genuinely tried to eat me, to take my blood. Some metric fittings, some imperial, some that the Sidchrome spanners liked, some they didnt... most of the time slipping off their task and making sure I hit something sharp and metal with some piece of me that was exposed.

    The unlucky bit.. one weekend.. had the thing in bits one Saturday afternoon.

    Didnt really feel like putting it back together, but it was going to rain the Sunday, so I worked into the night & made it run again.

    I shouldnt have done that.

    That night, some piece of effluent stole it. Pushed it away from the house, as you could when they weighed barely 600kg, and must have started it out of earshot.

    No insurance. No car. :( Not that it was worth much, but was still my means of getting to work & (sometimes) back.

    And they never found it...
     
  8. Aircon

    Aircon Ten Time F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Jun 23, 2003
    100,524
    Melbourne, Australia
    Full Name:
    Peter
    I only have good luck.
     
  9. simon klein

    simon klein Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Feb 25, 2009
    28,802
    North Qld
    Full Name:
    simon klein
    Sorted.
     
  10. Timmmmmmmmmmy

    Timmmmmmmmmmy F1 Rookie

    Apr 5, 2010
    2,612
    NZ
    Full Name:
    Timothy Russell
    Brilliant post.....
     
  11. Aircon

    Aircon Ten Time F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Jun 23, 2003
    100,524
    Melbourne, Australia
    Full Name:
    Peter
    *shakes head*
     
  12. Dave 456

    Dave 456 Formula 3

    Nov 15, 2007
    1,317
    Sydney, Australia
    Full Name:
    Dave Simons
    Unlucky cars? - I've had 2, only one managed to draw blood. The first was an Alfa 1750 that had all 4 corners taken off in 18 months - every time by a drunk driver, once at 8am. the last one was a well known leftie (any other kind?) indigenous activist lawyer - uninsured of course. I tracked him down and showed him the letter that I was going to give to a couple of right leaning journalists. Paid up without a murmur. He then wanted me to give him a character reference in court!

    The second was a type 36 FHC Elan. Trolley jack broke and a wheel (attached to the car) fell on my foot - in the workshop alone, no phone, no one at home. Fortunately a bit of 4X4 timber in reach, so could lever the thing off my foot. Boots instead of bare feet might have been a smart move, in retrospect. Later, the bloody thing tried to kill me when the gear lever parted company from the gearbox, leaving a boxful of neutrals at 100mph, over the dogleg at Oran Park. On the way home the electrical system progressively fell to bits, the only thing still working was the (mechanical) oil pressure gauge. Sold it to some poor Lotus fan.....
     
  13. ButchFoord

    ButchFoord Karting

    May 3, 2014
    116
    Sydney
    Full Name:
    Aaron (Butch)
    thanks for this one!......it actually gave me a good laugh
     
  14. FazzerPorscheman

    FazzerPorscheman F1 World Champ

    Jul 28, 2010
    14,929
    Piz Gloria
    Full Name:
    EnzoFerdinand
    LOTUS.

    Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious. :)
     
  15. moretti

    moretti Five Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Nov 1, 2003
    58,222
    Australia
    Full Name:
    John
    they wouldn't have noticed any of that trouble :p
     
  16. Dave 456

    Dave 456 Formula 3

    Nov 15, 2007
    1,317
    Sydney, Australia
    Full Name:
    Dave Simons
    Yep, he thought all that was perfectly normal!

    It really was the worst built car I've ever owned - the manufacturing shortcuts in the design were appalling. A mate, who worked at Lotus in the '60s, once told me that they paid something like 30 pounds for a complete body/chassis unit. That was about 29 pounds too much, I reckon.

    That said a well sorted early Elan - preferably owned by someone else - is a wonderful thing to drive - the ride/handling compromise is unmatched - so long as you can give it back when something breaks... as it will.
     
  17. robbo mcs

    robbo mcs Karting

    Nov 2, 2005
    204
    I bought one car new to build into a tarmac rally car. Mine was on order and I had been given a VIN and delivery date. They then rang me a few weeks before it was supposed to arrive, and said your car is ready. After I picked it up I found out that it wasn't the one I had on order, but one that had arrived earlier and someone had backed out of. At that time I had a bad feeling about this, thinking to myself it would be just my luck that this would be a lemon!

    After driving it around for 1000km to run it in, took it out to a track day stock to try it out. The car threw a whole lot of engine codes and went into limp mode. Turned out a few hoses were loose / leaking.

    Got that fixed, sent it off, got it caged, log booked etc. Took it back to a track day to shake it down before the first rally. Second lap a big vibration started, which got worse and worse after a few more laps. I thought it was a driveshaft. That was confirmed when I was trying to drive the car onto the trailer and the driveshaft dropped out. No drive, so had to get some help to push it onto a trailer.

    Got that fixed and took the car to the first event. Third stage of the rally I was in 5th gear at 170kmh, went to turn a very gentle right hander and the car started to turn, but then something gave way and it ploughed straight into trees at 170kmh. We were ok, but the car was completely stuffed, chassis totally bent, wheels and suspension components strewn across the countryside. The damage was so bad we never found out exactly what happened.

    That car was definitely unlucky for me. However, I look on the brightside, at least it didn't kill me, even though it had a good go at it!
     

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