TimeTo Come Clean: What Is the Most Embarrassing Car You Have Ever Owned?

We all have had them.  A car or truck that you would be better off wishing you never had.

It is easy to recall those lemons, but I was wondering what car you owned that was the most embarrasing to own?  Maybe it was the first car you ever bought, as proud as you were to have wheels , the appearance or even the condition made your friends cringe when you pulled up. You know the car with creme yellow paint, whitewall tires and that all important vinyl roof.  Talk about ugly!

This car was so bad it would make you borrow mom's car for a hot date so you could make that all important first impression.  You wouldn't want to risk the chance you could be deemed undesirable just because of what you drove.

I'll be the first to fess up with a brand new 1977 Chevrolet Malibu Classic.  These were the days of the pimpmobile, and that combined with the total unreliability of GM products of the era made it literally fall apart after only 2 years of ownership.  Even though the car was well cared for it always gave you concern if it would even make it to the end of the block before breaking. 

Even my 74 Vega GT, another car well known as a junk yard classic was better than this.  By the time 3 years of ownership were over, the Malibu had peeling paint, two transmissions and host of issues I care not to mention.  Friends of mine would offer to drive so they wouldn't be seen in my car. 

OK, now I have fessed up my most embarrassing car, so what is your?









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B7FAN - 2/22/2010 2:07:01 PM

+2 Boost

I had a beat down 1986 Ford Taurus with the headliner peeling off and auto supply store where i lived knew me by first name when I walked in the door every single weekend. The drivers side power window only worked in 85 degree weather, doing 30 mph, while drinking a soda,in a white T-Shirt with black sneakers with the radio on max volume......in other words the worst car I have ever owned in my life. Dont let me get started with the GO GO Gadget door handles that would come off with the slightest amount of force

pushrod27 - 2/22/2010 3:04:41 PM

+3 Boost

I didn't own this car, but when I was in high school, my mom had a 1987 Chevy Nova (rebadged Toyota Corolla) in two-tone brown. It was beige on top and milk chocolate on the bottom with a beige interior. I never allowed my mom to drop me off in front of the school, I never wanted to be seen in that car. When I started driving, of course it got handed down to me... When my friends and I went to parties or where ever, I would always park BLOCKS away from the destination and walk. I would have been extremely embarrassed if anyone had seen me driving or getting out of that little four-banger shitbox of a car.
Perhaps more embarrassing was the fact that it wasn't my car, it was my mom's. I always thought to myself 'is this the best car that our household can manage to afford???' and imagined that other people were laughing and thinking the same thing when they saw it. I actually preferred riding the subway to being seen in that car.

Agent009 - 2/22/2010 3:32:47 PM

+3 Boost

I had a friend in high school that had an AMC Gremlin. He would ride with me in the Vega to avoid being laughed at. Hard to believe something was lower than that Vega.

SpicyMikey - 2/22/2010 5:21:56 PM

+2 Boost

Your friend was right. His Gremlin was definitely more embarassing than your vega. If you had a Pinto it would have been a toss up in my eyes

M35MT - 2/22/2010 3:57:55 PM

+2 Boost

1985 Nissan Sentra - A to B transporation...and not much else (sure beat's pushrod's mom's Nova though...)

2001 Isuzu Trooper - Actually, it was a great SUV - reliable, capable, fun to drive off-road and very roomy...but everyone thought it was ugly...I began to agree.

dodgedart - 2/22/2010 4:23:03 PM

+2 Boost

1. I got a ride in a chevy vega that had been recently resurrected with alumaseal and barsleaks+some sawdust and water for coolant. It went 10 minutes before complete failure and had to walk away from a god-awful cloud of unbreathable steamy partially combusted stuff.
2. Bradley GT, another ride, not mine.
3. I owned a 1991 Chevy S-10. After numerous mechanical and electrical failures I gave it to the tow truck driver on the spot. It didn't even reach 80K miles. It was Powder blue and had that cool "work truck" black grill and sounded like ball bearings in a blender when it ran. I just needed something that worked. It didn't want to.

XYZZ - 2/23/2010 1:23:51 AM

+1 Boost

for one summer of near madness, i got conned by a 'friend' into buying a series of junkers that he'd fix up, and we'd sell for a profit.

started out with an S10 he found that was mine for just $200. we had to buy a coupla quarts of ATF just to get it all the way to his place (no more than 6 miles away). it was actually a cheap fix, as the only thing afflicting the tranny was a chafed line.

we got another, newer S10 that had to be entered from the passenger door. again, he found a cheap fix for the door hinge. a KNOWN weak spot, according to him. the Four in that thing seemed to have less than 3/4 the power of the Four in my toyota p/u (a treasure i'll never let go! even the s10 2.8L v6 was barely = to the toyota's 2.4)

XYZZ - 2/23/2010 1:31:56 AM

+1 Boost

it seems i have seen MORE DEAD and DYING s10s/s15s than any single model of car or truck.

i'm GLAD we managed to unload both.

SpicyMikey - 2/22/2010 5:19:04 PM

+1 Boost

1975 Austin Marina. If you don't know what that is look it up. The horn was on the turn signal stick! Push button like turning on cruise control. Who thought that was a good idea? It doesn't get much worse than that but it was cheap and I was broke back then

theman - 2/22/2010 8:46:11 PM

+1 Boost

A Lambo LP640 Versace Edition..It was so embarrassing, I couldn't live with myself, I had to do a full facial reconstructive surgery...

B7FAN - 2/23/2010 2:55:16 PM

+1 Boost

lol

Need4Speed - 2/23/2010 3:45:06 PM

+1 Boost

1995 Mazda Protege w/ 5 speed manual...took it on a trip to the Poconos one weekend 6 months after buying it...the resort was up a steep hill and there were 4 of us in the car. The car only had 98 bhp and was not able to make it up the hill with all of us...so I had to tell everyone to get out...walk up the hill and I will meet them up there. So embarassing!

LACMAN - 2/23/2010 4:28:57 PM

+1 Boost

I guess this was embarrassing because I was young but I had got handed down my Mom's 1995 Ford Windstar when I was in High School.

LACMAN - 2/23/2010 4:39:09 PM

+2 Boost

*I got (instead of I HAD got) My bad...

tango - 2/25/2010 1:22:10 AM

+2 Boost

My first car was a 1987 Hyundai Excel that I bought in 1998. It was a real dog of a car that broke every month. It always broke down close to pay day, so at least I had money to fix it. There was no part of that car that I had not worked on either myself (learned a LOT about cars from it) or by somebody else. I changed cylinder head gasket 3 times (on one occasion myself), clutch once, clutch cable twice, rear brake slave cylinder, piston rings, tail lights (my fault because I kicked them out in anger one night when it broke down on a lonely road), had a continuously leaking gas tank and a faulty gas gauge (lethal combination, for sure), I fixed the passenger side window regulator...and various bits and pieces that I'll leave out in the interest of time. I did have on some sweet 15 spoke alloys on her though with a set of 185-60-13 tyres that gave it a decent stance. And the gear knob was a high-end Hella walnut unit. Strange as it may sound, I miss that car sometimes....the simplicity and the innocence.