infamous models - what made them?

[Watto_Cobra]

Originally Posted by auslandau

...........Camira goes down as the all time crapper.

The one and perhaps only Holden I've ever owned/will own. Two stripdowns and rebuild for blown head gaskets. Cost me more than I paid for the car.

The speedo would be accurate up to 80km/h then just shoot to 150. I could never tell what I what doing on the freeway (no tacho).

Fuel pump died. Fuel gauge lied. The clutch was the most digital (ie.on/off) I've ever experienced.

On the plus side it fairly boogeyed along. Just for how long was always utmost in my mind.

[platinumXR]

Anyone remember the Bill Tuckey article "Hounds with Fleas"? I'll see if I can dig it up and scan it...has all the favourites: Nissan Exa, 120How, Nikki Lada, Scooby Doo Vortex..they're all there.

[MethodX]

Plymouth Superbirds are worth a fotune now.

[Iggypoppin']

Originally Posted by platinumXR

Scooby Doo Vortex

who-ever at subie-roo thought that disaster up should die a slow death. its horrendous.

Originally Posted by auslandau

Ford said thats normal .....

i love the way ford think that stating a problem is normal, makes the problem go away. go figure.

anyway, its been said, but the ease of rust in older fords, particularly the best looking ones(coupes) is annoying. XB Coupe with no rust unrestored? rarer than an XY GTHO.

[Torquen]

early model turbo subaru's with week gear boxes, and engine for that matter. (92-98)

[Walt Kowalski]

Originally Posted by flappist

If you even drew a picture of a corner on a piece of paper anywhere near the car shed the Corty immediately tried to flip on its roof. .

Good one!!!

Reminds me of the R100 Rotaries.

Anyone remember them, at Bathurst in late 1960's?

Used to flip over at the thought of a corner

BTW Apex seals in rotaries are no longer a problem thanks to an inventive Australian Company PTS (WA I think)

I have them in my 13B turbo and they have survivied incredibly harsh treatment including a complete engine failure where even the eccenric shaft (crankshaft) broke into 2 pieces

The only things we could salvage were the APEX and corner seals, the water pump and the alternator!!!

Even the clutch got bent


My Dad reckoned HD Holden was for "horrible design"

[GasoLane]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the Lightburn ZETA or worse the ZETA sports!!

http://www.adelaidetalkbacksa.com/fo...read.php?t=868

[ea90gl]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the Lightburn ZETA or worse the ZETA sports!!

http://www.adelaidetalkbacksa.com/fo...read.php?t=868

lol what a beast with all that 12KW driving the front wheels, Im sure you could cart a shopping trolley arounder faster than that thing would move

[calais]

Holden Sunbird? no wait...... Datsun Bluebird "Australias Four Cylinder Limousine!!".......... Shockers... both of them, Holden because of the 'Starfire' four banger which made made a 60's diesel landcruiser seem like a rocket... and the Bluebird because it was just crap in general.

[gossy]

Has anyone mentioned the 4cyl. Commodore or the factory rotary powered HZ released in Japan?

[XC_Lizzard]

Originally Posted by flappist

Or from our side of the road:

TE Cortina 4.1, dangerous overpowered underhandling underbraking petrol eating monster.

Yes, but weren't they fun (I had 2 TE 4.1's and a TD 4.1).

They could also be described as part of the Darwinian selection process, you either learnt to handle unexpected situations, or you died.

[GREGXR8]

Originally Posted by flappist

Yes all the cars I mentioned could be sorted with modifications but out of the factory the Corty was a shocker. If you even drew a picture of a corner on a piece of paper anywhere near the car shed the Corty immediately tried to flip on its roof. This is from new not 20 years later when tyres and suspension got a lot better.

Had a TE wagon. 4.1auto on gas a few years ago, drove it up to Yarram every weekend. The mud flaps were all ground on angles from the corners through the Forster hills.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by jphanna

another in a long line of historical trivea relating to cars. over the last 40 odd years, what models were known for 'unfortunate' stying errors or bad design or manufacturing. eg of the top of my head. (as its a ford forum and lots has been posted about EA and AU....lets give them a break)

Edsel (stying)
corvair (rear suspension)
HD holden - front and rear styling
HQ kingswood - handling
orig falcon - front suspension failure
Camira - smoky engines
sigma - smoky engines
magna - auto gearboxes
VX commodore with 5.7chev (oil consumption)
VL 3.0 (headgaskets)
rotary Mazdas (seals failing)

this is a specialty for mechanics ou there who made a fortune on some of these cars...

HD Holden was more to do with build quality e.g rust
HQ handled ok for it's time (owned from new):- they are still around
XK/XL/XM suspension wasn't all bad, but Ford focused on it to promote the XP
Sigma enines did have cast iron rings, but it was more collapsing mufflers that caused the loss in power and blowby (owned from new)
Not all 5.7s had oil eaters (owned from new)
VL required routine maintenance and a 4 row radiator on the turbo (owned from new):- they are still around

My input on cars faults from the showroom:

Jaguar leaking sump and seals
Fiat rust
XF things that go bump under the floor
Holden red motor leaking rocker covers
Holden 5.0 fuel consumption and oil vapour

Most of the cars I've bought and the family have bought from new haven't been problematic in the three years we typically own them and that includes Mitsi, Holden, Ford, Mazda,etc... only two were iffy:

Taurus Ghia and Renault (which we kinda expected). My VE did split it's fuel tank 5 days in, but since then hassle free, except the bloody bluetooth has a mind of it's own.

[platinumXR]

Originally Posted by jphanna

another in a long line of historical trivea relating to cars. over the last 40 odd years, what models were known for 'unfortunate' stying errors or bad design or manufacturing. eg of the top of my head. (as its a ford forum and lots has been posted about EA and AU....lets give them a break)

Edsel (stying)
corvair (rear suspension)
HD holden - front and rear styling
HQ kingswood - handling
orig falcon - front suspension failure
Camira - smoky engines
sigma - smoky engines
magna - auto gearboxes
VX commodore with 5.7chev (oil consumption)
VL 3.0 (headgaskets)
rotary Mazdas (seals failing)

this is a specialty for mechanics ou there who made a fortune on some of these cars...

The only real drama with the VL 6 (in the Commode that is) was the radiator sitting lower than the top of the head and having to jack it up to bleed the air out. The unaware knew nothing about this and a lot of cracked heads resulted...

And the Camira boat anchors snapping timing belts, seized water pumps... go Nissan - two for two...only decent Datto was the 1600 IMHO...Blunderbirds had decent engines but it was the rest of the running hear that let it down...

Holden 6 timing gears (right up to the black 6)

EST unit's failing / giving old timers shock treatment

Holden v8 corroding front of manifold in less than 80,000km

Holden v8 camshafts wearing round in less than 80,000km

Tarago head gaskets

Stigma's with those busted @rse Astron and Saturn land fillers

Chrysler ignition (don't know too many that did not have a by-pass wire)

I did love the Jaguar genuine part (very long hole saw) for drilling out cylinder head studs that had seized as well...showed a lot of faith...

Cordia turbo's changing lanes when you change gears...that transfer case was an engineering marvel : Exa's weren't much better either...now THERE'S a high volume, low quality....er...oops...I mean...

[jphanna]

Originally Posted by platinumXR

The only real drama with the VL 6 (in the Commode that is) was the radiator sitting lower than the top of the head and having to jack it up to bleed the air out. The unaware knew nothing about this and a lot of cracked heads resulted...

And the Camira boat anchors snapping timing belts, seized water pumps... go Nissan - two for two...only decent Datto was the 1600 IMHO...Blunderbirds had decent engines but it was the rest of the running hear that let it down...

Holden 6 timing gears (right up to the black 6)

EST unit's failing / giving old timers shock treatment

Holden v8 corroding front of manifold in less than 80,000km

Holden v8 camshafts wearing round in less than 80,000km

Tarago head gaskets

Stigma's with those busted @rse Astron and Saturn land fillers

Chrysler ignition (don't know too many that did not have a by-pass wire)

I did love the Jaguar genuine part (very long hole saw) for drilling out cylinder head studs that had seized as well...showed a lot of faith...

Cordia turbo's changing lanes when you change gears...that transfer case was an engineering marvel : Exa's weren't much better either...now THERE'S a high volume, low quality....er...oops...I mean...

is it logical to relate some previous 'infamous' cars with todays 'bargain buys' for those that are feeling lucky. i think that the rust problems were common on a lot of 60's & 70's cars, so they dont count as much as the mechanical probs that some were related to.

[XAGSV8]

XD-XF door handles. :togo:

[The Yeti]

As above XD -XF for door handels

All X's for ball joints and spring saddels

VN's for welsh plugs rear mains and bogans

Camira's for engine mounts welsh plugs and wiping out power steering pumps before the mod is fitted

4cyl magnas for timing chain's and Autos

VK Calais for any thing electrical

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Wally

Taurus Ghia and Renault (which we kinda expected). My VE did split it's fuel tank 5 days in, but since then hassle free, except the bloody bluetooth has a mind of it's own.

May I ask what went wrong on the Renault, also what model and year was it?

My grandfathers had Renaults on his farm for years and swears by them.

[ea90gl]

Originally Posted by XAGSV8

XD-XF door handles. :togo:

I think my old XE went through about 5 handles in the year and half of ownership as well as the god knows how many went on my old man's old XD. I remember everytime buying one to repair the broken handle as well as another one as spare since I knew not long untill it dies in the ****. In fact I spotted about 2 spares lying around in the shed that have been there for years lol.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by XAGSV8

XD-XF door handles. :togo:

Cant beleive i missed that i had 2 XF's and broke a dozen on each

[Daymoe]

Originally Posted by DJM83

Cant beleive i missed that i had 2 XF's and broke a dozen on each

Dad broke a few on his old XE too.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by Danny

May I ask what went wrong on the Renault, also what model and year was it?

My grandfathers had Renaults on his farm for years and swears by them.

Well it's the Megane Soft Top:- two batteries, replaced coil packs, aerial no longer retracts fully and the speedo hasn't hit 19k km yet. Hard to start on occasions.

The Dauphine was one of the first cars I stripped and rebuilt as a 12 year old while on the farm. We used it for spot shooting and generally hooning in the paddocks. Ran it with back brakes and no fronts.

[castellan]

Citroen the old frog looking type. I seen a mechanic, going right of the Handel throwing and kicking things around and yelling! if anyone wanted him to work on a Citroen again, he was going to tell them to f off . when taking the head of it. from what i remember 30 years ago. i think the head bolts went clock ways one side and anti the other side.

There is a easy fix to them ford door handles.

[jphanna]

Originally Posted by castellan

Citroen the old frog looking type. I seen a mechanic, going right of the Handel throwing and kicking things around and yelling! if anyone wanted him to work on a Citroen again, he was going to tell them to f off . when taking the head of it. from what i remember 30 years ago. i think the head bolts went clock ways one side and anti the other side.

There is a easy fix to them ford door handles.

what is it with the french always wanting to change the rules of convention?

what about that coupe they brought out in 80's, the FUEGO....it had 13.5 inch rims....not 13, not 14, but 13.5. in the words of a certain QLD redhead...
'please explain'

[bigdude1011]

I know it wasn't sold here, but the old Alfa-Romeo Arna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Arna. An N12 Pulsar with Alfasud drivetrain... anything else to say?

[platinumXR]

Originally Posted by bigdude1011

I know it wasn't sold here, but the old Alfa-Romeo Arna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Arna. An N12 Pulsar with Alfasud drivetrain... anything else to say?

:

[LethalLeigh]

Originally Posted by bigdude1011

I know it wasn't sold here, but the old Alfa-Romeo Arna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Arna. An N12 Pulsar with Alfasud drivetrain... anything else to say?

The handling and finesse of a FWD Nissan combined with the reliability of an Alfa?

[mickvxbs]

Holden Piazza its up there with the best of em. Complete lemon.

[Cabbage]

Originally Posted by XAGSV8

XD-XF door handles. :togo:

Yeah they were shockers.

[Rev28K]

The weird Renault tyre sizes might have had something to do the unique Michelin tyre system that they tried (late 70’s/early 80’s?). It was a PITB because I think that Michelin were the only guys to supply in that weird size. BMW owners (5 series) used to get around it by fitting Commodore rims that would take a more universal tyre size.

Honda’s are sometimes a bit too clever for their own good with a million different screws, bolts & brackets (that all cost). As well as their own unique fuel injection and ABS system. I like Nissans because of a lot of the interchangability of components.

A lot of weird cars came out of shotgun marriages or because the company was on it’s knees – Alfa ARNA, Corsair, Talbot Sunbeam, the last MG hot hatches, etc. I can forgive these a lot more easily than things that are inflicted on the public because they are wrong/cheap/or improperly developed (indicators on the left hand side in RHD cars, dodgy RHD (or LHD) conversions, first gen run flat tyres, BMW’s first I-drive system and maybe the Gen 3 Corvette Z51 suspension (developed to get the headline grabbing lateral 1g))

Originally Posted by castellan

There is a easy fix to them ford door handles.

Weld up the doors, lower the windows and enter Dukes of Hazzard style?