These Are the Worst Cars Your Parents Drove

Photo: Chrysler

“1986 Chrysler New Yorker. My mom bought it in 1986 as a replacement for a 1974 Buick. I was 13 years old, and the Buick was embarrassing. Pain peeling, missing hubcaps, vinyl roof in tatters. My friends families were switching to imports like Accords and Camrys. But my dad, a former GM employee, was very much ‘buy American.’ So we went from the absolutely archaic Buick to this thing.

“It had the all digital dash and it talked! It was like going from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. For about 3 months. Then everything started breaking.

“I don’t know if the turbo ever worked right.

“The all digital dash would randomly blow a fuse at least once a month, so it wasn’t uncommon to lose speedometer, fuel gauge, and all other warning lights while driving.

“The flimsy interior door closing handles routinely broke off, and there was no good way to grab the door to close it without putting the window down first. At least they were expensive to replace.

“The crankshaft broke. I could go on. My parents spent something like $22,000 to buy it, and then probably spent another $10k maintaining it for 7 or 8 years. It was replaced by a 1991 Nissan Maxima that needed about $100 of non-standard maintenance for most of its life.”

Buying American sometimes means you have to deal with things that break America. It’s tough.

Suggested by: grannyshifter