Your worst car related mistake, disaster or error of judgement.

[Mr Tonka]

I've had 3 such experiences with vehicles.

1. 1985 Toyota Supra, modified to the hilt. Had a favorite road with a an turn that was bout 1/3 of a circle. So a nice even curve. Nothing around as it was the first road to be built in a soon to be developed subdivision. I would typically go through that road from the south to the north. It had about 1/8th of a mile before the curve started then a long straight before another right hand turn, then a stop sign. One night, for the first time i went down that road from north to south, with the same gusto. For some reason, probably lack of age and experience, i didn't factor in the might higher speed i was able to attain on that long straight before the curve started. Even though i did hit the brakes before the turn, i way overestimated the cars abilities. Just before the apex, the back end starts to come around. I counter steer to try and catch it but it drifts off into the grass. First hitting the culvert promptly removing 2 tires from their wheels. Just after landing back on the ground, the rear right corner of the car hit a cinderblock wall. The continued forward momentum cause the car to spin clockwise putting the right front into the same cinderblock wall. After spinning counter clockwise 90 degrees before hitting the wall and then spinning 270 degrees though the course of hitting the wall, the car finally came to a rest. I was quite pissed feeling that i should have known better. I was in a 4 point harness and race seat at the time, so i was able to just hop out.

2. Bought a Land Rover Discovery II in 1999. Picked it up from the dealer and drove straight to an unoccupied section of a business park where locals had made a 4x4 park of sorts. Met a friend out there will a full size Bronco. I was following him around in about 2' of mucky black brown water. Apparently, i didn't stay right in his tire tracks and must have slid into a deeper rut on the right front. Dropped down suddenly and i could feel it come to rest on the frame. Water was over the hood and almost to the the windshield. The horror of the sound of water seeping into the passenger compartment is a motivator to get something done very quickly. We had a rope with us, but the first time we tried to pull it out, the rope broke and fell into the black water. Oh yeah, the rope was black.... Several minutes later we pulled it out and as i opened the passenger door, water gushed out. It was only about 1/2" away from the CD changer and other electronic wiring under the seat. I vacuumed out 5 gallons of water from the 2" which carpet in the passenger footwell. After thougfhrly rinsing everything, it was all good. No damage, no smell, no problem.

3. 2001 LSB M3. I was delivering pizza for the delivery only shop that my now wife purchased the month we met. And we had a regular who lived way back off the beaten path. There was a very well spaced S turn before you got on to their property. One day i went i discovered they ripped up the asphalt to do some construction under the road. I typically delivered to them around 10pm on a Friday night. For months, it was unpaved, but flat well packed dirt road. I of course proceeded to play rally driver overtime i went through there. It was a lot of fun swinging it out to the right, then to the left and then to the right again. One night they called and i was trilled to go there because all the other deliveries had been very close to the shop. I geared down getting ready for the rally action and popped the back end out to the right and began to slide, transition from sliding to the right to the left, then transitioned back to the right and all was good......until i saw that they had asphalted all they way through the at the apex of the final turn. The one where it straightened up. I slid onto it very sideways and when the tires hit the pavement, they immediately launched me straight ahead. It would have been ok except there was a port-a-potty in my path. The driver's side of the of the car hit the flat side of the port-a-potty, clipping the side mirror. I didn't even stop to look at it, delivered the pizza and went back to the shop. Looked at it at the shop and i thought the whole side of the car needed painting. Well, as it turned out, the hard edges of the port-a-potty gouged the door handle and rocker panel. The rest of it was just blue plastic melted onto the door and mirror. Buffed right out. As luck would have it, the plastic door handle and rocker panel was solid LSB. So the gouges didn't really stick out. Actually had a guy detail the car and he didn't even notice those issues. (maybe he wasn't a good detailer, haha)

[BMW F22]

Originally Posted by fleeked

tl;dr

Lol same. I mean one story I would have read. But looking at that wall of text, especially on iphone, makes me give up before I even start.

[Ofmalik]

Great thread OP!

Originally Posted by M_Six

I took an auto body class (painting) and used my '77 633 CSi as my project car. I realized I was probably in over my head about 10 seconds after I first touched the sander to the hood. Needless to say, I completely botched the whole thing and ruined the car.

Good God this made me weak hahahah hilarious. I nominate this bahaha

[MrPrena]

2002 Hyundai XG350L.

One vehicle before the BMW, I had XG350L. Low mileage, and good size family car. I really like it except:

1. It consumers as much gas as E9x M3.
XG350L 16/24 mpg
E9x M3 13/20 mpg

2. Low Horsepower
3. It died on me in ~14mo. It was total waste of $6800+tax+register fee.

[SenorFunkyPants]

Since my last tale four years have passed, its still the distant past but I'm now 21. Its 3.30 in the morning and I've just left my girlfriends flat in Twickenham walking out into the still warm morning gloom. Its that great time of the day when everything is eerily still and quiet - as I walked towards my car I was feeling pretty great, everything was going so well, I had my girl and my prized old school Mini Cooper S, red with a black roof and wide minilite alloys. I got into my car, turned up the stereo playing Santana, lit up a Benson and Hedges and settled back into my seat feeling...yes I'll admit it, a little smug...how could things get any better!

Suddenly there was a tapping on the passenger side window, I turned and there was a fairly attractive woman about mid thirties looking at me. Ever the chivalrous Englishman, I opened the passenger door to enquire if I could be of some assistance to this fairly young maiden. I was somewhat surprised when she took the opportunity to get into my car and settle into the passenger seat. This was not etiquette at all, one simply did not get into a chaps car without being invited.
Anyway she looked at me with a slightly odd expression and said "take me to Waterloo". As I sat there trying to make some sense of her request she said "take me to Waterloo or I'll kill you". The now totally confused look on my face prompted her to further clarify the situation saying "take me to Waterloo or I'll kill you, I have a knife". Her left hand was indeed in her slightly opened handbag clutching what looked like a knife.

There didn't seem to be much choice so I started the car and set off. Twickenham to Waterloo station in London is not that far but in the company of a clearly deranged psychopath it was not a trip I wanted to make. As we approached Twickenham's deserted town centre I tried to engage her in conversation to little success. Then further down the road I spotted a bus stop and with inspired desperation I asked her if she knew that she could get a bus direct to Waterloo. This seemed to rouse her from her inward thoughts so I stopped just past the bus stop and suggested we check the bus stop timetable for the next bus. There are no buses to Waterloo from Twickenham or indeed any buses at all at 3.30 in the morning but that didn't seem to have occurred to her.

We walked back to the bus top and I suggested she read the timetable. While she peered at the printed sheet I crept back the 20 odd yards to my car, leapt into the drivers seat and with a slightly manic grin prepared to make my escape. I turned the key but the car wouldn't start! I looked in the mirror and the woman was looking back at me quizzically then she started to walk towards the car gaining speed with each step. The engine was still turning over but not firing, much more of this and the battery would give up, then just as she reached the (still unlocked) passenger door the engine caught and off I sped in a cloud of blue tyre smoke.
I called the police from the next phone box and they duly arrived and collected her, I never found out what her story was or what happened to her. The incident left me with a sense of unease whenever I am around people with an obvious mental illness.

[zeevette]

The three worst cars I've ever owned, have been Pontiacs. God accomplished what I was clearly unable to.

[NEFARIOUS]

Driving around with a burnt-out headlight with 3 girls in the car, with a ticket that was dismissed on paper but not on records against you, and getting your car it impounded.

So, my last car had HIDs permanently hardwired and retrofitted to my car, meaning I couldn't put in plain ol' bulbs to make due if I wanted to, but one of them burnt out after 4 faithful years of service. I was picking up a friend who was too drunk to drive (and of course I'm not going to take advantage of a drunk chick... But her friends were sober), but we hung out for an hour and one of the chicks started getting the hots for me, and we were already making out. On the car ride back, she was snuggling herself up to me and even started fondling me, and I guess her friend got hot too and wanted to join in... Shit dude, if my friend joined in, I'd have a frickin' 4-some!

Lo and behold, a cop hiding in an alley pulls up behind me, then runs my record and finds a racing ticket (long story behind that one, but it was just simple speeding and the cop was flexing his nuts), but the worst part was that the case was dismissed, but it was improperly entered and thus still on my records, so he said there was a warrant, and held all of us in the back of their squad cars and I watched as they drove my pristinely maintained pride and joy was squealed onto the ramp and crashed against the back of the tow truck. By the time it was all over, they just called a cab and went home and I never heard from them again, despite the fact that I [desperately] held the papers correcting my records and a letter of apology from the city of Burbank, CA, and had my car back (plus a 2" chunk of paint missing from the front bumper) the next day. Too bad I never won that lawsuit since our cocksucking cops get away with too many fucking things, but I digress.

[UncleWede]

IF the chicks weren't cuffed in the back, could have continued. . .

[KingOfJericho]

Buying a Saab.

[NEFARIOUS]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

IF the chicks weren't cuffed in the back, could have continued. . .

Unfortunately they were funneled into separate cars.

[F30lolz]

I can say that I avoided a money pit. 91 E34 M5 with 201K and the seller was asking 8.75K that had multiple spots of rust, brake dust caked onto the wheels, shot dove interior, coolant smell coming from the vents (heater core failboat), leaked oil and no records of the S38 being rebuilt. I gladly walked away and wound up with another money pit, the E39 M5

[Myrder]

TLDR: blew out the rear window on my 335i using my 4 post lift to do a clutch swap and thought jacking the car up a little to rotate rear tires was a good idea, right into a truss. lolz

[M_Six]

My 2001 740iL was a serious money pit. In the shop almost every month for some major problem. I paid $38k for it and put at least half that much into it over the 18 months I owned it. I loved that car when it ran, but damn it was a pain in the ass to keep running.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by M_Six

My 2001 740iL was a serious money pit. In the shop almost every month for some major problem. I paid $38k for it and put at least half that much into it over the 18 months I owned it. I loved that car when it ran, but damn it was a pain in the ass to keep running.

Sounds like a few Jags I've known (but luckily never owned)