Most underrated or underappreciated vehicle you have ever owned?

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
So, what's the vehicle you've owned that either you or others under-appreciated or under-rated at the time?

For me, it was a 1977 Chrysler Cordoba, that I horse-traded for in '84 or so. Too good of a car/deal to not drive it for a while. Got rid of my '72 Grand Prix that had seen better days. 400 cid, 4bbl, went down the highway like it was on rails. Wide open, ran as smooth as a caddy. Just about one of the last of the era of "real" cars before fuel economy took priority.

But...it was a grandpa car.

I ran it a couple of years, then traded for a pickup. One of the biggest things I didn't like about it was the color -- pale yellow, with a pale yellow interior.

Like this:

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92 Chevy W/T 1500.When I first got in the parts business thats what I had.Truck had been wore out three times before I got it. 4.3 w 300K on it.five speed w a 2.73 geared 10 bolt poor old truck was always loaded/overloaded.I took it everywhere.Ignorance is bliss I guess.
 
87 horizon/Omni 2.2.. I really wanted the Omni glhs (turbo'd & koni shocks). I got it with 55k miles on it. Wished I fixed it and kept it. *Sigh* never really did have to do much to it, except maintenance type stuff.

First round body f150s.. were tested for aerodynamics at my dad's work.. massive anechoic wind tunnel there at the wind lab. Spooky quiet wind.. you couldn't hear it unless it was going by your ears, but you could for sure feel it.
 
My current faithful beater....Daewoo Nubira.

I have drove it like I stole it and put 140k on it in 7 years or less. Killed a head with a timing belt. FIL swore it didn't need it.....crappy parts tried to kill another. Miles is ready for the next one.

Original everything else except fuel pump. Even has the same factory auto trans fluid, no fill tube or dipstick.:confused: Just a vent thing I have added a little to randomly.

The parts guys always look at me side ways...

It was parked by my wife when she bought her space shuttle....the Pacifica. She absolutely hates me when I call it a mini van. It is a crossover sorry dear!:rolleyes:

No air and the cassette works!
 
89 Ford Escort. 1.9 liter 5 speed.
My grandmother gave me the car in 2010-2011 only had 32,xxx miles on her. Everything plastic on it was dried out, but it got 31mpg. Used it as a dd/ gas saver and hauled lots of random things in it. Once had a Dana 30 and CJ grill in the back of it. Sold her for $850 in 2015.
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92 Tercel 2 door 5 speed w roll up windows. I bought it used w 140k to get to work, 30 miles one way mon-fri on I-40 @ 70/75 mph. I was bucking the traffic, going east thru raleigh to 40/42 in the AM. and west to Morrisville in the PM flying by all the the stop and go in the opposite lanes each way. It got about 35 mpg and I drove the shit out of it for 3 or 4 years. Then I gave it to a friend who was down on his luck. He put a new timing belt on it and drove the shit out of it for a year or so and till he passed away.
 
96 Bonneville SSE. 3800series without the supercharger. Dad’s company car til he got a new one and it became my first car. One transmission at 202k, a power steering pump. Other than that just oil changes and tires. Threw a Yakima rack system on it and drove the shit out of it til I was a sophomore in college. Up to boone and winterplace to go skiing a bunch. All the way to NH and back a few times for work/family trips.

Finally got rid of it around 235k I think. Someone stopped short in front of me in a parking lot. Broke a headlight and bent the hood. That was enough to total it out. Got a fat check and ran considering what we paid my dad’s company for it. It either went to auction or someone bought it off the insurance compny locally because I saw it about two years later in Pineville with some of my stickers still on the back glass. No clue the mileage at that point.
 
Easy one for me.

1990 toyota P/U. Regular cab, 4x4, 22re.

Bought it when I was in high school with 150k miles on it, and beat on that poor truck every weekend for almost 2 years.

It caught air as often as a stadium truck, and i can honestly say i did everything humanly possible to destroy the truck.

Sold it to a family friend, and he drove it another 7 years untill the frame rusted out.

The truck didnt go worth a poop offroad, but taught me the value of a run and go, and the oh so important speed lockers.

I actually feel bad to this day for what I put that truck through.........
 
First car I drove. 1979 Ford T-bird. Hood for miles. enough room under the hood for another whole car.
Dad got it new and ran Quacker State Oil .... started knockin at 125,000 miles.
A friend and truck mechanic took the heads off when dad said Quacker State, turned the pressure on his compressor up to 300 and pulled the heads off and blew paraffin all over his shop.
Ran another 25,000 miles before it stopped up too bad to fix.
Dad put in a Pilot Engines Motor and run their recommended oil. ( not Quacker State ) Put another 150,000 on it before if broke down with a ignition problem.
BY this time it had been wrecked a couple of time and was beat up, so he let it set .... a made a few remarks about his obvious ethnicity with all the broken down vehicles sitting around and he angrily said if I fixed it I could have it.
Drove it home the next day.
I ended up putting over 100,000 on it just driving it back and forth to work before giving it to a bro-in-law just to get rid of it.
Had darn near half a million miles on it.


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1986 Z28 305 carburetor 5spd. I'll agree that 99% were questionable, but my dad bought one new in 86 and my brother now has the car .Over 300k on the original motor and clutch! The car has never gone over 3k without an oil change. Replaced the rear end and the carb was so worn out it had egg shaped the throttle.
 
My 2004 exploder

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I know folks with the 6cyl basically coined the phrase exploder, but you honestly have to question the decision making ability of someone who'd choose a 6 when the 4.6 V8 was offered in one.

V8
AWD (with low range)
Has a turd row (saleman was from one of those countries they source all the technical support from....that's how HE said it)
Rear AC/heat

Just tripped 211k

Trans has never been serviced
belt/plugs/coils at 110k
Blend door actuator at 190k
NEEDS rear blend door actuator (started acting up at 200k)
Replaced rear wheel bearings at 80k, and 90k but found you can't buy shit ones from Advance. Since then, no issues
Rear end sings the song of blue whales, but if you're in the turd row, I probably don't like you anyway, and you deserve the annoyance.

I've beat the ever living hell out of this thing.
I drive it like a cop trying to destroy his cruiser so he can get one of the new ones the dept just received. Every DAY! (@Jason W. can confirm)
Every time I leave a stoplight it's a race to see if it redlines or throws a rod
I've had all 4 wheels off the ground at LEAST once a year. At OBX I had the whole family with 6" of air between their butts and the seat and they loved it.
It's been a tractor, a tow pig, and mud pit champion. Honestly it's the only vehicle I'll WILLINGLY take into the mud.


Bought it with 18k on it back in 2006 for $17k and have gotten about $50k of value out of it. When we got it my oldest was 10 and my youngest was 5. And with 3 kids, it seemed every weekend we were toting around at LEAST 2, if not 4 additional kids that claimed temporary residency in our family room upstairs, so the ability to take 7 adults (or 2 adults and 7 skinny little kids with a couple sharing a seat belt) was a HUGE plus when they were in school.

In the pic above we took 4 kids and pulled a 5x10 u-Haul enclosed trailer out to the 4x4 beach at Corolla slam packed with crap. Then I took the fam out to the trails behind the house (that you're not supposed to go on because they're for the horse tours:driver: )and caught air. Came over a HUGE dune and slammed the whole frontend down. Engine bay FULL of sand. Never missed a beat. Had a coil go bad 2 years after that trip and had to vacuum sand out of the spark plug port :lol:
 
91 regular cab xlt 2wd shortbed ranger. It was near perfect condition and got great fuel mileage, but I was 16 and wanted 4wd and a back seat.
I wish I would have never sold it, so much so I found a ragged out 92 and drove it back and forth to western everyday for 2.5 years never changed the oil just added it when the light came on and made 500 dollars on it when I sold it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
91 regular cab xlt 2wd shortbed ranger. It was near perfect condition and got great fuel mileage, but I was 16 and wanted 4wd and a back seat.
I wish I would have never sold it, so much so I found a ragged out 92 and drove it back and forth to western everyday for 2.5 years never changed the oil just added it when the light came on and made 500 dollars on it when I sold it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
91 mustang lx 5.0 5speed. Got it my senior year of high school. Paid it off with a handful of BS jobs. I beat on it for years and it just wouldn’t quit. I drove it all over South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. My “maintenance” was a joke. It needed valve seals so bad that I didn’t even change the oil. It changed itself. I would leave a smoke screen, then go top it off every few days. I don’t remember ever changing the air filter. The transmission would get stuck in 3rd at random. I’ve driven myself home countless times stopping and starting in 3rd gear. It would pop back out and I’d drive another month or two and it’s do it again. I left for the military and my little brother beat on it for about another year. I finally sold it still running and driving about 5 years after I bought it.
 
1999 Suburban 2500 with 5.7. Bought it with 86 k after it came through a federal auction. It’s now at 339 k. I’m driving it everyday full of tools, equipment and supplies. Front passenger seat is my mobile office. Pulls a trailer. All major components are original. Just the normal maintence brakes, tires, hoses and all lubricants replaces every 100k. A couple of starters and fuel pumps have gone either in my driveway or within a couple of miles of home. This vehicle has taken better care of me than I taken care of it. It’s going to wear me out!
 
77 Toyota Celica with 70k miles on it that I bought from my Aunt in 1987 for $1000. It was a very clean all original car that had been pampered. It was rear wheel drive with a 4 or 5 speed can’t really remember at this point. Being a young hell raiser that I was every time I had to stop I would take off smoking the tires and sideways. I had the car about 1.5 years and put 2 clutches in it and rear tires about every month. When I was a teenager my uncle ran a tire shop and they almost wore the wheel studs off of it. Other than tires and clutches never had to do anything else to it.
 
I really liked and enjoyed the 2011 3.7 V6 Mustang I bought. Yeah yeah...V6 'muscle cars' are stupid...but that 3.7 was putting down as much or more stock hp (305hp) than numerous v8's before it and even a couple years after it came out...and I was getting 31mpg's on the highway with it. Only vehicle I've ever 'missed' after getting rid of it. Not overly sure why it wasn't offered longer/in more things...maybe it sucked for everyone else, but I liked it.
 
Between my wife and I, we have had like 5-6 stock XJ and ZJs. Can't say anything bad about any of them.
We usually stick to the lower optioned ones and just keep servicing up to date.
She DDs a 98 ZJ and I'm high falootin' in my 01 XJ
 
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