Rust, rust, rust.
For a while the car wouldn't go more than 15 up a hill or 35 on flat ground (as well as running real rich). I'll never forget being stuck in the center lane of the parkway at rush hour with the emergency blinkers on and cars passing you from both sides at 70. That kind of sucked. Once properly diagnosed it turned out to just be a bad $25 sensor.
When I got the car, the air conditioning didn't work and the headliner was ripped out.
Every once in the while the car would smell like bad eggs. I'd assumed it was the catalytic converter.
Exhaust and muffler rusted off and needed replaced.
Exhaust manifold was broken, but never replaced.
Car started overheating. The radiator developed a leak.
After all the abuse, the transmission takes a few seconds to pop into gear.
This was my first car, and it's been in the family for it's whole life, having been purchased brand new for my aunt's sister in law, then passed down to my aunt and uncle and eventually me. My uncle told me that during the time they had it, the only repair it needed was the starter.
It's served me well as a first car, never refused to start or broke down, and it's seen lots of abuse. While it was painfully slow, it was the sportier-looking model of it's year and I thought it looked good. It came with a very nice optional interior which has held up really well over the years.
The rust is the real killer with this type of car, though.
After my time with it, it served as a backup car for my family (including the car my brother learned to drive on), and ran very well for them until about a year ago when it started overheating. Since we've had another car by then, little was done to see that the problem was resolved.
The car, during most of it's tenure, has not seen anywhere near the proper amount of care and maintenance required, and ran good regardless. With a little more effort it could still be running well today, but the sheer amount of rust the car had made fixing it up impractical.
I recently bought a 85, CL 4 Door auto, for $700 from a little old lady. The odometer is reading 60,800KM original. From the little time I have owned this car I can tell it is very relible... tho the cold start injector did kinda worry me in -30 Canadian winter. This being my first car at the age of 18 I hope it serves me well for a few years anyway. She may be a bit rusty and the looks people give her as I drive by aren't because shes so beatiful... but hey... 25-30mpg in the city... not too bad for a car in its 20th year.
Steve.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed 
is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site