1976 base model Corolla. The utter lack of any high school cool factor was rather humiliating in a parking lot full IROC Zs, Corvettes, New Mustang GTs, Shelby Chargers, 300ZXs, GTIs, 240SXs, RX7s, Firebirds, Sciroccos, etc... You name it, my high school parking lot had it.
mndsm
MegaDork
12/5/15 12:26 a.m.
Idk, im never embarrassed by a car. From the ms3 all the way down to thr 100$ taurus, ive rocked that E36 M3. Now i can say thr most soul sucking is the 2006 cobalt i appear to be inheriting. Its an appliance at best....but at least its not a civic.
none ive owned, i wont buy it if i dont atleast pretend to like it. Did have to borrow an 88 daytona 2.5na auto car once to drive to maryland. it was even purple.
1997 Pontiac grand ma. It was even the GT version, but just so vanilla. It had an auto tragic. And 2.2. I was so put off by this turd (that drove across the country!) that I vowed to never own an American car.
88 Buick Century. Bought it very cheap to have transportation while I was having the transmission rebuilt for my truck. I hated driving that thing it was so embarrassingly disgusting. Ironically the day I put the transmission back in the truck the Buick's trans went out.
I inherited by sisters teal ford tempo for a year when she was a freshman in college. God that thing was horrible
I don't think I've owned any, even though many would disagree.
1980 ford pinto, 1980 ford fairmont futura, 1987 ford escort wagon with a 4spd manual, 1987 tursimo I purchased for $25......
Brian
MegaDork
12/5/15 6:52 a.m.
Not embarrassed, but the least cool was the 3rd gen Taurus I nearly inherited.
I drove my sister's 76? Comet a bit in high school. 6 cyl, auto, bench seat complete with light brownish paint and HUGE bumpers. It was a 2 door. It was offered to me, and I said I'd rater walk. This embarrasses me quite a bit now. Punk kid.
WildScotsRacing wrote:
1976 base model Corolla. The utter lack of any high school cool factor was rather humiliating in a parking lot full IROC Zs, Corvettes, New Mustang GTs, Shelby Chargers, 300ZXs, GTIs, 240SXs, RX7s, Firebirds, Sciroccos, etc... You name it, my high school parking lot had it.
And now, your Corolla is likely the rarest to find of all the cars you listed.
Sure, maybe not the most expensive but very hard to find a survivor in good shape.
When I severed my wrist in 2000 less than 2-months after my daughter was born, i traded in my '97 GSX on a '97 Lumina sedan and '97 Aspire(automatic, because my right hand was mostly unuseable for months. I'm not sure which one was more of an embarrassment - on one hand, the Lumina was as soul-sucking as any vehicle could be, yet it was comfortable, smooth driving, and didn't have any glaring faults for the short time I owned it(and very little I drove it). On the other hand, the Aspire...or ASSpire as it became known...definitely was a total E36 M3box, but there was a fun element about it, and even completely stock I managed to beat a few other drivers at autocross with it.
NickD
Reader
12/5/15 7:36 a.m.
First car I owned: A black 1999 Cavalier coupe (dubbed The Black Menace) with the 2.2L pushrod and a 3-speed auto. It didn't have a body panel that wasn't rusted, dented, sun-scorched or some combination of the three. It would not get out of its own way and was absolutely soulless and I hated that car so much. During my ownership, it was involved in 3 separate car accidents (none of them my fault), somewhere gained a metallic green hood (which later got a trailer hitch rammed into the front of it somehow), had a cheap "cold-air intake" rigged up to it (mostly for fun) and even drove on a NASCAR track and got flogged on a dragstrip to 12-second 1/8th mile times. I had grand visions of nitrousing it until I drover over the crank, but instead ended up selling it to my sister. It then got in several more accidents, got broken into, went 20,000 miles without an oil change and finally got spun out on the freeway and went under a cable barrier, which mangled the hood, front fender, rocker panel and door, took off the interior and exterior mirror, broke the windshield and bent the rear axle. Good times.
A photo of it next to my friend's equally crappy 2.2L/3-speed Sunfire that had been wrecked badly
And lining up next to a Silverado, which promptly beat me. In fact, everything beat me that night.
I was given a beige 1998 Ford Taurus for a sales car with a beige/light tan interior that always looked dirty. Not really a bad car it's just that I hate the color beige.
I don't think I've ever been embarrassed by a car, so I'd have to go with none of them.
It helps when you really don't give a damn about what other people think.
My Cavalier experience was stripped two door version coupes from the early years like 1985. So base model that other than air and auto, many had am only radios.
These were sales rep cars back when I worked for Coca-Cola in the 90's. The facility has our own mechanics on site.
We beat those cars mercilessly! This is where I learned the bad habit of speeding up to cross railroad tracks
The cars surprisingly took the beating pretty well.
I logged a lot of miles in those horrible cars.
I've never been embarrassed by any car I've owned because I never "had" to own anything. I never was forced into a purchase and I've never made a purchase out of desperation. Most of my car purchases have been the exact opposite, really: I'd see something for sale and decided that I really, really, REALLY wanted it. The Volvo that I have now is the only exception (it was a purchase of necessity/synergistic convenience) but it's actually a pretty sweet car.
It helps that the only thing I'd find really embarrassing would be a truck. Fortunately, one can generally get a car for a lot less money than a truck.
NickD wrote:
car
...Does your plate say "fap"?
asoduk
Reader
12/5/15 8:17 a.m.
The funniest was driving the family loaner Maxima after my step sister had it for a while. She was commuting with it to beauty school. For some reason it had a bunch of fake heads with different hair styles. For some other reason there was always at least one bra floating around the car somewhere. And the hair! It was everywhere. Usually it was her obvious blonde hair, but then you'd find little bunches of another color.
NickD
Reader
12/5/15 8:27 a.m.
Esoteric Nixon wrote:
NickD wrote:
car
...Does your plate say "fap"?
Yes. Yes it did. And that is how NY state issued it.
My wife had a pink '95 Beretta when we got married in '06. The tint had faded to a nice shade of pink too. I hated being seen in it, but it was quicker than my LX Civic and had ICE cold A/C, which my Civic didn't. Only had it a few months though, then we sold it and got a Maxima, which I still have today!
Trans_Maro wrote:
Datsun 710.
Ugly..
Really ugly.
Blasphemy! But, then again, I'm a sucker for Datsuns, even the ugly ones (or maybe especially the ugly ones).
NGTD
UltraDork
12/5/15 8:47 a.m.
Anything is better than walking.
Just sayin . . . .
I seem to like cars that would embarrass other people.Gremlin, Pinto, Aspire, Datsun station wagon, Green Maverick with a plaid vinyl top, K-car, Granada...many cars that could have been embarrassing.
In high school (1976) I was driving a 4 door, green, 6 cylinder 3 on the tree 1965 Impala. Some school mates tried to embarrass me about it, but I was immune I guess!
Put some 1974 Nova wheels on it and a state of the art stereo system in it and it became legend. State of the art then was a Nagamichi AM/FM cassette that had a reversible cassette! No more poppin' and flippin' to play side B, 2 24 watt Craig Powerplay boosters and 10 speakers.
Car still exists! Has been repainted, has a 350 automatic, but still has the Nova wheels.
Bruce
My first car was a 1983 K-car. Burgundy on burgundy. Voted worst car by our senior class thereby earning it a permanent place in history with a photograph in the yearbook. If I cared enough to buy a yearbook, I'd post the picture, but alas, I was way to ready to skip town by then to want permanent reminders of HS.