Just coming home on a āsmartā stretch of the M1 and some knob was driving at 30 mph!
I was once out with a mate of mine, who was driving his mumās Allegro. He saw a hump in the road and decided to drive over it as fast as possible. Which wasnāt all that fast - the Allegro wasnāt exactly designed for speed - but the car took off, flew about 30 feet, then landed, then bounced, then landed again. About a mile down the road we noticed that the car was filling with smoke so we pulled over. When we got out we spotted a trail of oil behind the car. Apparently, when the car bounced, it bottomed out and ripped a hole in the sump. The Allegro had a rather weird hydrolastic suspension system that clearly wasnāt designed for stunt driving.
When we got back to his house - it was a four mile walk - we told his mum heād run over a large brick that someone had thrown in the road 
Iāve never gotten further than the title of this but I would imagine the only thing that they will keep is part, a tiny part, of the body shell
My used 1969 Austin American (for which I think I paid $400 in 1971) had a leak in this āsuspensionā which left it leaning badly to one side. When I took it to the dealer, it was going to cost close to $800 for repair. But they offered to sell me a brand new 1971 Austin American for $1,800. Never had the suspension problem with this one, but it was otherwise kind of a mess. I should have bought a 1971 VW bug insteadā¦advertised at the dealer for $1,999. Traded in the 1971 Austin American in 1973 for a new 1973 MG Midget. Mechanically it was even worse. Seems I was all in for the worst years of British Leyland.
I have enough horror stories to keep this thread at the top for monthsā¦lol.
Mainly from being a true traditional English cheepskate and always buying a ābargainā.
Which translated to in realityā¦an even more clapped out jalopy than the previous oneā¦lol.
And donāt even mention Jaguar XJ6ā¹ļø
Vauxhall Viva 'nough said.
My older brother got a new one of these back in 1958 for his 16th birthday. We all loved that car.
EDIT: My dad traded the MGB for a Corvair. Nobody knows why. My sister cried for days because she wanted that car.
I got a second hand radio ( a transistor radio, not fitted to a car)
My very first car was a 1968 Austin 1100 that cost me a whopping 60 quid in 1977.
So Iām sure you can imagine the state of it.
That being said it never ever actually totally broke down and left us strandedā¦and we went from Derby to London in it twice!
Yes we were brave soulsā¦or just young and stupid 
The āsadā part is that this 1969 Austin American was my first car. I was 16, and had been saving to buy a car for years (paper route, etc.). My goal was to buy either a used VW bug or what I really wanted was a used VW microbus. But my stepfatherās uncle ran a local used car lot and convinced me that this āAustin Americanā was as good or better than a VW bug. So that bad advise was on him. Me being sucked into the 1971 AA and the 1973 Midget was on me. Post midget, I bought a 1975 GMC 1/2 ton pickup truck, straight 6, 3 speed on the stick (hey, this was Texas, so considered cool). Never a single mechanical issue. That thing is probably still running somewhere with no issues.
Iām surprised that they didnāt pay you 60 quid to take it away. 
Apart from my Allegro most of my 
have been fine. My dadās card though.
Another auction special Viva hb had a two inch toggle switch inserted on the dashboard. You flicked it up, started the car then flicked it down. My brother spend hours with a multimeter and a Haynes manual trying to figure it out.
Well? My dad said.
Flick it up start the car and then down, he said no bloody idea.
The crazy thing is one of our " gang" thought it was so cool and went and bought himself a Morris 1300.
Now that was a real POS and you literally had to hold the gear stick all the time to keep it in gear or it would just pop out of gearā¦very entertaining to hear the valves bouncing around as it went into neutral under hard ( cough, cough) acceleration.
Hey, what kind of stories would we have about cars in our youth if they had all been as dependable as current day Hondas or Subarus (or actually, almost any modern cars).
How slow cars were!
I still remember nought to sixty in the Viva (the theoretical speed when new, so add 10s for ours)
23 seconds.
I remember reading a road test on a Skoda and in the 0-60 section it said N/A.
Yeah my kids just expect cars to work.
When I say āI remember pushing dadās car down this on ramp to the M1 as it wouldnāt start when we stopped at the servicesā they look at me like Iām mad.
For my 16th birthday, I got a new 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 XL convertible with white interior and black top, 390 cubic inch automatic with 4 barrel carb. Like this picture but with wire wheel covers, rear fender skirts, and white interior. Crazy for a 16 year old. Lost my driverās license twice in first two years.
My dad spoiled us all. Well, most of us. There were 5 kids, then they adopted two more from Brazil. Crazy, but good times, for the most part.
Not even 11 dayās