QOTD: What was the worst deal you ever got on a used car?

$200 for a 1964 Ford Falcon sold to me in 1971 knowing the transmission was ready to drop.

Bought a used Renault Fuego in ’92 for the 20 mile commute back in high school -when kids had jobs as line cooks to make some spare cash to take your girlfriend out- for about a grand off of some car lot in Vancouver, BC. Two weeks later, there are some decent hills here, was coming back from a shift (after a bit of an incline) and the engine sputtered and caught fire.
Anyone know what ‘fuego’ stands for?
Had a 2-4 in the back, some litres of water for the upcoming camping trip, and managed to put it out when the fire trucks arrived…oh ya, and a full tank of gas. Yup. Pulled the plates off and walked home.
It’s been half-used Toyota’s ever since, no problems.

The worst used car I ever bought was also the only car I wish I never sold. The fact is I relied on a “mechanic” to evaluate said car and even paid him to do so but he didn’t catch the obvious – this car was not everything it was advertised to be and had unfortunate hidden secrets. And that really mattered, because it was a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T S/E.

The full story on that purchase, ownership, and eventual sale is a cautionary tale too lengthy and nuanced to post here. But life is full of such hard lessons. I sold it for 50% of what I bought it for. Had I kept it, even if it just sat there slowly rotting over the last 20 years, it would now be worth more than 3x what I paid for it.

The title doesn’t mention paying so I will tell my story. I was given an 03 Dodge Ram, over the period of 2 years I replaced the fuel pump, water pump , radiator, ujoints, coils,plugs, TPS…and then it started knocking so I parked it. The funny part is I was told it just needed a starter. I took the starter off and pulled the solenoid out and cleaned then sprayed it with silicone and I never had a problem with it.

Bought a ford PU. Exhaust rusted through at the lowest spot so it went directly on the gas tank. Close to a KaBoom when discovered. NOMOFords.

perhaps i got lucky, ive for the most part stuck to old (early 90s or older) diesel benzes or VWs and those were built solidly with no BS back in those days. last forever, any maintenance one does need to do is straightforward and does not involve bizarre procedures (e.g. pull the engine to change a belt, that kind of shit) to do simple things… in those days they were still big on long term maintainability and so you’d have the same (or a totally compatible) part available covering 30 years of different models, so getting parts or pulling junkyard parts is a reasonable prospect even now that those cars are all 30 years old or more.. old diesels have zero electronics, pretty much nothing goes wrong except running out of fuel.
i bought a mid-90s suzuki samurai once, the most expensive car i ever bought, too, 3500 bucks, and that was probably the worst deal i ever made on a car. Those things are great as very small dimensioned 4wd vehicles that really do go almost anywhere, fit through spaces or on paths that even a regular sized 4×4 , pickup or something, would not fit, but… the quality is nowhere near the old german iron. example, there are plastic bushings on the transmission which have a tendency to crack, leaving the vehicle unable to shift… it’s a 2 dollar part but having it go on you when you’re in some hilly place carrying a load of firewood out of a field… couldnt it have been a 3 dollar part and made a bit beefier to begin with FFS? old german iron did not leave a whole vehicle at the mercy of a cheapo part, quite the opposite, they’d manage to somehow hobble home even if major things failed (example, i broke a front control arm on a benz once, i noticed the steering got funny but kept speeds down and safely drove home) the engine had been fucked with by the previous owner in ways which made it never hold a stable idle, and i suspect some other deeper problems that led to an overheat where in a short time it built a head of steam and blew most of the coolant out of the overflow.. warped head for sure. compression insufficient to start and from doing some simple flow experiments with a hose, i expect that most of the water passages are clogged with salts and corrosion and crud.. for the low miles i ever got out of that thing and the short amount of time i drove it it was more trouble than any of my german cars.
panzers FTW.
even VWs (mk 1 and mk2 for sure) had a shifter linkage which was notoriously delicate, but when one cracked on me (was an ’81, in the mid 90s) i managed to patch it up with a piece of wire i found on the side of the road enough to get back in and drive again… and actually til i found a replacement , ended up driving it with the wire patch holding the cracked linkage together for almost a month!