Am I bad luck??

[BillG]

Who the heck did I **** off? I sold my old '65 Skyhawk with midtime engine to buy a newer hopefully more reliable '79 Tiger and don't even make it home before swallowing a valve. Then, I sold my old piece of junk 1980 Suzuki GS850L that I've had for 13 years (that had problems, but never stranded me!) to buy a more comfortable and reliable 2000 Honda Magna. On the way to an EAA meeting Friday night it suddenly went dark and the engine quit. Strong rotten egg smell, too. Obviously the battery was fried. Trailered it back to the dealer eventually and they're STILL working on it - apparently it fried most of the electrical system - anything that was on when it died. What's going to go wrong next??

 

[Len Lanetti]

What's going to go wrong next??

Bill,

They say bad things happen in threes...don't go outside during the next metor shower.

Len

 

[Ken Ibold]

Then, I sold my old piece of junk 1980 Suzuki GS850L that I've had for 13 years (that had problems, but never stranded me!) to buy a more comfortable and reliable 2000 Honda Magna.

Ooh, I had an 82 Magna. I was an early adopter, got on the wait list before they even put 'em on the boat and had one of the first few in the country. Nice bike. Wheelies in 3rd gear if you had a passenger. Stupidly, I sold it when the Porsche needed a(NOTHER!) set of $$$ tires and I was in a cash crunch. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Shoulda sold the Porsche instead.

 

[terzap]

Arrggh! Here's hoping things start looking up! (if we had a hug smiley I'd use it here...)

Terry

 

[BillG]

Can my third bad thing be by proxy? My buddy recently bought a '65 Range Rover from Arizona via eBay and had it shipped here. It was worn, but mechanically in good shape. Or so he thought. He just got it back a month ago after he had to replace the engine! Now he has twice as much money into it as he anticipated at this point. Oops.

 

[poadeleted3]

Can my third bad thing be by proxy? My buddy recently bought a '65 Range Rover from Arizona via eBay and had it shipped here. It was worn, but mechanically in good shape. Or so he thought. He just got it back a month ago after he had to replace the engine! Now he has twice as much money into it as he anticipated at this point. Oops.

That's not bad luck, that's Ranger Rover. My brother in law spent $70K or some obscene amount for a Range Rover, and that thing broke with regularity. It hadn't been home a month before it dropped oil all over the driveway, a trick it repeated throughout his ownership. Lots of other problems too. It was heavy and sloooooow, too. Yet he claimed to love that truck.

I'll never understand rich people. Our $16K Hyundai Elantra GT hasn't missed a day's service yet in the year we've owned it, and I expect nothing less. I fully expect our $16K Matrix to match that. When I drop money for a brand new car, part of the reason I'm doing it is to get a couple years of trouble free service. But I talk to all these folks with expensive new cars who keep putting them back in the shop, then they talk about what great cars they are... Maybe rich people just like taking trips to the dealership and socializing?

 

[BillG]

Noooo - this isn't a new car owned by a rich guy. This is a 40 year old truck owned by a guy who likes interesting vehicles...! (He also has a mid-60's MG, an '82 Piper Archer II, and an old mid-80's Jeep Cherokee.) They were built better back then - I doubt a vehicle built today would last 40 years...

 

[gkainz]

What's going to go wrong next??

Oh CRAP! Now you've done it! Remember the old Bill Cosby routine about "Never challenge 'WORSE'"? Never say "It can't get any worse.", because 'worse' is waiting right around the corner to pounce on you! Here's hoping it begins to get BETTER!!! :cheerio:

 

[wsuffa]

That's not bad luck, that's Ranger Rover.

I'd go so far as to say "that's a British Car". MG's not a lot better....

 

[poadeleted3]

I'd go so far as to say "that's a British Car". MG's not a lot better....

LMAO!! I'm sitting here talking about other people's cars blowing up, and I've just remembered you had the honor of being the first passenger in our old Oldsmobile when it started smoking. That turns out to have been the first sign of the transmission leaking, and eventually tearing itself up. Never was worth fixing, but it did manage to get us to Philly

 

[wsuffa]

LMAO!! I'm sitting here talking about other people's cars blowing up, and I've just remembered you had the honor of being the first passenger in our old Oldsmobile when it started smoking. That turns out to have been the first sign of the transmission leaking, and eventually tearing itself up. Never was worth fixing, but it did manage to get us to Philly

Served its purpose....

probably cheaper to buy a new clunker than to replace the tranny....

Aren't you glad to have a newer car now???

I had a friend who had a British car with mechanical injectors. More time spent adjusting injectors than actually driving. Kept a set of tools in the boot.

 

[Bonanza]

I'd go so far as to say "that's a British Car". MG's not a lot better....

This 'British Car' thing is just a myth. I have owned MG's, Austins, Rovers, Jaguars and still own an '86 Range Rover and an '87 Bently Mulsanne Turbo. I've not experienced any more problems than I have with either the American, European or Japanese cars that I have also owned and in some cases they have been far superior both in build quality and reliability.
Of course, now there are no true British cars so I guess the question has gone away.
Stephen.

 

[poadeleted3]

Served its purpose....

probably cheaper to buy a new clunker than to replace the tranny....

Aren't you glad to have a newer car now???

I had a friend who had a British car with mechanical injectors. More time spent adjusting injectors than actually driving. Kept a set of tools in the boot.

Yes it served it's purpose quite well, and the tranny cost about what we paid for the car. There is certain freedom in just driving them till they die LOL. Still, newer is better, IMHO.

I very nearly bought a beautiful MG for sale here, but a fellow pilot had opportunity to talk sense into me. The unused British car in his driveway lent a certain authority to his words

 

[gibbons]

Stupidly, I sold it when the Porsche needed a(NOTHER!) set of $$$ tires and I was in a cash crunch. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Shoulda sold the Porsche instead.

I'm going to try to forgive you for this statement

 

[bbchien]

I'm going to try to forgive you for this statement

Toys, toys, toys. I drive inexpensive well equipped automobiles so that I can afford to fly a 30 year old airplane. Sigh.

 

[PoAdeleted5]

This 'British Car' thing is just a myth. I have owned MG's, Austins, Rovers, Jaguars and still own an '86 Range Rover and an '87 Bently Mulsanne Turbo. I've not experienced any more problems than I have with either the American, European or Japanese cars that I have also owned and in some cases they have been far superior both in build quality and reliability.
Of course, now there are no true British cars so I guess the question has gone away.
Stephen.

You have been extraordinarily lucky. One of my high school buddies became a mechanic at a Jaguar dealership. He was making six figures in no time 20 years ago. One monday morning I dropped him off at work and hung around for a while having donuts and coffee. We watched them push (yes, push) two new Jags off the showroom floor to wipe all the stuff that leaked out underneath them over the weekend. We were both laughing pretty hard. His advice was to buy japanese or american.

Now Jags are made by Ford. Less character I hear.

 

[judypilot]

Toys, toys, toys. I drive inexpensive well equipped automobiles so that I can afford to fly a 30 year old airplane. Sigh.

Yeah! Actually, my ground vehicles weren't so cheap, but they were paid off before I bought my 47-year-old airplane. Fortunately they're both reliable and I expect to get many more years of life out of them.

Judy

 

[Keith Lane]

Toys, toys, toys. I drive inexpensive well equipped automobiles so that I can afford to fly a 30 year old airplane. Sigh.

See my Sig.................

1997 Ford truck (170k miles, but new to me, I just sold my 87 Ranger w/ >250k miles)
1983 MB 300D (no a/c, probably >400k miles, but who's counting)

 

[Keith Lane]

You have been extraordinarily lucky. One of my high school buddies became a mechanic at a Jaguar dealership. He was making six figures in no time 20 years ago. One monday morning I dropped him off at work and hung around for a while having donuts and coffee. We watched them push (yes, push) two new Jags off the showroom floor to wipe all the stuff that leaked out underneath them over the weekend. We were both laughing pretty hard. His advice was to buy japanese or american.

Now Jags are made by Ford. Less character I hear.

In high school, I worked at a motorcycle dealership assembling motorcycles out of the crates. They sold Suzuki, Yamaha, Triumph and BSA motorcycles.
We weren't allowed to put oil in the crankases of the British bikes because of the showroom leaks. I swear some of them still leaked even though the engines were"dry".
I'd sure like to have one of the Suzuki rotary engine bikes about now. They were always a hoot to ride. Slow by today's standards, but unique nonetheless.
http://www.rotaryrecycle.net/re5.asp

 

[Richard]

Bill is bad luck and I'm ****ed I won't be flying into an airshow tomorrow. I just now put 2 and 2 together. I'm blaming Bill for my tailwheel being all fu'd.

 

[poadeleted3]

Bill is bad luck and I'm ****ed I won't be flying into an airshow tomorrow. I just now put 2 and 2 together. I'm blaming Bill for my tailwheel being all fu'd.

You got off easy. You should see how fat and bald he's made me.

 

[BillG]

Heyyyy - wait a sec - I can't take the blame for everyone's woes, can I?? Sheesh!