Detroit cracks down on abandoned vehicles
How Detroit is tackling the damage caused by abandoned vehicles with new city policies, resident responsibilities, and enforcement efforts to clean up neighborhoods.
A few weeks ago I discussed the subject of junk cars and referred to a 2005 book by Richard Porter that covered some of the many vehicles that are definitely not destined for the Concours d’Elegance.
I discussed a few inglorious examples suggested by the Free Press editorial board, drawing on my own memories of sitting in the back of a faux-wood-paneled Pinto station wagon, a junk car that appears on many lists even if I didn’t experience it that way personally.
As it turns out, many of you have had your own experiences with junkers, old cars and rust buckets, not all of them terrible, but memorable in a less pleasant way. In some of them, I could see more than a hint of affection. Here are some of your stories, edited for brevity and clarity:
Jonathan Green writes about his 1980 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Diesel station wagon with the faux wood trim:
“Excellent car, a real dog of an engine. It’s hard for a 16-year-old to keep cool in that car. I was driving back from Port Austin with my best friend when we heard a loud bang and the power dropped. At the same time these girls pulled up next to us and we got ready to keep cool but they pointed at the back of the car with smoke coming out of it and held their noses before they drove off. We didn’t have enough horsepower to keep up. A day or so later another friend of ours raced us on his street, me in the diesel and him on foot. He won.”
H. Valli writes about the Dodge Caliber:
“My dad bought one in 2007 and then was diagnosed with cancer, so I drove it when I took him to doctor’s appointments, etc. This car had the worst visibility of any vehicle I’ve ever driven. Its performance and handling were mediocre at best. After my dad died in 2009, we ended up ‘selling’ the car back to the dealer since no one in the family wanted it. My dad still had over two years of payments on it, so we had to pay them over $5,000 to take it off our hands. I’m sure you’ll get emails about cars that just stopped working, spontaneously crashed into the back of the garage, caught fire, etc., all superior contenders for the junk car crown. But in the ‘why bother with this car at all?’ category, the Dodge Caliber is definitely a contender.”
Marge Pluciniczak writes about her 1974 Chevrolet Vega:
“We lived in Toledo and my husband attended Wayne State University and commuted from home in the Vega. Whenever it rained heavily, the car wouldn’t start. So if he was in Detroit at school and the car wouldn’t start, I had to drive up to pick him up in Toledo. Not a nice way to spend two hours. And when it dried out, I had to drive him back up to pick up the car.”
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A reader writes about her AMC Hornet:
“The windshield wiper button broke off a month after I bought it (I had to have pliers handy to use it). It also jerked to the left when braking, which they were never able to fix. Dumped it after only six months. By the way, I loved my Pinto station wagon. It was great for camping with my young son.”
Linda Botham writes about her 1989 Chrysler LeBaron:
“I bought it because it looked ‘cool,’ I thought. What a piece of crap. In the summer I had to turn the air conditioning off to get enough power for the highway. I’ve pretty much blocked out all other memories of that poor piece of crap. It was my first American car. It made me pretty mad at Chrysler cars. Nice to look at, but terrible to drive.”
Don Payton writes about his 1964 Chevrolet Corvair convertible (and some others):
“Although it was unsafe at any speed, my problem was that whenever it rained, water would come in through the underfloor heating vents. I had to remove the carpets to let the water drain through the hole in the floor. The next two were my wife’s Vega and my Suzuki Vitara. They both rusted through after a couple of years and the Vitara’s engine actually fell out of the floor of the vehicle.
Some vehicles received multiple nominations for the junk car category. Rich Levinson also told a Corvair story from 1965 when he was in the Navy and stationed in Florida:
“Shortly after we got to Mayport, it rained heavily and I discovered that while driving there was a gap between the roof and the driver’s side window that allowed the rain to come in and give me an unwanted shower. I was never able to find a Chevy dealer willing/able to fix it. (I believe the warranty was about two weeks back then.) I must also say that the car was a chick magnet with the top down.
“After I got out of the Navy, I got a job in Detroit. My wife and I loaded everything we could fit into the car and headed north. Somewhere along the way, the car developed an oil leak. The Corvair was rear-engined, so the big cloud of oil smoke didn’t bother us too much. But the cars behind us?
“When we got to Detroit, the Chevy dealers wanted a lot of money to repair the car. Again, no warranty. We traded it in for a VW Beetle.”
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Rick Schubatis writes about his Ford Fairmont Futura:
“In 1978, we had just gotten married and my wife was eligible for the FoMoCo A-Plan with her entry-level position as an accountant. Since I was tired of my unreliable, ‘rusty’ ’71 Mustang (another story), we planned to buy a new car and I wanted to ‘inherit’ my wife’s ’74 Chevy Nova. Since I was still in school, we were eligible for limited financing. This allowed us to purchase a Ford Fairmont Futura, a sleek, slightly longer version of the Fairmont. We eagerly awaited delivery of our car, which was bright orange with a tan cloth interior, so I could get rid of the Mustang. The car was great…at first, until the problems started after the 12-month/12,000-mile warranty expired.
“The 200 CID engine was woefully low on power and frequently stalled at highway speeds. There were additional ignition issues, especially in hot weather due to problems with the electronic ignition and carburetor. The brakes locked up, causing the car to derail several times in the car wash. Handling was poor, especially on windy days. Since this was my wife’s car, all of these issues were attributed to ‘driver error’ until I drove the car to confirm the issues. Surprisingly, we kept this car for a few more years and replaced it with an improved but not perfect Mercury Cougar (another story). We still drive Ford products, are happy with my 2015 Ford Edge and my wife with her 2021 Ford Escape Hybrid.
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Rob Jenkin writes about this 1970 Mercury Capri:
“In 1972, when I was 18, I bought a 1970 Mercury Capri, later nicknamed ‘The Debris.’ A much underpowered 2,000cc engine that roared so loudly you couldn’t hear your own thoughts, a weak suspension that was prone to potholes, and a cardboard interior that was as prone to damage as the description suggests. Added to that were folding bucket seats that broke and were permanently folded back. Not the only pile of junk I owned in the rust bucket era of the 70s and 80s, but the worst.”
Danny Quitter writes about the 1966 Volkswagen Variant S (a German version of a car known in the United States as the VW Squareback) that his father bought for him and his siblings:
“By the time the Squareback was finally ‘mine’, my brother had pretty much ruined it by driving it ‘off-road’ through woods over ‘roads’ of loose sand and brambles. The engine compartment was caked with oily clumps of sand. There were scratches on both sides of the car from the bushes and trees it had brushed against in the woods. The slotted body panel that hung just below the front bumper was bent further back than the designers had intended. Two slots had been torn through, probably from roots or rocks my brother had driven over in the woods.
“Many mornings it wouldn’t start so I could get to high school. I soon learned how to park it the night before to fix the problem. Our neighborhood in Florida was one of the few blessed with what could generously be called a ‘hill,’ and our house happened to be built on a slope. After parking the Squareback on the street, facing downhill, I could quickly put the key in the ignition and turn it to ‘on,’ pull the manual shifter out of gear and let it play between gears, turn the front wheels away from the curb and, while standing half in the open door and half on the street, give the ailing car a nudge, jump into the driver’s seat, press the clutch and shift into first gear, then release the clutch and hit the gas. It worked so well so often that I was able to build the repeatable time into my daily routine of getting to school before classes started.”
“Long live the Junker”
This is a sampling of the stories I received. Thanks to everyone who sent me a car-related tale of woe. Some others suggested the 1995 Ford Thunderbird, the Ford Mustang II, Chrysler’s K-Cars, and even a 1983 BMW R100RS motorcycle as solid candidates for the title of “junk car.” But Jay from New Boston shared a story that shows junk cars have their fans out there too:
“In my 49 years on the road, I have owned and worked on or repaired 55 vehicles myself, so I have always been attached to them and wanted to restore them; junk cars were abused and underestimated by those who did not feel the same way about them as I did. This is understandable, but it also explains why they were considered ‘junk.’ Quality and reliability have increased at least tenfold since the ’70s and ’80s, but you can hardly work on your own modern car anymore. They are far too complicated. I still work on some of my own cars, and it is one of the most satisfying things I do. Long live junk.”
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: [email protected]. Become a subscriber. Send a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
