I was out taking a female friend who can’t drive to the dentist today, I passed a 199? Malibu on the side of the road with blinkers going but no driver in sight. On the way back, there was a ratty ’70s Ford pickup with the hood up but again no owner around. I live in Little Rock, so I see a pretty wide variety of cars that have chosen to remind their drivers of the need for routine maintenance. Anything from trashed amateur tuner monstrosities, tired Tauri, Camry convertibles and huge-rimmed donks have all appeared on the right (and occasionally the left side) of my windshield only to vanish in the blink of an eye.
I’ve only seen one or two on fire in the past decade, but that’s something guaranteed to draw the attention of the rubberneckers. Sometimes I’ll see something on the news, especially if it’s a gory crash with pyrotechnics on a slow news day. I once had a ’78 Cougar XR-7 burn to the frame way back in 1989 but the old days of cars routinely bursting into flame seem to be behind us, thank goodness.
So here’s a topic for CC that I haven’t seen before. What cars do you see the most in the breakdown lane?
Jeep has probably been the most common breakdown I’ve seen over the years. Lately, I’ve seen several Mercedes.
HMMM…. I just got home from a road trip, and I saw plenty of cars by the side of the road, but the cars were a variety of models and brands. The oddest one was an Excalibur or some similar pseudo-1930’s creation, painted flat black. Yes, flat black. Overall, I would say it’s more a matter of car’s age bracket. Cars that are over ten years of age but less than 20 are generally in the hands of a third or fourth owner who is perpetually strapped for cash and prone to defer maintenance, and who purchases gasoline in three-gallon increments. That’s the scene I saw played out over and over today, by the side of the road.
+1. I am having a hard time remembering what I see most often, because they all seem so stereotypical. Always from the 90s, always beaters, and always looking like they have not had an owner with the resources to care for them in years.
I have to agree. 15 to 20 year old cars with obvious signs of deferred neglect seem to be the most common derelicts in my experience. American brands seem to die more than Japanese but I see quite a few Toyotas and Hondas, too. Anything older than that is usually scrapped due to a major breakdown and poor residual value unless it’s in the hands of a scrupulous and frugal owner who loves the thing. Things are looking better, it used to be 10 year old cars, didn’t it?
+3 I have seen this happen to virtually every make and model in such a state, from the common Cavalier to the E36 BMW M3 to the “golden age” Honda.
Cavaliers and Sunfires by a huge margin. Generally with battle scarred bodies, limo tint windows and donk rims…
Most memorable recently was a brand-new F150 almost – but not completely – squeezed onto a very narrow shoulder on the outside of a fast turn on northbound California Route 1, with its flashers on. It still had dealer plates from the local Ford dealer. Suspect it ran out of gas …. I hope no one hit it.
Honest to gawd:
The roadside derelict has become a totem of the past. Really…the last car I saw in distress, I was…in transition…living in a motel, waiting to close on a house in Buffalo, New York. On the Thruway, southwest of town, there was this Chevrolet Caprice…on fire. Near an overpass I had to walk across. I didn’t think a modern (late 1990s) car could burn so energetically. It burned for awhile; some fire department or other sent a truck to put it out; and the next day it disappeared. I closed on the house and sold it inside of two years; losing money. Buffalo was one market where you could do that, even in those flip-this-house years.
Cars broken down and un-towed are so rare I cannot think of them anymore.
Yeah, it used to be a relatively common site decades ago. In the seventies, I remember reading in Car and Driver the answer to the same question was Chevy Vegas and Fiat X1/9s (while still in relatively good shape).
That’s the key. The likelihood of seeing something along the side of the road in distress (for something other than, say, running out of gas) that looks in decent shape, is virtually nil.
Now, it’s whatever happens to have had the least maintenance, meaning it could be anything. Even old, battered Hondas and Toyotas eventually break down if you never do anything but fill them up with gas.
But, since those hold their value reasonably well (and, thus, be more expensive to procure, even in crap shape), I’d have to go with the old Cavalier/Sunbird scenario. They were very cheap, both in price and construction, so would be the most likely to be neglected and puking their guts out on the side of the road, somewhere.
Last one I saw was a first generation Focus, sitting along 475 a week or so ago, with 4-ways barely visible. It was leaning to the left side, but the tires weren’t flat.
The one before that was an early 80’s F-150, rusted up big time, with a flat tire, and it had a bed full of scrap metal, including a bunch of TV tower sections.
The one before that, about 3 weeks ago, was my friend’s Audi A4, broken down for the umteenth time. It’s gone now, replaced with a Grand Cherokee. I followed the flatbed to the dealer, and took him home. It broke down again about 2 weeks later, and the lease was up in a week, so he just went to the Jeep dealer and bought the GC. Three years of that POS was enough, it was by far the worst lemon he and his wife, both driving almost 40 years, have had. I pity the poor bastard that buys it. I saw it on the dealer’s lot yesterday, so it will probably be someone’s new nightmare soon…
Audi A4s. Those things seem to drop like flies out here in winter.
His car dropped in any and all kinds of weather. Almost always electrical issues. If the car hadn’t been new, I would have sworn it was a flood car. I’ve never seen a car eat sensors like it did. The dealer actually treated him very well, a shock, since they were so bad Chrysler told them they weren’t renewing their franchise a couple years ago.
Ah! Audi A4! Jetta in a slutty dress. Only Audi worth a shit is the A8, but that’s in Mercedes S class territory. For 94K, it’d better be good!
What is really good is that cars are so much better and run high mileages so easily that the roadside stranding is extremely rare.
I recently gum-booted a ’78 DeVille over the Rocky Mountains and on that whole trip I saw only one stopped car, an ancient Tempo that should have never been up there to begin with.
Contrast this to twenty years ago when the Coquihalla Highway was littered with stopped and/or burned out cars, literally. Audis were notorious for catching fire and Volvos cracked heads. I have also done a few Dodge LA’s toasted on that road.
Interesting point. I-15 going up to Vegas . . . . certain makes of SUVs . . overheated – sometimes burning – because some knuckleheads don’t know you’re supposed to keep your eye closely on that temp gauge . . . especially with a full load of people/stuff, air conditioning on and at any temp 80F and above.
Well, I have to say that compared to the 70s and 80s, I see very few cars SBTSR (Sittin’ By The Side of the Road). In the 70s and 80s, at least in Ohio, the Audi 100LS and Audi Fox had to be No. 1 – seems like they were by every exit. Second would be first generation Ford Escorts (with likely snapped timing belts and bent valves), then the GM N Bodies; Skylark, Calais and Grand AM.
For the 90s, I’d have to say first generation Jeep Grand Cherokees with failed transmissions.
Chrysler products, mostly. Next, old beaters, all brands, next. Many of them in some shade of green…
10-20 years ago I used to notice Chrysler K car and variants flamed out on the side of the road.
But now I seem to notice Japanese marques more often – Toyota, Nissan – dead on the road.
90’s GM cars. More than half of what I see on the side of the road are of that ilk. Although it’s pretty rare to see anything on the side of the road these days, unless someone had to head to the woods for a pee break. 🙂
The last stalled car for me was a last generation Cougar but I think that thing stalled a lot because I last seen it on I-40 before that it was on Highway 79 on the new section of the bridge just before Clarendon. I hope it gets scrapped soon because it seems to pick bad places to stall.
Maseratis, by a wide margin. I live in LA.
Ha! I saw a Maz broken down just a couple weeks ago, and a Bentley a few months before that. (East Coast, tho.)
Haven’t seen any lately but yes, there is a lot of broken-down expensive machinery in LA, often Maseratis. The highlight of my morning commute, though, was a nice El Camino with a (probably fake?) cowl-induction hood scoop, yellow-tagged on the side of the southbound 110. Everyone had to slow down and take a look. The owner was there with the cops, apparently retrieving some property from it before it was towed away.
When I used to live in Madison and listen to news radio from Chicago, there seemed to be a rule that at least one car must be on fire on the side of the road at any given moment in Chicagoland.
mini cooper s and 90s Korean cars….
I live in France, and one hardly sees broken down cars along the side of the road. (at least for long as the tow trucks swoop down fast here.) A few years ago there was an early cold snap, on the other hand, and there were thousands of cars and trucks stranded everywhere along the roads. Seems the oil companies assumed it was too early for them to have to put anti-gel in the diesel. Clogged up fuel lines.
For a period of time I use to drive regularly from D.C. To Norfolk and was shocked by the number of abandoned cars along the freeway. Most in pitiful condition. This is the richest country in the world? Why were these things on the road in the first place?
While on my way back to the shop with a 06 I think mazda 3gt about a mont ago I drove by the burnt shell of a newer 3 on the side of the road. Thr radio said it had just began to burn as I was heading inbound on a fifteen minute trip plus the time it took to hook the gt and id say 25 minutes untill I passed outbound and tbe car was burnt completly and the fire crews where gone. I thought that event happened awfull quickly and man that mazda burned it was so hot the tops of the doors where gone along with a hole in the roof panel..
The cars we seem to drag off the side of the road most are mid 00 gm cars most never getfixed and are hauled off to the scrap yard.
I see alot of vehicles of all types with silly wheels on the side of the road with a flat. Usually it’s the ones with large aftermarket wheels with the super low profile tires. I live in Houston, and that is a big trend here. The flat ones are usually not on the best vehicles. You can actually rent wheels and tires for your car, if you just have to have that look but can’t actually afford it. I would guess you don’t get the best quality with those.
Land Rovers, hands down. Old and new.
I’ve seen three in the last few months. One was me, because I ran out of gas. The other two were ’90s cars in beater condition. I used to see eighties cars broken down on the side of the road when I was little, but since most have been retired and the remainder are well-maintained, I see very few cars older than about 1990 stuck on the side of the road. I would say that cars older than 10 years but no older than 25 are the most prone due to neglect.
In my corner of the world, the honor goes to Grand Ams. That seems to be the beater of choice here for people who live on the financial edge.
In Seattle, it’s a toss up as to what I’ll see on the side of the road here as it can be almost anything from late model vehicles to older, likely clapped out ones.
Occasionally it’s due to a flat tire, but sometimes, people pull over for other reasons other than the car, changing a diaper, needing to get something out the back end if on a trip. Sometimes, though, I see them ON the phone, but no roadside flashers so doing the right thing and taking care of business on the phone while parked.
Otherwise, it’s accidents where one or more cars did the tango – and lost, or they are actually broken down, or run out of gas, but thankfully, it’s not often that you see cars in the breakdown lanes these days in general.
A couple of years ago, I came up on a massive fire, a car had broken down, pulled over to the side of the road, then caught fire, and got the grassy median too, however when I came up on the accident, the fire trucks were on the scene to contain the fire. I could not tell what kind of car it was, but it looked to be not terribly old though.
I’ve broken down, but that was in my truck, both times had to do with the clutch hydraulics, first it was the master clutch cylinder in 2006, and 3 years later, the clutch slave cylinder went, but the truck WAS high mileage at the time so it’s forgiven – and kind of expected, even WITH maintenance.
I’m fortunate that I almost never have to resort to cars constantly breaking down, high mileage or no as I seem to have generally good luck with my rides – knock on wood.
This past year, I’ve seen many 1992-2003 Grand Ams. Usually the old Grand Ams have their cladding dragging on the road.
Seem to be owned by owners who don’t maintain cars. I.E. like Penny on ‘Big Bang Theory’. Driving with CEL on, and covering it with tape. In the show, she has a 1998-ish Golf Cabrio, and she had to get new engine one time.
Now that I think about it, the Mk4 Jettas are now in beaterville, breaking down often. Seems like yesterday they were the new ‘cool’ car yuppies loved. Now, aging rapidly.
I would echo the comments that I see far fewer than I did 10-15 years ago, and when I do it is inevitably 90s beaters…Nissan Altimas, Plymouth Sundances, a ratty Topaz or Tempo.
I don’t know what the rubric is for the question…I still see plenty of cars, all makes, new and old, with flat tires. Recently stopped to help an elderly couple change out a flat on my way back from a deposition in their tan early 00s LeSabre. They were rather tickled that help came from a 30 year old in a ’77 Buick.
I think the coolest/weirdest car I’ve ever seen on the side of the road was c. 2000-01 on a trip to Washington D.C. for “young leaders’ conference.” We were riding along the Rock Creek Parkway when I spied a yellow-green ’73 Sedan DeVille (or a Fleetwood Sixty, I couldn’t swear to it) pulled as far over as possible under an underpass on the parkway. It was in nice shape, too, but nobody was around. I don’t understand how, even in those early cell phone days, somebody would not have stayed with a car like that. Clearly they cared enough to get it well off the road.
Since I’ve only driven cars from the ’70s and ’80s, I’ve had a few breakdowns, but only once or twice actually ended up on the side of the highway…twice for flat tires, once for an ignition issue, and once, briefly, when the AOD on my ’87 Crown Victoria lost the band in OD. I then figured out that it would still drive in 3rd, and drove it back to my mechanic.
Hmmm, here in Cleveland I’d have to say ’90s Korean cars, pretty much any model GM car from the ’90s (especially Grand Ams), and ’96-up Taurus/Sable.
There’s enough variety now for dead cars that I don’t notice a trend, I do see less cars on the side of the road though.
I have bailed a few out with the front bumper of my ’77 Chevelle pushing them to a gas station or out of the middle of heavy and unsafe traffic. That Chevy has left on the side of the road twice though, once for a tossed timing chain, and once with a dead starter.
My 95 Explorer only has left me stranded once, the fuel pump went out at the gas station (just filled it up!) had it towed home to work on it.
Mostly tired (very tired) Camrys, Mazdas, Honda Accords. I’m gonna say poorly maintained ones; overheats and OHC belt slippages/breaks. Not indicative of the true reliable nature of these cars and this is based on my present observations in the City and County of Honolulu (Oahu). In my youth in Northern California: Mostly Fords and just about any British car (sans Rolls/Bentley).
I first saw this post at work this afternoon and decided to try a little test. I have a 43 mile commute one way to work, about 30 of which are on the interstate, so I thought I would make a note of every car on the road on the way home from work today that was a pre-1995 model, or at least close, and any cars dead on the side of the road.
So not including my own 1969 Dodge Charger that I drove to work today (and do often) heres what I noticed:
-more GM, Ford, Dodge and Toyota pickup trucks that I could count, both compact and full-size. Granted I live in rural coastal Virginia and trucks are a way of life here but when you buy one, you will get 20+ years and 200K+ miles out of it with some basic maintenance. There were A LOT of Chevy S10s out there, I didn’t realize so many of them had survived.
-lots of XJ and ZJ Jeep Cherokees
-a couple of Clinton-era Civics, all looking like they would be F&F clones if the owners had the cash. A Fox-body and maybe a 94 or 95 Mustang, both in the same teenage-owner shape.
-3 or 4 Gen1 Chrysler LHs. They may have had their issues when they were new but apparently they have held up.
-a Pontiac Grand Am, 1990-ish Cavalier, a couple of Taurus’, a Chevy Lumina, a late-80s LeBaron convertible, and a 3-series BMW, all in well-kept condition.
-1 Camry, 1 Accord, both 1991-95 era.
That’s about it. What really surprised me was…
-where are all the old Japanese cars? It appears to me if you want a car for true longevity, American brands are the way to go. In hundreds of observed cars, only 2 CamCords, a few riced out Civics and one nice old Bimmer, otherwise its all American cars.
-They way they are touted on this site, I figured I would have seen a dozen or so, but where are the GM A-Bodies? I do see them from time to time but not in great numbers like I used to. Im not slamming them, I just didn’t see any. Same for older Chrysler minivans, didn’t even see one.
-I was quite surprised that there aren’t more 20 year old cars on the road. While the bad economy hasn’t hit us as bad here as it has the rest of the country since we have a government-driven local economy, we do OK but we were also not exempt. I guess cash for clunkers took a lot of them off the road but I thought there would be more older cars. There are a LOT of early 90s and older pickups here though.
-Besides my Charger, I saw 2 other highway classics; a 73 Camaro and a 75 Dodge pickup on the road. Just throwing that out there.
And finally, the main topic of this discussion, the dead cars. I saw 3; a Gen 1 Neon, a Sentra and an Acura Legend, all of the same vintage, with their hoods up. They all looked pretty rough and not well-maintained so I cant really fault the vehicles.
That is all.
All of this in one day? It would appear Virginia is one long junkyard! I’ll stay away if that’s the case!
thats fine our roads have enough traffic
I would have to say 90’s vintage GMs, PontiacGrand Ams in particular, seem to be alongside the road around here. Closely followed by Ford Tauruses of the same era.
Wow, a lot of people bought Grand Ams. The most recent failure I spotted was a multi-colored Corsica, surrender flag and everything.
I’ve been stranded twice. Once by a water pump that gave up the ghost in my Taurus and once by a seized brake caliper in the Buick.
This isn’t getting stranded but I like the story: a college friend of mine had a bustleback Seville that lost its Landau top on I-440 in Nashville. She had to pull over and run and grab it.
I can’t say what make/model I see most often, but I have noticed that many times the dead car has a thirty-day tag on it. Guess it didn’t take the new owner long to find out what sort of headache s/he just bought.
In here Finland, Mercedes-Benz and Euro Fords.
About the time this thread was active, saw a Testarossa that had just rear ended a Mercedes SL. NB5 Orange County near 1
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