Here's one: My 1976 Dodge Power Wagon 4X4. It was an absolute piece of junk. IMHO, the 70's were the height of arrogance of the US car industry. They all made a pretty lousy product. But Dodge was the worst by a long shot. This was also a time when Dodge was cutting all kinds of corners before their ills and near total collapse became publically known.

This vehicle had too many problems, malfunctions, breakdowns to mention but the all-time favorite come apart was as follows:

I was going down the road about 60 mph and the rearend was whining more than usual. At that point, I just didn't care what noise it was making, I had just decided to drive it until the wheels came off. Well, they did.....at 60 mph! The entire rear axle came detached from the frame....wheels and all. I looked in my drivers mirror to see the axle with wheels attached gaining on me. Off course by this time the frame had dropped on the pavement, and I was slowing rapidly....and noisely. The rear axle and wheels went whipping by me on the drivers side (luckily there was no oncoming traffic) and veered off into the borrow pit. Anyone else call the ditch along side the road the borrow pit? The reason was in early days they "borrowed" dirt from the side of the road to make the road bed....but I digress. The axle, wheels and all hit a barb wire fence along side the road and proceeded to wrap about 100 yards of barb wire in an incredible mess all around the axle.

The Brown Dog as we called the Power Wagon came to rest along the side of the road and I had it towed home and had to come back and fix the poor guys fence. I cut off some of the wire but took wire, axle and all back to the dealer to prove what had happened, because I didn't think he would believe it. He believed it, because this wasn't the first axle that had come loose....but this one was the most dramatic he said. I guess the the differential just totally froze up and at my speed and weight, as it was loaded with lumber, the wheel friction on the pavement totally tore the whole axle loose from the frame.

That story is the gosh honest truth. It was also the last Dodge or Chrysler product I ever owned and will ever own!

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