I guess I've been lucky.
I've never had a lemon or basket case car. Very first was a 1980 Tbird (Black w/ ford porno red interior) that had a V8, dual exhaust, but had factory "mag" wheels that would wallow out the lug holes. Most comfy one though. Next was a 1989 tempo...never had a problem with it. My 1984 mustang LX had the POS 3.8L engine that warped the aluminum heads pretty regularly (and it had the obligatory porno-red interior). My 1984 GT with T-tops was my "hot rod", but I think it was posessed because I got into a lot of fenderbenders and received a lot of tickets with it (and you guessed it, porno-red interior). Then I picked up a Bronco II, 1985 vintage, 4x4, that ran great, but was a rust bucket. Matter of fact, the day I sold it, the seat ripped out of the floor as I was pushing in the clutch (yes, you know, porno-red). No problems with my 20th anniversary '84 GT ragtop, but I don't drive it much anyhow...it has that cranky CFI injection setup on it (wow, again with the porno-red). Finally, I bought a 88 Tbird Turbocoupe for 600 clams a few years ago with 230,000 miles on it, power everything, ride control, and a 5-speed. It's had the most bugs in it, but I love it's cushiness under my butt, the fuel economy, and the little turbo that kicks in when I need it. Best of all, it's missing that certain color interior I seem to always be blessed with! I also had a 89 probe and 96 Z-26 beretta (piece of junk quad4) , but only long enough to flip and resell.