Still can't get any respect

[yellowdog]

Was just taking a little mental break at work (which, for the past 3 months, has been a cramped office on a military base in Kabul) and checking the news when a headline caught my eye "10 Cars That Probably Should Not have Hit The Road." Somehow, I just knew what was coming but, like when you get that thick envelope from the IRS, I couldn't stop myself from peeking.

Yep, you guessed it. Our favorite piece of iron came in at #5. The author, Justin Lloyd-Miller, had this to say:

Though intentions were pure (as they most often are), the Chrysler TC by Maserati was a Frankenstein of vehicle, with adopted parts and badges thrown together to create what would ultimately become a bit of an embarrassment to the two companies it was trying to promote. Over three years, the car only sold 7,000 examples, and successfully butchered the friendship between Chrysler and the Italian automaker.

Source: 10 Cars That Probably Should Not Have Hit the Road | Wall St. Cheat Sheet - Part 6

So we share the limelight with other such luminaries as the Pinto, Edsel, Aztex, Pacer, and Yugo. Really?

Why won't they leave our poor cars alone???

[Bill Reichert]

I think they just do that to get a bunch of responses to up their ratings. They are mixing apples and oranges. The Pinto was a stripped down car with deliberate and accidental defects. (I owned a '72). The Edsel was a classic marketing mistake. (All the research said it would fail and they still went ahead.) The Aztec and Pacer were just plain freaky to look at. The Yugo? What do you expect with worn out tooling sold by....Fiat......to some poor sucker. At least Maserati didn't let Iaccoca (inventor of the exploding gas tank) install it in our beloved cars.

[Digger914]

I clicked the link and the article was nothing more than a few quick quips and quotes put together by someone that really doesn't know automotive history. The Cadillac Cimmeron hit the streets about the same time and for the same reason as the Lincoln Versailles and the Cadillac 8-6-4 was a motor not a model.

I have often and proudly described my TC as Iacocca's Edsel and I don't mind sharing that spotlight if my TC follows the same path as the Edsel. With it's distinctive hose collar grill and standard features that were still options on a Cadillac, it was an iconic car of the 50's that became a joke in the 60's, sold for nothing in the 70's & 80's and next to nothing in the 90's. Has anyone priced one lately? The 60 Edsel was still pretty well featured, but it looked like every other big Ford Galaxie from the front and no one noticed it. Marketing was only part of the Edsel's demise, the very expensive Edsel hit the highway about the same time a recession hit the country and something had to go.

When it comes to how a car looks from the front, has anyone noticed how much the early 2000 Volvo's look like our TC's? If imitation is a form of praise, having a newer sport luxury euro import mimic our older TC's is a sign of respect.