"Worst Cars" list

[Locomobile]

8 minutes ago, Pfeil said:

Try again!

No comment 😐

[Pfeil]

11 hours ago, padgett said:

" 75-79's were the best" - naaaw, none are better than the '74 GTO Camper Special with shaker hood.

That car has the old platform which came on these,

 

The 75-79 X bodies chassis came from these;

 

  much better handling cars! 

 

and you were at GMI? shame shame.

[Locomobile]

1 minute ago, AL1630 said:

I wonder how many of those options were actually sold? My guess is not a lot.

That was at the height of the camping craze, so some were likely sold. Vans at that time were in very high demand, ten years prior, ya couldn't give one away.

 

Ron

[TerryB]

AMC had the caper hatch setup, I saw it on a 1977 Hornet AMX when I was car shopping in 1977.  I liked the car but just couldn’t bring myself to buy an AMC.

[Pfeil]

4 minutes ago, Locomobile said:

That was at the height of the camping craze, so some were likely sold. Vans at that time were in very high demand, ten years prior, ya couldn't give one away.

 

Ron

It sure was;

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Has Renault Le Car been mentioned yet?

 

 

From Hemmings:

And, as it turned out in the longer-term, it was crap. Rust made a meal of the bodywork unless you lived in the desert, while the engine took to eating its own head gaskets and washing it down with a tasty oil/antifreeze milkshake chaser. Scant stateside parts distribution, even when sold through 1,300-odd AMC stores, didn't help; things didn't improve when the Regie sold AMC to Chrysler. Combine this with legendarily approximate French build quality, and suddenly, the Le Car becomes Le Throwaway Car; you can't drive what you can't fix.

 

Even in the U.K., where Renault never went away, keeping your 5 alive appears problematic: Of the 216,000 sold there between 1972 and '84, fewer than 500 examples yet live. At least the U.K. has Renault 5 clubs: In the States, where fewer than 182,000 Renaults of all types sold from 1976 to '83 (that's including 18i's, Fuegos, 17s, the lot), this landmark model is lumped in with its forebears in a marque club. Within half a decade of Le Car's departure from these shores, Renault pulled up stakes, never to return.

[Locomobile]

Just now, Hudsy Wudsy said:

Has Renault Le Car been mentioned yet?

 

 

From Hemmings:

And, as it turned out in the longer-term, it was crap. Rust made a meal of the bodywork unless you lived in the desert, while the engine took to eating its own head gaskets and washing it down with a tasty oil/antifreeze milkshake chaser. Scant stateside parts distribution, even when sold through 1,300-odd AMC stores, didn't help; things didn't improve when the Regie sold AMC to Chrysler. Combine this with legendarily approximate French build quality, and suddenly, the Le Car becomes Le Throwaway Car; you can't drive what you can't fix.

 

Even in the U.K., where Renault never went away, keeping your 5 alive appears problematic: Of the 216,000 sold there between 1972 and '84, fewer than 500 examples yet live. At least the U.K. has Renault 5 clubs: In the States, where fewer than 182,000 Renaults of all types sold from 1976 to '83 (that's including 18i's, Fuegos, 17s, the lot), this landmark model is lumped in with its forebears in a marque club. Within half a decade of Le Car's departure from these shores, Renault pulled up stakes, never to return.

Was that one of the excellent four bangers that upon losing the timing belt would bend all the valves and knock holes in pistons?

[padgett]

Pfeil: You mean the GTO was on the X body for more than one year (1974) ?

[Pfeil]

1 hour ago, padgett said:

Pfeil: You mean the GTO was on the X body for more than one year (1974) ?

No, GTO was just a name on the Pontiac X body list. Actually a swan song  ( inappropriately for the GTO) which was really a Grand  Am- a misappropriation of the GTO name as I think all of us Pontiac guys can agree except in the 4 dr. version. 

[Jim Bollman]

A local LeCar has survived. I see everytime I go into town. It is the sign for a long closed junkyard.

 

[Hudsy Wudsy]

What I remember about Le Cars is how Minnesota winters made quick work of them.

[TerryB]

Seems like many European cars were not adept at dealing with salt induced rust out issues.  I guess salting the roads was not common in Europe as it was in the US?  

[rocketraider]

 Worked with a guy who bought a LeCar new. A year and a half later, it became "that m-f LeCar" and a year after that it disappeared from the plant parking lot, replaced by a Ford Festiva. Not a great improvement but at least there was a Ford dealer in town.

 

Surprised no one has mentioned 95-99 S10 based gm 4wd vehicles. 

[padgett]

Hoo boy so much confusion. In 1973 the GTO option (last year it was a separate model was 1971) was on the new A body, same platform as the new Grand Am but not related other than being a mid-sized Pontiac. In 1974 only the GTO option moved to the X-body (NOVA) and the camper option was available. There was no 1975 GTO. The nameplate was revived in 2004 on a Holden platform. Any GTO can be a fun car.

[60FlatTop]

The most critical opinions seems to come from people who never owned one of the cars they criticize. They just get plunked into one personality type by some.

[padgett]

Hoo boy I like all cars though have trouble with a 60 Ford and a Daimler SP250. Have had a number of "worst" cars before, most with no problem. As far as "the list" have had a number of H bodies (Vega) most of the problems I caused but key is that with AC it got a real cooling system. Also an Austin America (well an MG 1100) that was my daily driver for a while. Almost bought a TR8 with a Buick engine and liked (but never had) a Cimarron.

 

Do recall seeing a new small Chrysler wagon on the dealers lot with a rusted out tailgate (part of the reason I now live over 50 miles from the ocean or gulf.)

 

Had a Renault Dauphine for a while but lost somewhere in the Carolinas and didn't look very hard.

[Eric Wahlberg]

On 1/21/2021 at 8:24 AM, Flivverking said:

The Chevrolet Chevette.1976-87?

Gosh,what were they thinking?

No one I know recalls them .

As I recall they were available with an optional diesel, which was no better than the other diesels GM built in that era.

[padgett]

Metro made a better TOAD.

[Big Beat]

"Worst" is too vague. Worst in which way? Design, safety, reliability, appearance, marketing, suitability, etc. ? The Pinto was a miserable little car, but other than the eventually resolved gas tank safety issue it wasn't really any worse than anything else in its class at the time. The Corvair, the rope-drive Tempest, the fuel-injected '57 Bonneville... All brilliant designs, but total disasters in the real world. These are cars that are fun to read about and make great collectibles today, but how many first owners agreed? The Edsel was a marketing failure, but not a bad car. The Aztec is fugly, but again, not a bad car. On the other hand, something like an Isetta is cute as a button, but imagine living with one as your only vehicle. No thanks, an Aztec is far better suitable as an actual car. And if we're looking at European models, there are plenty more miserable candidates totally unsuitable to be considered a proper car, from a British Invacar to a German Lloyd with a body made of "glit" (glue and sh*t). On the other hand, the Russian Lada, while also a pretty crappy car that no one would want to drive outside of Russia, is nevertheless super durable and infinitely repairable. In good hands, it's a car that will last a lifetime. So is it really a bad car? I'd take a Lada over something more modern but truly miserable with no redeeming value, like a Hyundai Excel! How about something like a Corvair van? What were they thinking, a rear engine cargo van with an uneven floor? Poor design! How about a 1970's Mazda Rotary? My family owned a '74 RX-4 wagon. Really nice car in its day, but we rebuilt that horrible engine twice. Zero reliability, but I would love to have one of them today with a regular gasoline engine (which was a Japan-only model). Oh, and the absolute worst car I ever owned was an Olds Delta 88. Not something typically found on "worst car" lists, but in my case it was even less reliable than the rotary Mazda. It's all extremely subjective. 

[rocketraider]

For some reason thinking Chevettes used Isuzu Diesels same as LUV pickups?

 

gm had the Diesel know-how to have made the passenger car Diesel program successful. But some gm Corporate bonehead decreed Oldsmobile Engineering could not utilize Detroit Diesel resources and expertise. 

 

Curious what year your D88 was?

[padgett]

Biggest problem with the GM diesels that had Cadillacs imitating armadillos was two fold and both were thanks to bean counters: too light a crank and no water separator.

 

GM had a habit of doing things like that pretty much starting in 70s (Vega could not overheat yet standard radiator was waaay too small, Americans are notorious for running two quarts low yet 84 Fiero had a three quart sump. (recall fixed - bigger oil filter and remarked dipstick). That when out of oil a rod broke and dumped what oil was left on the catalytic converter resulting in toxic gas (shared with Trabant) was incidental)

[Morgansdad]

I remember being all of 17 and I had a Kawasaki 100. It was a street/trail type of bike. An older guy at work said he wanted to buy it for his son. I told him several times I didn't want to sell it but, he wanted it. One Monday he came in saying that's all he heard all week-end from his son was about that bike. He told me he had a great running 50 Ford pickup he would trade me for the bike. Like a big DUMMY, I I traded. On top of the truck being the ugliest truck I think I had ever saw, you couldn't drive it in the rain because of the vaccum wipers. Now, mind you the truck had a perfect body, all glass was good, good tires,  needed nothing.  I traded that thing off within a week. I'm sure this is the worst vehicle I had ever owned.  I still shutter when I see a 50 or 51.   LOL

[Locomobile]

9 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

The most critical opinions seems to come from people who never owned one of the cars they criticize. They just get plunked into one personality type by some.

A car doesn't need to be owned to know it's worthiness. Working on them everyday and seeing the same customers come through the door repeatedly is a good indicator.

 

Mid 60's through late 70's, some US carmakers (some foreign too) put out some inferior quality compared to vehicles coming out of Asia. We hated to see them come and still not fond of them, the fact is they were doing a better job. We had to get better to compete and we did and now do. Everyone builds good cars nowadays in my opinion. They have to.

 

-Ron

Edited January 28, 2021 by Locomobile (see edit history)

[Locomobile]

2 hours ago, Big Beat said:

Oh, and the absolute worst car I ever owned was an Olds Delta 88.

On the list of statements you'll never hear, that's right up there with ''hand me that piano'' 😁

 

Early 70's olds 88 was one of the best cars ever built by ANY one. Unstoppable luxury tank. I had one, we drove it for years. It was old when we got it and we put a bunch of miles on with very few minor repairs.

 

-Ron

[Morgansdad]

18 hours ago, Locomobile said:

On the list of statements you'll never hear, that's right up there with ''hand me that piano'' 😁

 

Early 70's olds 88 was one of the best cars ever built by ANY one. Unstoppable luxury tank. I had one, we drove it for years. It was old when we got it and we put a bunch of miles on with very few minor repairs.

 

-Ron

I don't know that I could agree with your statement. Maybe you just got one that was destined to be a bad one. I had a 1973 that was pretty close to being one of my better cars. Drove it for over 4 years and did nothing other than routine maintenance. Plus you could get at least 4 bodies in the trunk!    LOL!

[Locomobile]

35 minutes ago, Morgansdad said:

I don't know that I could agree with your statement. Maybe you just got one that was destined to be a bad one. I had a 1973 that was pretty close to being one of my better cars. Drove it for over 4 years and did nothing other than routine maintenance. Plus you could get at least 4 bodies in the trunk!    LOL!

I think we agreed to disagree 😀

[Morgansdad]

35 minutes ago, Locomobile said:

I think we agreed to disagree 😀

And that's the way real men do it !   LOL

[Big Beat]

>>> On the list of statements you'll never hear,

 

>>> Curious what year your D88 was?

 

It was an '82. I wrote up that story on another site, it's a fun read:

 

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1982-oldsmobile-delta-88-royale-brougham-channeling-christine/

[rocketraider]

1) NYC/northeast corridor

2) 3.8

3) previously owned by a "distracted" young U/M lawyer

 

That poor Oldsmobile didn't have a chance! Doomed from the day the dealer ordered it! 😁

[Locomobile]

4 hours ago, Big Beat said:

It was an '82.

Totally different car. The early ones were unstoppable.