The 50 Worst Cars Of All Time (bit OT, but brilliant fun)

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/0,28757,1658545,00.html ^ | July 11, 2008 | Apollo 13

[Apollo 13]

Hi everyone - I thought it a good idea to lighten up the mood amidst all the present political brouhaha to present to you a classic article from Time Magazine, concerning er... exotic examples of car types built throughout the 20th century.

[patton]

37 ford what? more info?

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Here's my nomination. I had one of these lovelies for seven years. When I traded it in for a new car (a Honda Civic), the dealer had to tow my Fiesta away from my driveway.

[TexanToTheCore]

Spring Siata should have lead the list.

[VOA]

Gad, I miss those wonderful black-and-white full-page ads in Life Magazine
back in the day.
Low-key, dry-humor classics of advertizing.

Those are among the few American advertizing campaigns that didn’t suck!

One other good campaign was a man’s clothing line (Hart-Schaffner-Marx?)
during those Cold War Days was one that showed a press photo of Soviet
big-wigs, all in ill-fitting business suits.
With the caption of “You wouldn’t even wish this on your worst enemy”

[Welsh Rabbit]

When I traded it in for a new car (a Honda Civic), the dealer had to tow my Fiesta away from my driveway.

Looks similar to a '91 Escort I had briefly. After it died again and I got sick of fixing it, I removed the plates and pushed it to a nearby parking lot. Not the most responsible way of abandoning a car, but I was young and dumb.

[doorgunner69]

I am baffled how the Renault LeCar missed the list..............

[raybbr]

I don't know, but I hated those when I worked for a Chevy dealer. One thing I remember about those was that the cars were shipped standing on their nose in the railroad cars.

Nakota wrote: My wife had a ‘73 Vega. It was a nice looking car, silver with black buckets and red piping, four on the floor etc. But, it started taking oil at 30,000 miles so I traded it on a Dodge Charger. Who in their right mind would design an aluminum engine with steel pistons, no cylinder sleeves, just aluminum.

An interesting thing about the Vega: The gas pump circuit went through the oil level switch. Somebody in the engineering dept. knew the thing would burn oil and incorporated that as a safety feature for the engine.

I found out the hard way. My '71 Vega would occasionally die after I went over a bumpy road. It would then not start. I would poke around under the hood and by accident reseat the oil switch plug. The car would run fine. It took me a while to figure it out.

[raybbr]

Well, the Vega wasn't all that ugly. Some of the models and the paint jobs were horrible looking. Here is a site devoted to the Vega.

[raybbr]

Here's the Chevy Monza which replaced the Vega.

[Focault's Pendulum]

When I remember the Vega, I scratch my head and wonder

"What were they thinking???"

An aluminum block engine. If you overheated it, seized up, unrepairable.

[gathersnomoss]

Besides the aluminum block, what was up with the Vega’s steering wheel that had a permanent tilt from left to right? WTF was that?

[gathersnomoss]

When I see either Newsweek or Time in a waiting room, it somehow finds it's way into a waste receptacle.

[djf]

I have an ‘84 S10 Blazer. Pretty dependable, I only drive it if I need to haul something or pull someone out of a ditch.

Problem with that was 2.8L just ain’t enough spunk for a vehicle of that weight.

One more thing. If you have the choice of changing a starter in one of those or slitting your wrists, break out the razor blades. What an effin nightmare! It did go in, and it works fine, but NEVER AGAIN!!

[gathersnomoss]

One of the Top 10 best advertisements, ever.

[AndyJackson]

As the owner of a Jag X-type this article is dead wrong. I am a lifelong European style sports car owner, and deliberately chose the car after comparing it with the BMW 3-series. It is perfectly reliable, and with all-wheel drive it handles beautifully. Of course those who were really looking for an XJ8 will be disappointed, but at 1/2 the price there is no justification for feeling swindled. It is a small maneuverable well designed sports car, not a luxury sedan, which its critics keep comparing it to for unfathomable reasons.

[rockrr]

I don’t drive a Ford, but my ‘37 chevy gets 16-18mpg. It isn’t exactly geared for the highway but you can fix just about anything with a Crescent wrench and a screwdriver ;’}

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"It's not even factually accurate."

Yeah. Tons of errors, such as the DeLorean having a "Peugeot" engine. (It was a Renault.)

They made some good choices, though. Not always the obvious ones, either. But the undercurrent of political commentary and hectoring Green-ism quickly grows tiresome.

[MarineMom613]

I’m a girl, what do i know. It’s my b/f’s. It’ll be ready in the next 2 weeks. Needless to say he’s awaiting for it with open arms. I can find out but I the word cabriolet comes to mind. It’s a convertable. I am putting together an album from when he first bought it to the finished product. It’s cool!!!

[patton]

Less than 20, I would guess.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Brilliant fun? Isn't an article on automobiles in Time like an article on childrearing in the NAMBLA journal. (Pun intended.)