Posted on 04/18/2002 2:44:38 PM PDT by yankeedame
What's the Worst Car of the Millennium?
The motoring public has spoken!(with actually comments by those casting their vote).
And...the winner is...
Well, you'll just have to check for yourself!
And, if you ever owned one of thse top ten heaps of the millennium, please accept our humble condolences.
10th Place: The VW Bus
"If everyone had to own one of these as a first car as I did, there would be no traffic jams anywhere. At least half of us would be so turned off by the experience of owning a car, that we would seek alternate means of transporation."
"There was no heat-- unless, that is, the auxillary gas heater caught on fire."
"The bus had no heat, blew over in the wind and used the driver's legs as its first line of defense in an accident."
"It was a death trap on the highway- you could never go fast enough. The chances were good that you'd be hit from the rear."
9th Place: Renault Dauphine
"Truly unemcumbered by the engineering process."
At the time, it cost about half the price of a Volkswagen...which was half the price of everything else. How could Renault do this? Simple. It had half as many parts."
"This car topped out at 45 mph. Since the minimum speed on the Florida Turnpike is 40, patrol cars would follow me, waiting for me to hit a hill so they could ticket me."
"From a historical perspective, it's a shame that the French spent their Marshall Plan dollars on automaking."
"A side impact by a bicycle totalled my Dauphine after only one year."
8th Place: Cadillac Cimarron
"GM thoght they could take a Chevy Cavalier, slap some Cadillac stuff on it, add an extra $5,000.00 and sell a bundle. Tragicaly enought, they pulled it off- for a while."
"Hands down, worst car for the money spent. Yugos were junk, but at least they were cheap. This heap had Caddy price tag!"
7th Place: Dodge Aspen/ Plymouth Volare
"This car began to rust while it was still in the showroom."
"After the floor boards rusted out the rear, they would fill up with water and freeze. I ended up putting soda crates on the floor in the back to keep people from falling under the car."
"The only useful purpose this car served was as the model for the car used in National Lampoon's Vacation"
"Owning a Volare was total ego death- the theme song, the vinal Landau roof, the inability to pass another car on the highway."
6th Place: Renault LeCar
"I'm convinced that the body for this car was supplied by Reynold's Aluminum."
"Our LeCar couldn't climb a hill fully loaded, so the passengers had to get out and walk up."
"I left it unlocked, and it was finally stolen. The insurance check paid for a textbook."
5th Place: Chevy Chevette
"An engine surrounded by 4 pieces of dry wall!"
"Plywood floor, printed circuit 'wiring', and no redeeming qualities. It was a 'Saturdy Night Special' from the word go."
"If I got on the Interstate without being run over, the car would creep towards 55. About an hour later, I'd reach it. Then, the shaking would begin."
4th Place: AMC Gremlin
"It was entirely possible to read a Russian novel during the pause between stepping on the gas and feeling any semblance of forward motion."
"The car had all the quality and safety of a cheap gardentractor."
3rd Place: Ford Pinto
"Dad had a baby-poop-orange pinto the year that car thieves hit our street. Although a dozen cars were stolen in one night, ours was there the next morning, on a strangely empty block."
"Remember that great Pinto bumper sticker,'Hit Me and We Blow Up Together'?"
"The car would do 75mph in 2nd gear, shaking apart and sounding like a bat out of hell. In fourth gear, the top speed was 70mph. What's wrong with this picture? You do the math."
2nd Place: Chevy Vega
"When the read end went on my Vega, the Chevy dealer accused me of racing it. Racing who? My grandfather in hs wheelchair?"
"Burned so much oil, it was single handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."
"My Chevy Vega actualy broke in half going over railroad tracks. The whole rear end came around slightly to the front, sort of like a dog wagging its tail."
And the winner of the worst car of the millennium is...
THE YUGO
"I once tested a Yugo, during which the radio fell out, the gear shift knob came off in my hand, and I saw daylight through the strip around the windshield"
"Any time we made a right hand turn, we all had to lean to the right to prevent the drver's side rear tire from scraping against the wheel well."
"The Yugo's first stop after the showroom was he service departmnt:'Fill 'er up and replace the engine!' "
Invariably, however, the french car is the one that will be going faster/slower than the rest of the traffic, run the stop sign, or make the stupid move...
Chain Drive, Air cooled 600 cc modified motorcycle engine, four speed manual with the shifter on the dash. Mine had no reverse which was fine, we opened the door and Flintstoned it backwards. 50 MPH topout without a hill.
Though it was the worst car I've ever owned it improved my driving more then any other. You had to downshift for anything or you were going no where and the synchros where worthless so you had to double clutch every downshift.
There's someone with one a few miles from here. Sometimes I think about making him an offer (memories).
The sadists at Ford timed everything on this car to blow up, short-out, spring a leak, or melt at the same time, and barely an hour upon expiration of the original warrantee.
WHERE? My high school sweetheart would kill to have hers back...
As the former owner of a Peugeot 404 this was a good move. Mine had an automatique transmision type ZF. Which had to be sent back to Germany for repairs. No-one in the western hemisphere could fix one.
Since this happened more than once I surmise that the French and Germans are still fighting WWII...
The worst Ford I know of was the Ford Granada. That was a horribly assembled mess.
She finally traded it in for a new 1971 Vega wagon and both the Vega's front fenders promptly rusted off. Then the rubber-band timing belt broke and wiped out the cylinder head and valve train. She finally bought a trouble-free Datsun 210 wagon which she still drives.
I'd like to add Corvair to the list (and the Corvair truck was even worse).
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