10. Tie: Ferrari Mondial / Lamborghini Uracco: gorgeous buy
useless. How could something so right be so wrong? Easy – late 70’s / Early
80’s emissions and safety had conspired to hamstring all the Italian stallions.
The Mondial was not well thought out. Ferrari wanted a mid-engined car that be
the stop gap between the big 12-cylinder mid-engined supercar (Testarossa) and
the lithe 328i. The Lambo? Well they
were underfunded and in between owners…for a change. It was a beautiful car
that really sucked (and don’t get me started on the Jalpa…).
9. Ford Pinto: What!? besides the concrete fact that ANY
rear end accident resulted in an EXPLOSION? Well the Pinto was just wrong on so
many levels. It was what a shameful FoMoCo fosters on an unsuspecting American
public when the middle-east turned off the oil tap. Shameful.
8. Fiat Strada: Fiat’s were terrible in the US, but the
Strada was the terribleist (is that evan a word?). It was plasticky, flimsy,
had AC what was marginal at best (and at worst blew really hot air) and had
HUGE ugly bumpers that hung off the front AND rear. Oh and it stranded me
constantly when the clutch cable broke. I took to keeping an extra one if the
trunk.
7. Chevy Vega: See Ford Pinto above, but the GM version.
They did have the Cosworth Vega, but that hardly counts.
6. Cadillac Catera: The Caddy that Zings. Yes that was what
their clever advertising said about this turd. It was a rebadged Opel when
Opel’s were really bad. Sucks for the 6 people that bought one. I laugh at them
(and whoever is driving it) when I see them on the road.
5. Chevy SSR: It’s a truck, but not really. It’s a sports
car...maybe not so much. Or is it a clever convertible with a very large pickup
shaped trunk? I hope not! What it really is…a piece of sh$t. Yet another
terrible vehicle (cannot call it either a car or truck or convertible) that GM
has fostered on the automotive buying public.
4. Bricklin SV1: Well it did have cool powered gull wing
doors (the DeLorean had manual doors). Malcolm Bricklin tried to make a cool
sports car, a safe one too (hence the name S-Safe, V-Vehicle, 1-well one...).
Too bad it weighed more than it’s Ford motor could handle. It was slow, it
overheated and cost $16,000 to build (but was sold to dealers for $5000). Hmmm,
based on the economic model, was this maybe a Soviet car? No, just a bad one.
Too bad Canada gets the bum rap on this one.
3. AMC Gremlin: See Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega above. AMC was
slowly (or maybe not so slowly) going broke. Their answer to the fuel crisis of
1973 – the Gremlin. No wonder they went out of business.
2. Yugo GV: This was maybe the worst car to ever be sold in
the US. Motors would fall out, doors would fall off, handles would snap off.
And what was when the car was sitting still. Or as the guys building them at
the factory called it – Monday.
1. Pontiac Aztek: Pontiac is no longer with us. This is the
reason why. All those great cars of the 50’s and 60’s came to naught because of
this crapper. GTO’s, Grand Prix’s, Bonneville’s – all reduced to a footnote in
history. Why? Tom Peters designed it saying it was to point to the future
direction of GM’s styling. Thank GOD that did not happen. But this did and I am
sorry and try to avert my eyes every time I see one on the road. I know that
some folks think it is cool because it was on Breaking Bad. Sorry but Walter
White will never make this cool, forget revisionist history, this thing should
remain in the scrap heap of history.
