Ten cars that should not hit the road

[mach71351c]

I too think the Pinto was a decent car, considering its intended market and price.

I am also a fan of Mustang II...Lots of Pinto "DNA" in that car.

The "exploding Pinto" reputation was unfortunate for Pinto. All cars back then were built the same, but the poor Pinto took all the heat...no pun intended.

I thought I seen somewhere that there was a test done and there were cars tested worse than the Pinto in rear impact.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Of the list, only the Yugo and Aztek belong - every other car on that list was a good car during its time.

• People hated the Pacer - I think it's kind of cool, actually. One of the first cars that actually took "ergonomics" and utilitarianism seriously.
  
• Pintos were cool, and really not all that bad-looking for the day... a nice import econo-car fighter, actually.
  
• A friend of mine had an X90... not a bad little commuter.
  
• Chrysler TC using its Maserati engineering influence actually made improvements to the Mopar products of the time - after the K-Car "economical-minded" approach had them so "cheap" and disposable.
  
• The only thing wrong with the Cimarron was that it wasn't nice enough to be a Cadillac - instead of the Cavalier, they should've based in off the Celebrity platform and gone nuts with the luxury appointments (that would've been a huge seller).
  
• The Prowler helped stir the "retro" juices for the other manufacturers to come up with their own retro models. Without the Prowler, no S197 Mustang... or anything that resembles something with old-school styling cues.
  
• The Edsel was the right car at the wrong time. The Sled-era was coming to a close, and people wanted smaller, less "heavy" looking cars. It was an awesome car... just a few years too late.
  
• OK - Yugos just sucked... 'nuff said.
  
• Azteks were the butt-ugliest sport-ute ever. Hands-down.
  

As for your other submissions:

• Chevrolet Vega - bite your tongue. They actually look better than the Pinto and Maverick, at least. Beats the Hell out of the Chevette (which was an awesome car in its own right).
  
• Honda Civic - sorry... only the best econo-box ever. After owning my own '95 VX, I will never bad-mouth Civics ever again. 195,000+ miles, still pulling 40mpg in-town, driving it like I stole it with the A/C running... and sold it for 3 times what I had into it. Winning!
  
• Don't hate on the Gremlin. A 401-powered Gremlin would smoke over half the V8-powered '71-'73 Mustangs out there. I think I'd also rather back up a Gremlin than a '71-'73 Fastback any day.
  

I'm not a fan of the Multipla, either... based on sheer looks alone... along with the Nissan Cube and Scion Xb... but, people like 'em for some reason - and they didn't make the list.

 

[cudak888]

Chevrolet Vega - bite your tongue. They actually look better than the Pinto and Maverick, at least. Beats the Hell out of the Chevette (which was an awesome car in its own right).

On that point, I'll definitely agree - they're one of the best looking compacts ever designed. What other small economy car of the era came with sports car proportions? The examples powered by the Iron Duke 4-cylinder aren't bad at all.

And let's not forget this '71-73 styling proposal either, which is little more than a carbon copy of the Vega roofline tacked onto the lower half of a '71-73 Mustang - and it looks fantastic:

Honda Civic - sorry... only the best econo-box ever.

And it still looks like a small insect on LSD

Don't hate on the Gremlin.

I want one. And Roadkill made me want one even more:

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7DFzl6ZU5k

I'd like to see an automotive journalist with the guts to put the Prius on a "never-should-have-existed" list. That will gain a lot of friends...and enemies.

-Kurt

 

[bkdunha]

[/align]I feel honored to have owned both a Pacer and a Gremlin. The Pacer had a 250 inline 6 that would never die. Here is a picture of one that looked just like mine.



My Gremlin was also a good one. Wished I would have kep that one. It was 1 of 400'ish that were equiped with an audi 4 cyl and had the denim Levi edition interior.