WHAT'S THE WORST CAR OF THE MILLENIUM

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[pankot]

"Le Merde" would be more like it.

[rabidralph]

Back in the mid-70s, there was a crime-wave in DC/MD of a man going around picking up women and killing them and then dumping their bodies. Witnessess told police the criminal was driving a green Vega. So the papers dubbed it the Green Vega Murders. Besides the sadness at the loss of life, I always wondered what kind of woman would allow herself to be picked up by a man driving a Vega?

[WhatWouldReaganDo]

James Carville

[absinthe]

My all time worst car was a VW Karman Ghia. Dreadful car. Couldn't wait to get rid of it.

I've always thought the Kharman Ghia was the ugliest car ever made.

[metalurgist]

I owned a 72 Gremlin X. 304 V8. Warner T 14 3 speed, posi traction, dual exhausts with Thrush Hush mufflers and a body that was lightened by Pittsburgh winters. Quite a few Camaro owners were surprised and embarrased by it.

[AFreeBird]

We always called them $#!t-Vettes.

My sister had one, scared the hell out of me driving the backroads into Bloomington, IN from from Yellowwood state park. I was used to going fast on twisty roads; but in a Firebird Formula, not in that death trap. How she survived it I'll never know.

[metalurgist]

All the cars in that class that had the 265 ci V8 had to have the motor mounts disconnected and the engine jacked up to get at the spark plugs. Monza, Starfire, Sunbird, Skyhawk. These cars were so bad that the Kelly blue book wouldn't put a value on them. The book said "buy at your own risk".

[chilepepper]

They used to import the Dacia into Chile. Saw a Dacia
4 wheel jeep-like vehicule on the show room floor... was
starting to rust at the windshield frame -- brand new!!!

[BlazingArizona]

A close second would be the two-stroke East German Trabant.

I've actually seen one Trabant on the road: on a Swiss freeway, shortly after the Wall fell. It was keeping up a good speed, so I suspect the owner had a new engine in it.

[metalurgist]

I protest this ranking. There is an obvious cultural bias against the Italians. The Fiat Strada should have won hands down.

With it's noisy vibrating engine and a Weber carb that would allow the fuel needle and seat to back out and let the engine starve for fuel and die just about anywhere.
Torque steering that was so bad you had to steer right to go straight every time you pulled out.
Wiring by the tempermental and always drunk Luigi who only would work with red and white wire that was cut into 40 foot sections no matter if only a foot was needed. The excess was wrapped around stuff and then made into a ball.
Then there was the body. The finest recycled tin cans rolled to exquisite thinness by the best pastry chefs in Italy guaranteeing the the Strada's D ring door handles would rot off and come loose in your hands when you opened the doors.

I demand a recount and reparations.

[RightWinger]

I've had it with American vehicles, I going back to Honda, Toyota or Nissan.

[WildWeasel]

I had a Monza as a HS kid back in the late 70s. It had a small block V8 from the factory and was a good car for me. The small block V8 was a bit cramped, but the car was quick and handled pretty good. Just right for a HS kid on a budget.

[WildWeasel]

No, the Skyhawk had the Buick 231 CI V6. The 231 was , and still is one of the best motors GM has ever made. They also put a turbo 4 in the Skyhawk for a while.

[Don Carlos]

Somehow, it ended up being one of the best selling cars in America.

Simple reason for its best seller status. FordMoCo owns Hertz rent-a-wreck. Fleet sales to Hertz was the reason the Taurus showed such high sales numbers.

[metalurgist]

The first 231 that was put into the Skyhawk was the oddfire V6. These engines had a rough idle because they used a 90 degree power stroke the same as a V8.

The 265 Chevy was an option on all of them I'm pretty sure.
I don't remember a turbo 4 cyl. engine. The only 4 cyl. they had back then was the 151 Iron Duke.

[jumpstartme]

LMAO! I don't recall burning that much oil. But, all of my window handles broke within the 1st year, the thing rode like a broken kettle, and it was just a piece of garbage. It probably was on the Vega model. I think the original Pontiac Sunbird was the same. Garbage.

Of course, I've got a nice Blazer in the garage. Not a moment's trouble.

[Vinnie]

1960-63 Ford Falcon

I had a friend with a '61 Falcon.He found out one day that the floor of the trunk was also the top of the fuel tank. Seems that the trunk leaked rain water and the floor rusted out.
He put the gas pump nozzle into the filler and put the 'auto' cutoff on it.
Thirty five gallons later he had a trunk full of gas. LOL

[Labyrinthos]

Mine was blue with a white vinyl top that started to peel and flake within a year. I lost several window handles also, as well as the driver's side window, which just kind of popped out. I really didn't mind, however, because I usually drove around with the window open anyway to vent the smell of burning oil. Now I have a Ford Explorer that just turned 100,000 miles with virtually no problems other than ordinary wear and tear.

[agrace]

AMC Spirit. Ugliest hatchback car ever. My dad used to go to govt auctions and buy these awful used cars for us kids to drive. At the time I thought he was embarassingly cheap but now I think he was shrewdly practical. :)

The one we had was robin's egg blue with one burgundy door and an AM radio. The hatch used to pop up when I'd hit bumps in the road and I'd have to pull over to close it. The only time it WOULDN'T open was when I locked my keys in the car at a school dance, and then no amount of bouncing on the back bumper would get it to pop. Another time when I closed it, the whole back window shattered all over the road. Delightful vehicle, let me tell ya.

From the looks of this thread, AMC made some real gems.

[baseballfanjm]

That's one ugly car.