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Count me as a Maverick fan. In 1974, my sister bought a 1970 white 2 door coupe Maverick with a stick on the steering column. She couldn't afford the car payments after a year so she sold it to me.
That was my 1st car. I was 16 and loved it. It eventually became a 2nd car as I bought other cars but it was always the most dependable car I had. It was easy as hell to work on so even a dunce like me could do basic stuff.
I owned it for the next 14 years and except for routine maintenance, I never had a problem with it. It never stranded me. It drove fine through some truly horrendous midwestern winters.
I eventually sold it but I'll always have fond memories of that thing. When I pass on, I hope it's there waiting for me.
The Maverick was a huge pile of dog doo. How bad - the car was sold until 78 I believe, and by the mid 80s it was very rare to see them on the road. If you did see one it was a rusted out hulk.
Pinto was pretty bad as a car I admit to owning one. The Pintos main attraction was that it did not fall apart quite as fast as the Chevy Vega.
The Mustang II was supposed to be a sporty car but it handled and rode worse than the Pinto. I also owned one of these. Good job almost ruining a legend, Ford.
The Gremlin gets on these lists a lot but they were in general better cars than then the American competition. My brothers 74 Gremlin bought used in 78 with 90K miles, outlived all our family vehicles of that era including a Volkswagan and a Volvo.
The Omni should not be on this list it was a good economy car, roomy, decent ride, didnt beat you up with noise. The 2 door versions were sporty and fun to drive, I owned one of each at different times.
The downsized GMs were hit and miss - my dad had an Olds just like as in the picture but in blue, it was a 78 model, by 1982 it was in poor shape with about 80K. Others had better luck and many of these were still on the road 20 years later in the late 90s.
One model car that should be on this list, is the GM X cars of 1980. Chevrolet called theirs the Citation, and the other divisions all had one too. How bad were these cars, here is a true story....In fall of 1983 I ran into a freind one evening, he said "Hey were going out to eat, I sold my car!" It was a 1980 Citation and he got $125 for it. 3 maybe 4 years old and depreciated to near junk.
I remember my parents bought an '81 Citation and dumped it by '85. I remember the interior being extremely cheap/plastic everywhere, it constantly needed a tune up, was extremely slow, and always in the shop. It's rare to see one these days, outside of a junk yard.
But my grandparents bought about an '84 Buick Skylark (same X car base), but it was a V6 with all the upgrades. It drove so much better than the Citation, was a smooth, quiet ride, and rather luxurious. I don't recall him having that many problems with it.
when the Japanese first wanted to start selling cars they were in such a rush to make one they forgot to name it. The Japanese had no clue what to name it and they knew Germany was great at naming cars. They called up a German Marketing firm and Said they need a name for their new car right away, today if possible. The German marketing man responded, Dat Soon and so the car was named.
i dont want to say taht joke is old, but it was dead and buried before jesus was.
Japanese vehicles from the 1970s rusted out very quickly. Not just body parts, but the frames and critical components. The rumor at the time was Datsun changed to Nissan to escape their reputation for rusting out almost immediately. Not sure if that was true.
nope, nissan was the name of the parent corporation, they just changed the car line from datsun to nissan to reduce the number of name plates the corporation used.
I have found straight 6's to be more durable then a v motor.
They used them a lot on irrigation motors. They ran nonstop 24/7 during watering season. They were pretty much trouble free. The 292, L6 Chevy was the motor of choice.
nope, nissan was the name of the parent corporation, they just changed the car line from datsun to nissan to reduce the number of name plates the corporation used.
It was my understanding that Nissan thought their name would offend Americans, so they started with Datsun. The Asian culture always changes their first name to an American name either to make it easier for us, or to assimilate.
I remember growing up in the late 1980's when my family was lower middle class, all of my friends parents were getting modern FWD cars with fuel injection and cool stuff like digital gauges and radios, while we had those old ugly land barges from the 70's with missing hubcaps and broken a/c. I hated 70's cars with a passion back then, and I still don't care for them.
Regarding that writer's accusation of the Pinto killing "thousands," has there ever been a specific design or manufacturing defect in an automobile that killed tremendous numbers of people, like 100 or more? I'm not talking things we didn't know across the board about design or safety (such as non-collapsible steering columns), but clear defects.
Another article from a "Car expert" who has no clue what he is talking about.
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