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Ten Worst Award Winning Cars

I owned a Ford Contour in fact I owned two of them and I thought they were both good cars. Put over 100,000 miles on both of them with very few problems.
 
Oh man.. the Vega!!!!


eeeks!! :eek:


Dad bought one, fire engine red.. then a tan one.. First was a station wagon, second was a sedan. He loved them. We (the family) hated them. The VW Bug was more fun, (and interior parts never broke).

What a mess.

I remember John DeLoreans book; 'On a clear day you can see General Motors'.. Day one of the Vega prototype on the test track in Detroit, the front suspension......... 'fell off' (came off, disconnected).



Bill
 
I've owned 3 Vegas. And thought highly of them once I got the engine blocks fixed. O' course while I was fixing the block, I was sticking every bit of speed equipment I could find on it.
 
Oh man.. the Vega!!!!


eeeks!! :eek:


Dad bought one, fire engine red.. then a tan one.. First was a station wagon, second was a sedan. He loved them. We (the family) hated them. The VW Bug was more fun, (and interior parts never broke).

What a mess.

I remember John DeLoreans book; 'On a clear day you can see General Motors'.. Day one of the Vega prototype on the test track in Detroit, the front suspension......... 'fell off' (came off, disconnected).



Bill


I had a friend who bought a vega wagon. We stuck a 454 and a muncie 5 speed in it direct connected to the rear axle.

Man could that thing whistle!
 
i had a chevy citation. i loved that car, but they are telling the truth about the transmision. they were junk. mine had no rust, and handled really good, when it could move under it's own steam.

as for the mustang II, i owned 2 of them. both were crap. the first one overheated on the way home from the car lot, a distance of 3 miles.
 
Hmm...Vega, MII, Contour/Mystake, Alliance. A list of winners there! :d

Unlike lifejogger, I have nothing but a severe despise for the Ford/Mercury Mys-take. Overweight for the drivetrain and just as boring to look at as the Taurus. The only redeeming feature I found it had was the rear disk brakes that it donated to my Ford Tempo. The Tempo/Topaz (as nasty of a reputation that it has) is still twice the car that the Contour/Mystique was. Sure my '93 Tempo still looks like an '84, but it's little cast-iron, pushrod, 2/3 of a 240 inline-six is still running & getting 32mpg too. :d

The only Vegas I remember still running around were ones that had either a SBC or Buick V6 stuffed under the hood. That little Vega 4-banger was not well liked by anyone that had to turn wrenches on em. It ranked right up there with the Pinto-stang.

Not sure why the Merkur made the list but the Chrysler Conquest didn't. Both were "borrowed from overseas" RWD sport coupes, both had excellent drivetrains, and both had really good styling for the era. Neither one of em belongs on the "worst" list.
 
hmmmm

I've owned 3 Vegas. And thought highly of them once I got the engine blocks fixed. O' course while I was fixing the block, I was sticking every bit of speed equipment I could find on it.
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I thought I was the only one. I had three of them also. I had a Vega Wagon that blew so much smoke you could hide a Cadillac in it. I also had a "Cosworth" Vega that was actually sort of fast. Then I had one my brother gave me that had the Chevy engine replaced with a Pontiac Engine (Steel Sleeves in Engine) and I drove it for years and then gave it away to some kid who happily drove it for a few more years.

That being said, they deserve to be on the list of worse ever cars. I didn't like them. The Wagon I had only had like 40,000 miles on it and the motor was trash. I had an friend back then who had a Pinto and it was a much better car. I guess this was Detroits attempt at a disposable car, but they didn't realize that customers don't want to dispose of them after a year or two. Leave it to the Koreans to get it right. My wife's Hyundai Accent is ten years old, has 150,000 miles on it and still runs pretty well.
:kilroy:
 
My buddy had a '72 Vega hatchback that actually was a pretty good runner. We were stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines and I guess the little car liked the "generic" Navy Exchange gasoline. :d No maintenance probs other than a couple warranty things where he had to drive to Manila to get the work done. Nice thing about the Philippines, if you had a good mech out in town you could keep your car running almost forever. Body work, engine changes, upholstery - they did it all. :)
 
Way back when, Lotus 're-engineered' the Vega engine to International Formula 2 specifications, and it was a very potent piece of kit.
Of course, the link between the 'Lotus' engine and the lump in the 'Cosworth Vega' was almost non-existant.
:kilroy:
 
What happened? They missed the Chevy Chevette. Now that was a piece of crap. I hated the 2nd gen Mustangs and 3rd gen Firebirds too.

I had a 94 Towncar and 89 Crown Vic, they were two of the best modern day cars I've owned with the least problems.

The best cars, least trouble of all from long ago, were the 63 GP, 66 Tempest, and 66 GTOs I owned. Well, this GTO I have now gave a few fits but I got that straightened out. Those were just from old age. :costumes:

From 78 up to the end of 93 I hauled just about every GM model made, cars and trucks. And too tell the truth, some of them should have been on that list. But then it would have been more than ten total for being the worst.
 
It seems like there are as many automotive snoozers as there are super-stars. Isn't that strange ? Under a broad analysis, doesn't it make the entire industry seem inept ??

:jeep0a::jeep0a::jeep0a:
 
My Dad bought the first Chevy Citation off the lot of the local dealer (fall of 79) and drove it for 60,000 miles until the engine started knocking (Oil pump quit) Went out and bought another one (an 84) and drove it trouble free until he hit a tree with it almost 12 years later.

Almost bought a Vega in high school. not sure of the model but it was a 77 or 78 with a small factory V-8. Man did that thing scoot.

Someone complained about the Taurus...

While I never got mine going this fast... My Taurus SHO would do 120 without breaking a sweat... And mine was a newer one... in the video it looks like a Gen 1 SHO. Maybe a 91

Brian

[youtube]LPUWtyEuQVg[/youtube]
 
First time we became a two-car family was in 1986 when I bought the wife a used Chevette, or as we called it, "Mom's Wind-Up Car". :icon_lol: Never would've had one as the primary family ride but it was fine for a small Filipina woman to get to work and back five days a week. I don't see many Chevettes around anymore. ;)
 
No ones mentioned the Corvair....
Worst car I ever had. Ate fan belts weekly.
The rear wheel bearings were from a Corvette, about $80 each, 2 a wheel.
 
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