http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4063790/



pretty good read

Enjoy

 

thread showed up twice- how the hell did that happen?

 

The AMC Pacer had a rotary engine? That's what the article says -- I've never heard that before! One of my high school English teachers drove one.

 

Yeah that was a new one on me - pretty good list IMHO

 

I found a clarification to the info about the rotary engine in the Pacer... it was planned but abandoned. I'm surprised the Forbes article didn't pick up on that.

http://www.amcpacer.com/about/statsfacts.html says:

 

I hate to admit this. but I owned 2 that are on that list

 

In the early 70s, most manufacturers were developing rotary capability and planning cars around that. The Chev Vega was originally intended to have GM's rotary! Similarly, the Pacer was supposed to be AMC's rotary powered vehicle. When the engine didn't get the green light for production, they produced the car anyway with an alternate engine.

So - the Pacer never was produced with a rotary engine. It was intended to have a rotary engine.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Well, the caption under the picture of the Pacer in the Forbes article says:
That's what I was responding to.

 

Yeah, I looked at that - it's a pretty rookie mistake for an auto writer to make, isn't it? If he doesn't even know what engine it used, then how is he qualified to rank the worst cars?? :D

Still, an entertaining article.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Ok then I will say it was the worst car I ever owned. I had a blue and white Pacer X sport version, WOW, 3 spd, 8 track, vinyl buckets, a real rolling aquarium. But I must say it road very nice with that wide wheel base. However it was a piece of crap, within a year body panels where loose, inside was falling apart, leaked water. It was a straight 6 which blew up after a year.

Now my vega estate wagon was a different story But we won't go there.....

 

Another screwup in the slide show, they show a pict of a full size bronco and refer to a Bronco II in the text. Bronco II was a downsized Bronco. Like the Explorer, it also had roll over problems and was plagued by bad quality.

 

He writes for Forbes- I doubt they headhunt for the best auto writers. But I have to agree rookie mistake

 

Yep, the Pacer WAS supposed to have the rotary engine, but there was a licensing issue (if I remember corectly), but the car was already designed and shown to the press, If you look at one you can see how LOW the hood height was (for it's day) as it was expected to have the rotary in it. AMC had to shoehorn in their straight 6 engine and it was to say the least a butcher job.

Anyway, I went looking for a picture of a Pacer, found one and saw some similarities between the 1975 pacer and a 1979 RX-7. Using the Pacer, I reversed some lines and extended/trimed others and, well see below: (my apology to the original RX-7, truly a work of art automobile)

 

I am writing this before reading the article, because I do not want anything to ruin my ideas of the two worst vehicles that I was subjected to. We didn't have much cash growing up, so my Mom had a Plymouth Scamp (don't know year but one of the 80's ones not a 70's mopar). It reaked of awefulness so badly that I didn't bother getting a drivers license until I was a senior in college. A buddy had a Chevette that wouldn't go over 50 mph and you could see the road under your feet while driving. I hated Chevette's even off the showroom floor without ventilated flooring.

 

Yeah, so after reading the article it bothers me that one of the cars on the list is a rotary and two of the cars were supposed to be rotaries with last minute engine replacements. In the slideshow they correct the Pacer mistake they made in the body of the article.

 

theres something wrong wit that , there are several nissan cars missing

 

Why was the Pinto any worse than the old bugs? Weren't they known for exploding engines also?

 

I think there were plenty of cars out there that were worse than those listed...but they all were SO bad that they went out of production before they went really mass-market.

 

OK, I'll play.......

How about I stamp on the grave of an icon? - the VW bug.

Underpowered, even amongst the Pintos and Pacers. No heater.
Windshield about thee inches from your nose.

It has the dubious record of being the only car that you could buy a motor, at Sears, off the shelf. I have never met one that still had it's original engine.

Junk is junk,

S

 

The Vega....

 

How could they leave out the GM X cars, introduced as 1980 models. In addition to horrible electrics, rust, seats that broke when adjusted, and other mechanical horrors, they had a cable-actuated clutch; the cable would slip during gradual engagement in first gear or reverse, causing the car to shoot forward or backward suddenly. I had an early Pontiac Phoenix and single-handedly triggered a recall when it engaged as my wife backed out of the driveway, shooting backward and caving in a car parked at the curb across the street. GM's insurer hurriedly gave my neighbor whatever he wanted. This was after the dealer on 3 separate occasions could not find the problem; we were dumb to even drive it. It could have killed entire families in a parking lot. The car also would trade ends if you hit the brakes suddenly even on a mild curve; unaccountably the govt. studied the brakes in this regard and DECLINED to order a recall. (I watched our car, my wife again at the wheel, do a 180 following me through a curve at moderate speed after I slowed down due to traffic; fortunately the resulting accident was minor.)

We soldiered on with it 'til I traded it on our '88 626 5-door turbo, a proper execution of the same idea and a superb, trouble-free car 'til it was totaled in November by a red-light runner. (But according to today's Washington Post it's probably been bought at auction, rebuilt, and still running in Latin America.)

 

I believe it wasn't the engine that was notorious for exploding on the Pinto - it was the gas tank, and thus, the car. A little different in terms of safety concerns

I'm sure there's 94,000 honorable mentions for that list Luckily I never had to experience any, really, although I barely dodged having an 81 4-speed manual buick skylark as my first car. Thank goodness it bit the dust just in the nick of time, and I got an 85 accord sedan instead


always gotta be the firestarter, eh pimp? :P