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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4831
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| Posted: 27 April 2024 at 9:42pm | IP Logged | 1
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Unfortunately, the failure of the Edsel pretty much created it as the default setting for bad car.
I have never heard any stories about the Edsel not performing well, just that it didn't sell. I think a big part was aesthetics - aircraft-inspired design and fins were the rage and the Ford chose to go in a different (and less popular) direction.
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William Costello
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 741
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 12:04am | IP Logged | 2
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My father had a AMC Gremlin and it was one of the first cars I ever drove.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132364
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 12:13am | IP Logged | 3
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Remembering a friend from Art College who called the Pacer the Pacemaker, and she would not be dissuaded.
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Jim Burdo
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 April 2020
Location: United States
Posts: 355
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 8:24am | IP Logged | 4
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Our family had a Pinto, and it had to back in about three times IIRC for safety modifications.
Consumer Reports had an issue devoted to the Pacer, including reader feedback. A chemist said it had a poor grade of carpeting, and a switchboard operator pointed out that "Pacer" spelled backwards was "recap".
Edited by Jim Burdo on 28 April 2024 at 8:28am
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132364
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | 5
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a switchboard operator pointed out that "Pacer" spelled backwards was "recap". The significance of which is
.?
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Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12455
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 1:00pm | IP Logged | 6
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Although it's been like fifty years, I'll never forgive my father for trading in his amazing great gorgeous beautiful Rambler for... a Pinto...!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132364
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 1:29pm | IP Logged | 7
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My father traded his 1959 Rambler for a 1965 and broke my heart. I had assumed that 59 would be my first car!
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Doug Centers
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5488
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | 8
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I was surprised not to see my first car on the list. I had a 1978 orange Ford Fiesta manual. After my brother flipped it (he was ok) we started calling it Orange Crush.
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 15826
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| Posted: 28 April 2024 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | 9
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One of the cars we had growing up was an Austin Allegro, and it was a fairly ugly design (not made better by the mustard colour in which we had it). One of its quirks was a square steering wheel.
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Vinny Valenti
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8051
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| Posted: 29 April 2024 at 3:03am | IP Logged | 10
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I went to the page expecting my Mom's '79 Ford Pinto to be on the list, and I did not go away disappointed. I forget how many times we were stuck on the side of the Belt Parkway in that thing.
Interesting to see the '96 Taurus on the list. I once had a '91 Taurus and hated it, and a buddy had the '89 version, riddled with problems.
I'm hoping to hold onto my '09 Mercedes CLK 350 Convertible for as long as I can - 111K miles without a single engine failure so far (knocks wood). It's the last model year of this car (and the last of the iconic "4-eyed" look - I do not like the look of modern Mercedes models), and it appears that any of the kinks from the previous years had been worked out.
I don't like the 1909 Model T being on the list. Looks like it's just there for the author to make a grandstand car pollution in general, which is not what the rest of the list is about.
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11252
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| Posted: 29 April 2024 at 6:34am | IP Logged | 11
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Peter, I once drove a square steering wheeled Allegro and
it was very strange! Yes the 70's car colours were awful,
a lot of ugly shades of brown! Mind you there seems to be
a trend for ugly primer grey nowadays!
Here's my story of worst security feature on a car...i
learned to drive in my dad's 1967 Hillman Minx, it was a
decent enough car to drive, built like a tank, and no
power steering. The handbrake (parking brake for our U.S.
members) was a lever between the driver's seat and door.
The security feature was a factory fitted 3 digit
combination lock on the lever.
My dad warned be to be careful when pulling up the lever
not to accidentally turn the tumbler, as i wouldn't be
able to release the brake to move off without re-aligning
to digits.
Bear in mind it was 1981 and the car was 14 years old so
the digits on the handbrake were very feint from wear.
So after passing my test i am allowed to borrow the car
to take my girlfriend out on dates.
One night i pulled up at the traffic lights on
Wolverhampton ringroad and pulled up the handbrake, and
yes you guessed it, i accidentally turned the tumbler!
So there i am kneeling outside the car trying to re-align
the digits in the dark, under the orange hued street
lights that didn't help, with irate cars behind tooting
their horns!
I finally managed to re-align the digits and set off,
cringing with embarrassment!
The next day i bought some white paint and put white dots
where the correct digits to open it were, so they were
easy to lign up in poor light!
Strangely that security feature never caught on!
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Jim Burdo
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 April 2020
Location: United States
Posts: 355
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| Posted: 29 April 2024 at 7:34am | IP Logged | 12
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QUOTE:
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a switchboard operator pointed out that "Pacer" spelled backwards was "recap". The significance of which is
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A reference to possible tire issues. CR highlighted it and said it would take a switchboard operator to come up with something like that.
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