These Are The Worst American Cars Ever Made

“Gotta be the Vega. While the Mustang II featured in the article was awful, the Vega took it to a whole other level. Prematurely rusted, drank oil like a two-stroke, had this stupid sealed air cleaner…

“I’m probably extra bitter because when the gas crisis hit, my dad traded in his ‘69 Chevelle SS 396 for one. I remember there being a case of oil in the back to top off the engine at every fuel stop.”

Jalopnik will always be a safe space for you to be bitter, don’t worry.

Suggested by: dustynnguyendood

“GM’s Diesel sedans from the 1980s. Also, GM’s 4-6-8 V-8s and their boat anchor, the Iron Duke four-cylinder engine. Both of those made any vehicle pretty bad to own or drive.”

By this, I assume you’re referring to the fifth-generation Buick LeSabre, the fourth-gen Chevy Malidu and the seventh-gen Pontiac Bonneville, right?

Suggested by: jimmyzzzzzzz

“The early 2010s incarnation of the Dodge Dart. Making a little cheap sedan probably sounded pretty good on paper in the board meetings post-FCA merger, but by the time it actually got to the people responsible for designing such a thing? I’m convinced the engineers had to be made to work on this thing at gunpoint. And lord knows the dealers wanted nothing to do with it.”

The Dart lasted for just three years in the U.S. as a result of all its issues.

Suggested by: mosko13

“1946-1949 Crosley

“The ‘CoBra’ engine was so named because it did not use typical cast iron or aluminum blocks and cylinder heads in its construction. Instead, Crosley used stamped sheet metal that was copper brazed together—this reduced weight and possible hot spots in the engine, reducing the risk of detonation. However, when employed in cars, it suffered severe corrosion and overheating issues. From 1946 to early 1949, Crosley attempted to make the engines reliable but gave up, introducing a traditional cast iron replacement engine that year. However, the CoBra engine had damaged the firm’s reputation, and Crosley folded its automotive efforts a few years later.

“(Random bonus fact: Carroll Shelby had to petition the trademark office for the rights to the name “Cobra” for use in automobiles, due to Crosley already using it for these awful engines. Luckily, they hadn’t touched the name since 1949, so Carroll was awarded it to use for his AC/Ford roadster we all now know and love.)”

The Cobra you have at home.

Suggested by: knyte

“The Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch. These were peak malaise garbage built on a 20-year-old platform that dated back to the original Falcon. They rusted almost immediately, even in California. They drove like an old pallet on top of a shopping cart, the interiors were made of absurdly cheap plastic, and the design was about as lazy as it gets.

“Fortunately it only took a couple years for the Fox Body cars to put them out of their misery. And classic Ford drivers were happy to see them in the scrapyard (there were lots of them!) since the front disc brake setup bolted right on older cars. Some also had nine-inch rear ends and the Granada-based Versailles even had rear discs!”

Dated design and dated construction was always going to curse this dynamic duo.

Suggested by: FriscoFairlane

“The Pinto was worlds better than the Vega or Chevette. The Vega had major cooling problems and needed engines quicker than fill ups sometimes. The Chevette set a new standard with rust that even the Italians and Japanese couldn’t match. Both had electrical systems that Lucas would have rejected. Pintos may have been rolling piles of turd, but at least they rolled.

“But really, if you want to talk about A car, it’s likely a 1969 Corvair. 2nd gen Corvairs had significant improvements over the 1st gen, but Chevy had decided to give up on them in 1968 and kept the factory sort of running with whatever parts they had laying around. The quality of the 69s was horrible as a workforce that didn’t care was building cars nobody wanted. The result was poor quality even by 1980 GM standard. But there wasn’t anything wrong with the design, just the build quality was horrible (PS, any 69 Corvair today would be a good car, since someone would have fixed the factory screw ups in the last 55 years).”

What, you mean a car made from “whatever parts they had laying around” wasn’t good? I for one am shocked.

Suggested by: yeardley68

“I feel like to reach the standard of worst, it’s got to simultaneously be an unpleasant car to drive, and horrendously unreliable. While the Mustang II is by no means a great car, it’s mostly considered bad because it’s wildly different from a ‘70 Boss 429, but it made sense at the time.

“The first thing that comes to mind is the ‘75 Aspen and Volare. Nobody bought them because they wanted one, they bought them because it was An Car. Except they were notoriously poorly built, starting to rust before they even hit showrooms (a shame, because I believe the Dart and Duster they replaced were considered pretty reliable for the time, especially with the Leaning Tower of Power), and were fairly thirsty for a smallish car of the time.”

Rusty and badly built, yep that’d make it a good contender for worst American car out there.

Suggested by: maymar

“When calling something the best/worst, I think it is good to compare to both history and established standards when new. So, I’ll nominate the generation of Ford Focus that was built a self-destructive DCT.”

Is this the worst American car or the worst American transmission? Either way, it’s on the list.

Suggested by: engineerthefuture

“It’s not the Pinto or Mustang II. Not by a long shot. That’s just feeding urban legends.

“Controversial choice is the Model T.

“Yes... it’s an important car, established production lines, and brought the car to the masses cheaply. But it was also difficult to use and they were meant to be maintained and fixed regularly. You could do it....it’s not like fixing a car today. If you had the knowledge and tools to do so. You were generally on the hook for re-manufacturing replacement parts on your own, or having a shop do it. Flat tires were common - like every 50 miles common - but comparatively speaking, you were still going WAY farther than you did previously. Some will also argue that it was what set the mentality of ‘I need to go anywhere!’ that’s a problem for adoption of other transportation methods in North America.

“Less controversial choice is any late 70's, early 80's GM with the Oldsmobile 5.7 diesel.

“GM’s interior/exterior ‘quality’ paired with one of the worst engines of all time? Yeah, that’s WAY worse than the Pinto (which sold well, raced well, and wasn’t anywhere near as fire-y as people think). Quickly converting a gas engine to diesel simply didn’t work. Couldn’t handle the compression, and it failed. A LOT. I’m shocked that it was in cars as long as it was really. The best quote on this was from a GM engineer: ‘In test after test, we had broken crank shafts, broken blocks, leaking head gaskets and fuel pump problems.’ But GM forced it out because they had to lower fleet fuel economy.”

Ouch, I burned myself on this hot take.

Suggested by: dolsh

“Cybertruck.

“From the design, towing, reliability, gimmick, safety, features and accessories to stan fanbois, cult and lastly CEO who lead the company.”

No, tell us how you really feel.

Suggested by: hayase

“Topping any such list is the 1923 Copper-Cooled Chevrolet, which was the last air cooled car made by Chevy prior to the Corvair. GM had to recall all of them and then destroyed almost the entire run;

“The 1974 to 1979 big Fords (LTD, T Bird, Torino and their Mercury counterparts) which were ugly, seldom got over 10 mpg in real-world driving and had maybe the ugliest of the 5 mph bumpers out there. At least GM tried with the Vega. Ford simply gave up;

“1979-1981 Chrysler R-Bodies (Dodge St. Regis, Plymouth Gran Fury, Chrysler Newport and New Yorker. Cheaply built, unreliable, hideously underpowered, it’s a miracle they didn’t keep Chrysler from getting its bailout.”

When will the Cybertruck get recalled and destroyed?

Suggested by: tcotrel

“Camaro. Let me explain, OK?

“The 5th gen Camaro. That’s it. This thing was ugly, the best part of it IMO is the rear quarter panels like the old, REAL Camaros.”

Is it the worst, or is the ugliest American car in your opinion?

Suggested by: notatiktoksuprakid

“AMC Pacer. Boom! Mic drop.”

Is the AMC Pacer odd or is the AMC Pacer bad? I’ll let you settle that one in the comments.

Suggested by: kini62

“For me, the worst American car ever made would have to be the original run of Ford Tempos. Not only were they horribly designed and built, that was the worst car I’ve ever driven. I would never consider owning one, but I was traveling a lot for work and had to update my Hertz profile to specifically say ‘No Ford Tempos.’ Hertz had so many of these turds on wheels, they were sometimes still the only rental option available at some airport locations.”

Maybe we should all rent a Tempo to see if it really is the worst out there? I wonder if Hertz still has any knocking about.

Suggested by: ge0ff-w