On Tuesday, we asked you all what the worst car from the year you were born was because, well, it’s a lot more fun to complain and ridicule than it is to say nice things. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the answers were American, but that’s what we get for having a lot of readers who were born in the 1970s and ‘80s. Still, a few foreign cars made their way into the replies. Let’s take a look at the worst of the worst according to you.
1982, so it’s gotta be the Cadillac Cimarron—a heap of shit dressed up in expensive clothes that were still somehow insultingly tacky.
Suggested by: UncleTravelingMatt
Since malaise was all the rage when I was born, the worst car the year I was born was probably the most malaise car that ever malaised.
I present the 1975 Ford Granada:
Specifically the version with the 4.2l six. This is a car that had 72 hp at 2900 rpm and weighed somewhere around 3300 pounds. Well sorted Beetles were faster to 60. Most of the other 6’s at the time made around 100 hp. And somehow, these cars were everywhere. Might have had something to do with the ads at the time. It was rather optimistically compared to Mercedes and Cadillac, while selling at the price of a VW. It wasn’t just slow either. Even low speed turns and stopping was accompanied with ample roll and sway.
I’m getting car sick just remembering it.
Suggested by: dolsh
The year of my birth, 1979, also coincided with the launch of the Chevrolet Citation, an abysmal car if there ever was one. I should know, my parents bought one, and they often debate whether this or the Chevy Chevette they later owned was worse, but really that’s like deciding which bodily injury is the least bad.
Apparently, the car was so poorly engineered that GM duped the automotive press by specially engineering a better version for them to review, which later came back to bite them when editors drove a production version. Poorly built, unreliable, and unsafe, it pretty much typified cars of the Malaise era.
Also, why the hell would you name a car after something undesirable you could receive from the police when caught performing a moving violation?
Suggested by: paradsecar
As a follow up to the Ford Granada mentioned earlier, it was in my birth year that the Lincoln Versailles was introduced.
This turd was in response to the Cadillac Seville, a more “international sized” luxury car. Even though the Seville was heavily based on the X-body Chevrolet Nova, you couldn’t really tell by looking at it because the body was completely unique. There was no denying that the Versailles was a Granada in a leisure suit, bought off the rack from Sears, and an added Continental hump on the trunk.
Suggested by: Sucker for a ‘23 300C (formerly Magnum_SRT8)
1977 Talbot-Matra-Simca Rancho
The French answer to the Land Rover craze hitting Europe at the time. The ~80 bhp 4 cylinder rotates the front wheels only. The body parts that don’t rust are glass fiber/polyester composites. It developed/mutated into the Renault Espace, making it the mother of all modern CUVs and Minivans, so it has that going for it.
Suggested by: BrianMadigan
1976, so there are far too many to choose from.
But, if I must choose just one, I’d have to go with Chrysler’s Volare/Aspen twins.
Suggested by: Dave C.
I think I win. 1980.
Suggested by: Marc Villanova
I don’t know whether it was a bad car per se, but I submit the Citroen M35 as the worst-looking car introduced in 1969.
Suggested by: Mike_Smith
I just learned that my birth year, 1973, was also the first year for the Reliant Robin. Great for comedy purposes, but if we’re honest, it wasn’t very good at being a car.
Suggested by: preparetosurgetosublightspeed
1966 - Chevy introduces the Camaro and Dodge the Charger. Camaro in it’s 6cyl version is a lot of meh with great styling. The Charger is the first gen and again, interesting styling but wasn’t that successful and that was ultimately replaced by the Gen 2 with much better/iconic styling.
In general I was going to say most of the grocery getter versions of cars in that year were crap. Straight 6's with manual drum brakes, vinyl interiors and often times no AC.
Lets not even start with the muscle cars that in our cloudy rearview mirror of memory recalls them as awesome. But I grew up with most of my friends and I driving many of these aging muscle cars in the 80's and they were pigs to drive. Forget about being gifted grandma’s 67 4dr Cutlass with manual brakes and 2spd automatic and trying to stop that thing.
Suggested by: Monsterajr
1991 here and it would be the Oldsmobile Bravada.
It was already on a nearly decade old platform and it was the continuing cliche of GM rebadging as much as possible.
PS: I can RCR rant about my post.
Suggested by: WitchyWhale
My year is 1973 (in fact today is my birthday), so I am going to go with the short lived and pretty sure forgotten Buick Apollo. Yes, a badge engineered Chevy Nova was sold by Buick from 1973 to 1975.
Suggested by: Holly B.