5 of the Worst Cars Ever | History in the Dark
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ก.ค. 2024
- I keep getting asked to talk about cars. Specifically, really bad cars. So, let's talk about those. Five of them, to be precise.
0:00 - Intro
1:01 - Nash Metropolitan
3:37 - Renault Dauphine
6:20 - Hillman Imp
8:00 - Ford Pinto
13:00 - Oldsmobile Diesel Engines 1978-1985
"The Nash Metropolitan is an American automobile that was assembled in England and marketed from 1953 until 1961. It conforms to two classes of vehicle: economy car[3] and subcompact car. In today's US terminology the Metropolitan is a “subcompact”, but this category was not yet in use when the car was made.[9] At that time, it was variously categorized, for example as a "small automobile" as well as an "economy car"."
"The Renault Dauphine is a rear-engined economy car manufactured by Renault in a single body style - a three-box, 4-door sedan - as the successor to the Renault 4CV; more than two million were manufactured during its 1956-1967 production."
"The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine block and cylinder head cast in aluminium."
"The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from the 1971 to the 1980 model years. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America."
"Oldsmobile produced three versions of a diesel engine between 1978 and 1985: a 350 cu in (5.7 L) V8 in 1978-85, a 261 cu in (4.3 L) V8 in 1979, and a 263 cu in (4.3 L) V6 from 1982 until 1985. The engines powered front and rear-wheel drive vehicles; the 4.3 liter V6 was adapted to both transverse and inline front-wheel drive applications. Sales peaked in 1981 at approximately 310,000 units, which represented 60% of the total U.S. passenger vehicle diesel market. However, this success was short-lived as the V8 diesel engine suffered severe reliability issues. While designing the 350 diesel, Oldsmobile left the head bolt design and pattern unchanged to enable them to use the same tooling as for the gasoline engines, unlike a proper gasoline to diesel conversion. This lead to catastrophic head bolt failures were thus legion, as diesel engines have compression ratios that are as much as three times higher than a gasoline engine. The sales and reliability woes were compounded by a decline in gas prices as well as fuel quality issues including large volumes of diesel fuel containing water or foreign particles."
🚗 Further reading 🚗
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_Me...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillman...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmob...
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The Yugo is so bad that someone is selling a 150-page book on Amazon Prime that just explains how horrible it is. I do not think that you can go much further than that.
Q: Why do Yugo cars have a heated rear window?
A: To keep your hands warm in the Winter.
I first heard this joke about Yugo cars in the 1990's. In the UK they were very cheap but had a reputation for being unreliable (needing push-starts etc.).
For you its bad, but for many it was the only car
Ralph Nader.
Maybe it was crap for Americans who couldn't afford/couldn't be bothered to do maintenance but in Europe they sold pretty well, I've always referred to them as a communist Honda civic
@@wildman510 Yeah they were considered a bit crap in western Europe as well but only in the sense that they rusted and weren't especially reliable, but realistically that was just a function of them being an old FIAT design dating back to the early 70s. They did the job.
I once met the Oldsmobile engineer that made the diesel engine at a car show. He said he had made the engine as a "proof of concept" only. The first he knew that it was in production was when he was asked to do a photo shoot with car number one off the line.
I've had 4 Pintos. And I replaced the fuel tank on two of them with a puncture proof competition fuel cells. I also owned one of the Olds 5.7 Diesels in a 1980 Cutlass coupe. I pulled that awful engine out and tossed it into a deep ravine. Where it is still to this day. I replaced it with a 1970 Oldsmobile 455 Golden Rocket 4bl 430hp. Bumped up the power to 500hp . Built the engine up . 12bolt rear 3:55 gears and a TH 400 trans. The car was really light because the fenders,doors,hood, trunk lid front and back bumpers were made from aluminum. GM had to do this trick to make the car light enough for the weak kneed diesel to pull the car down the road. I Left all of the car's diesel emblem's on it to mess with people.
Ford Pintos are almost decent cars, I have one that had sat for damn near 30 years, and they are pretty well built. Plus the thing fired up and drove till I blew up the motor. Everything but the brakes worked even after all that time.
Oldsmobile made the worst diesel engine ever. The diesel engines used with the Heavy Duty GM pickups would have been better. Especially the turbodiesel engines.
The 72 Pinto had so many problems with the manual transmission that we had more miles to the push rather than miles when the transmission didn't fail... It was always one problem with the timing belt or...on three occasions...the transmission falling out altogether...
The $25 I paid for it at a police auction brought snickers from the other buyers including two that said that I paid $50 too much for it... It rolled off the lot okay...but the 20 miles getting home was a major ordeal...even going downhill the entire time...
I can't believe you scrapped that 4.7 liter 403 cubic inch engine!!! With simple modifications that same motor can put out more than 400 horsepower AND they had four bolt main caps to boot!! In fact in 1981 or 1982 Hot Rod Magazine, did exactly that with help from Joe Mondello Racing (if my memory serves me correctly) and built one of those 403ci blocks to make nearly 500 horsepower out of it!!! A lot of people don't really understand cars I guess and even fewer these days don't realize what is "junk" and what is "good" when they have it!!!
@@gregbenwell6173 That Olds Diesel was a terrible engine. I had a 1983 Olds 98 4dr with the more improved diesel V8. But still didn't have a whole lot of power. Good MPG and nice torque. The 1980 Cutlass resides in Salem Mo. And still has the 455 Olds Rocket 4brl engine in it the last I knew. Present Owner won't sell it back to me. Or anyone else for that matter.
You missed the Chevy Vega. It came with an all-aluminum engine that had no cast iron cylinder liners. The engine gladly self destructed eventually from internal friction. That's if the car didn't rust out first (from very subpar corrosion protection) 🤣
I would love to see part two of this. There are many cars that are considered bad from well known to obscure ones.
He is badly biased against fuel efficient cars, especially slow cars. These cars were designed to trade speed for efficiency and they succeeded as designed. The Renault in particular was designed for Europe, where it did fine. It was only the USA sales project that failed, not the car. Also, only the first of 3 Oldsmobile diesels failed, the 5.7, the later 4.3 versions got fixed, as did the Pintos, and Pinto Wagons were fine from the start.
That said, I find that big, luxury sedans are worth nothing when old and get given away because the poor people who buy old cars want more practical small cars, vans, trucks or wagons, especially when the luxury options prove complex to maintain and interfere with basic functions when they break, so I think they are the worst, especially big block v8 sedans, which have poor traction due to their heavy noses and rwd. Big block engines are for trucks, over 1 ton, and sports cars, not for luxury sedans! especially when inline 6 engines are the smoothest. So I think these are the worst cars.
Also, GM had made a diesel or gas engine before, the 60 degree v6 Toroflow.
The top two on this list were in my family at one point or another. We had a '74 Pinto, which eventually became my first car, and several years after that Dad bought a '81 Buick Electra with the Olds diesel engine. The Electra wasn't felled by head bolt, failure, though - Dad took it on a long trip knowing it was not running right, and somewhere in the middle of Nowheresville, CA it put a connecting rod through the block. And because Dad couldn't afford to pay a tow truck to bring it home, Mom and I had to rent a tow bar from U-haul and drive out to Nowheresville in our pickup truck to bring Dad and the car back home.
Dad still thinks the whole thing was funny. I was not so amused; I was at work that night and had to leave early so I could go with Mom to pick him up. And Mom was livid.
Nash did very well with its 'real' compact car, the Rambler, introduced in 1950, built through 1955, and then reintroduced with minor design changes for 1958 with the "Rambler American," which was then produced through 1962, also a success. The Metropolitan, an Austin-built two-seater, was never meant to be much more than a novelty or "niche" car....
Ah, the dreaded Olds diesel. So many worked on as well as the attached whimpy Turbo Hydromatic 200C three speed automatic trans...which when arriving into the shop, were baked welded into a molten pile of scrap metal. We always had 4 overhauled units ready to go in shop inventory back then AFTER we had gone through about 15 core units to build the four we stocked.
I forgot to mention, we've got one of those diesel Olds in the shop right now that is getting the gas engine replacement...customer insisted we do it and paid us up front.
Ah Ford Pinto. A text book example of how not to run a company. Great video, really enjoyed it. Can we include the Pacer and Gremlin?
You are wrong on the Pinto. It was just as safe as any other small car of the time. The car was actually better than most others of the time. I had a 1977 Pinto and it was a great car for what it was. There were no more deaths in Pinto crashes than any other small car of that time.
I agree that the Pinto was not a bad car.. More than 3 million Pintos were built over ten years. I doubt that it took buyers ten years to figure out Pintos was a terrible car.. No 1970s subcompact car was safe in collisions. I find that most Japanese subcompacts have rusted away, I still see Pintos for sale.
The old couple that lived down the street from me had a Metropolitan. I remembered that old car; I think it still ran, though they rarely drove it. They even kept it in pretty good condition; this would have been in the late 1980's.
Sadly, my friend (ie: their granddaughter) had to sell it.
Saw a Nash Metropolitan meet in Tacoma Wa. years ago and one was stretched 10 inches and had a Chevy supercharged 572 with a cut down Ford 9 inch rear end and Lenko 4 speed trans with the driver sitting where the back seat would be. The owner said nothing but good things about it.
You could talk about the Dale. It's a wild ride of a car that serves the same purpose of the Holman horror.
Yeah, but the Dale was never put into production. . .
@@mortensen1961 Yeah, but a few engine and transmission less """prototypes"""" exist. Since the guy who designed it actually hired a hitman and the story goes deep into corporate corruption and major scamming I'd say it's worth at least 3/5ths of a damn.
Pinto Wagon was the best car I ever had! Could fix by myself in the yard. Put on 500000 miles, as a mini panel van. Great, dependable vehicle.
(Wagon did not have gas tank bursting problems)
John, i think it is clear that he never experienced the cars or probably knew anyone who had one.
He read only that those cars were bad and simply pass that info on he's channel.
The Dauphine was a great car and away aheead of it's time but in the USA and just in the USA most people who bought one ignored the fact that the car had an auto choke and although the manual explicitly said not to do so, they press the gas pedal while turning the ignition and that lead to a lot of engine troubles.
People who didn't do so had a wonderful time with their Dauphines and it was a very successful car... But this guy read online some one who never was even close to one saying it was a bad car and he repeated the meme....
No one argued it was unreliable or hard to work on.
@@TheAllMightyGodofCod Nailed it, hard. Kudos.
You're close with the pronunciation with the Dauphine, just don't pronounce the "lt" in Renault - "ren-no." My vote for the worst car ever goes to the Pontiac Aztek, as it's a car I once had the misfortune of being given as a rental. What should have been a pioneering car-based SUV (one of the first crossovers) was completely ruined by truly weird design choices. These included a variant of Pontiac's divisive "quad-nostril" grille (as found on the last Trans-Ams where the aggressive look was better suited), overly-square wheel wells that, combined with the tall roof line, made the wheels look too small, cheap-looking plastic body cladding, and a split tailgate that was way too heavy to operate and incorporated a split rear window that obstructed the driver's rearward view.
Im glad everyone got off Edsels back
It should be on the list too
I know so much about cars because it's one of my biggest hobbies, so I pretty much know these already, but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing you talk about them XD. Your content is just amazing :D
Had a dauphin briefly, it had some amazing characteristics. It could actually seat 4 adults, the seating position was just like 4 slightly upholstered kitchen chairs. Like people play cards on. The doors were wonderfully lightweight. You did not have even the slightest idea that these would protect from anything outside. Mine had two horns, a cute little horn that was really good for beeping at pretty girls in short skirts and another horn that had been borrowed from a Kenworth and would loosen your fillings. I lived in Kansas at the time and it was possible to take its 32-horse-power motor into a headwind and never ever be able to obtain the speed limit under any conditions. When going crosswind the vehicle was almost uncontrollable. And since this thing was by no means new it had so much chassis rot that thrown hard into a corner it was observed to raise its inside front wheel like a dog getting ready to shake hands. I never felt in the least like I was in an actual car, but it was like something some mechanically minded kids had invented out of lawn mower parts. I didn't even get good mileage, the engine had to labor under full throttle to do anything but still it was just a world of fun. Oh the engine was a 850cc water-cooled straight 4 with a single barrel carb and making 32 horsepower (under the full moon on a mild night).
He thought the BR trains were bad just wait until he gets through the British Leyland piles of junk
I think we all expected to see the Pinto on here. It would be nice to see best cars ever in terms of performance and maybe how iconic they are.
I can think of:
NASCAR stock generation 3 and 4, Benz Patent Motorwagen (where it all began), Adam West Batmobile, KITT Knight Rider, Ford Model A, Ford Mustang gen 1, Ford 428 Cobra Jet, Volkswagen Beetle earlier model years, Chevy Camaro (except 2019 model), Ford Taunus P7, Ford Falcon, Ford Thunderbird, Ford Crown Vic, Ford GT, Ford RS200, Chevy Nova, Chevy Corvette, Chevy Chevelle (not the Chevette), Cadillac Series 90 V-16, Chevy Bel-Air, Pontiac GTO, Plymouth Road Runner 440 6-Pack, Hemi Cuda, Mercury Cyclone Spoiler ll, Buick Grand National GNX, numerous Nissan models (such as GTR, 180SX, 300zx Turbo, R390, and Skyline)...
VW Passat, Porsche 356, Porsche 904, Porsche 914, Porsche 918 Spyder, Porsche 911, Bentley Continental GT, Audi A4, Lamborghini Aventador, AMG GT, AMG R63, Ferrari 365 GTB/4, Ferrari Dino 246, Ferrari F40, Ferrari 125 S, Ferrari Testarossa, Ferrari Enzo, Ferrari F355, Ferrari 250 GTO, Mercedes-Benz 1963 600 Pullman, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Mercedes-Benz 190E Cosworth, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing (better than the 300 SLR race car), BMW 1M Coupe, BMW M635 CSi, BMW 507 Roadster, BMW E26 M1, BMW E46 M3 GTR, BMW 2002 Turbo, BMW E30 M3, BMW E9 3.0 CSL...
Ferrari 312T, Ferrari F2002, Ferrari F2004, Ferrari F2008, Mclaren MP4/2, Mclaren MP4/4, Mclaren M23, Red Bull RB9, Lotus 38, Lotus 56, Lotus 72, Lotus 98T, Brabham BT19, Maserati 250F, Cooper T51, Mercedes W05, Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid, Mercedes W11, and Williams FW14B.
I nominate the Chrysler Town and Country van. The one my family used to have had transmission problems. Kept having to take it to have the transmission replaced. And it is an issue with that year model of T&C.
Note: Insurance made things somewhat worse, would only pay for an used transmission.
1992-2002 Ford Explorers were the same way with transmission failures! They would just shit the bed after 100k miles,no matter what.
@@chazzcoolidge2654 speaking of ford
What was the one with the rollover problems? Ford E something
Godzillahomer. It was the Ford Bronco II
@@godzillahomer First gen Explorers had a recall due to the Goodyear tires they had from the factory which caused rollovers,so yes you're right.
What about the Reliant Robin? Three wheels and truly unstable… and popular in banger racing.
If I recall right, it didn't have stability issues. Top Gear altered the car for the sake of comedy.
Mr. Bean probably destroyed them all
The Nash Metropolitan was one of the few American car to be built and sold in the UK as the Austin Metropolitan (later the Aystin Metro) between Decembef 1956 and February 1961. Originally only available in left-hand drive it was sold to Americans and Canadians serving in the UK. Production ended after an estimated 9,384 or 9,391 cars had been produced in both left-hand and right-hand drive models (many went overseas to parts of the Empire/Commonwealth).
I know where there is a Nash Metropolitan for sale within 20 minutes of my house. It is exactly like the light blue and white one you showed. Thing is mint. But they want I think $25k for it. Seems a bit steep to me, but what do I know.
honestly love the car content, keep it up:)
The Linwood plant was a major factor in the death of Hillman. Most of the major car factories in the UK were based in the Midlands and so the suppliers were there. Manufacturing cost for the Hillman were thus higher as Linwood is in Scotland.
What killed Rootes was actually the almost year long strike in 1961-62 after that they didn't have the money to sort the issues with the Imp. After the Chrysler take over they got zero investment from the parent company. The irony is Chrysler Europe saved Chrysler USA with the Anglo-French Horizon/Ommi
@@andrewwmacfadyen6958 that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Remember the engine blocks travelled over 600 miles before being put into the Imps. They were cast at Linwood before going the Rootes' main plant at Ryton for machining and assembly before being sent back to Linwood for insertion into a vehicle. All movements between plants was carried out by train, which wouldn't have helped to keep costs down on the small car. Also the ex-ship builders had skills that weren't always transferable to the building of cars.
I am surprised not a single car from Communist block showed up here. Like... I remember hearing that FSO Polonez couldn't be sold in France because it's original name was similar to a French 'Polish Nose'.
Keep up the good work darkness, glad to see you are doing cars now.
Maybe you should consider the Mercedes A-Class for a second part...In its early version, the A-Class had the tendency to flip upside down when taking curves too fast
It even failed the elk test because of that. Quite an embarrassment for Mercedes 😂
I think there were a lot of good reviews for the Metropolitan when it came out. I only looked it up because I just bought one for $500 that's been sitting under a tree for 20 years. Being American and knowing how Americans are, I'm sure a decent bit of its bad reputation just came from it being different, or for women. I've heard of everything else on this list and could make 20 more for you, but I've never heard of somebody saying the Metropolitan was anywhere near one of the worst.
been waiting for this
You should definitely consider the delorean for part 2
The cost to Ford for fixing the Pinto rear end was $11.00 per car. The insurance payout for deaths/injuries caused by a rear end collision was anticipated to be slightly less. So the bean counters at Ford decided on the latter....
10:53 The iconic parody of the Pinto Problem from Val Kilmer's "Top Secret!" 😂
I'm missing excitement in my choice of car. I just don't have a car that could explode if hit from behind. 🤣🤣🤣
hey man i will say you weren't lazy there is the go to cars for list like this but you went beyond the call of duty and researched, i know cars like the back of my hand so i am impressed
In brazil the Renault Dauphine was named Gordini and sold under the Willys brand
A guy walks into an Auto Parts Store and says I want a gas cap for my Hugo, the counter guys replies....that's a fair trade.
I recall a British cartoon where some fellow takes his Yugo to a dealer and requests a valuation. After careful examination they advise him it's worth £2.67 - that being the total value of the coins found under under the car seats.
HE DID IT! THE TRIFECTA! PLANES TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES!
If you think British railways were bad, try British Leyland cars.
Definitely more interesting than tanks personally. Lol.
Keep it up, you're doing well
One of the main deficiencies in the Nash Metropolitan was the lack of a trunk (boot) hatch. This area was only accessible from inside the car.
some cars that could go on a future list
the yugo, how did you miss this one?
the lancia beta, rust issues so bad that it needed a recall
the morris marina, kill it with pianos
the chevy vega and chevette, compact catastrophes
the horsey horseless, just look it up it's hilarious
Top 5 worst forklifts of all time
The Imp engine was not a problem - the dealers were. The engine was a Coventry Climax engine (who were renowned for their racing engines - the original Lotus Elite also had a Coventry Climax engine) and it was one of the earliest all aluminium engines to be seen in cars, certainly small economy cars. This meant that the dealers had little or no knowledge about correct maintenance - both the importance of correct torque settings for bolts and the use of the correct coolant fluid. It is these two points that particularly led to warped heads and failed water pumps. A well maintained Imp engine was an excellent piece of engineering.
Agreed. The imp was a brilliant car with a really good engine. You just had to ensure the radiator was clean and the overall cooling system well maintained. Not a difficult task.
Why the Dauphine 😩 was always a cool car and definitly is considered a good rally car. My grandfather had one, slipped of the road many times going too fast lol.
It was a major success here in Brazil, as well as the improved version, the Gordini.
You should do 5 worst buses next an include the Wright Streetlite
Two from the UK - Daimler Roadliner and Guy Wulfrunian. But NOT the Albion Lowlander! You do not put my favourite bus on the bad list!
Growing up in the 1970's San Francisco Bay Area, I remember seeing quite a few Metropolitans still chugging around-they seemed to be popular with oldsters as grocery-getters. I liked them because I thought they looked like bumper cars that escaped from a carnival somewhere.
Cars 🚗 my favorite! I can only expect some of my favorites (AMC, NASH, Hudson) to be on the list though lol
Well, the Nash Metropolitan is on this list, so..
The pinto may have been a deathtrap, but at least it wasn't a VEGA
Something by GM that designed wrong otherwise straight up don't work right, what are the odds?
These days American car brands like GM and Ford are getting to be just as bad as the bloody French.
The Japanese like Toyota and Honda seem to be the only ones that give a damn about long term quality anymore as those are the only brands you hear of that don't have to many problems.
Not even Toyota really.
With the Hillman Imp, you mention quality control and a purpose built factory in the downfall of the Rootes Group.... what you didn't mention was other factors just out of control of Rootes' management, 1- They'd got a tax incentive to build in Glasgow, and employ the unemployed shipbuilders. 2 - Union strike action could stop the production line and one car could take anywhere from 2 hours to 2 months to be assembled and ready for sale.... 3 - it was a knee-jerk build to claw back some market share, as that market was primarily the Volkswagen Beetle, BMC Mjni, Fiat 500 and Citroen 2CV, and their Humber, Commer and Singer models were no longer selling in sufficient numbers.
Absolutely nothing to do with quality control at Linwood, the Imp had teething problems most of which were never sorted because Rootes didn't have the money after the year long strike at its' English plants and Chrysler USA wouldn't invest in its European companies. What Chrysler did introduce was US style strong arm management methods which were even worse than those in the UK
You do realise Imp development started in 1956 after Suez
@@andrewwmacfadyen6958 that fact is an extension of the third point, as a knee-jerk reaction, most likely the primary reactive reason, that kicked the grumblings about other's products.
The Yugo has one good bat, the five speed transmission bolts right into some Fiats 128 so you get a 5 speed to replace the 4 speed, also Nash metropolitan are great, fun little cars
We used to call the Nash Metropolitans "Donald Duck cars" because I believe he was once animated driving one! One of my aunts always rented Pintos when she needed a car to come and visit and the problems she had weren't about the design but just getting lost all the time! Haha!
And 3 of these are on my all time wishlist!
My mom's first car was a brand new 1973 Ford Pinto. Luckily she and my older brothers were never involved in a rear accident.
What is the name of the song that plays when he talks about the Dauphine?
Basically like Top Gear but History of the Dark version
Even as late as 1980 the Pinto, also has the same name as a bean, still wasn't fixed. And aside from those diesels having head bolt issues, they were weak as puppy piss. All of them were, at least until they started slapping turdo-chargers on them. Example. The 1982-84 350 diesel had105hp/200ft.lbs. The 1976-77 305 140hp/245ft.lbs.
My first car was a Hillman Imp. I got it on a Monday evening a few days after passing my driving test. I took it to school the next day and found I had to go up hills in 1st gear. That evening I set off to pick up my dad who was working in Glasgow but never got there as the clutch burned out on the motorway. One of my uncles towed me home. The next morning the car was towed back to the garage and we got a refund. Short and not so sweet.
One of the problems with the Metropolitan not mentioned was that for all the early series, despite being advertised as a "shopping" car, they had no opening boot/trunk. The only way to access the storage space was to fold down the rear bench seat from inside. This was possible but awkward with the soft top down but near impossible with the top up or in the hardtop model as there were no rear doors either. They were also susceptible to rust which was notable in damper regions, particularly when they sold them in the UK. The Imp also suffered atrocious rust issues with the inner wheel arches being legendarily porous.
Bad when your car wants to play the part of the Hindenburg.
The problem with the Nash Metropolitan from an aesthetics point of view was that, firstly, the almost fully eeeeeenclosed front wheels looked odd, making you wonder how the car could steer at all (there seemed to be no room to turn the front wheels without them scraping the fenders and locking up!), and secondly, a Continental kit on a car *that* small looked overly pretentious - almost a parody. It seemed to need a sticker reading "When I grow up I will be a ..." (any full-size car with a Continental kit ). 😆
I was a long time stress analysis software developer 1981-2017, and Cummins Diesel was one of our clients, I once taught a class there. Back in the day, one of our folks asked one of Cummins' engineers about the GM Olds diesels. "Yeah- initially we gave GM the benefit of the doubt- thought maybe they knew some things we didn't". Of course, we all know how that worked out.
I have some odd nominations:
First Gen Chevy Corvette Race Car (pole going through the engine)
There were some electric car designs in the 1930s, far as i know, they were simply useless.
Volvo 343 Evolution. My nan used to ride in one and the rust was so bad that there was just 4 metal bars holding a passenger seat. THIS WAS FROM FACTORY. (In mileage it wasn't the most fortunate, probably being sub 50k) I believe it had something to do with overly cheap metal.
You Should Do The Top 5 Worst Buses next.
There's a hillman imp being used as a sign for a junkyard in Alabama. Just up on a massive pillar welcoming all.
My mom had a Buick with the v6 diesel when I was in elementary school. About 1985-ish. My elementary school was across the street from the Buick dealer. Dad dropped mom off or teach conferences and heard something not right with the motor. We proceeded to drive across the street and well…yeah….. we coasted into the dealer. Ours was less than two years old and under warranty- they looked at it right away. I’ll never forget going out with my dad to see the damage- looked like most of the rotating parts of the motor now lived in the oil pan. I think GM bought the car back as my dad was a pretty loyal GM guy. Up until that day it wasn’t a bad car. Got over 30mpg on a trip. Dad owned an excavation company so we always had 1000’s of gallons of bulk diesel. So for us it worked great. Until it killed itself.
I find it interesting that with all the discussion of the Nash Metropolitan, no one has mentioned that it was built by Austin in the UK. As I recall, the running gear was mostly Morris Minor...
Can you make a top 5 greatest cars list?
I’ve heard of Gm producing a car called a kobalt. It was considered deadly as their owners had numerous accidents because of the ignition key slipping to accessory.
Im waiting for British Roadways to show up (Also very cool background music)
For bad cars, I only have two words. British. Leyland
We should do a part 2 on this because there is a lot more cars not listed like the yugo, the tires involved with the ford explorers, the Chevy Aveo, and others and maybe do the most unsafe cars ever
UK here. You are free to take the piss out of any British Leyland, except: Triumph Stag, Austin/MG Metro, all Land Rovers of that time, all MG Sportscar’s of the time and the Rover SD1.
The only good thing about them Oldsmobile diesel cars, we're that in some states they are emissions exempt. So you can get one for next to nothing, pull the engine and replace it with a nice crate ls series and have a decent sleeper that you don't have to get an emissions tag for.
Back in the late 1960's I worked at a gas station and one of my co-workers had a Renault Dauphine and he let me drive it and it was the car I learned to drive a manual transmission on. It was so underpowered that this particular one wouldn't go over 40mph. It's pronounced RENN-O by the way (accent on the first syllable)
Hey Dark is the Quick HiDs series dead?
Just wanted to point this out really quick. The Caballero that you mentioned very briefly in the #1 spot was actually produced by GMC and was pretty much just a rebadged Chevy El Camino.
With the diesel conversion of a gas engine. International Harvester did it in the 50s throw the 60s with little trouble. Some of the old MDTAs are still running and very collectible.
I actually liked the Pinto, for the same reasons you gave. But that gas tank had to be dealt with, and that's the only reason I had for not buying one that came available (a '77) when I was a 17 year old looking to get a car in '84.
If I had to get rid of an Olds diesel, I'd probably replace it with a turbo charged Detroit 3-53T and roll coal on my own EV in my driveway 🤣
You have to include the Chevrolet Vega next time you do a worst car ever!
My Dad bought a Metropolitan when I was a kid, traded it in for a Corvair in 1963, that a drunk took out then another Corvair in '66, that my oldest brother took out...c'est la vie...
The Pinto was a very explosive design! Everytime I think of the stupid crap we did on one I shudder...they did eventually fix it, but damn, people died for greed, thank you Mr Ford...
Hey Mr Ford liked Adolph Hitler. Do I need to say more?
@@randyab9go188 Any colour you like, so long as it's not Jewish!
According to the book, "The Metropolitan Story," by Patrick R. Foster, the Nash Metropolitan was designed and engineered in America, but built by Fisher & Ludlow, Ltd. (body) and Austin Motors in the U.K. Nearly 95,000 of the "little wonders" were built between 1954 and '62 (production ended in 1961) and it was the second best-selling compact car in the U.S. in the 1950s after the Volkswagen Beetle. The Metropolitan was sold initially as a Nash or a Hudson (the difference was simply a plastic badge saying Nash or Hudson on the front grill) as both companies merged in 1954 creating American Motors. Some famous owners of the Metropolitan include actor Paul Newman and wife actress Joanne Woodward and a slightly customized version was built for Prince Phillip and Princess Margaret of the U.K (it became known as the "royal runabout" and was actually stolen by four youths but was later recovered).
I believe the Nash Metropolitan was actually built in England and then shipped to America, which added grat shipping costs to a small car. Fun Fact: In the television show, "The Adventures Of Superman", Daily Planet Reporter, Lois Lane, drove one of these cars.
As to the pronunciation of, "Renault Dauphine" , yes, you did say, "Dauphine" correctly. however, "Renault" is said, "Ren-O". Just like the French airplane maker, "Dassault", is said, 'Das-O". It's a French thing, just deal with it. Many, many people make this mistake because that's how we are taught in grade school. "If you don't know how something is said, sound out the letters and try again." The Dauphine was Renault's answer to Volkswagen's 'Type One", or, as we call it, "The Beetle". A small four-seater to handle your basic daily driving needs on those narrow, twisty European roads. Renault made a mistake trying to sell it in America, but, for the time, it actually did well against American cars of the period, though, as you stated, it had corrosion issues, as French roads were not "salted' in the winter. This is why you always see crewmen painting US Navy ships. Seawater and steel equals rust, or, corrosion. Winter salt on the roads melts the ice into salty water, which is why so many early cars rusted out from the bottom.
If your going to talk about the Ford Pinto, you HAVE to talk about the Chevrolet Vega, Chevy's answer to the Pinto. To save shipping costs, GM designed a new railroad transport car that carried the cars VERTICALLY, instead of the normal horizontal orientation as they could now carry ONE extra car than normal. They then filled all the fluids before shipping, so that, over time, some leaked down into the vehicle, which caused corrosion, electrical faults, etc. Why not send them without fluids until they got to their destination? Then the dealer's would have to absorb the costs of said fluids, and would need to have a large stock on hand. So, to save time, money, and carry one extra car at a time, GM kept up doing what they were doing and ended up with multiple lawsuits.
Actually, the female character Lois Lane drove an American made (Kenosha, WI) Nash Rambler in "The Adventures of Superman." The British built Nash Metropolitan was designed and engineered in the U.S. and borrowed its styling from the Rambler. Consequently, the similarity between the two.
If you do part 2, I recommend you to put the Octoauto because it has eight wheels and none of them survived today.
"General" Motors? Should be renamed GARBAGE motors!! Those V6 & V8 diesel engines were junk. What some of us in Australia did to try alleviating the head bolt problem is drill & tap to 12mm size, & use 1.25 thread pitch bolts for greater clamping force. Mercedes were building Diesel cars years before the USA, & are still doing so now.
Nash made a mistake by getting the British Motor Corporation (who owned Austin) to make the Metropolitan. Their workmanship and build quality was notoriously awful.
They also sold them in the UK as Austin Metropolitans. I thought the Chevy Corvair would have been in the top five, especially being accused by Ralph Nader as unsafe at any speed.
Ha ha, checked how to pronounce Dauphine, but mispronounces Renault (the L&T are silent)
The Corvair was NO worse than the VW beetle. It had the exact same swing axle design. VW fixed it the same way as GM did. Mr Nader had a hard on for GM and likely had VW stock in his portfolio! 🤬
@@randyab9go188 Yes, the Corvair was not as bad as Nader made out, and I remember seeing a demo of a Corvair doing a high speed zig zag test with no cones knocked over.
The Ford Pinto was NOT a bad little car!! In fact FORD started "fixing the gas tank problem" by 1972 with adding a plastic shield designed to prevent the gas tank from hitting the rear axle at all!! The Pinto also was an easy car to work on, parts were pretty affordable too and unlike the competition (The Datsun and Toyota cars of the day) they were pretty roomy and reliable!! I owned three of them, a 1971, a 1972 and a 1973!
Also what a lot of people never understood about the Oldsmobile 5.7 liter diesel is (was) that it was actually a four bolt main, gasoline 403 cubic inch engine converted to run on diesel fuel!! If you simply swap the cylinder heads and replace the intake with a normal carburetor, and powered the thing on gasoline, the Oldsmobile ran perfectly fine!!!
My first car was an Imp: ok, long journeys were...long, but handling on snow and ice was really good (concrete blocks in the trunk at the front). And I could get a four-shell drum kit in there. Rear window opened like a tiny hatchback. I loved it. Could have been brilliant but... let's just say it suffered the car equivalent of the British Railways malaise.
You cheated in listing the GM diesel as #1. Let's give credit where is due: The Chevy Vega is the car that began the decline of Detroit and deserves to be number one.
the olds diesel also had problems with lifters that stopped pumping oil to the rockers i replaced many lifters and rockers cadillac dealer sprayed the rockers with dry lube and sent them on their way
My uncle had a Renault Dauphine for a while, french car, in America.... He wasn't the one to restore it. So he sold it and got a split window VW bus. Not to be the guy for pronunciation... But it's Rey No 👍 the official commercials for the AMC and Renault Alliance said it so themselves. But you said Dauphine right.
Let's face it, the only reason the Pinto is infamous is that Ford got caught.
Could you do 5 of the worst tractors next? Just asking...
Some of the earlier Metropolitans were actually badged as Hudson Metroplolitans.
Next list: 5 of the Worst Farm Tractors ever
Sorry pal! Twitter is going to get a hold of the phrase you said in this video!
The Rootes Group was already in serious financial problems before the Imp, that is why they ended up with a factory in Scotland over 350 miles away from the engine and most of its component plants, because to survive it needed to expand and it needed Government money to do that and that was only available if the expansion was in areas of high unemployment. The early cars had serious quality issues, but these were soon ironed out and the result was a reliable car that was recognised in the test drives of the time to be much nicer to drive and live with than a mini, but the car had such a bad reputation for unreliability and the UK market did not favour a rear engined cars and all the more so as the 60s progressed so the car never recovered its reputation. But the real issue with the Imp, was that it never mattered if the sales and or the production targets were met (the factory never in its 18 years history achieve its productivity targets), because the logistics and its for the time highly advanced all aluminium engines and transmission meant the Imp could never have been manufactured at the Imp's price point given the technology of the time (logistics and casting in aluminium were compared to today, was a significantly (by a factor of 7 to 8) more expensive things to do.
Spot on, I drove, both the Imp and the mini, and would choose the Imp every time, I guy I worked with fitted a spacer in the block and longer con Rods increasing the capacity to over 1200cc, (from the original 875cc Coventry Climax fire pump engine), it used to eat Mini Coopers for breakfast, cracking little car, once you got the gearbox sorted.
the Mini also couldn't be built for a profit for the retail price, they were sold at a loss
@@andreww2098 That is a debatable point, Ford costed the car and priced it as being £80 under value. But some historians believe this was assuming Ford's own 4 year product cycle and they had not factored in the arrival of the Ado16 that added considerable volume savings for BMC on the manufacture of things like CV joints fir the Mini. But what is clear was that both the Mini and ADO16 were only marginally profitable cars for BMC.
In this game greenville, the ford pinto will explode if you reverse into things