What "Bad" Cars Weren't Really So Bad?
Ducati Minor
Hundreds of millions of automobiles have been built and sold around the world over the past century alone. One would expect that among the thousands of different product lines, there'd be a fair share of cars and trucks that earned bad raps. Of those bad raps, a few probably deserved more cred than they received. Take this '78 C3 'Vette. This Indy pace car replica was overproduced, resulting in many non-collectable classics in the 1970s. Some would even stretch the bad rep to the whole C3 line. What bad oldie wasn't so bad in your mind?
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JWBrothers
Ever since Nader's hatchet job on the Corvair, I've wanted to own one just to show him what an idiot he and his Kool-Aid sippers really are.
Many Thanks
Jim
cruzzinn
I have to say that the corvair is the all time winner of a good car getting a bad rap ,and the 65 to 69 vairs have to be one of the best looking cars of the day and still are a great looking car, top of my list of cars to own is a corvair corsa, gotta love the sound of that air cooled six, my 2 cents.
Doug Sisson
Later in life, in an interview, Nader admitted that the corvair was a good car in comparison to other cars of it's time. He said that most people misunderstood the point of his book. Apparently the point was supposed to be that the Corvair is more innovative and safer than its peers but it is still much less safe than it could be (Nader's words, not mine).
Dave B.
Edsel -- Not any worse than any other late '50s Ford, only uglier.
Fiat -- Unreliable and rust-prone, but the cars of Dante Giacosa, from the '30s Millecento and Topolino through the X 1/9 and 131 of the 1970s, all were responsive handlers and fun to drive.
nbtx
I bought a 1980 4-dr 4-cyl 4-spd Citation new and got over 100k trouble-free miles. Great car with lots of room and a hatch for big long items. Everyone else maligned Citations but I'd like to see a comparable econobox produced today. Plus it got 30 mpg on the highway ... and you could squeeze 6 people in it.
Bob T
The Corvair is a great car. I was able to buy a 1968 Corvair 500 when I was in high school, in 1969, the previous owner having thought she had bought a Corvette for less than two grand. It received a replacement engine and 4-speed and ran low 15-second quarters, which wasn't bad for an economy car. There were a bunch of surprised pony car drivers back then.
I currently have another '68, the original having succumbed to a dope-smoking drunk while it was parked outside my parents' house. Like most Corvair owners, I have a few parts cars - a '65 Sprint convertible 140/4spd, '66 Monza coupe 110/4spd w/AC and a '67 Sprint coupe Kelmark V8.
An enthusiast has resurrected the 1960 Corvair raced by Doug Roe almost 50 years ago and the car is still fast. There are many Yenko Stingers still racing, too. They're hitting $65,000 now. A 'regular' Corvair can be had for a whole lot less, $2000 on up.
The national Corvair club, CORSA (Corvair Society of America, http://www.corvair.org), has over 5500 members. There are chapters for racers, performance oriented cars, and V-8 machines.
Get one and help dispell the Ralph Nader myths. There's a reason his first name is Ralph.
GEARHEAD6PACK
Drove, collected (at least one of every body style) and worked on Corvairs for over 40 years. Favorite, 1966 140hp 4spd sports sedan that I changed harness and dash to Corsa. Super handling, 29 mpg, simple to maintain and work on. Pushing 70 and no longer inclined to fix cars for the fun of it, now driving 91 4wd Explorer and wife's 96 Grand Caravan, both good cars.
Throopspeed
One more vote for the mighty Corvair. I have have owned several and can attest that they got a real bad rap. Corvairs were the cutting edge in thier day and nice as any solution to transportation as any concieved. Fast , great handling ,easy on gas, reliable and easy to work on. Quite a combination, if little too old and classic for everyday use anymore. One more bad rap car I really like is the Audi 5000T. I ( and my car buddies as well) have owned several of these fine machines with most of them seeing 200K with only irritating minor stuff (switches and rubber parts) needing replacement. The high quality materials used really show thier stuff 10-15 years in when they still look. Other than the aforementioned, I would say most cars earn the rap they deserve, like the Fiat Spyder I owned for 3 months and 2 engines, or the new Chrysler where putting the power windows down turned on the A/C.....
Ducati Minor
Anyway I can pull off the Bricklin?
Tim
Porsche 914
Especially the 1973 2.0 liter. It transformed the car into an 8 sec 0-60. It was already a great handling mid-engined, open air, solidly built car. Relative to its competitors it was miles ahead in structural rigidity and build quality, Triumph, MG, Fiat, Alfa weren't close. The only competitive car was the admittedly better looking Datsun Z. Coupe only and handling wasn't as good. I can't count the number of people I dusted off the line, at that time, sub 10 0-60 was quick.
Ducati Minor
Let me heap some praise on the Javelin. I like the underdog--most folks do. I'm also a fan of the Marlin, which I'll add later.
The Javelin was a better-formed coupe for the late-Sixties youth market than the Charger-esque Marlin. The Jav wasn't a real contender in the horsepower war, but it was a respectable lightweight. The AMX has become a collectible in recent years for its two-seat layout and very low numbers. As a result, the premiere Jav has seen a modest rise in demand as a cheap alternative.
And yet, the second-gen Javelin gets little respect in the enthusiast world. With the exception of the flatly handsome Barracuda, I can't think of a better-looking pony car for the early '70s. I don't regret passing up on one that came up for sale with a 360 motor (I think), but I'd reconsider if I were floating on better financial straits and could afford the lengthy and difficult renovation work.