We think it’s safe to say that virtually every company making a physical product goofs at some point. Not just minor mistakes mind you, we are talking about faulty finished goods that make it out the factory door and into the hands of consumers. Sometimes this sort of thing can be taken care of before it hits the media but rarely so in the car business. The car business is simply too large and covered by all the media. In fact, “mistakes” make for good press.
Following is a compilation of a collection of three examples of cars that were real goofs and never should have been built.
Cadillac Fleetwood V8-6-4:
For several decades General Motors powered all its Cadillac models with beefy V8 engines. They had to. Cadillacs are big, heavy sedans and takes a lot of power to move them. The problem is that V8s aren’t particularly good on gas. In order to make their cars a little gas hungry, Cadillac came up with its V8-6-4 system. What the V8-6-4 system does is quite clever. It basically allows one to operate a full 8 cylinder engine with just 4 cylinders, 6 cylinders or the full 8. The 4 cylinder mode was for gentle cruising and the 8 cylinder mode was for full power. Great idea but it didn’t work well. It had a complex electro-mechanical cylinder deactivation system which made jerky transitions, bizarre noises and caused the engine to stall often. Naturally, the owners of $16,000 (around $45k today) Cadillacs were upset that such an expensive vehicle had significant bugs.
Pontiac Aztek:
This botch job is a cosmetic one. In an effort to appeal to a younger crowd, Pontiac took the crossover concept and designed one of the ugliest cars ever made. Take a good look at a Aztek and I’m sure you will agree. It looks like a car designed by a committee. In fact, a committee made up of people who didn’t speak the same language. Interestingly, the poor Aztek has received a major image boost thanks to it playing a big role in the AMC network series Breaking Bad. The Aztek was made for just four years; from 2001 until 2005.
Ford Edsel:
No list of automotive blunders would be complete without a mention of the Ford Edsel. Meant to be a model that was just below their flagship Lincoln line, Ford sunk over $400 million (over $4 billion today) into developing the Edsel from scratch. The problem was that despite all the experts they hired, no one actually polled the public. When the Edsel was finally available at car dealers, it met a great deal of resistance. Many consumers hated its upright grill (known as the “horse collar”) and its overall garish styling. Today the Edsel is a classic example of how big mistakes can be made when you don’t do enough market research.
AMC Pacer:
In the mid-1970s, tiny Wisconsin-based American Motors designed an innovative car called the Pacer. It was advanced for the time and had many features that others didn’t, things like rack-and-pinion steering, an elongated passenger door (for rear seat access), an integrated rollbar, and an interior designed for safety. And a very odd looking fishbowl-like body design. It’s hard to believe that AMC made the pacer for 5 years because it did not sell very well. In fact, in 2007 Hagerty Insurance issued a poll asking for the public to name the worst car design of all time and the Pacer won.
Ford Pinto:
The Pinto was supposed to be Ford’s car of the ’70s. Ford made them from 1971 until 1980 and the car nearly destroyed the company. Here’s what happened: To save $11 in manufacturing costs of every Pinto, Ford decided to place the Pinto’s gas tank in a place where it could be punctured by the rear differential in the event of an accident. And that’s exactly what happened -thousands of Pintos went up in flames when rear collisions occurred. The result was that over 900 people died as a result of this defect. In 1978, Ford finally recalled over 1.5 million of their Pintos, and began years of slogging through civil suits that would push the company to the brink of bankruptcy.
1982-’88 Cadillac Cimarron:
During the ’80s, the BMW 3-Series was making huge inroads in the U.S. market thanks to its combination of luxury and style. The executives didn’t understand and responded with what it thought was a BMW-killer: The Cimarron. The problem was that the public saw through it quickly. The Cimarron was essentially front-wheel drive Chevy Cavalier with fancy styling and a nice leather interior. Not helping was the fact that Cimarron sold for $15,000 price tag when the Chevy sold for $6,400. By 1988, it had disappeared in a cloud of ignominy.
Ford Edsel:
No list of automotive blunders would be complete without a mention of the Ford Edsel. Meant to slot just below their flagship Lincoln line, Ford sunk $400 million (over $4 billion today) into developing the Edsel from scratch. The problem was that despite all the experts and researchers they hired, no one actually polled the public about what it wanted. When the Edsel started shipping, the car was rejected quickly because of its upright grill (known as the “horse collar”) and its overall garish styling. Today the Edsel is a basic case study of how not to launch a new brand.
Plymouth Prowler:
Around the mid-nineties, the folks at Plymouth needed to inject a little juice back into the Plymouth brand. The way they attempted that was by making a factory-rendition of the standard 1930s hotrod. The styling was great. It had open wheel design, wedge-shaped fuselage, sloping arches and wild colors. The problem was that the car was powered by Chrysler’s 3.5-liter V6 and all of its 250 horsepower. This turned off a majority of potential buyers who simply expected the car to have a potent V8. The $38,300 ($56k today) base price didn’t help matters either. The Plymouth Prowler was built for just three years.
Yugo GV:
Some called the Yugo the pinnacle of automotive imperfection. The Yuko was built in Serbia and it was the cheapest car in America: $3,995 ($8,500 today). Technically it was a clone of the Fiat 124 yet was even more unreliable. For example, the engine had a tendency of not working, bits of the car would fall off while driving, and the electrical system would ignite at random times. The Yugo GV (for “Great Value!”) quietly left our shores in 1992 after 6 years of sales.
Pontiac Aztek:
In an effort to appeal to a younger crowd, Pontiac took the crossover concept and cosmetically botched it so badly that its outward appearance literally scared off buyers as soon as they saw it. Take a good look at a Aztek and I’m sure you will agree. It looks like a car co-designed by people who didn’t speak the same language. Interestingly, the poor Aztek has received a major image boost thanks to it playing a major role in the AMC network series Breaking Bad.