BenS sent me this link to a Time article listing one person's view of what have been the 50 worst cars of all time. While the put-downs of the various vehicles are amusingly and artfully written, for the life of me I could not discern what the criteria were for deciding which of all the bad cars should make the top-50 list.
- No matter what the author says, I would not include the Ford Model "T" in a list of worst cars. In fact, given its popularity and longevity, I'd be tempted to include it in a list of the fifty best cars.
- Other candidates from that era which surely deserved more consideration were the Stanley Steamer, which despite its speed and its adherents, simply was never as good as an internal-combustion-engine car, and the Baker Electric -- you think modern cars have battery-life problems?
- I also thought that the Chrysler-DeSoto airstreams were pretty nice dream cars of their era.
- But the 1950s really did usher in a lot of bad autos that I can remember, for example, the Henry J:
- To save body stamping costs, early Henry Js did not have rear trunk lids; owners had to access the trunk by folding down the rear seat. Another cost saving measure was to offer the car only as a two-door sedan with fixed rear windows. Also lacking in the basic version were glovebox, armrests, passenger side inside sun visor and flow-through ventilation.
- I remember that in our town, Henry Js also had a reputation for being made with thin metal that rusted and dented easily and quickly.
- Another candidate might be the Isetta, a weak-powered, chain-driven car that might be able to reach 50mph downhill. It had a single bench seat, and that was it. I remember riding with two other big guys on a 90-mile round trip in one of those. That experience helped me understand why the car might have been okay in some European settings but was a loser in North America.
- And one of the most serious omissions from the list is the early Hyundais. They had so many problems (Lada-like), it was a miracle the company survived.