infamous models - what made them?

[jphanna]

another in a long line of historical trivea relating to cars. over the last 40 odd years, what models were known for 'unfortunate' stying errors or bad design or manufacturing. eg of the top of my head. (as its a ford forum and lots has been posted about EA and AU....lets give them a break)

Edsel (stying)
corvair (rear suspension)
HD holden - front and rear styling
HQ kingswood - handling
orig falcon - front suspension failure
Camira - smoky engines
sigma - smoky engines
magna - auto gearboxes
VX commodore with 5.7chev (oil consumption)
VL 3.0 (headgaskets)
rotary Mazdas (seals failing)

this is a specialty for mechanics ou there who made a fortune on some of these cars...

[ryanstev]

Plymouth Superbird (styling)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Superbird

[Paxton]

Pontiac Aztek

Style (or lack thereof) over substance.

[Zedjay]

anything ssangyoung BUT UGLY

[BlackLS]

90s Mazda 626 - auto boxes
N12 Pulsar - manual gearboxes

[Daymoe]

Nissan 300ZX:

- stupid temp guage (Either cold, normal or overheating, nothing in between.)
- Bastard to work on, to do anything is a real pain in the neck. Normal mechanic won't touch them. Any work costs LOTS of $$ in labor.
- Reliability issues.

[Gobes32]

Paul Gover and Graham Smith are determined to add the Territory to that list, since Ford sorted out a brake recall, they are getting stuck into the ball joints........

[Matt47569]

apex seals lol

[stevepet]

How can anyoned forget the immortal Datsun 120Y the greatest pile of dung ever made.

Anything with an alloy head anyone cracked a cast iron head?

[Paxton]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

Paul Gover and Graham Smith are determined to add the Territory to that list, since Ford sorted out a brake recall, they are getting stuck into the ball joints........

What, the ones that have been changed for SYII?

[vztrt]

VT - VXS1 rubbish IRS.....oh wait that's in general.

[Watto_Cobra]

Originally Posted by ryanstev

Plymouth Superbird (styling)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Superbird

Haha, the "Joe Dirt" special :

Originally Posted by Paxton

Pontiac Aztek

Style (or lack thereof) over substance.

AAAAHHHHH!!! MY EYES!!!

Originally Posted by Gobes32

Paul Gover and Graham Smith are determined to add the Territory to that list, since Ford sorted out a brake recall, they are getting stuck into the ball joints........

I hear ya. Can anyone spell "witch hunt"?

[J_Tank]

A dozen posts and no mention of the P76!

[TUF_302]

The P76 lol!!, Also i dont think ssyangyong believes in style!!

[flappist]

Or from our side of the road:

XC Falcon, gutless petrol eating monster.
TE Cortina 4.1, dangerous overpowered underhandling underbraking petrol eating monster.
EA Falcon, gutless gasket eating monster.
AU How many synonyms can you think of for the word UGLY
BA1 GT/GT-P/Pursuit (early builds) oil eating, rattly gearbox, clunky diff, relatively slow
BA2 F6 Typhoon, (early build) gutless and clutch failure.

I have owned a new one of all of the above so this is personal observation not third hand anecdotes

[mrniceguy]

Ford Pinto??

[redxm]

3.0 blow me up turbo diesel nissan patrol
same car with 5th gear falling out of the gearbox

[Iggypoppin']

BA brake and diff issues.

VL headgasket

oh and BA handbrake.

[gcg2503]

VN V6 Commodores - very harsh driveline vibrations

[aussiblue]

Datsun 120Y Coupe - Styling colours, performance, braking, handling..... only redeeming features was the ran on the smell of an oily rag and unfortunately were hard to kill.

[Watto_Cobra]

Originally Posted by flappist

..........TE Cortina 4.1, dangerous overpowered underhandling underbraking petrol eating monster.............

I have extremely fond memories of my TE 4.1L. It handled very nicely with the 25mm sways front and rear and the tyres I had on. But yes, very underbraked for the power it possessed.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by NJXR6

BA brake and diff issues.

VL headgasket

oh and BA handbrake.

Add AU handbrake to that aswell.
Also the Charcol canister in AU V8's that produce the Tickford tick

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Watto_Cobra

I have extremely fond memories of my TE 4.1L. It handled very nicely with the 25mm sways front and rear and the tyres I had on. But yes, very underbraked for the power it possessed.

Yes all the cars I mentioned could be sorted with modifications but out of the factory the Corty was a shocker. If you even drew a picture of a corner on a piece of paper anywhere near the car shed the Corty immediately tried to flip on its roof. This is from new not 20 years later when tyres and suspension got a lot better.

[v8 tc]

What about magna,triton,sigma any thing with the astron engine?
That mongrel timing chain rattle(that was cool)not : : :

[mickvxbs]

XA-C coupe had a bit of a rust problem..

[Watto_Cobra]

Originally Posted by flappist

Yes all the cars I mentioned could be sorted with modifications but out of the factory the Corty was a shocker. If you even drew a picture of a corner on a piece of paper anywhere near the car shed the Corty immediately tried to flip on its roof. This is from new not 20 years later when tyres and suspension got a lot better.

You're not kidding. They had a bit too much go for the factory standard equipment :evilking: I just had to mod the suspension and wheel/tyre package, if only to make it safe to drive Only prob I ever had with that car was sunroof not wanting to wind closed once opened, and it once sheared the key off for the crank timing chain cog.

[Iggypoppin']

Originally Posted by DJM83

Add AU handbrake to that aswell.
Also the Charcol canister in AU V8's that produce the Tickford tick

im going to throw in the EA 3.2 motor as well, not for fame or infamy or because mechanics whinged about them(dont think you can whinge about a motor created in such small numbers?) but because they just suck.

also the shocking lapse in time between shifts on BA's between P-R, R-N, N-R. or maybe its just mine

[Gobes32]

Originally Posted by Paxton

What, the ones that have been changed for SYII?

No, they want Ford to recall all SX and SY Territorys and replace the ball joints for free..........

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by NJXR6

also the shocking lapse in time between shifts on BA's between P-R, R-N, N-R. or maybe its just mine

No not just yours .... I put mine in reverse, go inside, make a coffee and just then its just about ready to go. Ford said thats normal .....

Of course there will be those that bag the AU. Apart from the Series 1 Forte and Futura .... they were/are a great car that are just so hard to kill and have stood the test of time in the looks department.

Camira goes down as the all time crapper.



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[290v]

Early Kia Carnavals engines
EF head bolts
BA GT & Turbo diff whines between 80Kms & 100 Kms
XF door handles
Early Holden Diffs blow up easy
HK to HQ front chassic cracks
VE commodore Consul falling apart
VT Ser.1 commodore windscreens cracking around the edges from chassic movment
Commadore front harmonic pully rubber breaking up (sounds like engine Knocking)