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I would not consider a car which was produced and sold for 10 years, such as the Gremlin, a failure. We owned 2 of them in the 70's and we loved them. They were "cute" little cars that got around in the snow very well. They sold 670,000 of them. I'd say that that makes them at least a moderate success.
I also owned 2. The 1970 car was $1995 out the door. I drove it for about 250,000 miles with no major repairs until my freeze plug rusted out and burned up the engine due to lack of water. I just put another engine in it until the car rusted out.
The design wasn't really a stinker either. Honda's Civic hatchbacks in the 80s basically copied the design and put a 4-cylinder engine in it and they sold loads of them. One of those was my first car and lasted through high school and college. Only died when a kid ran a red light and broadsided it with a truck.
The Gremlin shouldn’t be considered a failure, they produced almost 700,000 units during its run. Second best selling vehicle in amc history. If the styling fails your personal taste then say that. From a Ford guy
@@jeffking4176. The Big 3 got that way BY SELLING MORE CARS. I saw several new Gremlins, not one of them made me want to own one and yet I don't buy vehicles to make people like me.
I had my 72 Gremlin for 18 years. The gas mileage was not great but it had lots of power and maintenance was cheap. Oddly , in contrast to other comments, I found it to be terrible in snow. I assumed it was due to not enough weight over the back tires, even with sandbags in the back. Maybe my snow tires were not good.
Yeah, buttons work well because you never had to take your eyes off the road because you could feel them. Touch screens don't work at all unless you take your eyes off the road.
@@Beuzet1 ya it’s the only way to go. My first new Corolla was the base model. It did not have a radio, AC or side moldings lol. It did have a key lol. When I ordered my Rav I said to the sales person all I need in a car is a Key, a radio (because I can afford the factory installed one these days) and AC. Back in the 80’s it was cold out here in the North Atlantic Ocean and no one had a need for AC. Today we have the Invasive Species called Palm Trees taking over our island…. Just joking it’s much warmer in the summer however.
My husband in 1972 bought a Gremlin 5 liter brand new. It was part of a special order for the California Highway Patrol with modifications. Full roll cage , heavier leaf springs, sat closer to the road, built for the expressway driving. Top speed 140+ MPH. THAT ROLLCAGE saved our lives. We suddenly came to an unmarked T intersection one night. He swung left and almost made it. The right rear tire blew and we went into a field that was nearly 6 feet lower than the road. We rolled over a boulder just above his head. We DROVE TO THE NEAREST FARM for help. We both survived with nothing but concussions . When AMC wanted to replace it with a1973 model,we were told that if we had had a 1973 we 2ould have had broken backs. My husband told them to repair the 1972. We used it for ten more years. Only selling it forparts as we were expecting our fourth child. 😊
@@constancepullen810 Okay, so I'm familiar with the 304, which would be considered even closer to 5 liter than a 302. I just never heard anyone call it that. My friend had a 304 in a Scout. Good motor.
The “Teletouch” in the Edsel, was the control for the AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION!! Why would you be shifting gears and hitting the wrong button?? Totally ILLOGICAL statement
The video should also have mentioned the Nikasil lining used in the Jag v8 cylinders and how it would fail. We had a 2001 XJ8 that fortunately was made the month after they discontinued the process and began using steel sleeves.
It was proved in the early 70s the 1960 to 63 Corvairs were no worse than the average car of that era including Porsche, VW Bug and other vehicles, but Nader had no clout against "foreign" makes so he went after GM and its weird car. Btw - GM modified the rear suspension in 1964, improving the handling, I know, we had a 64 Corvair Monza convertible.
I was in my twenties when the Corvair came out and I was working as a mechanic. It was just as bad as Nader said it was. And NO, it was never proved that Corvairs were no worse then anyone else. The GM engineers knew this but the bean counters over ruled them until Nader's book came out forcing them to install the original suspension braces in 1964. If you had owned a 60-63 model and went around a curve a little too fast the rear wheels would have folded up causing a nasty crash. Nader went after the entire industry, he wasn't afraid of any one! pointing out that safety was never a big concern. Steel dashes, rigid steering wheels, and lots of pointy things inside the cars made them death traps. If you hit a tree you died the tree survived! Today car are much safer because of Nader!
@@bullettube9863 I read that book when I was 14 and loved it. Everything I remembered that I read came true as I got older. There was a Corvair shop that did all kinds of things with them like car shows, drag races and other things. I walked by it every day on the way to school is what got me interested in the book..
Automatic seatbelts were a U.S. government regulation. The rule was: if you didn't have a driver airbag, you had to have an automatic seatbelt. At the time, it was cheaper for manufacturers to add the seatbelts than the airbags. Then airbag technology became cheaper and easier to install and all the automakers switched to airbags.
Calling the Gremlin a total failure ignores reality. Name another completely new and innovative car model from any manufacturer that's had a decade long run without major engineering and styling changes. The only other one that comes to mind is the VW Beetle. Maybe the Gremlin and Beetle alone accomplished that because they are both unapologetically ugly.
I disagree about the AMC Gremlin, it is a great car to drive! We had one as a teen. Stick shift, orange with a white hockey stick strip. In 1978 while at the driving, another Gremlin pulled in beside us. It had the rear fenders tubed out with wide mag wheels and traction bars. Under the hood was a Chevy 350 small block! What was quirky was the AMC Pacer “the fish bowl”
See, even back in the 80s people knew how terrible touch buttons were yet they keep trying to replace physical buttons to this day, and for the most part, we still hate it.
Fun facts about Gtemlins, They came out of AMCs AMX program, Look up AMX GT. The Gremlin used the same floorpan as the AMX and had the same wheelbase length of 93 inches, but lighter by about 400 pounds. This meant that one could upgrade to any AMC V-8 with off the shelf parts and have a nice sleeper.
@@don2deliver The distributor was GM made, The starter and solenoid were Ford made.They were made for AMC and not interchangeable with GMs or Fords. The Transmissions were Torqueflight or Borg Warner for manual. All AMC V8 were the same small block, I would like to know which Buick engine I should look at to see if you are correct about the engines being Buick.
@acheeseburger887 By the late seventies they were using Ford duraspark ignition system. The distributor itself was a hybrid because it had to fit a Buick engine but have the duraspark pickup coil. Torqueflite was the Chrysler transmission, probably mostly 904s with 727s used for the 360 engine. The engines were all Buick engineering and I think some things like intake manifolds and internals like cams would swap with a Buick small block. But they were their own castings as they fit Chrysler trans pattern and GM motor mount holes.
@@don2deliver Thanks, I see similarities, but enough differences to make me doubt interchangeability. Wonder what it would take to put a Buick timing chain cover on an AMC block.
I worked at a Toyota dealership when the Yugo came out. If I remember correctly, there were 126 design changes in the first two years. One in particular that I remember was the front passenger seat. When you needed to get in the back seat, you had to tilt the entire front seat forward. This let the headrest touch the windshield, resulting in cracking it. I'm surprised that this video did not mention the Ford Pinto's fuel tank problem that caused fires and explosions.
My Dad bought a 1950's Plymouth station wagon in 1972. It had a push button transmission panel on the dash. He decided to have me paint it. I was a sophmore in high school and never painted anything. He picked up can of chocolate brown paint latex and a 3" nylon brush from Sears. It was a real chick magnet when I got through with it.
The AMC Rambler weather eye was genius, they were the first to put the entire AC system under the hood. I bought a 16 y/o/‘59 Ambassador as a teenager and the AC system was still working strong after I had a mechanic reattach the belt.
Had a 73 with the same engine, excellent car with a 3 speed manual in the floor. Took it to Colorado and New Mexico for vacation without issue. Then it got totaled when a Chrysler New Yorker rear ended me. Ended up with a damn Vega. Sigh
Way back in the 1960s my dad bought a 1958 jag. He fixed its dings and engine and then tried to sell it and nobody would touch it. It passed everything on the road except a petrol pump. Eventually, he sold it to a very rich man who crashed it into a tree two months later. Then it was unrepairable. The engine was put in a ferry on lake.
I don’t know where you were born and in what era, but you are simply uninformed. Jaguar had a great reputation - as long as you didn’t have the V12 (or Double Six, as it was sometimes known). The 4.2 litre 6 cylinder engine was a very strong and reliable engine.
As far as controls go, touch screens today are just as bad. You can learn your car's dashboard by touch, but not a screen. Keep it for information, but keep the controls physical.
AMC cars (or Jeeps) with the 232 in-line 6 would outlive their owners. AMC (Rambler) merged with Nash in the 1950's, but kept the "Weather-Eye" A/C system moniker until the end of their life in the late 80's.
Nothing wrong with the Prowler as it looked great, and had quite a good power to weight ratio due to its size! Just wish they'd built a right-hand-drive version to export, as I reckon it would've sold well here in Australia, as well as the UK, etc.!
My first car was a 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta 5.0L V8 with fully digital dashboard. It also had a post consol stereo tape deck that swiveled from driver to passenger. It was also all digital.
@@marshallpendleton1399 A coworker of mine had one, he put a warmed up V8 in, redid the interior and a cool paint job and put a name badge where the front license plate mount was It read "Giant Killer"
I loved my white 1973 Levi’s Gremlin. Great power; over 400 mile range; comfortable seats; great air flow. The 3-speed shift came in really handy when my battery died. First car I bought myself: $3,000 new with every option available. I would love to have an EV version.
I bought a Yugo in 1990 when they were $3,850.Yes, it had problems the dealer fixed,(dash light harness, leaking back window and even replaced the tires[were rated 45 mph due to rough roads in Yugoslavia]]). I did like the milage 38 mpg and great parking and an engine with lots of power. It also had Bosch electronic fuel injection./timing drove it 100 miles a day for years without any issues. Oh, new set of tires for $88.00 mount/balancing. Next car was a Mitsu 3000GT. But I still like the old Yugo!!
My Mother had an AMC Gremlin. It was an awsome ride. It was a strange Sky Blue in the daytime,but at night it was a Violet shade of Purple. It also hauled ass. 4 speed manual with a V8. I think it was a 318. A/C,AM/FM,Bucket Seats. Black Rally Stripes & the Little Gremlin decal topped it off. Looked bitchen with Crager Mags & fat rear tires.
I remember a Yugo dealer running an add that said, "For the value of your used car, you could be driving a brand new car." Even as kid, something seemed wrong about that. And the automatic seat belts were dangerous!!! I got caught up in them more than once. They didn't retract immediately when the door was opened, so I got them wrapped around my neck a couple of times.
The GREMLIN cannot be considered a failure. They cranked out almost 700,000 of them - it must be remembered that AMC was a small company compared to The Big 3. The Pacer was more of a flop. And it was said that “it looked like it had its tail chopped off - well that’s because it DID. It was a HORNET. 🚗🙂
His comments about the prowler leave me thinking he did not do his research very well. The car had about 260 horsepower with a composite shell over an aluminum frame so it was extremely light and plenty fast. Also, it was not quietly retired like he said . they sold out all the Prowlers and that was just the run of the of the low volume car. He's just wrong
As a life long auto tech I can say that I was factory trained on the Plymouth Prowler and the Yugo. I never had to work on the Prowler much because not many were made and most just got stored by collectors. They basically just had a 3.5 Chrysler 300 M engine. Reliable but not huge power. The Yugo did break down a lot. Lucky for me I could push them in the shop by myself and two cars would fit in one bay…
I'll never forget the Gremlin commercial. Girl pulls in to a gas station to fill up and the guy standing there says, "Where's the rest of your car Toots"
Yeah, and then she hands him a couple of dollars and he said, “You sure you want ALLL THAAAT GAS? She said “You’re right" and snatches a dollar or two back. Classic!
Automatic seatbelts did not "shoot" up. I love how, in one sentence, it is noted it started the occupants at start up (like they didn't see it) and the next statement is how occupants had to wrestle against it to get out (the only wrestling was the occasional snag of the inside most hand). In reality, the reason they failed was due to the frequent issues with the motors, especially after crashes. Which was why later iterations included a button release, but those defeated the purpose. Also, three point seatbelts existed BEFORE the automated seat belt. They were just another attempt at advancement.
The death of the Corvair was not due to the suspension. After Nadar's report, Chevrolet recalled and fixed the issue. What killed the Corvair was the advancement of the Aluminum Block engine. At that time, people cooled their engines with straight water (you can still see some of the evidence along highways occasionally). The problem being, when you heat water in aluminum, it oxidizes quickly, leading to engine blocks developing issues. Thanks to the Gas Crisis of the 1970's, there was a push for fuel economy. Some chemical companies sold automakers on utilize the lighter weight block engines, but with the understanding they would need their product to protect the engine... the chemical was ethylene glycol.. we commonly know it as Anti-freeze and/or Coolant. But, the Corvair had a damaged reputation, much like the Ford Pinto, any Fiat, the Porsche 914 and many others.
The Car Phonograph was a "hype" product. It was never in any of the practical vehicles, because only the teenie-boppers were into 45s. Young drivers weren't buying new cars and they were never buying anything "optional". 8-tracks and Cassettes did not become popular in vehicles until the Music Industry helped subsidize the cost of making them standard. The Edsel's demise was far beyond the Automatic shifter buttons. They had major mechanical issues from the jump, it's Marketing Campaign was the story of legend (and poor use of hype), Ford did not have a clear market strategy and didn't fully understand the Market of the late 1950's... when there was increased spending and the look of the Edsel looked horrendous... it was obvious it was thrown together and the Oldest son of Henry Ford was just trying to put his name over his Dad's... And you could fill this list with any "new" car design from the 1970's and 1980's, not just the Yugo. The VW Rabbit, AMC Spirit, Chevy Sprint, Ford Fiesta, Ford Festiva, Olds Firenza, Pontiac Acadia (Chevy Chevelle) and the list goes on... Lastly, you want failed creations, Chevrolet in the 1980's and their Clutch "Paw" tightener. Designed to prevent the feeling of a loose clutch peddle... they were cheap plastic and frequently busted off teeth.. nothing quite like trying to shift in rush hour traffic and have your left foot slam to the floor. Thing of nightmares.
As someone who owned a 240SX, I know all about those plastic timing chain components! On those, the guides would break and the chain would saw into the water pump housing. Once it breached that, game over.
one of my best friends had a Fuego with a soft sunroof, i remember sliding sideways on ice for blocks in that car filled with seven teenage kids that thought they were about to crash. we missed a minivan by about six inches... scary as heck, but what a rush that was!
There are so many more cars to add to this video, or a 2nd edition. The oldsmobile v8 Diesel, the 61-63 Pontiac.Tempest with the Trophy 4 cylinder engine + rope drive drive shaft, or the Tesla Cybertruck. Even the 2010+ Prius is an oil eatng nightmare when they bave more than 50,000 miles on them.
I'd also add swivel seats. My friend in high school had a Monte Carlo where the seat would swivel to make it easier to get in and out of. We thought they were so cool.
My wife had a 2008 Prius for 15 years and 150,000 and the only real problem was the touch screen wouldn’t work in really cold or really hot weather after 9 or 10 years
As I recall, the AMC gremlin was the demolition derby driver's car of choice. The car's pointed rear end was like a battering Ram and could destroy even much bigger cars.
That's not true, they didn't fare that well in demo derby, But they were the favorite body used for Dirt Modified Stock Cars that had to use actual car body sheet metal. Even after the car bodies were allowed to be custom made steel or aluminum, the bodies still resembled Gremlins with the roof panel having a built in wing on the back.
My first car at age 17 was the first model year Gremlin. It may be ugly to many, but it was more powerful with the six cylinder than the competition, all of which only had 4 cylinders. That competition was the Pinto and Vega and Beetle. ABC actually did chop off a Hornet to make it.
ohhh i remember the names, the Yugo went nowhere , the Prowler was a crawler, Fuego was a crap talker, gremlin was living up to its name, the Turd express taurus, and my favorite limp laser by plymouth.
BTW, there was a reason the Prowler had a V6. The V8's available at the time from Chrysler were less powerful and heavier than the V6. So not only would they have not fit, it would have made the damned thing slower than it already was. Finally, this was meant to be a showcase of what a MODERN hotrod would be, using modern tech and modern manufacturing. That meant a MODERN engine and drivetrain. Sticking with the old standard of a smallblock V8 and 3-speed auto that so many hotrods have been built with would have been lazy and completely tanked the car as most wouldn't have bought it since they could have likely bought or built one for less. That said, it should have been offered with a manual at some point and perhaps a later model with the V8 added just to shut people up probably should have been done.
This was an EXCELLENT video! I recently rented a small SUV with buttons instead of a gearshift. I hated it. Didn't they learn the Edsel's lesson? Putting a record player in a car was absurd, sure. But the 8-track tape was notorious because it was ubiquitous. And awful.
The prowler didn't really fail. It was definitely underpowered, but they were hand built, never meant to be in high numbers, and sold as many as they could build.
The Prowler had quite a good power to weight ratio due to its size! Just wish they'd built a right-hand-drive version to export, as I reckon it would've sold well here in Australia, as well as the UK, etc.!
i must be blessed. I had a Corvair, 62, and an amc. Pacer. The Pacer had the trans replaced twice in 8 months. I called it the holy car because when you turned the key, you had to pray first. you would be rolling along at 55 and it would just quit. And it would not restart. I was towed so often i knew all the tow drivers by name. Also, driving in Chicago summer in a giant glass bubble, not the best idea. The AC rarely worked. The Corvair was different. It was a 62 and had an air cooled engine. I never had a handling problem and never overheated in El Paso where the daily temperature is 90 degrees. Drove it for 2 years and only did brakes. Except for the annoying push rods which traveled in tubes outside the engine. Every 3 months you had replace the gaskets at the end of the tubes.
The automatic seatbelt was retired not because the automatic seatbelt was unpopular. It was retired due to another government mandate stating that all cars had to have a SRS: supplemental restraint system, better known as airbags!
I had an '89 Ford Escort GT with automatic belts and in reality they weren't that bad. There was a release button for the belt on them to allow quick exit but I rarely used it.
I’ve had 2 Corvairs in my life 1965 and a 1966. I loved them - an ex took back the first one☹️☹️. The 1966 one was a stick shift - yes!!! I kept a box of books in the trunk (where the engine should have been😃) just to keep it stable - the only problem was it threw oil out - never had to change it, just kept adding oil🫢🫢😀. But it was fun to drive! Haven’t seen kne actually running in years but recently saw two both on flat beds looking a little rough but probably (hoping) for a restoration!
The Edsel gear shift may be considered odd, but so many cars now have all sorts of buttons in the steering wheel-cruise, radio, HVAC & more.... and the all spin with the wheel! now we have some cars with gear selector dials, where you would expect a heater knob or radio... and you just shifted to reverse doing 30... so that crap is still around in different nightmare forms.
VW had the same swing axle system but Nader did not have the guts to attack them. Chevrolet changed it in 1965 and VW followed in 1968. Corvair became a design leader at that point.
The 8-6-4 is still around in different forms, they call it 'cylinder deactivation,' 'displacement on demand,' 'multi-displacement system,' or something similar with acronyms to match. It always fails eventually too, usually with low oil pressure and/or failed lifters. It's bad enough that they fake the oil pressure on some cars with it from the factory. if you have a car/truck with it, the best modification you can do is delete it!
Early '90s Mitsubishis didn't get the memo on the whole automatic seatbelt thing. I think a Mirage as late as a 92 or 93 had 'em. My sister had one of those 8-6-4 Cadillacs. Shoulda just lit that $ on fire & one of my buddies from back in the day got an old Belvedere with unbelievably low miles at a steal price that had a factory record player & an air conditioning box in the passenger floor. We all teased him & called him/it Aunt Bee. It was a baby blue 4 door with this gigantic steering wheel. We were really all secretly jealous- at least I was & I drove a hot early 70s Camaro. Mine was fast & loud & rode like crap. His was just this killer comfortable cruise. We always had a ball in it. He succumbed to the teasing & sold it to buy some hot rod. But "Aunt Bee" was the coolest. Also my Mom's baby brother was nearly killed in a Monza Spyder. That thing smashed up like an aluminum can after "oversteering" through a guard rail & into an embankment. Still those were great days when all the cars didn't look the same. Those: early 70s Rivieras with the boat looking rear ends; Cougars with the cool tail lights (Frankie had a 67 or 68); late '60's Rally Sports with the hide away headlights & my first- a 72 Z28 with that big ol grill & of COURSE those Daytonas & SuperBirds. Even the really similar ones like Novas & Venturas Cutlasses (when they were still not so luxurious) or Dusters & Darts & Demons or Camaros & Firebirds had very recognizable features that made them easy to tell apart...Now you have to closely examine the emblems to even decide the make...Sadly there will be no more crazyiness like our fashioning a console & shifter boot for Randy's '63 Chevy out of thin plywood, cardboard & black felt..we thought it looked so cool...We grew up at such a great time but just never appreciated it. Kids now are SO missing out I wouldn't trade a day of what we had for all the gadgets, internet or video games in the world.
I believe the problem with the Corvette wasn’t the swing suspension, but rather the fact that the front end crumpled like a soda pop can in an accident.
I had a 1984 Cadillac DeVille 6.6l V8 and the cylinder switch system worked very well for me. It really helped to save petrol though. I liked it, the only downside was that the noise changed as well, so in city “mode” it didn’t sound like a 8-cyl anymore
The Yugo sold quite well for what it was. It was mainly retired because of international sanctions on Yugoslavia that stopped all auto export (amongst other things)
I had a car with the automatic seatbelt. It never fit right and I was constantly getting smacked on the aside of my head. Finally, I disabled it and used only the lap belt.
The only "Yugo" joke I can remember is, "What do you call the shock absorbers in a Yugo? The passengers!" My 1973 Gremlin had the rare Levis/Air Conditioner package, and after my1963 Beetle, I was in heaven. If it snowed, I put a couple of 60-pound bags of sand in the back. The Gremlin's 1948 Hudson Terraplane engine was torquey and simple to maintain. With the rear seatback folded down, the car held a lot of cargo. That Gremlin was my wife's and my "getaway car" after our wedding reception. --Old Guy
The problem with the Cadillac V8-6-4 wasn't just the computer. When you put your foot down and it tried to engage more cylinders, the transmission would also try to kick into passing gear, which resulted in NOTHING. No power at all. It would actually suddenly slow down, making it a danger to traffic around it. I actually got to drive one, and it was a nightmare.
Nothing wrong with the Prowler as it looked great, and had quite a good power to weight ratio due to its size! Just wish they'd built a right-hand-drive version to export, as I reckon it would've sold well here in Australia, as well as the UK, etc.!
VW beetles used a swing-axle from 1946 to 1969; this car had the same inherent handling problems as the corvair which came out in 1960. If either vehicle was driven hard into a corner, since the swing-axle design keeps the wheel perpendicular to the axle, the tire contact patch move toward the middle of the car making it easier to roll.
Why at 17:31, when talking about Edsel sterring wheel mounted push button transmission does it show swivel seats on a (never produced) Buick concept car ?
Jaguar isn't the only one who made that mistake. Twincam Harleys came with plastic tensioners that were cut through at 20-80k. Pain to replace, and a hydraulic tensioner was over $350, plus you had to remove the pipes, timing cover, floorboards and rear brake. NOT a quick job!
an engine make i unfortunately forget went to timing belts from earlier chains to save money but left the belts running in the oil bath. predicable results
When the Hugo first came out I was looking for an inexpensive car. I went to her local Mercury dealer who was the only dealer in the area that sold the Hugo. I asked to see the demonstrator so I could take a test drive. As I approached the vehicle, I noticed that the rear hatch was being held down with a piece of duct tape. When I got in and started it, I noticed that the radio didn't work. I was told by the salesman that when I took it out on the test drive to make sure that the directional indicators worked if I used them, because they didn't always work on this one. This was the vehicle that they were using to try to get you to buy one? How low rent can a manufacturer possibly be? No sale!
I had this feature on my first car. It's not mentioned in the video, but the auto-belt was a stop-gap feature. Coming government regulations were to require "passive safety" protection that could protect occupants to at least some extant even if they forgot to buckle up. The ideal method would have been to install air bags, but for some cars that would be impractical. For some, the price would have been jacked up too much. Other cars were near the end of their design cycles and retrofitting for air bags wouldn't have been worth it for a model that would be replaced in a year or two. Automated seat belts were the answer to this problem. They faded into obscurity as airbag systems became cheaper and more widespread.
17:34 - The real problem of the TeleTouch system is that it solved a problem that didn't exist. In an car with automatic, you touch the shift maybe three times: once to back out, once to drive, and then once back in to park when you got to your destination. And, in all probability, the car was already stopped when you made the shift. You didn't need the controls on the hub because you weren't constantly taking your hands off the wheel to shift while driving.
I love the commentary on the Riviera touch screen, we had one and it worked fine. You could operate the car without ever really using the screen. Fast forward 20 years to Tesla, the real "eyes-off-the-road" champion. Love that '64 California original black-plate Riviera though. The touch screen didn't come out until 1987.
I remember my father taking me to a dealer to look at the Buick with the touch screen. It surprises me that touch screens are now the norm in cars, because even though they are more reliable in the days of the iPhone and iPad, drivers still have to look at the screen, which would cause them to take their eyes off the road. I do know that some cars have controls on the steering wheel to do things like flip through the radio presets.
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I would not consider a car which was produced and sold for 10 years, such as the Gremlin, a failure. We owned 2 of them in the 70's and we loved them. They were "cute" little cars that got around in the snow very well. They sold 670,000 of them. I'd say that that makes them at least a moderate success.
I also owned 2. The 1970 car was $1995 out the door. I drove it for about 250,000 miles with no major repairs until my freeze plug rusted out and burned up the engine due to lack of water. I just put another engine in it until the car rusted out.
The design wasn't really a stinker either. Honda's Civic hatchbacks in the 80s basically copied the design and put a 4-cylinder engine in it and they sold loads of them. One of those was my first car and lasted through high school and college. Only died when a kid ran a red light and broadsided it with a truck.
"I don't think the Gremlin's going to win any styling awards." - Bob Teague, co-designer of the AMC Gremlin.
Loved my Gremlin! Really fun to drive!
It was a basic car with proven technology, My brother had one and towed a full sized car for hundreds of miles. It took a lickin, and kept on tickin.
The Gremlin shouldn’t be considered a failure, they produced almost 700,000 units during its run. Second best selling vehicle in amc history.
If the styling fails your personal taste then say that. From a Ford guy
I agree. It did well.
AMC was never going to produce as many as the Big 3, because they weren’t a Big 3.
🚗🙂
@@jeffking4176 I had one and I loved it. Decent gas mileage and that 6 cyl was bulletproof. Great little car
@@jeffking4176. The Big 3 got that way BY SELLING MORE CARS. I saw several new Gremlins, not one of them made me want to own one and yet I don't buy vehicles to make people like me.
I had my 72 Gremlin for 18 years. The gas mileage was not great but it had lots of power and maintenance was cheap. Oddly , in contrast to other comments, I found it to be terrible in snow. I assumed it was due to not enough weight over the back tires, even with sandbags in the back. Maybe my snow tires were not good.
@@jburghauNeeded STUDDED winter tires!
I miss knobs and buttons. They are always there where they should be. Touch screens suck. Even when they work.
Yeah, buttons work well because you never had to take your eyes off the road because you could feel them. Touch screens don't work at all unless you take your eyes off the road.
I don't buy cars without knobs and buttons.
I just bought a 2025 Toyota RAV4 LE. It has a key and knobs. The best thing since sliced bread.
@@AdventuresWithTodd My 2021 Camry fortunately has buttons for the climate control and one for the radio volume control. I like that.
@@Beuzet1 ya it’s the only way to go. My first new Corolla was the base model. It did not have a radio, AC or side moldings lol. It did have a key lol.
When I ordered my Rav I said to the sales person all I need in a car is a Key, a radio (because I can afford the factory installed one these days) and AC.
Back in the 80’s it was cold out here in the North Atlantic Ocean and no one had a need for AC.
Today we have the Invasive Species called Palm Trees taking over our island…. Just joking it’s much warmer in the summer however.
My husband in 1972 bought a Gremlin 5 liter brand new. It was part of a special order for the California Highway Patrol with modifications. Full roll cage , heavier leaf springs, sat closer to the road, built for the expressway driving. Top speed 140+ MPH. THAT ROLLCAGE saved our lives. We suddenly came to an unmarked T intersection one night. He swung left and almost made it. The right rear tire blew and we went into a field that was nearly 6 feet lower than the road. We rolled over a boulder just above his head. We DROVE TO THE NEAREST FARM for help. We both survived with nothing but concussions . When AMC wanted to replace it with a1973 model,we were told that if we had had a 1973 we 2ould have had broken backs. My husband told them to repair the 1972. We used it for ten more years. Only selling it forparts as we were expecting our fourth child. 😊
@@constancepullen810
Okay, so I'm familiar with the 304, which would be considered even closer to 5 liter than a 302.
I just never heard anyone call it that.
My friend had a 304 in a Scout.
Good motor.
Do you have pictures. Personally, I love the body style. My brother had one in the 80's I thought it was awesome
That "mid 1980s" Buick Riviera is a 63.
Indeed - no research, lifted from the first page on Wikipedia!
63 was a good year for the Riviera.
The interior was an 80's Riviera. The CRT touchscreens actually still worked for 8 or more years for most of them.
That 63 Rivera is really good-looking.
I came to the comments because I knew I wouldn’t be the first to respond to that glaring mistake. Thx!
The “Teletouch” in the Edsel, was the control for the AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION!! Why would you be shifting gears and hitting the wrong button?? Totally ILLOGICAL statement
Jaguar saw this video and said " That hurt our reputation, let's see if we can destroy it completely"!
The video should also have mentioned the Nikasil lining used in the Jag v8 cylinders and how it would fail. We had a 2001 XJ8 that fortunately was made the month after they discontinued the process and began using steel sleeves.
Go gay, go electric. What were they thinking?
Need to remember that this problem with the XK8 happened after Ford bought Jaguar, so in reality it was just a crap Ford engine!
It was proved in the early 70s the 1960 to 63 Corvairs were no worse than the average car of that era including Porsche, VW Bug and other vehicles, but Nader had no clout against "foreign" makes so he went after GM and its weird car.
Btw - GM modified the rear suspension in 1964, improving the handling, I know, we had a 64 Corvair Monza convertible.
Don't forget the early Mustangs! No frame behind the rear axle?
No worse than? That's no recommendation.
I was in my twenties when the Corvair came out and I was working as a mechanic. It was just as bad as Nader said it was. And NO, it was never proved that Corvairs were no worse then anyone else. The GM engineers knew this but the bean counters over ruled them until Nader's book came out forcing them to install the original suspension braces in 1964. If you had owned a 60-63 model and went around a curve a little too fast the rear wheels would have folded up causing a nasty crash. Nader went after the entire industry, he wasn't afraid of any one! pointing out that safety was never a big concern. Steel dashes, rigid steering wheels, and lots of pointy things inside the cars made them death traps. If you hit a tree you died the tree survived! Today car are much safer because of Nader!
@@bullettube9863
I read that book when I was 14 and loved it. Everything I remembered that I read came true as I got older. There was a Corvair shop that did all kinds of things with them like car shows, drag races and other things. I walked by it every day on the way to school is what got me interested in the book..
Nader didn’t even have a Driver’s License.
Automatic seatbelts were a U.S. government regulation. The rule was: if you didn't have a driver airbag, you had to have an automatic seatbelt. At the time, it was cheaper for manufacturers to add the seatbelts than the airbags. Then airbag technology became cheaper and easier to install and all the automakers switched to airbags.
wrong auto seat belts were out way before air bags was a thing it was to force people to wear seat belts
AMC produced 671,000 Gremlins, I loved that car, easy to drive easy to park.
Calling the Gremlin a total failure ignores reality. Name another completely new and innovative car model from any manufacturer that's had a decade long run without major engineering and styling changes. The only other one that comes to mind is the VW Beetle. Maybe the Gremlin and Beetle alone accomplished that because they are both unapologetically ugly.
AMC was cutting edge in design and innovation, shame they were crushed by the other three
@@waffles1caChrysler bought AMC just to get jeep
Didn't the original Golf come out at the same time? A hugely better designed vehicle in every day, along with numerous other European hatchbacks.
I disagree about the AMC Gremlin, it is a great car to drive! We had one as a teen. Stick shift, orange with a white hockey stick strip. In 1978 while at the driving, another Gremlin pulled in beside us. It had the rear fenders tubed out with wide mag wheels and traction bars. Under the hood was a Chevy 350 small block! What was quirky was the AMC Pacer “the fish bowl”
Loved my '66 Corvair Monza. One of the best cars I ever owned. Smooth ride and never gave me a problem that couldn't be fixed. Miss it to this day.
"Touch pad was a little too much" "The touch screen wasn't working out" Why did the designers not learn that lesson?
Seeing a Prowler these days is still a sight. They look so good still.
Imagine if the Prowler hung in long enough to get the Crossfire SRT Mercedes 3.2L supercharged V6.
I never liked those weirdo cars.
“Good”?
See, even back in the 80s people knew how terrible touch buttons were yet they keep trying to replace physical buttons to this day, and for the most part, we still hate it.
671,475 units in 8 model years isn't a failure. Gremlins were not that bad for cars of their time.
Fun facts about Gtemlins, They came out of AMCs AMX program, Look up AMX GT. The Gremlin used the same floorpan as the AMX and had the same wheelbase length of 93 inches, but lighter by about 400 pounds. This meant that one could upgrade to any AMC V-8 with off the shelf parts and have a nice sleeper.
I owned a Levi's gremlin
The AMC V8 was an off the shelf engine. It was a Buick V8 with a Ford Ignition system and a Chrysler transmission.
@@don2deliver The distributor was GM made, The starter and solenoid were Ford made.They were made for AMC and not interchangeable with GMs or Fords. The Transmissions were Torqueflight or Borg Warner for manual. All AMC V8 were the same small block, I would like to know which Buick engine I should look at to see if you are correct about the engines being Buick.
@acheeseburger887 By the late seventies they were using Ford duraspark ignition system. The distributor itself was a hybrid because it had to fit a Buick engine but have the duraspark pickup coil.
Torqueflite was the Chrysler transmission, probably mostly 904s with 727s used for the 360 engine. The engines were all Buick engineering and I think some things like intake manifolds and internals like cams would swap with a Buick small block. But they were their own castings as they fit Chrysler trans pattern and GM motor mount holes.
@@don2deliver Thanks, I see similarities, but enough differences to make me doubt interchangeability. Wonder what it would take to put a Buick timing chain cover on an AMC block.
I worked at a Toyota dealership when the Yugo came out. If I remember correctly, there were 126 design changes in the first two years. One in particular that I remember was the front passenger seat. When you needed to get in the back seat, you had to tilt the entire front seat forward. This let the headrest touch the windshield, resulting in cracking it.
I'm surprised that this video did not mention the Ford Pinto's fuel tank problem that caused fires and explosions.
I think it was '85 when a Yugo got blown off the Mackinaw bridge.
Do NOT drive a Pinto, or ANY CAR, without its fuel CAP ON!!!!!!
I had a 1990 Nissan Maxima with an automatic seat belt and loved it. Never experienced the issues you mention.
Me too.
I loved them.
Hated to sell that car.
As for the Gremlin, the engine bay will accommodate the AMC 360 engine without much work because it was originally designed to be a factory option.
AMC sent them out of the factory with a 401 cu in engine. X and XR models.
also because the 304, 360, 390, and 401 used the same engine casting.
My Dad bought a 1950's Plymouth station wagon in 1972. It had a push button transmission panel on the dash. He decided to have me paint it. I was a sophmore in high school and never painted anything. He picked up can of chocolate brown paint latex and a 3" nylon brush from Sears. It was a real chick magnet when I got through with it.
The AMC Rambler weather eye was genius, they were the first to put the entire AC system under the hood. I bought a 16 y/o/‘59 Ambassador as a teenager and the AC system was still working strong after I had a mechanic reattach the belt.
Since the Edsel had an automatic gearbox, why would the driver ever need to change the selector while going round a corner?
I loved my 74 Gremlin with the 259 Cid
Had a 73 with the same engine, excellent car with a 3 speed manual in the floor. Took it to Colorado and New Mexico for vacation without issue. Then it got totaled when a Chrysler New Yorker rear ended me. Ended up with a damn Vega. Sigh
Jaguar never had a reputation for reliability. Ever.
Way back in the 1960s my dad bought a 1958 jag. He fixed its dings and engine and then tried to sell it and nobody would touch it. It passed everything on the road except a petrol pump. Eventually, he sold it to a very rich man who crashed it into a tree two months later. Then it was unrepairable. The engine was put in a ferry on lake.
Why do the British like their beer warm?
Because they have Lucas refrigerators
I don’t know where you were born and in what era, but you are simply uninformed. Jaguar had a great reputation - as long as you didn’t have the V12 (or Double Six, as it was sometimes known). The 4.2 litre 6 cylinder engine was a very strong and reliable engine.
@@andrewk5418 the running joke for a Jag was that they came with a very large boot to fit the live in mechanic required to keep it on the road.
Those automatic seatbelts would also eject you from the car if the door came off in an accident.
I had 2 Gremlins they were bullit proof
As far as controls go, touch screens today are just as bad. You can learn your car's dashboard by touch, but not a screen. Keep it for information, but keep the controls physical.
The Gremlin was very popular in its first few years
I was waiting for the AMC Pacer. The Gremlin wasn't so bad, but the Pacer was just down right ugly.
It WORKED for Wayne and Garth!!!
I had a 72 gremlin X with the small block 304 v8 four speed with Mr. gasket shifter and a 391 pozy.😮
A girlfriend bought a new Gremlin when they first came out. She loved it. I thought it was funny looking back then, now I kind of like it.
AMC cars (or Jeeps) with the 232 in-line 6 would outlive their owners. AMC (Rambler) merged with Nash in the 1950's, but kept the "Weather-Eye" A/C system moniker until the end of their life in the late 80's.
Prowler wasn’t a flop. It was a great limited run halo car. More fun than any other 90s cars.
Nothing wrong with the Prowler as it looked great, and had quite a good power to weight ratio due to its size!
Just wish they'd built a right-hand-drive version to export, as I reckon it would've sold well here in Australia, as well as the UK, etc.!
I can't believe they didn't include the Ford Pinto!
The grimlin was awesome at the dragstrip,the grimlin made on the hornets platform
My first car was a 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta 5.0L V8 with fully digital dashboard. It also had a post consol stereo tape deck that swiveled from driver to passenger. It was also all digital.
The Gremlins were a breath of fresh air in automotive design.
Looked like a AMC Hornet with the trunk chopped off.
I loved the Gremlin, would buy one now if I had the money or chance.
@@marshallpendleton1399
A coworker of mine had one, he put a warmed up V8 in, redid the interior and a cool paint job and put a name badge where the front license plate mount was
It read "Giant Killer"
They were horrible looking, only outmatched by another even uglier model, the Matador.
@neildickson5394
Nothing wrong with the Matador in my book.
Another thing about the automatic seat belts. If the door flew open in an accident, you flew out!
I loved my white 1973 Levi’s Gremlin. Great power; over 400 mile range; comfortable seats; great air flow. The 3-speed shift came in really handy when my battery died. First car I bought myself: $3,000 new with every option available. I would love to have an EV version.
I bought a Yugo in 1990 when they were $3,850.Yes, it had problems the dealer fixed,(dash light harness, leaking back window and even replaced the tires[were rated 45 mph due to rough roads in Yugoslavia]]). I did like the milage 38 mpg and great parking and an engine with lots of power. It also had Bosch electronic fuel injection./timing drove it 100 miles a day for years without any issues. Oh, new set of tires for $88.00 mount/balancing. Next car was a Mitsu 3000GT. But I still like the old Yugo!!
My Mother had an AMC Gremlin. It was an awsome ride. It was a strange Sky Blue in the daytime,but at night it was a Violet shade of Purple. It also hauled ass. 4 speed manual with a V8. I think it was a 318. A/C,AM/FM,Bucket Seats. Black Rally Stripes & the Little Gremlin decal topped it off. Looked bitchen with Crager Mags & fat rear tires.
It's amazing how many of these failed ideas have come back in modern cars.
I remember a Yugo dealer running an add that said, "For the value of your used car, you could be driving a brand new car." Even as kid, something seemed wrong about that. And the automatic seat belts were dangerous!!! I got caught up in them more than once. They didn't retract immediately when the door was opened, so I got them wrapped around my neck a couple of times.
There was nothing unique about swing axle rear suspension. Every Volkswagen Beetle and Mercedes of the era used it,
The GREMLIN cannot be considered a failure.
They cranked out almost 700,000 of them - it must be remembered that AMC was a small company compared to The Big 3.
The Pacer was more of a flop.
And it was said that “it looked like it had its tail chopped off - well that’s because it DID.
It was a HORNET.
🚗🙂
His comments about the prowler leave me thinking he did not do his research very well. The car had about 260 horsepower with a composite shell over an aluminum frame so it was extremely light and plenty fast. Also, it was not quietly retired like he said . they sold out all the Prowlers and that was just the run of the of the low volume car. He's just wrong
Can't believe you use the the gremlin as AMC's worst design instead of choosing the fish bowl on wheels they called the Pacer 🤣
I absolutely loved my Gremlin. It had looks, roam and was peppy
Nice video. My '70 Dodge Challenger had a console mounted cassette player with a separate microphone for business men. Classy
As a life long auto tech I can say that I was factory trained on the Plymouth Prowler and the Yugo. I never had to work on the Prowler much because not many were made and most just got stored by collectors. They basically just had a 3.5 Chrysler 300 M engine. Reliable but not huge power. The Yugo did break down a lot. Lucky for me I could push them in the shop by myself and two cars would fit in one bay…
I owned 2 Gremlins, both had 258 inline 6 engines and were great cars and I got 30 mpg.
I'll never forget the Gremlin commercial. Girl pulls in to a gas station to fill up and the guy standing there says, "Where's the rest of your car Toots"
Yeah, and then she hands him a couple of dollars and he said, “You sure you want ALLL THAAAT GAS? She said “You’re right" and snatches a dollar or two back. Classic!
I had a Gremlin when I was young, it had a V8 in it and damn it was fast and fun.
Automatic seatbelts did not "shoot" up. I love how, in one sentence, it is noted it started the occupants at start up (like they didn't see it) and the next statement is how occupants had to wrestle against it to get out (the only wrestling was the occasional snag of the inside most hand). In reality, the reason they failed was due to the frequent issues with the motors, especially after crashes. Which was why later iterations included a button release, but those defeated the purpose.
Also, three point seatbelts existed BEFORE the automated seat belt. They were just another attempt at advancement.
The death of the Corvair was not due to the suspension. After Nadar's report, Chevrolet recalled and fixed the issue. What killed the Corvair was the advancement of the Aluminum Block engine. At that time, people cooled their engines with straight water (you can still see some of the evidence along highways occasionally). The problem being, when you heat water in aluminum, it oxidizes quickly, leading to engine blocks developing issues.
Thanks to the Gas Crisis of the 1970's, there was a push for fuel economy. Some chemical companies sold automakers on utilize the lighter weight block engines, but with the understanding they would need their product to protect the engine... the chemical was ethylene glycol.. we commonly know it as Anti-freeze and/or Coolant.
But, the Corvair had a damaged reputation, much like the Ford Pinto, any Fiat, the Porsche 914 and many others.
The Car Phonograph was a "hype" product. It was never in any of the practical vehicles, because only the teenie-boppers were into 45s. Young drivers weren't buying new cars and they were never buying anything "optional". 8-tracks and Cassettes did not become popular in vehicles until the Music Industry helped subsidize the cost of making them standard.
The Edsel's demise was far beyond the Automatic shifter buttons. They had major mechanical issues from the jump, it's Marketing Campaign was the story of legend (and poor use of hype), Ford did not have a clear market strategy and didn't fully understand the Market of the late 1950's... when there was increased spending and the look of the Edsel looked horrendous... it was obvious it was thrown together and the Oldest son of Henry Ford was just trying to put his name over his Dad's...
And you could fill this list with any "new" car design from the 1970's and 1980's, not just the Yugo. The VW Rabbit, AMC Spirit, Chevy Sprint, Ford Fiesta, Ford Festiva, Olds Firenza, Pontiac Acadia (Chevy Chevelle) and the list goes on...
Lastly, you want failed creations, Chevrolet in the 1980's and their Clutch "Paw" tightener. Designed to prevent the feeling of a loose clutch peddle... they were cheap plastic and frequently busted off teeth.. nothing quite like trying to shift in rush hour traffic and have your left foot slam to the floor. Thing of nightmares.
Two things I miss from sixties era cars are vent windows and a reverb button on the radio which was available on some luxury cars.
The Gremlins were fun cars. I particularly like the Levi's Gremlin, where the seats were upholstered in denim, complete with the Levi's tag.
And the beautiful blue paint job with the orange pin-stripping! I had one too. Fantastic two-door!
As someone who owned a 240SX, I know all about those plastic timing chain components! On those, the guides would break and the chain would saw into the water pump housing. Once it breached that, game over.
Need to remember that this problem with the XK8 happened after Ford bought Jaguar, so in reality it was just a crap Ford engine!
one of my best friends had a Fuego with a soft sunroof, i remember sliding sideways on ice for blocks in that car filled with seven teenage kids that thought they were about to crash. we missed a minivan by about six inches... scary as heck, but what a rush that was!
There are so many more cars to add to this video, or a 2nd edition. The oldsmobile v8 Diesel, the 61-63 Pontiac.Tempest with the Trophy 4 cylinder engine + rope drive drive shaft, or the Tesla Cybertruck. Even the 2010+ Prius is an oil eatng nightmare when they bave more than 50,000 miles on them.
I'd also add swivel seats. My friend in high school had a Monte Carlo where the seat would swivel to make it easier to get in and out of. We thought they were so cool.
My wife had a 2008 Prius for 15 years and 150,000 and the only real problem was the touch screen wouldn’t work in really cold or really hot weather after 9 or 10 years
As I recall, the AMC gremlin was the demolition derby driver's car of choice. The car's pointed rear end was like a battering Ram and could destroy even much bigger cars.
That's not true, they didn't fare that well in demo derby, But they were the favorite body used for Dirt Modified Stock Cars that had to use actual car body sheet metal. Even after the car bodies were allowed to be custom made steel or aluminum, the bodies still resembled Gremlins with the roof panel having a built in wing on the back.
My first car at age 17 was the first model year Gremlin. It may be ugly to many, but it was more powerful with the six cylinder than the competition, all of which only had 4 cylinders. That competition was the Pinto and Vega and Beetle. ABC actually did chop off a Hornet to make it.
The Pacer and Gremlins are cool. Stuff a small V8 under the hood and you drive a piece of nostalga.
ohhh i remember the names, the Yugo went nowhere , the Prowler was a crawler, Fuego was a crap talker, gremlin was living up to its name, the Turd express taurus, and my favorite limp laser by plymouth.
BTW, there was a reason the Prowler had a V6. The V8's available at the time from Chrysler were less powerful and heavier than the V6. So not only would they have not fit, it would have made the damned thing slower than it already was. Finally, this was meant to be a showcase of what a MODERN hotrod would be, using modern tech and modern manufacturing. That meant a MODERN engine and drivetrain. Sticking with the old standard of a smallblock V8 and 3-speed auto that so many hotrods have been built with would have been lazy and completely tanked the car as most wouldn't have bought it since they could have likely bought or built one for less. That said, it should have been offered with a manual at some point and perhaps a later model with the V8 added just to shut people up probably should have been done.
This was an EXCELLENT video!
I recently rented a small SUV with buttons instead of a gearshift. I hated it. Didn't they learn the Edsel's lesson?
Putting a record player in a car was absurd, sure. But the 8-track tape was notorious because it was ubiquitous. And awful.
The prowler didn't really fail. It was definitely underpowered, but they were hand built, never meant to be in high numbers, and sold as many as they could build.
The Prowler had quite a good power to weight ratio due to its size!
Just wish they'd built a right-hand-drive version to export, as I reckon it would've sold well here in Australia, as well as the UK, etc.!
i must be blessed. I had a Corvair, 62, and an amc. Pacer. The Pacer had the trans replaced twice in 8 months. I called it the holy car because when you turned the key, you had to pray first. you would be rolling along at 55 and it would just quit. And it would not restart. I was towed so often i knew all the tow drivers by name. Also, driving in Chicago summer in a giant glass bubble, not the best idea. The AC rarely worked. The Corvair was different. It was a 62 and had an air cooled engine. I never had a handling problem and never overheated in El Paso where the daily temperature is 90 degrees. Drove it for 2 years and only did brakes. Except for the annoying push rods which traveled in tubes outside the engine. Every 3 months you had replace the gaskets at the end of the tubes.
The Pacer was the AMC failure, the visibility given by of it's design just didn't offset the performance issues it had.
The automatic seatbelt was in response to government mandate. No manufacturer wanted it.
The automatic seatbelt was retired not because the automatic seatbelt was unpopular. It was retired due to another government mandate stating that all cars had to have a SRS: supplemental restraint system, better known as airbags!
Another problem with the highway hi fi was the required 7 inch record. Specially designed for the car. The plus was you got an hour of music per side.
I had an '89 Ford Escort GT with automatic belts and in reality they weren't that bad. There was a release button for the belt on them to allow quick exit but I rarely used it.
I’ve had 2 Corvairs in my life 1965 and a 1966. I loved them - an ex took back the first one☹️☹️. The 1966 one was a stick shift - yes!!! I kept a box of books in the trunk (where the engine should have been😃) just to keep it stable - the only problem was it threw oil out - never had to change it, just kept adding oil🫢🫢😀. But it was fun to drive! Haven’t seen kne actually running in years but recently saw two both on flat beds looking a little rough but probably (hoping) for a restoration!
The Edsel gear shift may be considered odd, but so many cars now have all sorts of buttons in the steering wheel-cruise, radio, HVAC & more.... and the all spin with the wheel! now we have some cars with gear selector dials, where you would expect a heater knob or radio... and you just shifted to reverse doing 30... so that crap is still around in different nightmare forms.
VW had the same swing axle system but Nader did not have the guts to attack them. Chevrolet changed it in 1965 and VW followed in 1968. Corvair became a design leader at that point.
The 8-6-4 is still around in different forms, they call it 'cylinder deactivation,' 'displacement on demand,' 'multi-displacement system,' or something similar with acronyms to match. It always fails eventually too, usually with low oil pressure and/or failed lifters. It's bad enough that they fake the oil pressure on some cars with it from the factory. if you have a car/truck with it, the best modification you can do is delete it!
Early '90s Mitsubishis didn't get the memo on the whole automatic seatbelt thing. I think a Mirage as late as a 92 or 93 had 'em. My sister had one of those 8-6-4 Cadillacs. Shoulda just lit that $ on fire & one of my buddies from back in the day got an old Belvedere with unbelievably low miles at a steal price that had a factory record player & an air conditioning box in the passenger floor. We all teased him & called him/it Aunt Bee. It was a baby blue 4 door with this gigantic steering wheel. We were really all secretly jealous- at least I was & I drove a hot early 70s Camaro. Mine was fast & loud & rode like crap. His was just this killer comfortable cruise. We always had a ball in it. He succumbed to the teasing & sold it to buy some hot rod. But "Aunt Bee" was the coolest. Also my Mom's baby brother was nearly killed in a Monza Spyder. That thing smashed up like an aluminum can after "oversteering" through a guard rail & into an embankment. Still those were great days when all the cars didn't look the same. Those: early 70s Rivieras with the boat looking rear ends; Cougars with the cool tail lights (Frankie had a 67 or 68); late '60's Rally Sports with the hide away headlights & my first- a 72 Z28 with that big ol grill & of COURSE those Daytonas & SuperBirds. Even the really similar ones like Novas & Venturas Cutlasses (when they were still not so luxurious) or Dusters & Darts & Demons or Camaros & Firebirds had very recognizable features that made them easy to tell apart...Now you have to closely examine the emblems to even decide the make...Sadly there will be no more crazyiness like our fashioning a console & shifter boot for Randy's '63 Chevy out of thin plywood, cardboard & black felt..we thought it looked so cool...We grew up at such a great time but just never appreciated it. Kids now are SO missing out I wouldn't trade a day of what we had for all the gadgets, internet or video games in the world.
I believe the problem with the Corvette wasn’t the swing suspension, but rather the fact that the front end crumpled like a soda pop can in an accident.
I had a 1984 Cadillac DeVille 6.6l V8 and the cylinder switch system worked very well for me. It really helped to save petrol though. I liked it, the only downside was that the noise changed as well, so in city “mode” it didn’t sound like a 8-cyl anymore
The Yugo sold quite well for what it was. It was mainly retired because of international sanctions on Yugoslavia that stopped all auto export (amongst other things)
I had a car with the automatic seatbelt. It never fit right and I was constantly getting smacked on the aside of my head. Finally, I disabled it and used only the lap belt.
I had several old MoPars with "Jukebox Drive." Never a problem.
From failure comes innovation.
I had a Ford Escort with those automatic seat belts. we called them "barbaric" seat belts because they kind of attacked you every time you got in
The only "Yugo" joke I can remember is, "What do you call the shock absorbers in a Yugo? The passengers!" My 1973 Gremlin had the rare Levis/Air Conditioner package, and after my1963 Beetle, I was in heaven. If it snowed, I put a couple of 60-pound bags of sand in the back. The Gremlin's 1948 Hudson Terraplane engine was torquey and simple to maintain. With the rear seatback folded down, the car held a lot of cargo. That Gremlin was my wife's and my "getaway car" after our wedding reception. --Old Guy
The problem with the Cadillac V8-6-4 wasn't just the computer. When you put your foot down and it tried to engage more cylinders, the transmission would also try to kick into passing gear, which resulted in NOTHING. No power at all. It would actually suddenly slow down, making it a danger to traffic around it. I actually got to drive one, and it was a nightmare.
Nothing wrong with the Prowler as it looked great, and had quite a good power to weight ratio due to its size!
Just wish they'd built a right-hand-drive version to export, as I reckon it would've sold well here in Australia, as well as the UK, etc.!
VW beetles used a swing-axle from 1946 to 1969; this car had the same inherent handling problems as the corvair which came out in 1960.
If either vehicle was driven hard into a corner, since the swing-axle design keeps the wheel perpendicular to the axle, the tire contact patch move toward the middle of the car making it easier to roll.
Why at 17:31, when talking about Edsel sterring wheel mounted push button transmission does it show swivel seats on a (never produced) Buick concept car ?
Jaguar isn't the only one who made that mistake. Twincam Harleys came with plastic tensioners that were cut through at 20-80k. Pain to replace, and a hydraulic tensioner was over $350, plus you had to remove the pipes, timing cover, floorboards and rear brake. NOT a quick job!
an engine make i unfortunately forget went to timing belts from earlier chains to save money but left the belts running in the oil bath. predicable results
When the Hugo first came out I was looking for an inexpensive car. I went to her local Mercury dealer who was the only dealer in the area that sold the Hugo. I asked to see the demonstrator so I could take a test drive. As I approached the vehicle, I noticed that the rear hatch was being held down with a piece of duct tape. When I got in and started it, I noticed that the radio didn't work. I was told by the salesman that when I took it out on the test drive to make sure that the directional indicators worked if I used them, because they didn't always work on this one.
This was the vehicle that they were using to try to get you to buy one? How low rent can a manufacturer possibly be?
No sale!
First car: 72 Gremlin. Way too fun. Back it in at the drive-in movies and flip up the rear window. Quite cool.
Automatic seat belts were on a lot of cars - you quickly got used to them. And yeah, you still had to put on the lap belt.
I had this feature on my first car. It's not mentioned in the video, but the auto-belt was a stop-gap feature. Coming government regulations were to require "passive safety" protection that could protect occupants to at least some extant even if they forgot to buckle up. The ideal method would have been to install air bags, but for some cars that would be impractical. For some, the price would have been jacked up too much. Other cars were near the end of their design cycles and retrofitting for air bags wouldn't have been worth it for a model that would be replaced in a year or two. Automated seat belts were the answer to this problem. They faded into obscurity as airbag systems became cheaper and more widespread.
17:34 - The real problem of the TeleTouch system is that it solved a problem that didn't exist. In an car with automatic, you touch the shift maybe three times: once to back out, once to drive, and then once back in to park when you got to your destination. And, in all probability, the car was already stopped when you made the shift. You didn't need the controls on the hub because you weren't constantly taking your hands off the wheel to shift while driving.
At that time, Chrysler, Nash, Renault, and others had push-button transmissions, but the buttons were on the dashboard.
🚗🙂
3 decades later Jaguar is doing a wild experiment again.
I had a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, AWD, manual transmission, with automatic seat belts. I never had a problem with the car or the seat belts
I love the commentary on the Riviera touch screen, we had one and it worked fine. You could operate the car without ever really using the screen. Fast forward 20 years to Tesla, the real "eyes-off-the-road" champion. Love that '64 California original black-plate Riviera though. The touch screen didn't come out until 1987.
I loved my Covairs, I had 3 of them over the years.
I remember my father taking me to a dealer to look at the Buick with the touch screen. It surprises me that touch screens are now the norm in cars, because even though they are more reliable in the days of the iPhone and iPad, drivers still have to look at the screen, which would cause them to take their eyes off the road. I do know that some cars have controls on the steering wheel to do things like flip through the radio presets.