Historic Automotive Flops

Our makers face bankruptcy all the time and this state of affairs can often be traced back
to poor design choices. Hi I'm Rebecca Brayton and welcome to WatchMojo.com and
today we’ll be checking out some hits and misses, mostly misses in car design.

The AMC Javelin. The Javelin is one shining star in an otherwise less-than-stellar
catalogue of car designs for AMC. It helped boost the company’s image at least for some
time and was known as one of the best-looking cars of the 1960s. Designed to compete
with such muscle cars as the Mustang and the Camaro, the Javelin did well but never
matched its rivals’ numbers.

The AMC Pacer. Another “ugly-till-it’s-cute” car by AMC, the Pacer has been called
“the worst ever car design” by some car enthusiasts. With fishbowl windows that
magnified the sun and a practically non-existent air conditioning system, summer months
were practically unbearable in a Pacer. Even so, the Pacer has figured prominently in pop
culture, acting as Wayne and Garth’s “mirth mobile” in the Wayne’s World movies.

The AMC Gremlin. The AMC Gremlin was the first U.S. built subcompact. The sprint to
get this car to market before competitors Ford and GM may have resulted in a rush on the
car’s design. In short, the Gremlin is often cited as one of the ugliest cars of all time. It is
considered poorly designed because of its odd proportions. Gremlin, like other unique
cars, had its share of loyal followers who were convinced that the car was ugly to the
point that it was cute.

The Ford Pinto. The Ford Pinto is well-known as one of history’s biggest car fails and not
simply because of its poor design. It has had several nicknames: “Death on wheels” or
“the barbecue that seats four” are a few of the worst. The real problem with the Pinto
came when Ford allegedly calculated the cost of redesigning the car versus the costs from
potential lawsuits.

Delorean DMC-12. With its gull-wing doors and unpainted stainless steel body, the
DMC-12 was unlike anything that had come before it or since. The DMC-12 is
considered a fail mainly because of the troubles suffered by the Delorean Motor
Corporation, and not due to the car’s design. Aesthetically, however, the DMC-12 is no
fail. It has found its way into several popular films including Adam Sandler’s The
Wedding Singer. But its best-known use was in the Back to the Future trilogy as a time-
machine, and in the words of Doc Brown—