While Detroit produced some pretty pathetic vehicles in the 1980s and early ’90s, no time was worse for the Motor City than 1970s. Vehicle quality suffered as the Big Three struggled to meet new emissions standards while simultaneous trying to keep their vehicles large. So while there are plenty of cars to choose from to name “Worst car to roll out of Detroit” (most from the 1970s) presidential hopeful Barack Obama has already given the crown to the Ford Granada.
“The car I learned to drive on was my grandfather’s Ford Granada. … It may be the worst car that Detroit ever built,” Obama told WFBQ, an Indianapolis radio station. “This thing was a tin can. It was during the ’70s when oil had just gone up, so they were trying to compete with the Japanese. They wanted to keep the cars big, so they made them out of tin foil. It would rattle and shake. You basically couldn’t go over 80 without the thing getting out of control.”
The Granada was built along side its sister car, the Mercury Monarch, from 1975 until 1982.
Obama’s statement does bring up an interesting point, though — what is the worst car ever to be built by the domestic automakers? There’s a lot of choices out there — from the Ford Pinto to the Pontiac Aztek — so what’s your pick?
