10 Cars That Damaged GM's Reputation

I went through the posts. Great info. Thanks. Do you own a car? What arrangements have you done to protect it from the harshness of the weather as well as other man-made damages? My suggestion is to get a carport made. I got it built by Classic Carports, which offers metal carports, metal canopies, garageports and other metal storage structure project.

 

I'm not a SNL fan, but I HAD to post this:
Saturday Night Live CSPAN Auto Bailout Skit Dj Konservo

I assume emissions were a pretty good reason they didn't produce a 2 stroke.

 

2 stroke diesel doesn't need to be all that dirty but hell they made a din!
These GM 2 stroke diesels didn't rely on crank case compression to charge the cylinders so there was no need for added oil in the air, they had a normal sump with oil pump. On the side of the engine, or in the case of V configuration engines in the valley, lives a rootes type compressor to blow fresh air into the cylinder and purge spent exhaust gasses. Air was pumped in through a ring of ports on the bottom of the cylinder and 2 or 4 exhaust valves surounded the injector in the cylinder head.

They were hard to keep quiet and used too much fuel.

 

The 2-strokes were built like a brick s***house, but that blower made a lot of racket. They were unsuitable for cold climates (Eg Canada) as they needed either a straight 50 or 40 to minimise oil consumption and extend life.

Not sure how many of those old 2 strokes are left. They are pretty thirst, but are still popular in marine applications

The Detroit Series 60 is, IMHO, one of the best heavy duty diesel engines ever made. Their durability and long life are legendary

 

This is the most awesome Diesel engine ever made (a 2-stroke too!):

Hint - 109,000 bhp
Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The defunct Nordberg had very impressive large diesel engines over 60 years ago

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Nordberg/Nordberg3.htm

Including a huge radial 2 stroke diesel engine

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Nordberg/Nordberg2.htm

Check out their V-20

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Nordberg/Nordberg4.htm

This Nordberg featured variable intake valve timing

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Nordberg/Nordberg0523.htm

 

The Chevy Vega
The world's first bio-degradable automobile.
Literally, rusting away before your very eyes.
I remember them well.
Regards
Froley

 

I agree it's hard to confine the list to 10, but of those listed the Aztek was the one that made me finally conclude GM had no clue. How on earth did that ever make it into production? I knew someone who bought one, it was everything I could do to not laugh in her face whenever I saw her in it.

I am also very surprised the Lumina and Lumina minivan didn't make the list, both were complete POS.

 

The lumina van, and the olds counterpart were junk. When you drove one, you felt like you were driving an X-wing with how the windshield was designed. I swear Pontiac has a Star Wars fetish with the design of all their cars having a Darth Vader mask.

I had a 72 Vega back in the 80's had some rust, but was in surprisingly good shape for a Chicago car. It was fun to drive with its 2 Speed powerglide, and I had sleeved the aluminum block engine so it didnt burn any oil. I had a 74 Vega wagon before that, it had so much rust that I cranked the radio one day and had the rear glass fall out of the door. Sure could store a lot of tires in one though. I also had a Buick wagon, the one with the tail lights in the bumper, and the passenger side was pristine, but the drivers side was totally rotted out. I havent owned a GM since. Been mostly Fords, and Toyota's. Ford makes the best pickups for when you want a pickup to actually be a pickup. They take a whole lot more weight than any of the others. I once loaded 44 sheets of 4x8x1/2" drywall in my F150, barely moved the rear springs.