Dave-S Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I found this video both amusing and informative given that Leo Parente worked for Ford for quite a few years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5u0q2XkXC0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grbeck Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) The Fairmont was hardly a piece of junk. Granted, it debuted when quality wasn't job one at Ford or anywhere else in the domestic auto industry, but the basic car was sound. The platform would enjoy a long life as the Mustang, and the car itself was effectively face-lifted to become the 1983 LTD and Marquis. The early Fairmonts just needed to be screwed together with more care. If I recall correctly, the horn mounted on the turn signal stalk was adopted in preparation for federal passive-restraint standards that could have required the installation of air bags. I believe that Ford's European subsidiary used this design, too. Edited January 20, 2015 by grbeck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edstock Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I recall the C&D review of the Fairmont, "Ford builds a Volvo – and it works". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Mary3 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Even the early '78 Fairmont was worlds better than the '84 Tempo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I had a '79 Fairmont and other than never getting the 3.3L inline six carburetor calibrated correctly....the thing was a tank....and a very effective form of birth control.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StangBang Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) It amazes me how people confuse the unattractiveness or ordinary appearance of a car as actually being a "worst car" which has nothing to to with the integrity, quality and reliability of design. Fairmonts were tough vehicles and if anyone was hating then it's because they were likely driving high milege old used examples at a time they could not afford a newer car. The Fairmont and Zephyr supplied the platform for the 79 Mustang/Capri which lived on unil 1993 and heavily modified from 1994-04. It also supplied other variants of the same platform including the 1980-88 Thunderbird/Cougar XR7, 1981-82 Granada/Cougar sedans and wagons which were facelifted Fairmonts, 1982 Lincoln Continental and the 1983-86 LTD/Marquis which was a facelife of the 1981-82 Granada/Cougar design, and lastly the basis for the 1984-92 Lincoln Mark VII coupe. Edited January 20, 2015 by StangBang 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Who says worst can't also apply to appearance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LincolnV Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) I watched it half way. I didn't want to watch it anymore. I think the video would have been better if there had been some cats in it. Even Keyboard Cat would have been welcome. Maybe a video of cats being nasty to other cats would have been enough. Cats are so often such funny animals. Edit: To be fair, I finished watching the video. It didn't get better. I still like cats. Edited January 21, 2015 by LincolnV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-S Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 Heck I would have picked my 1960 Ford Falcon and they didn't even talk about the Falcon. I am sure someone would remind me that the Falcon was the platform for the Mustang. But I would remind them that my car was a literal rust bucket after three years and my six cylinder engine smoked worse than a chimney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 If I recall correctly, the horn mounted on the turn signal stalk was adopted in preparation for federal passive-restraint standards that could have required the installation of air bags. I believe that Ford's European subsidiary used this design, too. My Cologne-built '80 Fiesta had its horn on the turn signal stalk. It also had its wipers and lights on stalks, the latter much to my consternation. I had a tendency to hit the #%^*ing lights stalk with my knee on the way out the door, usually when I was in a hurry, leading to more than one jump start, and a few roll starts... Fortunately, I was in much better condition when I was in college (yes, friends, with 20 years of abuse and neglect, you, too, can have a body like this). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydro Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I'm sure the SD 6.0L diesel fiasco ( '03-07) will rank right up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBirdStangSkyliner Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 The Fairmont is up there on the list of worst Fords. I would put the 1980-1982 Thunderbirds as worser, and the grand champion is the wretchedly ill-conceived 1971-1973 generation of Mustangs. They were heavy, floppy, rattley, slower, and poor looking cars that managed to grow in size and shrink in useable space. They fell well behind the Camaro in desirability and made that "me-too second placer" the American Dream car for an entire generation. The Mustang II was a good enough car for the times. It was marred mostly by carrying a name it wasn't really designed to bear. It would have been a nice addition to the Ford stable if a good, real Mustang had been present and continued on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4d4evr-1 Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Heck I would have picked my 1960 Ford Falcon and they didn't even talk about the Falcon. I am sure someone would remind me that the Falcon was the platform for the Mustang. But I would remind them that my car was a literal rust bucket after three years and my six cylinder engine smoked worse than a chimney. my mom bought a brand new '66 Falcon, 6 banger and 3 speed, no cig lighter and rubber floor mats. paid $1600 new and was a tank until I took it on some logging roads in the hills of NC. drove thru a big mud hole about 50 mph and the car just stopped suddenly. put in R and backed out. a couple of days later the car locked up on mom and had it towed to the dealer. evidently I hit something in the mud hole made of metal and broke the trans case and the grease leaked out and the tranny locked up..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grbeck Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 It amazes me how people confuse the unattractiveness or ordinary appearance of a car as actually being a "worst car" which has nothing to to with the integrity, quality and reliability of design. Fairmonts were tough vehicles and if anyone was hating then it's because they were likely driving high milege old used examples at a time they could not afford a newer car. The Fairmont and Zephyr supplied the platform for the 79 Mustang/Capri which lived on unil 1993 and heavily modified from 1994-04. It also supplied other variants of the same platform including the 1980-88 Thunderbird/Cougar XR7, 1981-82 Granada/Cougar sedans and wagons which were facelifted Fairmonts, 1982 Lincoln Continental and the 1983-86 LTD/Marquis which was a facelife of the 1981-82 Granada/Cougar design, and lastly the basis for the 1984-92 Lincoln Mark VII coupe. It always amuses me when someone says, "I had this (insert name of 1970s or 1980s car here), and it was a complete lemon!", and it turns out that they bought it for $300 when it already had 110,000 miles on the odometer. What were they expecting?! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironhorse Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 The very early Tempo/Topaz were real headaches...the later ones were good,depenable vehicles. The Early Contour/Mystique were an electrical nightmare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grbeck Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 The very early Tempo/Topaz were real headaches...the later ones were good,depenable vehicles. The Early Contour/Mystique were an electrical nightmare. That was quite common as Detroit transitioned to front-wheel-drive vehicles in the 1980s. The early model years were problematic, but the bugs were worked out over time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
351cid Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 The very early Tempo/Topaz were real headaches...the later ones were good,depenable vehicles. The Early Contour/Mystique were an electrical nightmare. I had an '89 Tempo that had 216,000 miles when I lost track of it. We put 150K, sold it to a family member and he put the rest on. When he died, the car was sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 The very early Tempo/Topaz were real headaches...the later ones were good,depenable vehicles. The Early Contour/Mystique were an electrical nightmare. I believe the first year Escape (2000?) still holds the record for most recalls in the first 12 months. Some of them were quite serious too. Still didn't stop me from buying one... although I waited until 2001 model year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I believe the first year Escape (2000?) still holds the record for most recalls in the first 12 months. Some of them were quite serious too. Still didn't stop me from buying one... although I waited until 2001 model year. I don't know--do you consider "front wheel possibly coming off of the vehicle on its own" to be quite serious? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I had a wheel come off a 76 F100 delivery truck back in college. Had just taken it to Goodyear where my brother was the asst. mgr for something that required the wheel to be removed. The tech forgot to tighten the lugnuts. Made it about 5 or 6 miles, felt a bad shimmy, pulled over to the shoulder and - as Ron White says - the wheel fell off. It fell the f--- off. Got it jacked up with some help and put back on and took it back. Then the tech had to tell my brother what he did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 ....I would put the 1980-1982 Thunderbirds as worser, .... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Even the early '78 Fairmont was worlds better than the '84 Tempo. I'll agree the '84 probably was bad. The '86 we had in the family was pretty good but the motor was a lump of pooh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser768 Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I don't hear many "meh" stories about the Tempo/Topaz. They were all either total pieces of crap that fell apart and were in the junkyard before 50k miles, or went 200k+ with the hood being opened to add a qt of oil every 25k, until the hood rusted shut and then they put a piece of electrical tape on the oil light and drove another 50k miles. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 We had an '89 tempo LX growing up. It was the first car my parents ever purchased new. The A/C never worked on it and the CV joints needed replacing every 20k-30k miles, but other than that that thing was near bulletproof. It didn't even rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe771476 Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 TV producer Aaron Spelling always used Fords in his shows and when you saw a Tempo/Topaz in a scene in a show like Charlie's Angels, you knew it was gonna get blown up...........and it did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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