Autoblog

There can be absolutely no doubt that Detroit automakers created some horrendous products over the years. The '70s was a particularly low point, as the Big 3 struggled to cope with new safety, emissions and fuel economy standards. This past weekend, U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was pontificating as politicians are wont to do, and he declared to an Indianappolis radio station that the car in which he learned to drive, a Ford Granada, was the worst car ever to emerge from Motown. The 1975-82 Ford Granada was an absolutely awful car from its baroque styling to its awful build quality. As I entered college in the mid-'80s, I was looking for a used car and a friend's dad had a '79 Granada for sale. I took it for a test drive and after the high beam switch went through the rust hole in the floor, I determined that even $750 was way too much for this hunk. As bad as the Granada was, in an era of Pacers, Cordobas, Vegas and Ford's own Mustang II, can we truly call the Granada the worst of all? You tell us in the comments.

[Source: Detroit News]

Car thieves are a resourceful lot. Despite whatever technical wizardry automakers incorporate to thwart them, they find a way. Of course, they don't just go after the new stuff. Older cars are fair game, too -- many of which are bereft of those pesky security systems the bad guys are masters at defeating anyway. Suppose, however, your car was sitting outside without a gearbox. That's gotta be enough to keep it from getting swiped, right? As the Scottish owner of an unknown-vintage Ford Grenada Scorpio learned this week, it is indeed not enough. The lack of a gearbox did nothing to deter thieves, who police believe simply towed the car away one day earlier this week. Hey, it's common practice for some regular folks bring a trailer when they go to pick up a car they've bought, so why not thieves? It's like the same thing, minus the whole "buying" part. Any U.S. readers who own Merkur Scorpios, take note and keep your heads on a swivel. These guys might have passports.

[Source: The Scotsman]