I didn't think too much of the X body.

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

That is one of the worst efforts that GM ever made, and it happened right at the very time when GM quality control was at its nadir

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Ah yes, the infamous Oldsmobile 350 gas engine that was "strengthened" to run on Diesel fuel, and soured millions of americans on Diesel engines forever.

And all those THM200 "cellophane" automatic transmissions, that were so bad the famous Class action case of Skelton v. General Motors U.S. Distict Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 79C1243, that settled for $17,000,000 in 1987

Then there was the (in)famous Cadillac V8-6-4 engine.

And the Cadillac HP4100 engine.......

And those X bodies......

And the Chevette "Scooter" one of the most dreadful and cheap vehicles ever to get the GM name.....

And the Chevy J body Cavalier with leather seats and wire wheel covers that was labelled the "Cadillac" Cimarron....

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

I drove a 1987 Corvette a couple of years ago. What a total POS.

A 560SEC AMG Hammer was a better car in every possible way by huge margins. You get what you pay for. The Hammer is still worth about 3X what the Vette is, even to this day.

Old Vette's were total POS's, they just got decent in the last couple of years. They are still kind of cheesy but the performance makes up for a lot.

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2006 CL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2026 Genesis GV70
2007 Tiara 3200

And with all the poor management/leadership at GM, the Chairman gets how many $millions??

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

For years, US auto makers fed the line that its the work ethic of the US auto worker that was to be blamed for shoddy US car quality, when Honda rolled out its first Accord in 85 from its Ohio factory, it proved otherwise, it was never the workers, it was the greedy US automaker management, the same US workers rolled out a Made in USA Accord with same quality as a made in Japan Accord, my high mileage Accord is one prime example of made in USA Honda, the fact every automag at that time considered the Accord to be benchmark of quality built goes to speak of the volume of the US auto worker when properly directed.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

my dad had a shop here in town for years,back in the late 80's my mom dad and little sister went to california for vacation.i stayed behind and ran the shop.a farmer buddy of mine wasn't doing anything at the time and came in to help out.about the 4th day he says to me"i swear to god i have yet to see a citation drive by without pulling in the driveway".

Um, Hat, GM stopped manufacturing the 1987 Corvette in (drumroll please) 1987.

Many 20-year-old cars would be considered a POS today. Hop out of a 2007 BMW 3-series and into a clean 1987 190E and the MB would seem to be a noisy, badly-suspended underperforming joke. Considering the new sales price for a 560SEC AMG Hammer was probably 3.5 times that of a new 1987 Corvette, I would hope for the sake of the buyer that the 560 was a better car.

True, they were bad...

A valid idea that was just too far ahead of its technical time. As we know, many companies offer variable displacement engines today. My 2007 Tahoe is one example, and the engine is glass smooth and so far, trouble-free.

My father had one of these in his 1982 Fleetwood. If I recall correctly, the main issues for this aluminum engine revolved around electrolysis issues, head gasket sealing (Weren't the heads made of iron on this engine? If so, that would explain a lot) and camshafts made out of Tootsie Rolls. Cadillac apparently got this engine right after a few years and its 4.5 and 4.9 liter iterations were actually pretty good engines.

First-gen X-bodies were cheap cars built to a low price, just like such automotive icons as the Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant etc. The second gen was GM's first foray into mass-production of low-priced FWD vehicles. New production methods, new drivetrains, etc.

True, and I believe that was GM's last foray into the "stripper" market.

Wire wheel covers? I thought that they all had alloys...

GM seems to come up with some good ides, but rush it into production; not as they would have us belive "sweating the details".
Then they improve and get it right just before cancelling the whole project. Corvair and Fiero as well as the above mentioned items come immediatley to mind.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

if i remember correctly the 4100 was an all aluminum engine.but i think the problem was the foot long headbolts that screwed into the webbing of the main bearing.caddy had a pack of pills(basically compressed ginger) to add every 6 months or so to keep them from leaking.