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The 10 Most Embarrassing Award Winners in Automotive History


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SEE ALSO: 1993-2009 Used Car Buyers Guide

Washington DC January 24, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that Car magazines don't want you to know, but they're not always right.

Car and Driver is admitting as much by identifying some of the biggest goofs they, and other publications, have made when passing out vehicle awards. It's always a risk making judgments based on the initial exposure to a car, and sometimes a vehicle's true character only reveals itself with the fullness of time.

We're all subject to hype for something that seems new, different, and maybe even better. And in the automotive reporting business, the pressure is always on to be timely, amusing, and authoritative. Being wrong is always a risk.

Still, here are ten award winners for which somebody needs to apologize.

First up: the 1983 Renault Alliance, named to Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars list. By the late '80s, the sight of rusted Alliances abandoned alongside America's roads was so common that their resale value had dropped to nearly zero.

When Chrysler bought AMC in 1987, its first order of business was the mercy killing of the Alliance.

The Rest of the Worst:

  • 2 - 2002 Ford Thunderbird: Motor Trend Car of the Year
  • 3 - 1971 Chevrolet Vega: Motor Trend Car of the Year
  • 4 - 1997 Cadillac Catera: Automobile All-Stars
  • 5 - 1985 Merkur XR4Ti: Car and Driver 10 Best Cars
  • 6 - 1997 Chevrolet Malibu: Motor Trend Car of the Year
  • 7 - 1990 Lincoln Town Car: Motor Trend Car of the Year
  • 8 - 1980 Chevrolet Citation: Motor Trend Car of the Year
  • 9 - 1974 Ford Mustang II: Motor Trend Car of the Year
  • 10 - 1995 Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique: Car and Driver 10 Best Cars

Click here for the full description of arrogant car magazine experts dud award-winners.