For those of you haven't heard of him, Tony Hyde is the recently retired Executive Director of Engineering at GMH. Amongst his list of achievements is Zeta global platform (that underpins the VE, the new Camaro, and a Cadillac) and turning the Monaro from a show car to a production car.

In an interview in last month's Wheels magazine they asked him to list the best (and worst) 5 cars from nearly 4 decades working as an automotive engineer across 4 continents. The best 5 were;

-Holden WM Caprice
-HSV E-Series Senator
-Mini Cooper S 1275
-BMW M5
-Mercedes E420 W211

Regarding the odd car out of that lot , he says;

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

Hmmmm wonder why the top two cars are GM vehicles

There were plenty of GM vehicles in his worst 5, however there is no doubting that he'd have a soft spot for the Zeta based cars since he would have had some input into them.

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

just outa interest, what WERE the 5 worst?

my money is on the VK as a likely candidate

VN.

Either that, they were the:

Ford XD Falcon
Ford XF Falcon
Ford EA Falcon
Ford EB Falcon
Ford AU Falcon


(Can you tell I'm a Holden man?)

My five worst (in no order):

JB Camira
P76
late 70's Escort
EA Falcon
Mazda Capella

some one is a warped what was wrong with the P76 a car a head of its time

p76 was a great car

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Noli Illegitimi Carborundum

The worst 5 in particular order;

-R-series Gemini "A travesty to replace the iconic Gemini with this mainstream clap-trap. It killed Gemini as Australia's best selling small car"

- JD Camira 1.8 TBI "After Oz went unleaded in '86, we replaced the port fuel injection 1.8 with a throttle body injected 1.8. That engine killed the Camira"

- Chrysler Centura "Could have picked any (Cortina/Marina) of the Torana 6 copies that epitomised the monstrosities of that early-70s era"

- Pontiac Aztek

- Buick Le Sabre

On a side note Harley, I saw a neat XD painted Palmer Tube Mills Blue cruising by yesterday and I must admit it did look very tough. Go the Blackwood!

TK - What have you got against late 70's Escorts Plus you shot the wrong Camira, the JB was heaps better than the later ones (all relative of course)

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

Didn't the JB Camira win Wheels Car of the Year back in it's day?

(I think GMH, Chrysler & Ford all took turns )

yeah Wheels picked The P76 and the JB Camira both won 'car of the year'.
My uncle had a six cylinder and the 8 cylinder P76, got them cheap as another relative owned the Leyland dealership in Bundaberg.
Quality control was non existant at the time. Cars were being often released from the factory with nuts and bolts missing, one car made it to the showroom without any shockies etc etc.
I hate the JB Camira because I had one. It was only a year old back then and used to burn oil like no ones business.
Hate the Escort because dad had a Escort panel van. Unrealible.

anyway as I said these are MY picks for worst cars.

I know what you mean about quality control. A mate of mine worked at Chryslers in Adelaide in the 70's. His first job was to apply the sealant to the front & rear windows to Valiants. He then was "promoted" to door assembly. If they couldn't keep up with the pace of cars moving on the line, they'd simply chuck in the window winder assemblies behind the trim & let the dealers sort it out.

Maybe that was the origin of the dealer "delivery" fee.

I ahd a mate in high school, still a good mate now, he had a V8 P76. Fantastic car. I remember he used to take it to watch the races at Amaroo Park. Set up folding chairs on that enormous bonnet and have our own private grandstand.
Whatever happened to the good old days....

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that big boot could fit a 44 gallon drum inside

Or 8 people when sneaking into the drive in , nobody looked in the boot when you left the rear seat empty "what's in the boot , it's riding low?" , "All my tools , I'm a mechanic , you wanna look ?" , "Nahh , go in "... It was funny how the tiny service station a klm from the drive in had about 50 cars parked around it Friday and Saturday nights

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