5 Cars That Prove There’s Love for the Unexceptional

Almost ten years ago, I was part of the team that gave birth to a much-loved Hagerty U.K. event: The Festival of the Unexceptional. FOTU, to this day, is a celebration of extraordinary examples of the most mundane—and in some cases, plain disappointing—automobiles ever built. The event made people realize how low the survivorship rate is for many of these generally unloved cars. These days, the market is perhaps finally waking up to the fact that many of the cars that were the butt of jokes—the rides that were the one-time Nickelbacks of the automotive world—are now legitimately rare and interesting collector cars. Lately, we’ve taken note of some eye-popping sales (and enthusiastic bids that somehow didn’t meet reserve) of what are, almost certainly, the sweetest examples of some of the most maligned cars ever made. We submit these for your disapproval:

1977 Chevrolet Chevette

Sold for $22,050

When the Chevette debuted in the U.S. for the 1976 model year, it already seemed like a vestige of a prior era. It was rear-wheel drive at a time when small cars like the Fiat 128 and VW Golf/Rabbit had demonstrated that the future of the compact car was in powering the front wheels. The Chevette was middling but apparently sturdy, until rust claimed almost all of them.

This light blue one showed 5000 miles on the odometer and was lavishly equipped with full wheel covers and an AM/FM radio. Oh, and it had A/C too, something which no doubt sapped at least 15 of the 60 available horses. The shocking final price of $21,000 reflects the fact that while these cars have all but disappeared, nearly everybody of a certain age seems to have a fond Chevette story. Good memories in maligned cars are still good memories.

1976 Chevrolet Vega

Sold for $12,337

The Vega was less of a joke than a genuine Greek tragedy. It could have been a really decent car but for GM’s dreadful execution. It was pretty, handled well, and it was affordable. Sadly, the prone-to-overheating aluminum-block engines had a two-stroke’s appetite for oil, and the only way in which Vegas were competitive with Toyotas of the day was in their penchant for the tin worm.

True story: My best friend in high school owned a five-year-old Kammback just like this one. It only had 40,000 miles on it, but it used a quart of oil with nearly every fill-up. The car’s cowl had rusted so badly that the windshield was slipping down towards the firewall, leaving a half-inch gap at the top where air would rush in. My solution was to wad up some newspaper to prop up the piece of glass. Pretty elegant if I do say so myself. This example is almost impossibly rust-free, especially for one with 70,000 miles. For heaven’s sake, there’s even a receipt for rebuilding the 8-track player. And that pretty much explains the car’s state of preservation. The new owner shipped it to France, where it’s reputed to be the only one in the country.

1989 Maserati BiTurbo

Bid to $16,750

The BiTurbo had among the worst reputations of cars sold in the U.S. in the 1980s. Early carbureted examples had a propensity to catch fire from running too rich of a mixture through the cats, and the fallout nearly destroyed Maserati’s status as a prestige brand. I suppose it made sense at the time; the BiTurbo was positioned as a more potent, more luxurious, and slightly more expensive competitor to the E30-generation BMW 3-series. Instead, to many, it came off as a cynical cash grab by Maserati’s owner, Alejandro De Tomaso. To my eyes, it also looked disturbingly like a Cadillac Cimarron.

More of these cars seem to survive in Europe, where they are unencumbered by emission controls and their mechanical bits are better understood. In the U.S., most BiTurbos tend to be of the “ran when parked” variety, perhaps discovered when the new owner of a distressed property cuts the grass for the first time in ten years. This example was a later, much-improved fuel-injected car that attracted a bid over fifteen grand.

1969 Subaru 360

Bid to $35,500

Road & Track summed up Subaru’s first effort in the U.S. thusly: “Any car that takes over 27 seconds to cover a standing quarter-mile, and is only going 46 mph at the end of that quarter, has no business in American traffic.” Consumer Reports said that the bumpers were ineffective against anything sturdier than a watermelon. Until the Yugo came along several decades later, the 360 was probably one of the most scorned new cars ever to be tested by U.S. magazines.

Today, it’s largely forgotten by everyone, including Subaru. Surviving U.S. market cars are indeed unicorns and, as such, are likely to attract more attention at your local cars and coffee than a Koenigsegg. Still, it’s nearly incomprehensible that even in a heady 2022 market, a $35,500 bid wasn’t enough to get this car sold. (To read our 2021 market deep-dive on the surprising Subaru 360, click here.)

1980 Pontiac Phoenix

Sold for $17,587

Entire books have been written for the sole purpose of excoriating the GM X-cars. They were GM’s first mass-market front-wheel-drive sedans, and they had immense potential to be very good cars. In fact, they initially sold quite well. But it’s called the Malaise Era for a reason, so you know how this story ends—”ignominiously” is probably too kind of an adverb.

GM made a number of tweaks to the X-body’s braking system before the new platform entered production, but it didn’t take long for problems to arise. “Media criticism and consumer complaints of X-car stability during braking” drew the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s attention, according to an internal NHTSA memo dated June 26, 1981. A lengthy and public back-and-forth ensued between the agency and GM about how to resolve the issue, and the public quickly soured on the cars. Braking wasn’t the only issue, either—the cars were prone to rust, and quality control was lacking. It was an unfortunate misstep in the pivot to more economical front-wheel drive architecture.

Extant X-cars of any variety are rare, and this four-speed manual, nicely equipped 32,000-mile Pontiac Phoenix, with a lurid red velour interior, an insanely full gauge package, and a CB radio, might just be one of the best X-cars left. The price: over $17,500 with the buyer’s fee. Remarkable!

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