Hoping to debunk the Vega's reputation as one of the worst cars of the post-war era, Chevy gave 11 drivers one crazy challenge in the summer of '75

In any article of the world's worst cars, or crap cars, or automotive marketing misfires, chances are good the 1971-1977 Chevy Vega makes the cut. Conceived as Chevy's first real subcompact response to the success of the Volkswagen Beetle and the inroads the Japanese were starting to make in the North American market, it ranks as an unqualified disaster. Despite Motor Trend's selection of the Vega as its 1971 Car of the Year, throughout its all-too-short lifetime the Vega was plagued by poor build quality, a propensity to return to the earth in the form of iron oxide, and a revolutionary aluminum engine that would self-destruct the day after the warranty expired. The Chevy Vega became the poster child for what the U.S. auto industry represented in the Seventies--and the foundation of GM's decades' long slide towards last year's bankruptcy. The car was revolutionary in some respects--its die-cast aluminum engine, for example--and it was pleasantly styled in hatchback form, with many seeing it as a 7/8^th scale second-gen Chevy Camaro. Yet it remains to this day one of the darkest chapters in GM history. It didn't have to turn out that way.