Cars With Infamous Quirks
No, we’re not talking about that Crown Vic you had for the derby which could start in gear, surprising yer best friend mere moments before he inadvertently launched it through a picket fence.
Maybe that’s an example strangely specific to this author. At any rate, this post will talk about vehicles which - intentionally or not - hit the market with quirks that either endeared them to the buying public or doomed them to a life being welded to the showroom floor.
Sometimes it’s good to be weird and chart one’s own course.
[Images: JoshBryan/Shutterstock.com; Pavlo Baliukh/Shutterstock.com; Trygve Finkelsen/Shutterstock.com; Murilee Martin/TTAC.com]
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Toyota 4Runner
The last-gen Toyota 4Runner was on sale with minimal meaningful changes for well over a decade. Yet, in that amount of time, it never seemed to age and remained decently handsome in the face of new competitors trying to play in the same field. It was the Paul Rudd of trucks. This makes the entire vehicle something of a quirk (or, at least its longevity and popularity is a quirk) since even Toyota’s own Tundra was ready for the pasture by the time it was redesigned. The venerable last-gen 4Runner never suffered such a fate, with continued strong sales right up until its final year.
Citroen CX
Actually, the entire line of Citroen cars throughout history could be considered a contender for this list of quirk, such were the oddball design decisions. Some features were so uniquely French that they were only enjoyed by people with a love for garlic-flavored toothpaste. We’re highlighting the CX for its drum-style tach and speedometer, enormous ashtray, and massive row of warning lights. Honorable mention obviously goes to the SM with its gonzo styling, outrageous suspension, button of a brake pedal, and radio placed between the seats (because where else would you place it?). Mon dieu.
Saab 9000
It would be easy, like Citroen, to nominate the entirety of Saab for this list. We’ll stick with the 9000 since it was a moon shot that appeared in an era of squared-off competitors, some of which still had roots in the ‘70s. Consider that GM was still making the new-for-’82 Cutlass Ciera during this car’s tenure. It was this car which introduced the Night Panel, originally called the Black Panel, feature to our lexicon - to say nothing of having its key between the seats and any number of other quirky features.
Subaru GL
Another one from an entire house of quirk, it was in the early 1980s when the GL offered a third headlight, one tucked behind a flip-up Subaru logo in the grille and intended as an indicator of a desire to pass slowpokes hogging the fast lane. Technically called a Passing Lamp, drivers would activate it with a whack of the turn signal stalk, illuminating the road ahead and letting other drivers know the Subaru driver has places to be. These days, someone surely would have called it a GTFO lamp by now.
