The Worst Car(s) Ever Offered As Prizes on Game Shows

[PYLdude]

Speaking of the Chrysler-Mitsubishi partnership, was there ever a Colt Vista offered on any game show? I don’t seem to remember ever seeing one and it’s one of my favorite cars. (Why I couldn’t tell you; they just fascinate me)

Family Double Dare offered them a few times.

Makes a lotta sense, honestly.

My grandpa had one for awhile; I don’t remember what he did with it but I know he didn’t have it when he passed on thirty years ago.

This was around the time that my grandma had her white IROC-Z Camaro. Still to this day I don’t know what a 60+ grandma of four at the time wanted with a car like that but it was a hell of a fun ride when she brought it out. (Turns out even she didn’t know what she wanted with it; I don’t even know if she had it for more than a year when she got rid of it)

[Casey]

/Was FM radio optional on the Chevette (it still had AM according to the LMAD description)?

It was in 1983 at least, because the Chevette we had that was a 1983 model had only an AM radio.  It did have air conditioning, so it had that going for it, but god help you if you needed to go up a hill with the A/C on. 

We did manage to coax 110,000 miles out of it though, so it wasn’t that bad.

[trainman]

My family had a couple of different Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser station wagons during the '80s, and I definitely remember the owner's manuals showing both the AM-only radio option, and the no-air-conditioning climate control option (but we had the upgraded versions of both).

[Chelsea Thrasher]

The $100,000 Pyramid seemed to have plenty of Fieros on offer as Mystery 7 prizes

Hot take: Aside from one defect (an issue with low oil levels causing fires; an issue Kia/Hyundai just announced a major recall for yesterday three and a half decades later), the Fiero's a good - and for the mid 80s surprisingly sporty - car.  The '88 revision is particularly good (especially in any of the non-base trims). which of course in peak 80s GM was the one year it wasn't really offered as a game show prize and is the year they killed the car.  If I ever hit the lottery, a ton of my discretionary spending would absolutely be on vintage cars and there'd probably be an '88 Fiero GT in there somewhere.

[JepMasta]

Personally, I'd love to see any Price is Right ep where a Catera or a Cimarron would be offered. So I can laugh at it. XD

Wish granted. Today's batch of TPiR episodes has a Golden Road playing for a $14K Cimarron! It looked really dinky in front of the rainbow backdrop:

The Cadillac Cimarron!  For those who don't know, this was An attempt to make an "entry level" Caddy for younger people.  All it was was a Chevrolet Cavalier with a few odds and ends added with an extra $5,000 on the price tag.  There's this great story that for years afterwards, the head of Cadillac used to keep a picture of the Cimarron behind his desk with the caption "Lest we forget..."

[JepMasta]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned the Suzuki Samurai (given away on Classic Concentration).  A car so dangerous, that it couldn't take a 43 mph turn without tipping over.

But...Alex Trebek seemed to enjoy saying it.

[Steve_Bier]

Speaking of the Chrysler-Mitsubishi partnership, was there ever a Colt Vista offered on any game show? I don’t seem to remember ever seeing one and it’s one of my favorite cars. (Why I couldn’t tell you; they just fascinate me)

"The Price is Right" offered one during a playing of "Hole in One", circa 1984. I remember it being fairly sexed up; it had full power equipment (locks/windows), a/c, and auto trans. It was won.

[jlgarfield]

Personally, I'd love to see any Price is Right ep where a Catera or a Cimarron would be offered. So I can laugh at it. XD

Wish granted. Today's batch of TPiR episodes has a Golden Road playing for a $14K Cimarron! It looked really dinky in front of the rainbow backdrop:

The Cadillac Cimarron!  For those who don't know, this was An attempt to make an "entry level" Caddy for younger people.  All it was was a Chevrolet Cavalier with a few odds and ends added with an extra $5,000 on the price tag.  There's this great story that for years afterwards, the head of Cadillac used to keep a picture of the Cimarron behind his desk with the caption "Lest we forget..."

The Catera was also made with the same strategy in mind, only this time, Caddy took the Opel Omega B and sold it under their label as a captive import.

[mystery7]

It was in 1983 at least, because the Chevette we had that was a 1983 model had only an AM radio.  It did have air conditioning, so it had that going for it, but god help you if you needed to go up a hill with the A/C on. 

We did manage to coax 110,000 miles out of it though, so it wasn’t that bad.

At least Chevettes had back seats by then. Early on they had a "Scooter" trim level where it was optional. Not sure it made much of a difference from a passenger standpoint, but it least it took a few pounds off the curb weight.