Fallen Flags  A look at the automotive marques that have failed
since World War II.  The American auto industry's "Big Three"
are on the ropes, claiming to face imminent bankruptcy if the
government won't give them billions loans, which looks like it
may not happen. General Motors and Chrysler are in the direst
shape, with Ford somewhat better off.  While both the
concatenation of events leading to this situation and the
potential scope of failure are unprecedented, the loss of a
brand (or three, or even an entire multibrand manufacturer) is
not.  The AMC Pacer: You've seen them around, chugging along.
(Credit: Christopher Ziemnowicz/wikimedia)  Oldsmobile was a
recent single-brand loss. Ditto Plymouth a few years back.
Thirty years ago, it was the "Big Four," the fourth being
American Motors, which was born from the merger of Nash and
Hudson in 1954 and which even in the late 1970s was in trouble.
An alliance with Renault failed to save AMC, and it was
swallowed up by Chrysler in 1987. The Eagle nameplate s