Funnily enough, you could have also bought a 1979 Ford car with that ‘feature’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto#Fuel_system_fires,_recalls,_and_litigation

The TL;DR is that in many Ford Pintos, fuel vapors would leak into the chassis. So, another car even just lightly bumping into the back, could cause a Ford Pinto to go up in a big fire ball.