Posted on 04/03/2009 7:20:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The global financial crisis is suffocating the Detroit automakers, but the problems at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have been festering for years—even when the mighty "Big Three" were earning billions. Aging factories, inflexible unions, arrogant executives and shoddy quality have all damaged Detroit. Now, with panicky consumers fleeing showrooms, catastrophe looms:
There will be plenty of business-school case studies analyzing all the automakers' wrong turns. But, as they say in the industry, it all comes down to product. So here are 10 cars that help explain the demise of Detroit: GM and Chrysler need a multibillion-dollar government bailout to survive, and both could be in bankruptcy by summer if they don't meet tough government demands. Ford hasn't asked for a bailout—yet—but it's bleeding cash and racing the clock to turn itself around.
Ford Pinto. This ill-fated subcompact came to epitomize the arrogance of Big Auto. Ford hurried the Pinto to market in the early 1970s to battle cheap imports like the Volkswagen Beetle that were selling for less than $2,000. Initial sales were strong, but quality problems emerged. Then came the infamous safety problems with exploding fuel tanks, which Ford refused to acknowledge. Message: The customer comes last. "The problems for the domestics really started in the '70s when they were offering cars like the Pinto up against higher-tech, better-built Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics," says Jack Nerad of Kelley Blue Book.
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
“I owned a Pinto, the second worst car I ever owned, the worst being a AMC Gremlin. I also owned a Cavalier (so-so), Chevette (rolling crap) and presently own an Astro which is actually a nice vehicle that just needed to be updated occasionally.”
I bought a brand new 1973 Pinto when I came back from overseas, and paid something like $1,950 for it (before taxes and license). I had two Pintos in my lifetime (the first one was wrecked a year after I bought it in a freak accident that had nothing at all to do with the car, and the second was ten years old when it gave up the ghost, though it had carried me halfway across the country and then some). Sure it was an inexpensive and very basic car, and it performed as such. I expected nothing more. All things considered, for a very basic and inexpensive car the Pinto performed as advertised. The Chevette, though, was absolute crap. So was the Gremlin.
No vehicles are built in Nashville, just auto glass.
Just tell me this, is it still powerful? Or did you leave that by accident?
LOL.
Maybe they just thought you were cute?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.