“but for some reason, the big three couldn’t make a small car worth a crap. Chevette, Pinto, K cars etc.”
The Pinto shouldn’t be lumped-in with those others.
If you bought a ‘72 with the 2-liter engine, it came with disc brakes and an excellent German Ford engine and transmission.The British engine—not so much.
‘Road-raced it for its three years of eligibility. I sold it to my Dad—who sold it to my girlfriend—who I later married. Bought for $2000, sold it shiny (without the rollbar) six years later for $1,600.
Ford tried to copy the engine design, which fell short...
Ford still deals with Germany for many of their transmissions. Now that you mention it, I do know that the Pinto 2.0 has been on many a race track. Chevy has/had one too. That was a major period of change because of federal regulations for “emissions”.
Japs figured out 30 vacuum lines and a 5 speed took care of it and at the same time, managed to make them faster.
The big three put a belt driven, power stealing smog pump on them. I think the Pinto was done by then.
I owned a mid 80s Chevette with AC, automatic tranny and emission crap. Most embarrassing thing I ever drove. What a slug. Hondas and Toyotas would fly by it.