Speed Network played some old 1970's NASCAR show (forgot the name) which road tested new Detroit offerings at the end of the program. They road tested the Matador and the Pinto. The cars barely stopped without locking the brakes and the slalom made me very thankful for today's cars. IIRC, the Matador almost flipped hitting the slalom at 45 mph.
I'm not surprised a bit. Mid '70's compacts and subcompacts were notoriously unbalanced. After the first Energy Crisis hit, wheelbases shrunk precipitously, along with engine displacement, and almost all vehicles were still RWD at the time. One of my buddies had a '76 Mustang at college. By that time, the Mustang was a pitiful, whimpering shell of a formerly great muscle car. It was bad enough that the damn thing swerved and locked up the brakes at relatively low speed, but if you actually tried to push its puny 4-banger over 60 mph, it would start shuddering and shaking like a tabby cat thrown in a cold bath.
"The cars barely stopped without locking the brakes and the slalom made me very thankful for today's cars."
I bought a 1966 Mustang a couple weeks ago. Manual drums all the way around. I can't believe people used to drive those death traps. :)