Posted on 03/29/2018 11:36:30 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Fugly then, fuglier now.
The Pacer is the best car ever made for sighting! Almost as good as the bubble top train cars. It had lots of room being a two seater. And it was my brother cars so none of the problems bother me.
I dare not mock the Pinto, really... the first car I drove much, growing up in the 70s, was a little Dodge Colt made by Mitsubishi with what was practically a motorcycle engine. 82 hp for those original Dodge Colts!! If you had passengers in the car you were straining to do highway speeds.
A Pinto,
At more than 100 mph?
Didn’t think that could happen unless ya threw it out the back of a C-130.
As a former skydiving instructor with hundreds of jumps, I always thought the same thing: go out enjoying yourself in the fast lane, instead of watching days go by while horizontal and timing out.
Well said, but I’d still like to find a more exciting car in which to die ....
I had a friend who had one. He followed me over a rural road with a steep hill in it to my place one day. He was always talking about how surprisingly peppy it was to him.
I was driving a '67 Cougar. He got spanked that day. :-)
According to people familiar with the car, it was extensively modified for drag racing. I read the track’s rules and all cars and bikes need to have mufflers and pass NHRA safety inspections. Definitely not your daily driver street car. I’d bet it had a small block Chevy like 95% of the rest of the privateers.
Better was about a 2 minute short that I saw in the early ‘80s of a guy in a pickup truck who sees a car stopped on the road in the distance. He applies the brakes, softly, and then notices that it is a Pinto. He then goes wide-eyed, jams on the brakes and down-shifts. The scene goes back and forth between showing the truck closing the distance to the Pinto and the guy’s horrified face. Naturally, he dings the Pinto at about 0.01 MPH...and the scene cuts away to a nuclear blast from some test.
I’ll be damned if I can find that clip anywhere on the web...I’m sure it is there, I just cannot find it.
That engine design was a complete disaster for GM. The idea was good, but the execution was horrible.
I liked the early Vegas, because the front end looked like a baby camaro.
Nice! I never drove my mom’s Pinto. I learned on a 1980 red Monte Carlo!... was like boating!
Ha! My mother had a Vega before her Pinto! It was some green color and had a terrible rust problem ( to be fair it was ungaraged and we lived in coastal MA)
i can see that.
I was just imagining my best friend and his fat girlfriend in her Pinto.
A cringe worthy thought.
Her blue Pinto was a dog.
Back in the early 80’s, I owned a Pacer, a Pinto , and a Chevy Vega. I paid $200-$250 each for them. I once had 7 cars and none of them cost more than $300.
That way, I knew at least one of them would be working. I never had a car note in my life till I turned 45 and bought a new truck.
A Pinto won’t GO 100 mph ... unless it’s in freefall.
They weren't bad looking, especially compared to a Gremlin.
Try post # 4 from this very thread that you’re on!
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3643452/posts?page=4#4
Those cars, like most of the cars built in the late 60’s to 70’s, would start rusting away on the showroom floor.
Recycled steel that wasn’t “cleaned” or “killed” to remove heavy metals was the cause.
Most people don’t realize that the engineered lifespan of those cars was four, maybe five years, and 80,000 miles max.
Those were kind of silly looking cars, and so underpowered you would swear they really were gerbil-powered.
But when I drove one, I was amazed at the visibility. One of the best visibilities in a non-convertible car I ever drove.
Acceleration sure did suck, and people laughing at you for driving such a silly car was kind of a bummer too!
Well these what low cost busget cars were like then.
Pacer. Chevelle. Gremlin. Fiesta. Basic models were severely no frills. Some debateably looked better tricked out than others.
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