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Post by kevinharrell on Oct 29, 2018 18:58:23 GMT -5
Which car is more macho? Ford Pinto  Chevy Vega  |
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Post by flyangler on Oct 29, 2018 19:35:10 GMT -5
For me it's the Pinto, I've owned one and it was clearly the worst car I ever had.  |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Oct 29, 2018 19:59:01 GMT -5
Vega. Melting your cylinder heads es muy macho.
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Post by oldchopperguy on Oct 30, 2018 0:43:25 GMT -5
Vega. Melting your cylinder heads es muy macho.
Absolutely! LOL! Both of these were products of my heyday, having been VP and Creative Director of our ad agency handling both the Chicagoland Ford and Chevy Dealership Associations... We had several of each as demo "freebies" for company cars from our dealers.
In their day, they both were exceptionally good-looking compacts... That said, THAT is about all one could say that's GOOD about them. You COULD say the PINTO was pretty macho since it was the only teensy, featherweight car I ever drove with manual steering as HARD as a 1940's semi-truck... They bred a whole generation of housewives with arms like Popeye... And, of course, the "world's largest disposable cigarette-lighter" aspect of the Pinto's exploding gas tank was pretty macho...
But Wheelbender is right about the Vega motor... As self-destructible as a Kamikaze plane. Aluminum pistons in aluminum cylinders... GM apparently had not heard that the cylinder walls needed to be chrome-plated... We called them "Jimmy Hendrix" cars... "Purple Haze" from the exhaust after 10K miles on the fast-ticking clock... That was OK though, since the uni-body would usually rust out completely by 30K. Folks younger than 70 just do NOT realize how pathetically dismal American cars got during the early days of "green" phobia. Hmmm... Let's see now; if we "black-box" a 454 cid V8, lower the compression to that of a Briggs mower engine... WOW! A 454 with 120hp and a WHOPPING 14mpg. Woo-HOO! Are getting "green" or what. We COULD make a powerful 200cid motor with 25mpg, BUT... It would make a Chevy cost $15K and NOBODY is EVER going to pay more than $5K for a Chevy...These cars were really lame attempts in our learning curve to catch up with the Japanese cars that kicked our American butts when we gave Japan our ideas and tech after WWII because we felt sorry for our former enemies... And, after all... WHAT American would EVER buy a Japanese BIKE, let alone a Japanese CAR? Unthinkable...    Cheesh… were WE stupid, or WHAT? Well, at least the Vega and Pinto did LOOK good compared to the imports... And, if I recall, Nickey Chevrolet made a few "factory" versions with a 427 Corvette motor. Now THAT was MACHO! Does anyone here know what became of the PLASTIC Chevy 4-cylinder concept motor with SQUARE cylinders? Supposedly inspired by the "high-tech" aluminum Vega motor, it weighed nothing and allowed for a tiny 4-cylinder motor with 300+ cid by virtue of the square cylinders. Hmmm... probably best it never got into production... Leo (sorta depressed to be old enough to have driven these things new...) in Texas |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Oct 30, 2018 11:41:52 GMT -5
Both Motion and Yenko would build a V8 Vega for you. Do-it-yourselfers had to climb in and out NASCAR style a lot. The V8 motor would twist the Vega body enough to jam the doors shut. Reinforcing the frame before installing the V8 would prevent the jammed doors.
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Post by oldchopperguy on Oct 30, 2018 18:52:20 GMT -5
Both Motion and Yenko would build a V8 Vega for you. Do-it-yourselfers had to climb in and out NASCAR style a lot. The V8 motor would twist the Vega body enough to jam the doors shut. Reinforcing the frame before installing the V8 would prevent the jammed doors. My pet ride back then except for my bikes, was a mint 1968 Caddy Coupe DeVille. Once at a redlight, in my mirror, I saw two ladies in a new blue Vega approaching my six totally engaged in conversation, looking at each other instead of at the stopped traffic ahead...
Oh yes, and cell-phones hadn't even been invented yet!I had left room in front of me, and all I could do was throw the Caddy in neutral, slump down and await the impact. Police figured they were doing about 40 when they hit... The old '68 rolled a couple feet forward, and the "impact" was barely noticeable to me! I got out, and saw the poor Vega FLATTENED up to the windshield, motor in the front seat. I pushed the little car off my bumper with my foot, and found NO damage to the Caddy. Only a little blue paint rubbed onto the massive bumper which polished right off. The two hapless ladies were hurt pretty bad, but managed to continue their ratchet-jaw hen party side-by-side in the ambulance... 4,700 pounds of good old Detroit steel absorbs a LOT of flying tin... THAT car was my all-time favorite except for my current Honda. Even with nearly 2 1/2 tons of girth, the 472 cid motor with 375hp and stump-pulling 525 lb/ft of torque would yank her from 0 to 60 in under 7 seconds and top out better than 120mph. Not near as quick as my little Honda, but pretty snappy for a Detroit boat-anchor from a half-century ago... And it even gave 11mpg city and 16mpg highway gas mileage! Woo-HOO... an ECONOMY car by yesterday's standards! Some of that old iron WAS mighty sweet! And in a pinch, you could LIVE in it! Bigger than a New York apartment... LOL! |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Oct 30, 2018 20:07:59 GMT -5
I felt much safer in those 1970s Caddys/Electras/Bonnevilles/Furys/LTDs than I feel in modern air-bag cars. It was pretty tough to roll one over, too.
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 1, 2018 1:57:32 GMT -5
I felt much safer in those 1970s Caddys/Electras/Bonnevilles/Furys/LTDs than I feel in modern air-bag cars. It was pretty tough to roll one over, too. Though we're probably both wrong (at least in the eyes of those too young and educated to have experienced the joy of extra steel, cast-iron, bumper-thick body sheetmetal and monster-displacement instead of featherweight alloy, computer-tech and tons of horsepower and rpm, with no torque)... Yeah, for us old folks, stump-pulling grunt is more fun than screaming buzz, and 3 tons of brick is safer than 1 ton of egg... LOL!It's the same old story... An EGG is a near-perfect design, exceptionally strong for its size and weight: like a modern car. A BRICK is a crude block of baked clay, with no particular scientific design, relying only on its solid construction and massive weight: like a 1960-70's luxury car.
I imagine savvy tech types can give us dozens of reasons why airbags and crumple-zones are much safer than 3 tons of impact-absorbing steel, but based on past experience if my much-loved modern Honda and my old Cadillac were smashed together at highway speed, I'd STILL rather be in the Caddy. But... Drop the BRICK on the EGG, or drop the EGG on the BRICK and the BRICK will win EVERY time! |
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