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8/16/2019 11:43 AM  #1


mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

 

8/16/2019 12:41 PM  #2


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

Wow! I always liked the Pinto, Maverick and even the Chevy Vega (station wagon).

 


Gary Zilik - Pine Junction, Colorado - 67 Coupe, 289-4V, T5
 

8/16/2019 1:17 PM  #3


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I have been watching and realized I did not work near hard enough throughout my career. 


Gary Zilik - Pine Junction, Colorado - 67 Coupe, 289-4V, T5
 

8/16/2019 2:00 PM  #4


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

Not sure about the Maverick, but the Vega and Pinto were both colossal failures for Chevy and Ford respectively.  They were the attempt by the Big Three (Chrysler turned out something similar, but it was so poorly received that the name escapes me at the moment) to produce an economy car to compete with Toyota and Honda.  The Vega was actually designed by John Deloreon, much to his chagrin (he quit GM shortly thereafter and formed his own company). 

AMC might have been the winner in the American '70s compact car fight, because at least the Gremlin sold reasonably well and wasn't the source of factory recalls and litigation. 

Its crazy that despite these failings these cars are semi-collectible today.  Probably because so many ended up as refrigerators...

 

8/16/2019 2:22 PM  #5


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but estimate 25 -35K for a Pinto, 66 Mustangs don't bring that much. 6K, if you had one as a teenager I get it, not a bad price. I've seen Vegas and Pintos with V-8's and big back tires that looked really good. I'd like to know how much they had into that Pinto. We all know what it takes to restore a Mustang even if you start out with one in fairly good shape. 


If this forum can't fix it, it isn't broke.
 

8/16/2019 2:24 PM  #6


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

TKO, I remember a Dodge Colt I think in the late 70's. 


If this forum can't fix it, it isn't broke.
 

8/16/2019 2:33 PM  #7


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

My brother-in-law had a vega  when he was a senior in high school, he stopped by  the house one afternoon pulled up to the curb and the pass. side door fell off as he got out on the drivers side, it seemes that the hinges had broken .out of the door post from the weight of the door.


A bad day working on your mustang beats a good day at work anytime
 

8/16/2019 3:36 PM  #8


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

My oldest brother was afflicted with the bowtie disease in his teens and bought a newer used Vega in the late 70's. One night he was out and about when smoke started coming out from under the hood, so he pulled over to check it out. The rubber plug that's the oil cap had popped off (leaking rings, crankcase pressure) again, but this time it had fallen out from under the hood and was lost. His bright idea was to stuff a rag into the hole and keep going... until the car lost oil pressure, cutting off the ignition. The rag was pulled into the cam the moment he started it, shredding it as the engine ran until it plugged up the oil pickup. He died in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in town during the evening rush...lol! That was the end of that car for him.

He was going to drop a 350 in it but was distracted by a Camaro. It's a disease with him. ;)

 

8/16/2019 4:11 PM  #9


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I re-engine several Vega/Astros for friends with the V6 back in the day. They were neat cars after that.

 

8/16/2019 4:16 PM  #10


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

3.1 million Pintos sold. I would not call that a failure.

 

8/16/2019 5:28 PM  #11


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

The news media killed the Pinto with their stories about gas tanks exploding if the Pinto was rearended (they didn’t). The Pinto was actually a pretty peppy car.

I was living on the Texas Gulf Coast during the life span of the Vega. You could sit in the shade and watch a Vega rust. They would self destruct before your eyes. Annnd to prove that every rule has an exception, the guy across the street has a Vega with a Chebby big block in it that he drag races. It’s not a looker though, flat black primer, but it’s a ground shaker.

 

8/16/2019 5:48 PM  #12


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I'm no guru on the Ford Mavericks, but I always thought they were a pretty decent car. I think I saw 70's Hot Rod magazine article too where they milled the intake manifold and fitted up two or three carburetors and got decent results.
Ford Pinto - one word... Cujo


1964-1/2 D Code Coupe - 289 V8, 4 Speed Toploader, 3.00 ratio rear, Autolite 4100 Carb, 15" tires, Pertronix ignition
 

8/17/2019 5:11 AM  #13


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

351MooseStang wrote:

My oldest brother was afflicted with the bowtie disease in his teens and bought a newer used Vega in the late 70's. One night he was out and about when smoke started coming out from under the hood, so he pulled over to check it out. The rubber plug that's the oil cap had popped off (leaking rings, crankcase pressure) again, but this time it had fallen out from under the hood and was lost. His bright idea was to stuff a rag into the hole and keep going... until the car lost oil pressure, cutting off the ignition. The rag was pulled into the cam the moment he started it, shredding it as the engine ran until it plugged up the oil pickup. He died in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in town during the evening rush...lol! That was the end of that car for him.

He was going to drop a 350 in it but was distracted by a Camaro. It's a disease with him. ;)

Hopefully you meant "it" died?  Otherwise that's a really dark ending...
 

 

8/17/2019 5:17 AM  #14


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

xrracer wrote:

3.1 million Pintos sold. I would not call that a failure.

117 lawsuites filed for the Pinto alone.  Ford was also investigated by the NHTSA, and the crux of most of this was a memo that Ford had sent to the NHTSA saying that new standards for fuel systems were not worth the financial cost when weighed against the societal cost of the injury and deaths of people.  Its probably the most callous thing ever written by an automaker.  

When you factor in the cost of the litigation and the damage to Ford's reputation, which affected sales across the board, it almost caused financial ruin for Ford.  Ironically, its probably why we still have the Mustang today. 
 

 

8/17/2019 5:19 AM  #15


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

wsinsle wrote:

TKO, I remember a Dodge Colt I think in the late 70's. 

YES, that was it!  Good call wsinsle!
 

 

8/17/2019 6:04 AM  #16


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

i've been a ford guy my hole life except for three occasions. 72 monte carlo, piece of crap wouldn't run but 110, even if you threw it out of an airplane at 400. 70 elcamino that was a good one. my vega 350 with a turbo 400, fiber glass front end, narrowed 12 bolt w/ 4:11 it ran well. my favorite was my 83 ranger with 5.0 and t-5 had it 18 years, not a killer but a blast to drive.

 

8/17/2019 9:08 PM  #17


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

Sometimes........."a picture is worth a thousand words"!
I really like this demo..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzR_-kELzYA


Get busy Liv'in or get busy Die'n....Host of the 2020 Bash at the Beach/The only Bash that got cancelled  )8
 

8/18/2019 4:49 AM  #18


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

TKOPerformance wrote:

Hopefully you meant "it" died?  Otherwise that's a really dark ending...
 

 
Good point. Fortunately my older brother is still getting older, as are we all. His old Vega might be but not with the engine that was in it...lol! He still has a Camaro and it's not running, as usual. I keep offering to help him but he doesn't want to listen to me talk about how great our Mustang is.

And running. ;)

 

8/18/2019 5:28 AM  #19


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

As my grandfather used to say: "getting old is a terrible thing, but it beats the alternative." 

 

8/18/2019 9:13 AM  #20


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I had a 73 Vega wagon.  It was a great car.  Got out of the military in California and drove it to my parent's Wisconsin house while I went off to a foreign country to work my first professional civilian "real" job.  After I came back I drove it to California, my new job location.  My dad liked my Vega so much he bought a Monza wagon after I left.  My Vega had about 60000 miles on it when I traded it in in 78, still ran like a top and had no issues at all - not even a speck of rust.


Founding Member of the Perpetually Bewildered Society
 

8/19/2019 11:03 AM  #21


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I bought a new Pinto in 1972, it started to rust on the way home from the dealer. With in a year or so, the door skins were flopping around, and the floorboard on the passenger side was gone. It also used oil profusely, like a quart every 250 miles. My wife once drove it to Milwaukee from Mpls, and back. When she got back she said the guy at the gas station in Milwaukee said it needed oil, but she didn't know what kind to put in so did not add any. I pulled the dipstick and it was dry. OK, no problem, it's 2 quarts low. So I dump in 2 quarts and pull the dipstick again. Still dry! Added 2 more quarts! Didn't seem to hurt anything, as we drove it another 75,000 miles after that. I quit changing oil after about 40,000 miles as it was getting a running oil change all the time. I had to run Valvoline Racing oil, 20W50 year around to keep it going. I sold the Pinto to a neighbor kid for $50 when it had 178,000 miles on it and he drove it for 2 more years after that. It was fun to drive tho, and would really go through the snow. 


It's easier to add horsepower than it is to lose weight.
 

8/19/2019 1:00 PM  #22


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

Funny as heck, Redvert!  2 quarts just to get it to empty!!!!  My mom did that to our Chevy station wagon, 400 cu in small block.


'66 Fastback since July 27, 1981. Springtime Yellow, originally a 200 cu in, 4 speed. Also a '92 LX Coupe, 5.0, 5 speed.
 

8/19/2019 1:42 PM  #23


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I learned to drive a stick in my Mom's 73 2.0 4spd Pinto wagon. Back then we had some horses west of Fort Worth and she would drive out twice a day to feed them. Man she abused that car, but it never died nor burst in to flames. No rust either, but I think that is due to the undercarriage self lubrication system 

 

8/19/2019 2:59 PM  #24


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

I inherited my sisters 72 Vega after the motor went in it. I needed a car to go to school in Columbus OH. Dad and I put another motor in it. Not a bad car until you over heat them aluminum block and then they would burn oil pretty bad. I'd always say, "fill up the oil and check the gas". I said if this car will last til I get through school I'd be OK. Changed the tranny twice and patched the body a few times. My last day in Columbus after graduating, car all packed up, slammed the door shut when I stopped at Burger King to eat. Door bounced back open, door latch post rusted off. Tied the door shut drove it home and that was the end of the Vega.


If this forum can't fix it, it isn't broke.
 

8/19/2019 3:37 PM  #25


Re: mint mint mint Be still my heart ??

wsinsle wrote:

I inherited my sisters 72 Vega after the motor went in it. I needed a car to go to school in Columbus OH. Dad and I put another motor in it. Not a bad car until you over heat them aluminum block and then they would burn oil pretty bad. I'd always say, "fill up the oil and check the gas". I said if this car will last til I get through school I'd be OK. Changed the tranny twice and patched the body a few times. My last day in Columbus after graduating, car all packed up, slammed the door shut when I stopped at Burger King to eat. Door bounced back open, door latch post rusted off. Tied the door shut drove it home and that was the end of the Vega.

Why didn't you just weld the door shut and enter and exit like Bo and Luke Duke?
 

 

Board footera


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