OT Remember the Pinto

This ain't nothing new. My aunt had a '67 Toronado that incinerated her garage back in 1971. A plug fell out of the carberetor.

Charles of Kankakee.

Or in the 1970's, the Ford LTD had the radiator fan problem where the blades would separate from the hub at high engine speed and tear up the hood, radiator, and the technician if it happened while someone was working under the hood. Or the current model crown vic/police interceptor that starts on fire when rear ended. Or the ford AXOD transmission that is notorious for melting down because of an improperly designed lubrication system. Or the ford focus, with two recalls, one for I think the left rear wheel falling off because of improperly tightened lug nuts, and another for the gas tank falling out(!) because the plastic strap holding it in place breaks. Or the TFI "Thin-film ignition" module that they mounted on the distributor against the advice of their own engineers, not wanting to invest an additional 20 cents per car to put it on the radiator support. And now, years later ford is having to replace those modules because they ran too hot and failed, causing the cars to stall. And we all know about the explorer and its tendency to flip over. And the defective ford paint....suffice it to say, you could write a short novel on all the crap ford has done over the years.

The worst part of it is, rather than own up to these problems ford will fight tooth and nail to blame everyone else for the trouble. This is the same ford that attempted to put a price on the life of an average person and then calculate how much the company would lose and/or make if they continued to make the defective pinto and just brave the lawsuits. I guess in the end they determined they could still make money even if some people sued because loved ones were killed in a pinto. How's that for the "American way". To hell with the customers; as long as the company is turning a profit that is what really matters.

Chris

This ain't nothing new. My aunt had a '67 Toronado that incinerated her garage back in 1971. A plug fell out of the carberetor.

The 67 Toronado was a sharp car for its time. It was one of the few cars with front wheel drive. and it was also a nice looking car

The Tornado setup was also the engine-tranny combination that Kelmark, Inc used to create the first American car to break the 200mph barrier right off the showroom floor. Don't confuse it with the earlier VW Bug chassis version; two entirely different things.

(Anybody want a Kelmark? I got one.)

Yes, my aunt thought so too. She was heartbroken when it burned up. That one design flaw ruined what was otherwise a pretty good car for its time.

Charles of Kankakee

Happened to a friend's girlfriend of mine. She blacked out and got a concussion, after running into a tree (while her rotor scraped on the ground).

-Kevin

The Old's front wheel drive with the 455 was the power train of the GMC Motorhome also. I was the salesmanager of a GMC dealership through the

4 year run of this combo. It could pull this 10,000 lb RV with no problem at all. It had the standard 3.55 to 1 final drive and would get 10 mpg under normal conditions. Depending on how accurate the speedometers were, we once took one to 110 mph and it still felt very stable. Center of gravity was 31 inches off the ground and it was capable of controlled slides . Very stable machine.

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It must have been around 1979 or so. My dad, at least one brother and I were in the old Buick Skymaster station wagon exiting 635 at TI. There was this long curving offramp, then a stop and then we'd go north on Floyd road and turn onto Restland/Walnut to head to Garland.

Well, this time we were driving north on Floyd and suddenly this wheel with an attached half axle rolls past us. We're all "hey look at that!" Then the car goes thump and the left rear end of the car tilts down and starts skidding along the street. Dad stopped the car safely enough and we got back the wheel out of the culvert where it had rolled. My little brother burned his hand by grabbing the hot axle. I don't recall how we got home. I do recall the "oh, it's our wheel" moment though. :)

That's wild! When you noticed the wheel, where you immediately aware of what was going on or were you guys saying something more along the lines of, "Wow, our wheel is off our car! I wonder what's for dinner?" I've got another! A friend of mine was driving in front of me in his new-to-him BMW 540. He slows down at a stop light, and both me and him see his front left wheel roll into a suburban, as he was stopping to turn right. The car, on three wheels, stays upright, even when my friend opened the door! The suburban owner was very very pissed, and there wasn't even a mark on his car! Amazing the car didnt dive into the ground...

-Kevin

I remember years ago riding in the passanger seat of my good friends 76 Camaro. The left rear tire came off and rolled past us before the back of the car minus the wheel hit he ground. The wheel came to a stop on the yellow line in the middle of the street

Well, it rolled past us pretty fast. I know I was thinking basically, WTF is that???, then the whole car tilted back. I guess our momentum had kept us upright for a few seconds.

Yeah, I'm just glad our wheel didn't come off on 635 at 55mph or whatever. Just another reason to do your own maintenance. My dad was never a car person and just took his cars to mechanics. At least when you do your own work, you know what things are safe and what things might be dangerous.

I would never buy a car with tat name. (Pinto=young chicken)

Very bizarre the name of some cars when translated

Joao

72 Super 1302

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Nova = no va = it doesn't go. That was some clever marketing.

GM did it again recently. LaCrosse is apparently a slang word among French-Canadian youth for self-abuse. With GM cars, somehow it works out.

Charles of Kankakee

French Toyota MR2 Spanish Mitsubish Pajero Portugal Opel Ascona =As cona=

I will not translate?

Joao

72 Super 1302

Well howsabout that Mitsubishi Pajero SUV :) (Montero)

Jan

In chile they call them 'Terrano'.

Also bad in spanish: Nissan Moco