From: C. E. White on 3 May 2010 14:57 "Scott Dorsey" <kludge(a)panix.com> wrote in message news:<hrmvrq$d7v$1(a)panix2.panix.com>... > C. E. White <cewhite3(a)mindspring.com> wrote: > >I like Wikipedia also. However, they give far too much weight to > >the > >Mother Jones attack piece and not enough to what a sham job of > >reporting it was. There was no Ford analysis that claimed it was > >better to payoff Pinto lawsuits than fix the Pinto. There was a > >document written before the Pinto was designed that related the > >cost > >of certain safety improvement to the cost of a human life, but the > >cost used was provided by the Government and was not Ford's number > >and > >it wasn't even actually realted to the Pinto at all (despite the > >lies > >told in the MJ article). And while it might be true that 1971 > >Pinto's > >had light rear bumpers, the 1973 model had the Government mandatd 5 > >mph bumpers. > > As the owner of a Pinto that went through eleven... count them... > eleven > engine blocks under warranty (many of which arrived at the dealer > obviously > damaged or improperly machined and were sent back without being > installed), > I have to say that the Pinto had a lot of issues that were unrelated > to the > gas tank design. > --scott Which year and which engine? At least for early Pintos like we owned, all the engines came from Europe (we had the 2000 cc German built engine in the two my family owned, a good friend had the English built 1600 cc in his). Ee never had any engine problems. In fact, the only mechanical problem either of the Pintos owned by my family had was a burned out starter, and that was my fault - it happened under warranty (I bought a tank of gas that was really at least 25% water - I abused the started trying to avoid dropping the tank to empty out the water). I autocrossed my Pinto constantly for the three yeare I drove it while I was in college. My younder siter drove it another three years, and then I drove it again for a year before finally selling it. My older Sister had the other Pinto. She drove it for 7 years and then I drove it for about 6 months after an accident damaged my "regular" car. I sold that one to a freind who let this three kids drive it to college for another 5 years before he finally sold it. Heck it may yet be out there..... It sounds to me like you had a dealership problem. I can't imagine Ford screwed up 11 engines. I assume you were getting long blocks......there wasn't much to them since the cam was in the head. Ed
From: cuhulin on 3 May 2010 21:36 Legendary flops in automotive history. http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=288658 When the Pinto cars first came on the market place, a guy who worked where I worked, he bought a new red Pinto car.I reckon it was a good car, he never said anything about having any problems with that car.He drove it at least 80 miles every day, going back and forth to his home and work.That's the way the mop flops. cuhulin
From: cuhulin on 4 May 2010 21:12 On the flip side, my snail mail June 2010 Motor Trend magazine has an article titled, Dream Machines.The cars featured in the article are, Alfa Romeo Aerodinamica Tecnica (1954) Buick Lesabre (1951) Lamborghini Marzal (1967) Lincoln Futura (1955) Sting Ray (1959) Chrysler Portofino (1987) Cadillac Sixteen (2003) Pontiac Bonneville Special (1954) Ford Mustang I (1962) Chrysler Norseman (1956) Cadillac Cyclone (1959) Dodge Firearrow I (1953) Alfa Romero Brera (2002) GM Firebird III (1959) Ferrari Mondulo (1970) VW Concept 1 (1994) Ford GT90 (1995) and, Aero-Vette (1977) http://www.motortrend.com cuhulin
From: chuckcar on 5 May 2010 07:48 aemeijers <aemeijers(a)att.net> wrote in news:SvydnfC5CodhLX3WnZ2dnUVZ_o6gnZ2d(a)giganews.com: > chuckcar wrote: >> aemeijers <aemeijers(a)att.net> wrote in >> news:-7adnTcjYZX7e0DWnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d(a)giganews.com: >> >>> But I'm probably wrong- I never really followed Vettes, as I never >>> found them that interesting. (and people say SUVs are useless?) I'f >>> I'm gonna have a sporty 2-seater, I'd prefer one that does a little >>> better on gas, and has better vision. All the Vettes I've ridden in >>> felt like I was sitting in a bathtub. >>> >> Low center of gravity for cornering. Any ZR1 could wipe the floor >> with any NASCAR car on a road circuit given two proper race drivers >> in them.. >> > And thus, pretty useless on a street car, unless you live someplace > with very flat streets, no potholes, and it is always warm and sunny. > And no cops, of course. > I figured that's what you were meaning. Same could be said for anyone owning a Ferrari, Lotus or Lambo and so on. Moreso in fact. However, there's at least two road courses that have track days less than 100 miles from here. There's a guy that parks his Testerossa outside a restaurant in Little Italy here every day except in winter of course. I would guess he saves on maintenance by never driving it hard. -- (setq (chuck nil) car(chuck) )
From: supraman_88 on 5 May 2010 22:11
On Wed, 05 May 2010 11:48:44 +0000, chuckcar wrote: > aemeijers <aemeijers(a)att.net> wrote in > news:SvydnfC5CodhLX3WnZ2dnUVZ_o6gnZ2d(a)giganews.com: > >> chuckcar wrote: >>> aemeijers <aemeijers(a)att.net> wrote in >>> news:-7adnTcjYZX7e0DWnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d(a)giganews.com: >>> >>>> But I'm probably wrong- I never really followed Vettes, as I never >>>> found them that interesting. (and people say SUVs are useless?) I'f >>>> I'm gonna have a sporty 2-seater, I'd prefer one that does a little >>>> better on gas, and has better vision. All the Vettes I've ridden in >>>> felt like I was sitting in a bathtub. >>>> >>> Low center of gravity for cornering. Any ZR1 could wipe the floor with >>> any NASCAR car on a road circuit given two proper race drivers in >>> them.. >>> >> And thus, pretty useless on a street car, unless you live someplace with >> very flat streets, no potholes, and it is always warm and sunny. And no >> cops, of course. >> > I figured that's what you were meaning. > > Same could be said for anyone owning a Ferrari, Lotus or Lambo and so on. > Moreso in fact. However, there's at least two road courses that have track > days less than 100 miles from here. There's a guy that parks his > Testerossa outside a restaurant in Little Italy here every day except in > winter of course. I would guess he saves on maintenance by never driving > it hard. There's a guy around here that never drives his Ferrari over ~40 MPH. Never even takes it on the highway, always uses secondary roads! That said, I can prodly and truthfully say I blew off a Ferrari 360 with a Toyota Tercel! ;) |