Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[cqaigy2]

Do you remember ever having model rockets as a kid a those little rocket motors? On that piece where the filmed the pickup catching on fire in a simulated accident they had those rocket motors underneath to make sure it caught on fire. They later said it was to just emphasize their point.

Ah yes, the dramatic picture of something else, to emphasize something different. I'd almost be ok with that, cause i know viewers love dramatic stuff, but it would be nice if the noted that it was a dramatization and not a real event.

 

[Oaktree]

Pintos were tough for what they were though. A couple of friends had them in high school and beat the crap out of them the way that only high school kids can do.

My first wife had a '75, I didn't think it was a bad car, though I wouldn't put anyone I liked very much in the back seat.
Certainly no worse than anyone else's small car of the era.
IMHO they got a bad rap for the gas tank issue, a rear, unprotected tank was pretty much the norm back then. As I recall, in the big trial everyone remembers it came out that the kids driving it had filled up at a self-serve gas station and forgot to put the gas cap back on.

 

[Jstpssng]

One thing about the Pinto was that it was introduced at a time when people were starting to believe that Japanese cars were better.
It also was possibly the alltime low of quality within the auto industry.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Only Pinto I ever tangled with didn't blow up.

Back in the late 70's or early 80's I was sitting behind one in a left turn lane at an intersection. I was in my 70 GMC pickup and just chilling behind this guy while we waited for a gap in traffic so he (and then I) could turn. I was rear ended by a semi pulling a dump trailer that was doing 50 mph when he hit me. He was drunk, overweight (load) and his brakes failed. Plowed into me at full speed. I never saw him coming so at the time of impact, he hit me, and then I hit the Pinto. It was like striking 2 billiard balls together. Seemed like my world exploded, after reeling from the impact, I looked forward, and the little Pinto was gone. I thought it "blew up", but there should have been traces of hit left? He had been hit so hard (by me) that his car was several hundred yards up the street, and sitting on the oncoming side sidewalk. Took me a while to see it. Only then did I notice the semi that was impaled on the back end of my truck.

My 3/4 ton 4x4 (stock height) had hit the Pinto above it's rear hatchback handle and basically pushed the whole back end of the car down and forward. At least the Pinto didn't burst into flames (I probably hit him too high above his rear bumper and gas tank anyway).

I had been sitting behind the crosswalk in my truck with the clutch in and the brake pedal down. The Pinto driver (we all lived) had been sitting there waiting to turn with just the clutch in and no brake pedal. I brought that semi to a complete stop before we got all the way across the intersection (downtown Phoenix, big intersection). It did kill my truck though. Bent the frame all to heck so it was a total loss.

So if you're going to rear end a Pinto, hit it high up on the rear hatch. Not directly into the bumper.

 

[kenmbz]

Pinto's were so poorly made, the rear seat was a piece of cardboard with some foam.
But it was easy to work on, replaced radiator in an hour after we took the whole front of the car off.
The fenders etc. were all bolted on with thin hardware.

Of course we were replacing parts because he crashed into a snowbank while trying to do spin outs in a mall parking lot

There were two cars we carried mallets in, that pinto and my mothers pacer.
We used it to pound the linkage when it wouldn't go into gear, which was pretty often.

 

[4570Man]

Pinto's were so poorly made, the rear seat was a piece of cardboard with some foam.
But it was easy to work on, replaced radiator in an hour after we took the whole front of the car off.
The fenders etc. were all bolted on with thin hardware.

Of course we were replacing parts because he crashed into a snowbank while trying to do spin outs in a mall parking lot

There were two cars we carried mallets in, that pinto and my mothers pacer.
We used it to pound the linkage when it wouldn't go into gear, which was pretty often.

A pinto never claimed to be long lasting quality. They were cheap.

 

[Oaktree]

One thing about the Pinto was that it was introduced at a time when people were starting to believe that Japanese cars were better.
It also was possibly the alltime low of quality within the auto industry.

Agreed. I'd be hard pressed to name much of anything foreign or domestic that was very good in the 70s/early 80s. The Japanese makes didn't have as many QC issues as many domestic ones did, but they were so cheaply built that they were nothing but rust within a couple years.

 

[kenmbz]

The Japanese used recycled metal in the 70's, giving them the edge as the US later had to play catchup.

 

[cqaigy2]

Ha ha, that rubber mallet remark brought back some quality memories of laying in the slush to beat the ice off shifting linkages.

 

[Jstpssng]

Ha ha, that rubber mallet remark brought back some quality memories of laying in the slush to beat the ice off shifting linkages.

It wasn't limited to cars of that vintage, either. Those old "3 on the tree's" were notorious for that as they aged. One January I was in Sears parking lot when a woman asked if I could help her get her shifter unjammed. It's easy to do, just a pain. When I released the linkage it went into neutral so when the car started rolling I instinctively put my foot under it, where my steel toe stopped it.
By that time her BF was there to help, so as she thanked me and asked if there was anything she could do for me I said "You could start by getting this car off my foot."