Private sector development is bad

[keepthefaith]

Still better than a Pinto.

 

I had 2 of those also. I was changing cars back then like people changing their underwear. I called them "last owner cars" because I knew when I bought them I would be the last owner.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Yeah but we're talking about an old rusty Pacer with a 4 on the floor.

 

Sign of the times. Every see how long a mid-1970's Toyota Celica lasted?... Probably half as long as the Pacer body. Same with the early Honda Civics.

 

So what is your point.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Still better than a Pinto.

 

Obviously you never seen what happens to a 1976 Toyota Celica after a hard BFLO winter (even in 1976!). Heck, same with the Landcruiser (FJ40) or Jeep CJ's... They would roll off the line with rust!

 

We had a 1981 Mazda GLC... An old road sign went in as a makeshift floorboard in 1986! That is 5 years for all you mathletes out there... Gotta admit, the thing would run without a drop of oil in its crank.

[DC Tom]

Obviously you never seen what happens to a 1976 Toyota Celica after a hard BFLO winter (even in 1976!). Heck, same with the Landcruiser (FJ40) or Jeep CJ's... They would roll off the line with rust!

 

We had a 1981 Mazda GLC... An old road sign went in as a makeshift floorboard in 1986! That is 5 years for all you mathletes out there... Gotta admit, the thing would run without a drop of oil in its crank.

 

Actually, my father had two '76 Celicas when I was growing up. He needed two, because every time one broke down, he'd cannibalize it for parts to fix the other.

 

And I also had a GLC in college. It really was a GLC, too...

[ExiledInIllinois]

Actually, my father had two '76 Celicas when I was growing up. He needed two, because every time one broke down, he'd cannibalize it for parts to fix the other.

 

And I also had a GLC in college. It really was a GLC, too...

 

Cool! My uncle had the Celica first and then moved to the FJ40 (Jeep style Landcuriser) as a second car... Go figure. He was sheet metaling body sections by the early 1980's...

 

Actually, if you can find a FJ40 (or others in that model) that isn't a heap of rust... They are quite the collector items... It didn't have heat and his 100 pound girlfriend couldn't throw the clutch in without using two feet!

 

Now the Mazda was a great little car... I think that platform moved over to many other makers (we had a 1990 Hyundai Excel that didn't give us a lick of trouble... Was very basic).

 

Like I said, it was sign of the times... Before galvanizing and better processes for painting over that galvanizing.

 

Remember the early 1990's GM's? The paint would flake right off, BUT they didn't rust!

[DC Tom]

Remember the early 1990's GM's? The paint would flake right off, BUT they didn't rust!

 

Remember?

 

My father also had an 87/88 Olds sedan - a Cutlass, I think, I don't remember exactly. And I say 87/88 because he bought it from a friend who ran a business buying totalled cars at auction and frankensteining them in to whole vehicles, so the back half of this car was an '87, while the front was an '88. Aside from vibrating like a cement mixer over 80mph (although it was perfectly smooth up to that speed), it was a great car.

 

Then the paint started flaking off. Ever see a metallic green car with tan blotches all over the front and white on the rear?

 

Man, when I think about my youth...between the Saab, the Mustang, the GLC, the Eagle, the Olds, the two Toyotas...I've read FAR too many Haynes manuals. I used to have the wiring diagram for the Saab committed to memory.