The 50 worst car of all time by TIME magazine
09-10-07, 09:10 AM
#17
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
09-10-07, 10:31 AM
#20
Out of Warranty
Huge recall.I had two '74 Pinto Wagons in my fleet, and while one served admirably (albeit with little highway mileage), the other (the one assigned to my assistant and I occasionally drove) was a deathtrap in the making. The wagons did not have the fuel filler in the rear, which caused the tank neck to snap off in a collision, dumping fuel on the ground under the car - but this one suffered from a series of gremlins that were probably licensed to kill by a foreign government.
- Malodorous funk - it bore the ghost of a former salesman who smoked big cigars while driving. No amount of cleaning, detailing, or disassembly would remove it. It became eye-watering on a hot summer day - even to smokers.
- Clown car - with only two doors, the vestigial back seat was completely unusable by adults. Load space in the rear was impressive for its class, but the GVW rating would burst the rear tires before it was exceeded. Hauling over 200 pounds in the rear was not recommended, the front end would go light and it became a handful on the road. At its best as an urban messenger.
- The Vibra-massage - The early Pintos came with a 1.6L "English Ford" engine, the revered 105E that appeared in delivery vans and club racers for a generation. Deemed too small for American roads, a 2.0 German-built engine was probably the best of the available lot, but it appeared only briefly to be replace by a 2.3 of Ford's own design that became a vibra-massage gone mad. To say this non-balance-shaft engine was a shaker was an understatement. Sadly, a large number of these were produced and pretty well wrecked any pretensions to quality Pinto could have ever enjoyed.
- Mysterious ignition cut-out - usually when passing on the highway the engine would die and would not restart for several minutes. Caused a number of near-fatal heart attacks until all drivers were warned about cutting off 18-wheelers being possibly suicidal.
- Iffy disc brakes - Front discs were subject to odd periods of boost/no boost conditions. They appeared to be overboosted, then uncontrollable in an emergency. I personally killed one of these cars, taking out a light pole at 40 mph when the right front pad welded up to the rotor, tossing me through a lane of traffic and onto the sidewalk. Fortunately for me, the cops understood. Also discovered seat belt/harness was inadequate to keep adults from slamming their heads on the door frame only inches from your face. OW!
09-10-07, 08:39 PM
#23
Lexus Champion
Join Date: Dec 2002
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The car had way too much technology before it was ready. One of the worst cars made in terms of reliability. Newer ones are much much better, but the 02 7-series was just terrible.
09-10-07, 08:48 PM
#24
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
09-10-07, 08:50 PM
#25
Lexus Test Driver
Jeez... They flamed on the Ford Model T because of Ford's efficient assembly line (at the time), and mass produced cars. Well I guess this writer likes the idea of using bicycle and walking to work everday...20 miles out. Nothing wrong with the Model T I guess. Just blame the man who saw a slaughter house and turned it backwards into a a assembly line.
09-10-07, 09:09 PM
#27
Speaks French in Russian
Some of there reasonings sound ridiculous. The Explorer is on there because it was one of the SUV's that started the current SUV trend?? COme on. They could have came up with a better excuse than that. 
09-10-07, 10:43 PM
#28
09-12-07, 05:11 PM
#30
Lexus Fanatic
No. The main problem with the Pinto's fuel tank was not just one screw....it was the fact that Ford's managers and bean counters at the time were too cheap and stubborn to allow Ford's engineers to put an extra cross-member on the ladder frame behind the tank and protect it....they wanted the car's weight no more than 2000 lbs. and costs kept down as much as possible. The rest is history.