Just saw mention of a Ford Pinto in another thread and it brought back memories of mine.
I was young and had recently returned from a couple years working overseas in oil exploration. I was between jobs, living temporarily with my folks, and had some cash saved for a rainy day. My dad knew a car salesman at a local ford dealership who promised he would get me a good deal. The Pinto had just come out and had an interesting look, so it became my first "new" car. Something like $2200 out the door.
On my first trip to show it off ( to visit a PSU ex-roomie and his wife in Clarion) I headed out from Lancaster on a beautiful sunny day. A couple hours later, driving west on the PA Pike at 75mph, I suddenly lost control, swerving back and forth 3-4 times before finally wrestling it off the road to a safe stop. What happened, I asked myself? Turns out the right rear tire was flat. Fortunately, traffic was light and nobody was near me when it happened. I changed the tire and finished my trip.
A couple years later I had changed career paths and was working in Pittsburgh at Chatham Center. It was snowing, so decided to get four snow tires. Driving around town was OK but when I took it on the highway, on dry roads, doing over 60 mph, the softer tread made the car react in an odd way whenever I changed lanes. The handling felt spongy and had a delayed reaction of sorts. Took a second before the car initially reacted to my turning the steering wheel, and then seemingly overreacted. I went too far left and had to re-correct on the fly. I learned how to drive it that way for a few years.
Also, on snowy or wet roads the rear tires tended to spin so I added a few bags of sand to the already small trunk, which helped.
Otherwise, my first car ran ok and had no other problems. A few years later we moved to Syracuse, and bought a new Ford Granada. It seemed like we had moved into the Big Leagues. Really liked that car.
Thats it folks. How about you? Any Pinto stories?
I was young and had recently returned from a couple years working overseas in oil exploration. I was between jobs, living temporarily with my folks, and had some cash saved for a rainy day. My dad knew a car salesman at a local ford dealership who promised he would get me a good deal. The Pinto had just come out and had an interesting look, so it became my first "new" car. Something like $2200 out the door.
On my first trip to show it off ( to visit a PSU ex-roomie and his wife in Clarion) I headed out from Lancaster on a beautiful sunny day. A couple hours later, driving west on the PA Pike at 75mph, I suddenly lost control, swerving back and forth 3-4 times before finally wrestling it off the road to a safe stop. What happened, I asked myself? Turns out the right rear tire was flat. Fortunately, traffic was light and nobody was near me when it happened. I changed the tire and finished my trip.
A couple years later I had changed career paths and was working in Pittsburgh at Chatham Center. It was snowing, so decided to get four snow tires. Driving around town was OK but when I took it on the highway, on dry roads, doing over 60 mph, the softer tread made the car react in an odd way whenever I changed lanes. The handling felt spongy and had a delayed reaction of sorts. Took a second before the car initially reacted to my turning the steering wheel, and then seemingly overreacted. I went too far left and had to re-correct on the fly. I learned how to drive it that way for a few years.
Also, on snowy or wet roads the rear tires tended to spin so I added a few bags of sand to the already small trunk, which helped.
Otherwise, my first car ran ok and had no other problems. A few years later we moved to Syracuse, and bought a new Ford Granada. It seemed like we had moved into the Big Leagues. Really liked that car.
Thats it folks. How about you? Any Pinto stories?
