CAR AND BIKE LOVERS THREAD - MARK IV
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...ah the Scion XB "Toaster".
They do make nice taxi cabs though, you basically "step" into them like a London cab and have lots of headroom. I often request these when I call for a taxi as it is so hard with my bad joints to to climb down into and up out of a Crown Vic.
I never liked those square cars, they are every bit as ugly as the smart car!!!!
...I don't know, the toaster seems kind of "quaint" in a way and the Honda Element is incredibly practical especially for those who have an active lifestyle as it is easy to load thing into and clean out. If I ever got back into driving I'd consider an Element for going to kite festivals at the coast as when I get home I simply can hose all the sand out instead of have to spend a lot of time vacuuming,wiping, and sweeping..
Now those boxy cars of the 70s and 80s, yecch., I agree they were ugly. Family Vacation's Wagon Queen Family Truckster personified the era (rear bumper leash optional):
I wonder what that thing next to it is...looks like something from a 60's sci fi show.
Funny with the toast! Never heard it called that, but I haven't been in some circles.
Dana
Poor doggie.
Dana
No aerodynamics here;)
In the 70's, our government tried to legislate horsepower off the road, so to speak, I guess they thought take away horsepower, it would take away polution and add fuel mileage at the same time, in the 80's, they discovered that horsepower still sold cars!
Actually, I think with less horsepower, a car would work harder to keep the same pace, or get up hills and such, and so would actually use more fuel. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it seems to make sense to me. When an engine (any type of engine, gas, electric, etc.) struggles with its workload, it uses more energy. Right?
Dana
Oh yes, you are correct on that, but all the government mandates were the problem, there for a time in the late 70's and early 80's, big American cars were using more fuel and were actually poluting more, the automobile manufacturers didn't bother to lower the weight of the cars as they lowered the horsepower!
Lisa at the Beach!
...had a friend who owned a Pinto. It barely could top 35 up even a moderately steep hill on the interstate. We'd even get cars in the slow lane going around us. Even though he took care of it it's mileage was pretty poor poor such a small car.
However, it was able to make highway speed downhill with ease.
Now the strange thing here is, I had a 1980 Pinto Wagon, which ran great, had very little problem with horsepower, and I friends at the time who also owned Pinto's that they never had a problem with, in the late 70's, it wasn't usually the small cars that were a problem, even though some wouldn't climb a mole hill without slowing down for sure, but for the most part, it was the big cars that were starved for power, and one of things that brought about the recession of 1980, at least the recession that the big three were suffering!
I also had a friend who had one and the only problem he had with it was at a rail road track that had a pothole right in front of the track which allowed the car to drop down where the rail could rip the bottom of the motor off
Rail Road payed for the repairs and then Ford gave the money to Sam who as an Airman 1st with a wife and kid really needed it $322.00 a month didn't go very far even back then
..the worst of those "alleged" economy cars was this:
The glass alone made it almost as heavy as a mid sized vehicle of the day.
It was intended to be powered by a rotary engine but it's weight was too high to make it efficient.
I had the Starlet up to 80 mph when I New Hampshire once. It could handle the speed limit easily. Although, it did slow down going over the Braga Bridge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M._Braga_Jr._Memorial_Bridge) on a windy day. It gets pretty windy up there sometimes. It had, I think, a 5200 horsepower engine. I think some motorcycles had more power. But it got me around just fine.
Dana
Ah, yes, the glass dome car! There were a few similar looking cars, but none with that much glass. The Gremlin, for example. I always thought that car was ugly!
Dana
Yeah.. but the commercials for it were great!
Ah! The Pacer, usually powered by an inline 6, one of AMC's better engines for sure, but also made for a fairly heavy car!
..and was the "Mirth Mobile" in the Wayne's World film.
At the time that movie was made, the car fit right in!
..true.
And now for the Sensible Woman and her Sensible Car!
Sensible. Hmmm...wasn't that the car that caught on fire if it was rear-ended? Or was that something else?
Dana
No, you got it right, a design flaw, had a bolt protruding right behind the gas tank, and of in a rear end collision, they would tend to catch fire, but then, on the other hand, why weren't the automakers using fuel cells instead of simple gas tanks?
Yeah but not as bad as the firey Fiero
Oh, yeah...I vaguely remember something about that car, too!
Dana
Good article on that : https://carbuzz.com/news/famous-for-catching-fire-pontiac-fiero
The Fiero might have had many good attributes that were never realized, built in such a way that doing any engine work was all but impossible!
As for me, I'm getting back to my Hotrods and Girls!
Here's Pinky and Her Pink Hotord!