Ugly American Cars (My Vanity Rant)

count-your-change | 9/9/2012 | count-your-change

[Salamander]

Yup...they were good at that, too.

[but mine lasted a lot longer]

The AMC Pacer is what happens if you blow on the tail pipe of a Gremlin.

[Salamander]

I also had an AMC Spirit for a while.

[A glorified Gremlin mod with 4WD]

Man, that was a fun car for a hillbilly broad.

;D

[Kickass Conservative]

8. NO ‘B’ Pillar.

If the new Camaro and Challenger didn't have the stupid “B” Pillar, with the dinky side rear window, they would look awesome, or pretty good anyway. LOL

If you look back at the 60 era Muscle Car Coupes, including the Impala / Caprice, having that uninterrupted open window space made the look of the car. My Buddy's Father had a Black 67 Impala 396 SS that I loved as much as my 69 Chevelle. It would be one of my Lotto Cars for sure.

The Feds mandate Roof Strength and people can still by Convertibles. Makes sense to me

[count-your-change]

I think some of the first T-Birds were outstanding in their styling as well. But for every Shelby there is a gray man in a gray cubicle thinking gray thoughts so as not to frighten his bosses.
Usually the gray men get their way.

[Cowman]

The AMC Pacer is what happens if you blow on the tail pipe of a Gremlin

Reminds me of the old joke about the hippie anarchist that got lip burns when he tried to blow up a bus

[count-your-change]

Yep, the dieseling effect. One way to kill it was to hold the gas down and the extra rich mix would cause a cylinder to fire against another in compression. Very risky for head gaskets but otherwise they would shake like some of the six bangers.

[central_va]

remember how bad it smelled after a car had been dieseling....

[central_va]

B-Pillars are stupid.

[Seizethecarp]

I can't verify this with a web search but the 1959 Chevy was supposedly banned from the New Jersey Turnpike because the fins created aerodynamic lift causing the rear end of the cars to lift up and flip over at turnpike speeds.

My mind may be playing tricks on me but I think I can remember seeing the 1959 Chevy listed as a banned vehicle on an NJT toll ticket. This would have been in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.

[Kickass Conservative]

You will notice that none of the Mercedes Coupes have "B" Pillars. They can build a car with a strong roof that meets the idiotic Federal Regs without having to use them.

That is one thing that sets the 60’s and 70’s American Muscle Cars apart in styling. They can imitate the look nowadays, but they can't replicate it.

[count-your-change]

Belching half burned fumes back through the carb. ah yes.
Fortunately in ‘75 much of that junk on the engines was gone and replaced with simpler hardware, still way too much but simpler.

[Yardstick]

Totally friggin bad ass. Americans sure knew how to build some mean looking cars back in the day.

[Yardstick]

I figured the belt line situation must’ve been a safety thing. All the sudden cars started looking like old men with their pants pulled up to their chin. One side effect is that hoodlines are higher too, which probably works against aerodynamics and gas mileage some. However, the extra space under the hood seems like it might make having a transverse mounted engine less necessary. Maybe this will be a step back towards inline mounted engines and rear wheel drive? (kidding myself I know...)

[Yardstick]

I don’t know if they even have parking spaces big enough for those kinds of cars nowadays.

[Smokin' Joe]

If I could find one, I would happily buy an AMC Javelin or AMX.

Yep. I had a '74 Javelin back when, and I wish I still did.

[Fresh Wind]

My friend had a 3rd generation Mustang with a 4 cylinder engine. That POS ran almost as well as a diesel as it did with the ignition turned on.

[count-your-change]

If I recall correctly the carbs had a solenoid that was supposed to snap the throttle plate closed when the engine was turned off but often didn't function properly. The timing was retarded to prevent quick acceleration or rapid timing advance, Air pumps and charcoal canisters.

Ford circulated exhaust gas around the base of the carb when the engine was cold but the solenoid for this seldom worked very long...in short the system was a mechanics nightmare.

Anyone that has never experienced owning one of these old pollution control engines can never appreciate the benefits of fuel injection.

[Fresh Wind]

I had a ‘69 VW Type 3, one of the first mass-market cars with electronic fuel injection (and the first that was really successful). It always worked flawlessly for me.

[Hot Tabasco]

I kinda like sports cars so I would nominate Ford’s 2005, 50th anniversary of the Thunderbird, as the ugliest car on the road. What an insult to the classic T-Birds that was........

[Hot Tabasco]

I kinda like sports cars so I would nominate Ford’s 2005, 50th anniversary of the Thunderbird, as the ugliest car on the road. What an insult to the classic T-Birds that was........