Posted on 07/05/2019 7:46:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The NYPD had a fleet of K cars in 1981-82. They handled good in the snow, otherwise the suspension systems in them didn’t hold up well on NYC streets. My dad bought an 81 Reliant wagon with the bigger Mitsubishi 2.8 hemi. Performance was OK it certainly was no Road Runner. But the camshaft bearings wore out under warranty, they were prone to this. Damn car sat at the dealer for almost a month because there weren’t any replacements available in the US.
My father, a self-made, successful, small-town businessman, despised Iacocca for the very reasons you mention.
I remember I teased him about Iacocca running for prez. He said, “I wouldn’t vote for him for dog-catcher.”
First time I had heard the phrase. I was in my teens. I chuckled at his vigorous contempt.
Yes, the same as the Falcon. The oldest Mustang I’ve seen was at a car show in NY. When this particular one was new it on display in the Ford Exhibit at the 1964 Worlds Fair. It had the 170 in line 6, by 65 the 200 became the base engine
Never impressed with Lee’s stable of cars in the 80’s, but that’s just me. I thought some of the foreign cars were much better, like the BMW’s of the time were well ahead domestic cars.
Made Car and Drivers 10 best list and never came off. Not sure how many of Lee's cars are on the list.
I had a Plymouth Voyager with a twin OHC Mitsubishi V6. The oil filters I found out had a metric thread that was very close to that of a standard. My garage mechanic spun the wrong thread filter onto the engine when it was in for its first oil change. I got 1/4 mile down the road before I realized I had a catastrophic loss of engine oil. OHC engine was never the same after that. Leased company car so I was stuck with it for 3 years.
YIKES!! I’ve heard horror stories like this about oil change places like Jiffy Lube (IFFY Lube?).
The Falcon was a neat car. I would have liked to have had a convertible. Ford had a weird thing going on for a while, where they'd come out with a great car concept, then over the years, destroy the concept. They turned the Thunderbird from the premiere two seater American sports car into a bloated family car, and the Mustang from being a cool pony car into a one lunged econobox.
They seem to have learned from that mistake, as the new Mustang is a return to the original roots.
Sitting in a dealership now, watching my oil get changed. Costs a little more and takes a little longer, but watching the mechanics through the window, and the difference between them and the quick lube guys is striking. I'd gotten used to oil changing guys having tattoos everywhere. Haven't seen even one on the six working today. Heckuva lot cleaner than the quick lubes, also.
Only one actual bad experience at a quick lube. Oil change, driving down the street, and heard a horrible clatter. Air filter nut had been left off and the air filter cover came off and landed in the fan belt. No serious damage.
When I was working for Austin Fire, the police dept bought a bunch of K cars. With the Texas heat, there was a problem that them running the cars 24 hours straight (three shifts) the catalytic converter would start a smoldering fire in the carpet padding under the back seat. I made, I think, three calls on that. No idea how many total problems APD had.
That’s exactly right. To a certain extent all the US manufactures ruined their pony cars. They became overweight, nose-heavy muscle cars in very short order. But with the full-size family cars getting big-block V-8’s shoe-horned into them, the marketing pull was headed to high-performance.
Lee Iococca was not himself a “capitalist”, he was a very competent manager and promoter for other capitalists. Known both as the “father of the Mustang” and as the savior of the rapidly collapsing Chrysler Corporation, he wrangled a government bailout for that company and paid off the government loan ahead of time and in full. Chrysler had been mismanaged badly for years, and Iococca walked into a tottering shell. He rapidly reorganized the various divisions, putting out first a near-clone of the Volkswagen Rabbit (Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon), soon followed by the K-Car lineup, all the while downsizing the remainder of the line, rebooting the Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare as the “big cars” of the lineup, and renamed a tricked out version of these two clone vehicles as the “Chrysler New Yorker”. His big coup was the introduction of the K-Car-based minivan, which made the vehicle of useful size for families, and carved out a whole new segment in the US market.
George Washington.
Well here I am responding to you.
And nope, unlike miserable you, who has to make your personal day attacking someone who has totally forgotten about you till you posted this attack, I’m happy as a clam.
bump
My dad bought a 1975 Chevy Nova, first car we had with a cat. The dealer would warn people who bought them not to let it idle for any length of time if they were parked 8n tall grass, particularly in the summer for that very reason.
George Washington?
You think you hate it now, wait until you drive it.
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