<VV> Re: FC is Cab Forward

[Tony Underwood]

At 12:27 hours 09/27/2004 -0500, Stephen Upham wrote:
>On Sunday, Sep 26, 2004, at 08:55 US/Central, 
>virtualvairs-request@corvair.org wrote:
>
>> Tony wrote:
>
>> "More people have been burned to death in Mustangs than in Pintos."
>
>I wonder if the majority of those were Mustangs that ran into Pintos . 

Not according to the crash test publicity-monkeys. (...unless the Mustangs
were backed into the Pintos...  ;)   The crash test folks used 4400 lb 1961
Dodge C-body behemoths recently retired from fleet service as the impacting
vehicles... and bashed them into the rears of stationary Pintos hard enough
to propel the Pinto over 150 ft away from the point of impact.   And even
then the Pintos often still refused to catch fire, so the crash test
monkeys used "sparkers" on the front of the Dodges to make sure that any
fuel which was spilled was ignited.   

Oh, they also made sure the tanks were filled to the brim (like that GMC
pickup truck fiasco) and in some cases the gas caps were removed to insure
fuel spillage "for sake of demonstration".     

This was their "official" crash test procedure.  


>. .  hmmmmmmm.  By the way, weren't they asking for trouble when they 
>bought a Ford.?   

There *is* that... although the Pinto was not actually a true genuine
Dearborn invention... having been based on a European design of the
Taunus-Ford manufacturer which also produced the vehicle which would be
imported as the Mercury Capri.  The SOHC engine and transmission were a
German design while the pushrod 1600 engine was an English piece, while the
chassis platform itself was a reflection of Taunus... all divisions of
Ford's European holdings   That's one of the reasons the Pinto was
developed as quickly as it was (which is touted by the "Get Ford" safety
nazis as "irresponsible" due to inadequate time spend on R&D) seeing as how
it was a development of a pre-existing design, courtesy of the Teutonic
fellows wearing red-yellow-black.    

Of course this escaped those who screamed how the Pinto had been "rushed"
through R&D...  after the Corvair fiasco had died down, I suppose the
safety nazis needed someone else to pick on, and along came the Pinto,
which was poised to plonk Vegas into oblivion and become the USA's most
popular compact car, dethroning even the ubiquitous Beetle.    What better
target to "take down a notch or two" than the new hero on the block?   

Same way with the Chrysler minivans and that rear hatch which was supposed
to be "deadly" in that it could come loose in a rear end collision.   More
of the same, with  bogus crash tests etc.    The Mopar minivans were the
new heros on the block, time to take *Them* down a notch... 

Oh well, that's life.   There's always somebody ready to go after anyone
who's popular.   


>GGG    If only they had the good common sense to buy 
>the best car America has ever produced, our beloved Corvairs.  Ahhhhhh.

There's merit to that statement.   



>BTW  Lates rate, earlies are surly.



Don't start with me...   I'll sic my 4-door on you.   


...soon as I get its engine back together and back in the car.   



tony..