"The White House is running like a '72 Pinto."

[procon]

Someone on the O'Donnell Show just said that right after talking about Trumps remark that his WH is "a fine tuned machine"

Made me laugh!

[putitinD]

1. until someone bumped into it and it exploded!

[adigal]

15. Don't hit it in the rear!!! Especially with Easy D around!! Lawd!!!

I can't stand it. It is just insane.

[NNadir]

2. I have a feeling '72 Pintos ran better. No reason to insult Pintos. They may not have been...

...great cars, but surely they were better at being cars than the Trump administration is as being an administration.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Those are the ones that exploded in minor collisions.

Maybe they ran OK, but they were really dangerous.

[2naSalit]

19. I think it was impact from

the rear because that's where the gas tank was. I drove several of them back in the day, crappy car but got me from point a to point b, I didn't need heat because I was in SoCal at the time. Maybe I'd have a different critique if I had one in the north east. This WH troupe runs worse than a dang YUGO, and those were really unfortunate little things.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

24. Well I don't think it's quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip up sir.

[Mopar151]

35. That's an exaggeration, and they ran quite well.

The problem was a filler neck that was too short, and came out of the tank in rear collisions. This was not the case with Pinto station wagons ( I had a '72), and the Ford recall fix worked, and was easy to verify (plate and Torx screws under the gas cap) The larger of the 2 engines was the 2-liter "Cologne" SOHC 4, which was anvil-tough, and the basis of several racing series (Ultimately, the mighty "Sierra"-Cosworth YBM, turbo'd to 400+ hp in World rally). The chassis was a good deal better than the GM offering (Vega, Monza, clones), the front end was the basis for thousands of race cars, street rods, and kit cars.
The real deathtrap of the era was the misbegotten Chevette (I was a GM dealer mechanic then), which had large, pointed bolts in the rear suspension aimed at the gas tank, and inches away. The recall fix was pretty hokey, too. The rest of the car? Opel leftovers and riding lawnmower parts.

[NNadir]

36. That may be so, but they were nowhere near as dangerous as Trump though. n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

44. True. Pintos exploded only in certain collisions; Trump explodes randomly.

[HassleCat]

3. I had one!

Bought it new when I was in the military. Horrible in ice and snow. After one winter, I traded it for a Bronco.

[Dave Starsky]

9. I had a Mercury Bobcat, which was basically the same thing.

Never had a problem with it, and I ran that thing into the ground.

[HassleCat]

11. Yep. Pinto ran fine, but was too squirrely on ice and snow.

[NBachers]

27. I loved my Mercury Bobcat; my Pinto was a great car. Now if you want to talk about my friend's Vega

He bought the Vega new, and it was a non-stop curse 'till it died.

However, I get the "burst into flames" reference.

[HassleCat]

30. One of my coworkers had a Vega

It had an aluminum engine with a "siliconized block." The cylinders were supposed to be treated with some kind of silicone stuff to reduce friction and reduce wear. It didn't work. I think he got maybe 30k miles on it before it started to smoke and lose compression.

[Mopar151]

37. GM can screw up anything, to gain 10 cents a car.

The whole Vega engine was a crapshow. Even the lovely Cosworth DOHC version suffered from the crappy Vega block. Structure of the front end was so shitty thet there were 2 recalls on it. First-years had to be pulled together with a come-along, and a brace welded in. On some of the later ones, a motor mount bracket would sag to the point it bound up the steering, at a full right turn! You have not seen an unhappy customer, 'til you've seen one for that recall! (Had to jack up the engine, and weld a reinforcing plate on the frame)

[WePurrsevere]

39. Worst car I ever owned was a Vega. My job was in Troy, NY and

I lived in Schenectady. Going to my job was downhill so I could coast. First time I tried to go home up the then new Alt Route 7 hill with that car I literally had a bicyclist sip past me (and wave ) the darn car was crawling up the hill that friggin slow. The next day I start drove 20 minutes out of my way to avoid that hill and I still made it home faster.

I had wondered why on earth anyone would spray paint a car such a hideous bright fluorescent orange but I desperately needed a super cheap running car and the Vega ran and passed inspection so I shrugged it off... until that day when I learned why the bright orange made sense the embarrassing way.

OTOH I had 3 1970something Pinto wagons and absolutely LOVED them.

[NBachers]

42. "The Worst Car I Ever Owned" award has to go to my Saab 99L.

[Guilded Lilly]

28. Oh dear lord, I had one as well. Pumpkin orange. SMH.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

34. I bought a brand new Pinto for $2000.00,

the salesman said they had a hard time selling them, they did add some extra steel behind the tank though.

[longship]

4. Tin foil, skewers, and bar-b-que sauce in the glove compartment.

Just in case of a rear ender.

My mother had a Pinto. It was a horrible vehicle!

[we can do it]

5. More like a Yugo

[Warren DeMontague]

6. WRONG

I would take issue with the "running" part.

[Elwood P Dowd]

7. No, here is the official Trump White House car.

[2naSalit]

20. If they had the cousins

in that picture, it would have the whole team.

[flamingdem]

8. Hah, I had a '73

and it was barf green

It would run really well with the pedal all the way to the metal.

[ProfessorGAC]

41. So Did I!!!

I had the runabout so there was no hatch back. My cousin/brother had a Vega. My car lasted WAY longer than his did.

And, i'm surprised you say pedal to the metal. I did the math and proved my car could do 175 mph.

All i needed to do was drop it out of a plane.

[Charles Bukowski]

10. It's sailing like the Titanic...

post-iceberg.

[GoCubsGo]

13. More like a '72 Trabant 601.

[Grammy23]

14. My brother-in-law had a 70 something Pinto.

He drove it until the wheels almost came off. He Loved that car. I told him he should turn it into a planter for his back yard when it was worn out.

My assessment was tRump's administration is running like the old rattle trap driven by Jed Clampett.

[moondust]

16. "Corvair," somebody suggested.

I can't believe everybody in the press room didn't bust out laughing when TheRump said it was a "fine-tuned machine."

[procon]

18. My college boyfriend had a Corvair that was a well known party car.

He put an iced keg in the front trunk with a tap mounted in the dash. Jeebus... what we did in those days...

[moondust]

21. Great idea!!!

Whenever it decides to stop running it's...party time!!!!! (As long as it doesn't blow up and catch fire.)

[2naSalit]

22. Many a retire Corvair

was cannibalized and turned into a sand rail down in California. I'm sure there are a few still tooling about.

[HassleCat]

31. Unsafe at any speed!

[regnaD kciN]

32. '65 and later Corvairs were exceptional cars for their time

The stability issues with the early models has been designed out by the second generation, and the turbocharged Corsa models were known as "the poor man's Porsche." You still see them on the roads out here every so often.

[Mopar151]

38. When the Corvair clubs do a "track day"

The cars are beautifully turned out, and run great! There was a kit from Crown Mfg, to put a honkin' V-8 in the back seat!

[kairos12]

17. My friends had one and we kept marshmellows in the glove box.

[ThoughtCriminal]

23. Soviet 1972 Zaz 968 Zaporozhet

Ugly 27 HP junk. AND also owned by Vladimir Putin!

[putitinD]

25. that hideous thing really does symbolize the Trump white house, especially with VP driving it.

[gopiscrap]

26. that's great line

[Phoenix61]

29. Interesting analogy

It was an internal memo, the Pinto Memo, that ended up costing Ford millions in lawsuit payouts.

[Motown_Johnny]

33. An incomplete Rube Goldberg Machine is what jumped into my mind when he said it.

Just a bunch of unnecessary parts moving wildly without ever finishing any objective and having no useful purpose.

[Mopar151]

40. A Renault Alliance!

An original piece of shit, sold through AMC dealers. They all had decals in the back window proclaiming them "Motor Trend Car of the Year!" (rumor had it the award was based on who paid the "Detroit Editors" yearly bar tab at the 4 Seasons)
Irony? They were generally found on the side of the road, decal proudly displayed, with flames shooting out from beneath the hood!!!

[jeanmarc]

43. Top Secret! Pinto scene

https://m.