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Re: Re:Facts Don't Really Matter-Do They?
Author: David Smith
Date: 01-24-2015 - 20:58
mook Wrote:
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> Vega/Pinto/Gremlin (& later Pacer) were not
> govt-mandated. They came before that The issue at
> the time was that the Falcon/Corvair/etc of the
> early 1960s, which were to combat the "flood" of
> VWs & other European cars, had gone away or grown
> up, and a new crop of small cars was seen as
> needed to combat the new flood of Japanese cars as
> well as what was left of the Europeans. As with
> the Corvair, GM tried some new things and lots of
> cheap things, and if anything did worse than they
> did with the early Corvairs. The Pinto was a
> reasonable competitor against the cheap British
> stuff, but nothing else, and was just much too
> small to be safe (when built as cheaply as it was)
> in a world of giant Chevys, Fords, and Plymouth
> Furies. the Gremlin was a AMC Hornet (not a great
> car to start with) with the back end cut off
> (never great for handling or structure). The main
> way the govt got involved was, after the first gas
> shock in 1973, to mandate that govt motor pools
> get small cars to save gas - which by then mean,
> via low bid and Buy American, Vegas, Pintos, and
> Gremlins. That probably kept them alive at least a
> couple of years longer than they should have.
>
As you know, the way our government works is to first put out the "feelers" for future regulation. The 1960's was the start of the influence peddling by anti-Big 3 lobbyists, and the rat cars we previously mentioned were an attempt to head the anti's off at the pass so to speak. So while you are categorically correct when you state the Pinto/Vega/Gremlin et al pre-dated de facto government regulation, the writing was clearly on the wall by the late 60's.
Also, it should be noted that the Big 3 plus the pre-AMC wannabes did make some outstanding compact cars beforehand, namely the Rambler, the Falcon, the Valiant/Dart, and the Lark. Probably shoulda just stuck with those in the first place.
And the only railroad-related thing I can add is that the Raymond Loewy styling worked alot better on the Pennsy T1 than on the Studebakers!
-------------------------------------------------------
> Vega/Pinto/Gremlin (& later Pacer) were not
> govt-mandated. They came before that The issue at
> the time was that the Falcon/Corvair/etc of the
> early 1960s, which were to combat the "flood" of
> VWs & other European cars, had gone away or grown
> up, and a new crop of small cars was seen as
> needed to combat the new flood of Japanese cars as
> well as what was left of the Europeans. As with
> the Corvair, GM tried some new things and lots of
> cheap things, and if anything did worse than they
> did with the early Corvairs. The Pinto was a
> reasonable competitor against the cheap British
> stuff, but nothing else, and was just much too
> small to be safe (when built as cheaply as it was)
> in a world of giant Chevys, Fords, and Plymouth
> Furies. the Gremlin was a AMC Hornet (not a great
> car to start with) with the back end cut off
> (never great for handling or structure). The main
> way the govt got involved was, after the first gas
> shock in 1973, to mandate that govt motor pools
> get small cars to save gas - which by then mean,
> via low bid and Buy American, Vegas, Pintos, and
> Gremlins. That probably kept them alive at least a
> couple of years longer than they should have.
>
As you know, the way our government works is to first put out the "feelers" for future regulation. The 1960's was the start of the influence peddling by anti-Big 3 lobbyists, and the rat cars we previously mentioned were an attempt to head the anti's off at the pass so to speak. So while you are categorically correct when you state the Pinto/Vega/Gremlin et al pre-dated de facto government regulation, the writing was clearly on the wall by the late 60's.
Also, it should be noted that the Big 3 plus the pre-AMC wannabes did make some outstanding compact cars beforehand, namely the Rambler, the Falcon, the Valiant/Dart, and the Lark. Probably shoulda just stuck with those in the first place.
And the only railroad-related thing I can add is that the Raymond Loewy styling worked alot better on the Pennsy T1 than on the Studebakers!
