Honda Car Forum

On 11/28/2007 10:35 AM Grumpy AuContraire spake these words of knowledge:

>
> Tegger wrote:
>> Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy@ExtraGrumpyville.com> wrote in
>> news:eB13j.56573$if6.37245@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:
>>
>>
>>>
>>>Tegger wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>I haven't checked, but I'd bet the new Civic is about the same size
>>>>as the '76 Accord.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>I'll betcha it's bigger.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Probably.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Anyway, my yardstick as to "growth," was the '55 Thunderbird. A
>>>nimble (sort of) two seater that later bacame a four seater and
>>>eventually a full sized goliath.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> That was very much on purpose. McNamara figured he had more sales in a
>> 4-seater. He was right, actually.
>>
>> Interesting that the Thunderbird eventually came to share the same
>> chassis as those gargantuan Lincoln Mark cars. Like the one Detective
>> Frank Cannon drove...
>>
>
> Yep...
>
>
>
>>>Remember the Falcon? It grew and
>>>grew eventually reing replaced by a smaller car with a "horse" name.
>>>No, not the Mustang!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The Maverick! I saw one of those the other week. It was sitting by the
>> road with a For Sale sign in the window. I always liked their styling.
>> They were a bit small on the inside for their outside size, but you
>> could get them with a 6 or a V8, which wasn't true for any of the Jap
>> cars back then...
>>
>
> Yes, I think GM's contender was the Vega which could have been a pretty
> good vehicle had they sleeved the engines instead of having simple
> aluminum bores. I know several people that sleeved 'em and after they
> were real good cars.
>
> Then, there was the Chevette that got great mileage but rode like a
> lumber wagon and was a nightmare to work on...

The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
cow) was Ford's response to Chevy's Vega, which they boldly thought was
the worst POS they could make. Ford showed them otherwise. Chevy
responded with the Chevette, correctly surmising that even Ford couldn't
make a crappier car that anyone at all would buy.


RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen
--
I bet people would like me more if my sense of self-deprecating humor
didn't suck so much.

Dave Kelsen <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in
news:474e0735$0$4978$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:


>
> The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
> cow)


Damn.

For thirty-seven years now I thought the Maverick name had to do with
horses (I'm a slow learner).

Suddenly the "horns" in the Maverick logo make perfect sense.

Boy do I feel stupid.



--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy@ExtraGrumpyville.com> wrote in
news:8Ng3j.166479$kj1.147669@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:


>
>
> Yep, and you can chuckle all the way to the bank regarding the money
> you got to spend on other things. And you have to be commended for
> keeping it up in the rust/snow belt. I would never dream of it.



It's an uphill struggle. And ultimately a losing one. The 'Teg will have a
finite life. I just don't know when will be "enough". Might be another ten
years, maybe less.

There is no rust at all where you can easily see (including in all the
usual Honda trouble spots), so the car still looks good.



>
> Maybe if your body finally rusts beyond repair, you can import a Texas
> beater and revitalize it for another seventeen years...
>
> <G>
>



The body's fine, but I'm now developing a tranny whine. I believe it to be
the bearings. The noise is only between 45 and 50mph, on acceleration in
any gear. It's only really noticeable once the tranny oil warms up, like
when I come off the highway.

However, I think 296,000 miles is a pretty good lifespan for a
transmission, don't you? It'll be over 300,000 when I replace it in the
spring...


--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

In article <474e0735$0$4978$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>,
invalid@invalid.invalid says...

> The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
> cow) was Ford's response to Chevy's Vega, which they boldly thought was
> the worst POS they could make. Ford showed them otherwise. Chevy
> responded with the Chevette, correctly surmising that even Ford couldn't
> make a crappier car that anyone at all would buy.

The three worst cars I've ever driven were a Vega, a Chevette, and a
Pontiac Sunturd, er, Sunbird. The latter gem was the car I learned to
drive in after an initial preference for motorcycles during my formative
years. It featured Pontiac's infamous, asthmatic "Iron Duke" four
coupled to a seriously agricultural 4-speed manual. After driving it
halfway across Texas one particularly hot summer, without the benefit of
a working air conditioner and with a cracked exhaust manifold that made
any conversation quieter than a shout practically impossible, the AMC
Gremlin that temporarily replaced it felt like a Bentley.

Dave

"Tegger" <tegger@tegger.c0m> wrote in message
news:Xns99F6CAAD41E03tegger@207.14.116.130...
> Dave Kelsen <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in
> news:474e0735$0$4978$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:
>
>
>>
>> The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
>> cow)
>
>
> Damn.
>
> For thirty-seven years now I thought the Maverick name had to do with
> horses (I'm a slow learner).
>
> Suddenly the "horns" in the Maverick logo make perfect sense.
>
> Boy do I feel stupid.
>
>
>
> --
> Tegger
>
Don't feel so bad Tegger, I thought it was a horse also, and my 84 year old
mom owns a '74 Maverick. I feel even more stupid

Robert A. Cunningham

Dave Kelsen wrote:
> On 11/28/2007 10:35 AM Grumpy AuContraire spake these words of knowledge:
>


snip



>
> The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
> cow) was Ford's response to Chevy's Vega, which they boldly thought was
> the worst POS they could make. Ford showed them otherwise. Chevy
> responded with the Chevette, correctly surmising that even Ford couldn't
> make a crappier car that anyone at all would buy.
>
>
> RFT!!!
> Dave Kelsen



Oh yeah....... The Pinto, Ford's infamous firebomb.

<G>

JT

Tegger wrote:

> Dave Kelsen <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in
> news:474e0735$0$4978$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:
>
>
>
>>The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
>>cow)
>
>
>
> Damn.
>
> For thirty-seven years now I thought the Maverick name had to do with
> horses (I'm a slow learner).
>
> Suddenly the "horns" in the Maverick logo make perfect sense.
>
> Boy do I feel stupid.
>
>


No need to feel so... UNLESS you believe everything claimed in them
thar' car ads..

<G>

JT

(Whose splel chekkah wants to turn "tegger" into "egger")

Tegger wrote:

> Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy@ExtraGrumpyville.com> wrote in
> news:8Ng3j.166479$kj1.147669@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:
>
>
>
>>
>>Yep, and you can chuckle all the way to the bank regarding the money
>>you got to spend on other things. And you have to be commended for
>>keeping it up in the rust/snow belt. I would never dream of it.
>
>
>
>
> It's an uphill struggle. And ultimately a losing one. The 'Teg will have a
> finite life. I just don't know when will be "enough". Might be another ten
> years, maybe less.
>
> There is no rust at all where you can easily see (including in all the
> usual Honda trouble spots), so the car still looks good.
>
>
>
>
>>Maybe if your body finally rusts beyond repair, you can import a Texas
>>beater and revitalize it for another seventeen years...
>>
>><G>
>>
>
>
>
> The body's fine, but I'm now developing a tranny whine. I believe it to be
> the bearings. The noise is only between 45 and 50mph, on acceleration in
> any gear. It's only really noticeable once the tranny oil warms up, like
> when I come off the highway.
>
> However, I think 296,000 miles is a pretty good lifespan for a
> transmission, don't you? It'll be over 300,000 when I replace it in the
> spring...
>

Sounds like pinion noise. I'd ignore it until the radio can no longer
drown it out...

JT

Dave Garrett wrote:

> In article <474e0735$0$4978$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>,
> invalid@invalid.invalid says...
>
>
>>The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
>>cow) was Ford's response to Chevy's Vega, which they boldly thought was
>>the worst POS they could make. Ford showed them otherwise. Chevy
>>responded with the Chevette, correctly surmising that even Ford couldn't
>>make a crappier car that anyone at all would buy.
>
>
> The three worst cars I've ever driven were a Vega, a Chevette, and a
> Pontiac Sunturd, er, Sunbird. The latter gem was the car I learned to
> drive in after an initial preference for motorcycles during my formative
> years. It featured Pontiac's infamous, asthmatic "Iron Duke" four
> coupled to a seriously agricultural 4-speed manual. After driving it
> halfway across Texas one particularly hot summer, without the benefit of
> a working air conditioner and with a cracked exhaust manifold that made
> any conversation quieter than a shout practically impossible, the AMC
> Gremlin that temporarily replaced it felt like a Bentley.
>
> Dave
>


In the mid 1980's, my '76 Honda Civic rusted out from under me and I
wanted another winter beater. I found a '76 Gremlin with the 258 cid
(2bbl) for $300 and drove it nearly trouble free for four years until I
took an overseas job.

It was practical, dependable but not so economical as the best I could
do was about 18 mpg. Even though it was an automatic, it didn't wait for
anyone!

That was back when I lived in salty RI and drove my Studebakers during
the summer. Now that I'm in TX, rust (thankfully) is no longer an issue
but gas mileage is, hence the gen2 Honda Civics for most tasks.

JT

Robert A. Cunningham wrote:

> "Tegger" <tegger@tegger.c0m> wrote in message
> news:Xns99F6CAAD41E03tegger@207.14.116.130...
>
>>Dave Kelsen <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in
>>news:474e0735$0$4978$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:
>>
>>
>>
>>>The Pinto (which does refer to a horse, whereas maverick refers to a
>>>cow)
>>
>>
>>Damn.
>>
>>For thirty-seven years now I thought the Maverick name had to do with
>>horses (I'm a slow learner).
>>
>>Suddenly the "horns" in the Maverick logo make perfect sense.
>>
>>Boy do I feel stupid.
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>Tegger
>>
>
> Don't feel so bad Tegger, I thought it was a horse also, and my 84 year old
> mom owns a '74 Maverick. I feel even more stupid
>
> Robert A. Cunningham
>
>


....and I always thought that it meant a "wayward" cowboy...

<G>

JT