Pinto Car Club of America

Shiny is Good! => General Pinto Talk => Topic started by: gordie on May 19, 2008, 01:30:48 PM

Title: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: gordie on May 19, 2008, 01:30:48 PM
Well,  Ralph Nader certainly was the catalist and voice that spelled the end of the Corvair and Pinto many years ago.  Unfortunatly the Corvair really was a bad handleing car when they were first introduced but by the time Nader got wind of it Chevrolet had straightened out the problems and the 1965 and up Corvairs were much better and probably equal to any other car its size.  The Pinto of course got its' bad reputation when two girls got rear ended by a large truck going over sixty miles an hour and the gas tank suffered a pin size hole which sprayed gasoline thruout the car and the resultant fire caused a horrible death for the two occupants.  A quick fix included a plastic deflector that would not allow spilled gasoline to spray forward but deflected it down.  It is too bad that the Pinto got such a bad reputation from that one accident but even without a fire it is doubtful that anyone could walk away from that many tons hurtling down on them from from the rear.  I drove my Pintos for many years after that and even got Pintos for my daughters who loved them.  What kind of automobile enthusiast was Ralph Nader and what kind of cars did he drive?  I have heard that he never learned to drive and to this day does not have a drivers license  Interesting!
Title: Re: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: CHEAPRACER on May 19, 2008, 10:38:41 PM
Ralph Nader & Gloria Allred for president and vice president :showback:
Title: Re: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: gordie on May 19, 2008, 10:52:24 PM
What a great idea but the scary thing is that he did run for president a couple of times!
Title: Re: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: D.R.Ball on May 19, 2008, 11:20:10 PM
He's still running for President again.......
Title: Re: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: Wittsend on May 19, 2008, 11:34:58 PM
Gee, what kind of lunatic must I be.  I drive a 1973 Pinto wagon and have a 1961 Corvair wagon waiting for "some day..."   Maybe I can become some death defying carnival act.  :amazed:

Oh, yea, and wouldn't the world have been a better place if Pat Paulson had been elected President!
Tom
Title: Re: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: dga57 on May 21, 2008, 02:21:25 AM
Pat Paulson... now there's a name I haven't heard in a while!!!  I liked his idea for change in the White House.  He was going to have it painted blue! :laugh:
Dwayne :smile:
Title: Re: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: Crunluath on May 21, 2008, 06:03:16 AM
How come nobody ever talks about all the Volkswagen bugs that have rolled over on their tops in parking lots?  The bugs had the exact same swing arm suspension as the early Corvairs!!!  Or... how 'bout in the Bug if the gas tank side of the fuel line is loose, the whole interior of the car gets filled with gas?
It's a conspiracy I say !
Title: Re: Ralph Nader and the demise of the Pinto and Corvair
Post by: D.R.Ball on May 31, 2008, 09:30:59 AM
Hell that's easy because they fixed the trouble without MOTHER JONES dropping the dime on them.....The 1968's had a IRS rear end.......