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Back then, being able to go fast in a straight line was more important than being able to stop before hitting something. Back then, straight line performance at the track was more important than going the fastest around a circle with nothing but left hand turns. Now it's all three ingredients with handling just as important as acceleration and being able to stop. Go, turn, and stop, it's surprising how few cars there are that can do all three of those things that every car should do well.
A true testament to my love of cars, Gumball Rally is my favorite car movie and the French Connection with Gene Hackman and Bullitt with Steve McQueen, are my favorite car chase scenes. Top Gear, the original show from the United Kingdom that broadcasts on BBC, with Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond, and, of course, the Stig, is my favorite car television show. Every Sunday, I used to faithfully watch John Davis of MotorWeek discuss cars on public television. Being that I wasn't much in to the mechanics of cars, I didn't much care for the Pat Goss segment of how to care for your car and what to do when you experience a problem. Ralph Nadar, my hero, made us safer at any speed by demanding and championing the cause that car manufacturers make safer cars after the dismal safety record of Chevrolet's Corvair.
Lee Iacocca, right up there with Cheney, as far as I'm concerned, Devils in disguise, more concerned with profits than to recall his unsafe cars, gave us Mustangs and Pintos that exploded in rear end collisions. With the top of the gas tanks that were actually the floor of trunk, instead of positioning them where they should have been under the car, he was non-apologetic that so many loyal, Ford, automotive enthusiast fans were incinerated in a car fire. I'll never forget Lee Iacocca's comment when interviewed on 60 Minutes by correspondent Mike Wallace after being questioned about the exploding gas tanks of collector's beloved 1964 to 1970 Mustangs.
"If you really want a real safe one, trade up. After 35 years, it's time to dump that old Mustang," said Lee Iacocca.
From the lips of the man himself who was responsible for the creation of the beloved Mustang, how about that?
To be continued...
- COMMENTS
NeoRocketalmost 9 years agoYou are sooo right about the Mustang Exhaust Song. I have owned 3 Mustang GT's all 1982 model year. All my cars since my first have been Mustangs. Several 64 1/2'a and various others all standards except the 79 Mustang when i was married was an automatic. I have owned one 99 Cobra and have fallen in love with the snake. All in all I have owned 9 Mustangs so far throughout my over 45 years on this planet. Not done yet. I really like the 2011 GT... ;) Saving up...
Jjflabbergasterover 9 years agoEven Shelby Cobra replicas still have a piece of my heart.
fanfarealmost 11 years agoI have fond memories of my wife, Albertina's Mach I in Porsche yellow and if I remember correctly the Cleveland engine. I think...Sorry, my wife was the sports car fanatic. I barely knew how to wrench open the door {usually smacking a knee or a shin}, stumble into the passenger seat {often banging my head against the door frame} and clumsily fasten the seat belt {never missing the opportunity to gratuitously pinch sensitive portions of my anatomy}.
It was a pity, with her talent at peelin' and smokin' { yeah, she'd been a chorus girl, what'd that have to do how skillfully she drove?} and basically outdriving a number of SoCal street racers, that she was too sooner for becoming a professional racecar driver. It always gave me a good laugh when my tall, busty blonde got to smirk at some chauvinist asshole who deluded themselves as to their driving skills.
And I couldn't even begin to guess how many tickets she got out of. Stopped by a policeman, who was expecting to toss some JD street racer thug. To be surprised to find this very attractive, middle-age woman in the driver's seat. Batting her lovely, large brown-eyes and in the most innocent tone. "Oh officer, is there a problem? I just a smidgeon late for such & such society luncheon", or whatever bullshit she'd come up with. Hilarious.
It broke her heart, the day an idiot ran a stop sign and and pretty much totaled her Mustang. Fortunately, I was riding shotgun, so only I sustained serious injury. I'd opinionate that given a choice, she'd of rather the car undamaged over another replaceable husband. But then Tina was a remarkable woman with strong opinionates of her own.
Eventually, she was able to replace it with another sports car. A 2-door Mercury Cougar that the previous owner had beefed up and tricked out for street racing. But, I just don't believe she loved it with the same passion she adored her Mach I.
Two of the more fabulous examples of her driving skill. The first was, we were on the freeway where it does a sharp blind pin turn around Griffith Observatory Park {near one of the UC's?}. Just a split second ahead of us when we passed the blind spot, a large car was on its side, undercarriage with spinning wheels facing us. Albertina's cool reflexes just squeezed us around it through what little road was available. We could hear the traffic behind us running into the accident.
The second major incident sounds like a scene out of a movie but I was there and I saw what I saw. We were heading south on the 405 when suddenly there was a pileup ahead of us, trucks and cars. Albertina accelerated and somehow weaved us through that horror. I watched, as one of the cars ahead of us actually flew into the air. Spinning like in a bad movie scene as it flew over the safety fence and into oncoming traffic. Afterwards, when we could finally get off the freeway, was one of the very few times I ever watched my wife get the shakes. We both needed to go have our mentionables changed.
stuwatcher52almost 11 years agoObviously our talented Ms Parker is a multi-tasker and well read! I think she knows more about cars, specs and models than the above mentioned Jay Leno, my favorite car collector, restorer and preservationist. I think the message here isn't hidden, but clearly explained of the country and economic issues we face along with the lines that are drawn in society of the different 'classes'. I personally have had it all and either been swindled or gave away a lifetime fortune. Have you ever seen a poor undertaker driving around in a 22 year old clunker, dressed in jeans and shirts from Goodwill, just waiting for the first of the month so their food stamp card can be recharged? I've had some of those hot cars and some of the hot gals that go along with them too. Seems to back when there was 19 cent gasolene and nickle cokes, making 90 cents an hour I had more in my pocket between paychecks until going to elmbalmer's school. Fortunately or not, I experienced the high life before getting the funeral home sold out from under me by some greedy relation, more interested in immediate cash, than a lifetime of security. Failing personal health has left me with disability for the past 20 years, in and out hospital stays has left me with only memories of the past and each year it gets tougher and tougher to survive-but thankfully, I'm resourceful and a survivor. Like I said earlier, the message is here, you the reader has to decide what you want out of it. Keep up the good work, you too SJP are a survivor :) The Bird
