Something I saw while walking the dog: I have seen this Ford Pinto parked at the Lake Murray parking lot dozens of times over the 10+ years that I’ve been walking there. I finally saw it drive in, and a woman got out from behind the steering wheel, so I had an opportunity to talk with her and find out more about the car.

She and her husband have owned the car for 50 years. They bought it new in March 1974, and she says it is very easy to ... https://mitchw.blog/2024/09/18/something-i-saw.html

@mitchw Looks like it’s in good condition.

@mitchw This makes me wonder if my mom's old 1985 Plymouth Reliant K-car is still on the road in the Antelope Valley outside Los Angeles where she sold it to a friend. I really should have kept it but I was barely 16 and dad gave me the Datsun 200SX instead

@starrwulfe Datsun 200sx is a cool car, particularly for a teen-ager.

@mitchw I have a list of things I’ve said that I regret. One of them was when my mom got her very first new car (they’d all been hand-me-downs from my dad before that.) It was a 1974 Ford Pinto and I mocked her for it. I still feel bad that I was mean on what was a super fun day for her. She did say that they figured buying the car AFTER the other ones blew up that it was probably one of the safest cars you could buy.

@mitchw true— and it was a 5 speed so I had to learn how to drive manual transmission which is a good skill to have.

But I probably could’ve kept mom’s car going a bit longer than dad’s since those K-cars were built like small tanks.

@podfeet It was pre-disastered!

@starrwulfe I learned to drive manual in the 1980s, but not well. I was great on the flat but steep hills were my downfall.

@hawaiiboy My favorite teacher in junior high in L.A. had an Isuzu Pup that was dropped 2” and to this day I’m convinced it’s why my dad bought an ‘85 Toyota pickup and did the same low rider drop and put mags on it. We both used to say how nice that truck was whenever he came up to the school. I miss my daddy’s truck more then him I’ll bet too