On 8/16/2015 11:33 AM, krw wrote:
On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 22:40:29 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 8/15/2015 10:21 PM, krw wrote:
On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 19:19:36 +0000 (UTC), John McCoy
wrote:

Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/15/2015 10:06 AM, John McCoy wrote:

And Ford got the next Mustang right. I recall back when
the Florida Highway Patrol had a bunch of turbo Mustangs
around 1980 (they had discovered that their prior cruisers,
mostly Dodges, wouldn't exceed 100mph flat out). Then,
after California talked Ford into a police package based
on the 302 V8, FHP used them until the CVPI came out.

I don't think the Mustang, even the originals were ever designed from
the ground up. IIRC originals were based on the Comet or Falcon, one
of the other small vehicles. Then the Pinto, then the "Fox" body back
to one of the others. I think only "after" the Fox body did the
Mustang get designed from the ground up.

Well, they got the platform right, if you prefer. And that
generation had much better build quality, and didn't rust,
and weren't grossly overweight and underpowered like the
Mustang II. Any way you look at it, a much better car.

Bull****. The Japanese cars of the time rusted like hell. They were
far worse than even the Detroit crap.

I don't think he mentioned anything about Japanese cars.

My mistake. I thought the thread had morphed to include the Japanese
cars.

I in another post mentioned the Corollas.... And while they may not have
been ideal they started about 20% less expensive than the Vega and
Pinto. And they did improve, which cannot be said about either of the
other two. Corollas are still around 40+ years later.

Yes, they certainly did improve. In the early '70s, they were no
better, though. They were *very* prone to rust. Worse than any
Detroit junk, even.

One thing I never quite understood was that most new brands introduced
here never bring their "A" game. Lexus and Acura probably being the
only exceptions and only because Toyota and Honda were already here and
had a good reputation by the mid 80's.

Yugo, Diahatsu, Fiat, again, Mini Cooper did not and or do not have a
good reputation for being reliable at all.