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  #151  
Old 10-08-2013, 01:15 PM
Tim R. Tim R. is offline
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Not quite as nice as some of the cars here, but this little guy got me around for almost 8 years. It was my first car, a 1989 Ford Festiva my neighbor sold me shortly after I turned 15.

It was really run down (I got it for $200) and nobody expected the car to last long, but I proved them wrong by buying a repair manual and learning how to fix it. The car never left me stranded, and I drove it cross-country several times.

I sold it to a mechanic, who still drives it daily, when I got a 2006 Toyota Rav4. It's nice having a newer car, but it just doesn't have the character my Festiva had.
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  #152  
Old 10-08-2013, 01:31 PM
Tim R. Tim R. is offline
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Another vehicle I had, which I still regret selling, was this 1976 Ford Courier. Probably the only truck I've driven that got 40 mpg.

I found it on Craigslist as a project that never got finished. The guy had already done some bodywork and fixed a bunch of mechanical issues. All I had to do was drop in the newly rebuilt engine.

It was a fun, quirky little truck. Driving it was a real learning experience. It introduced me to the world of points and condensers, lap seatbelts, choke knobs, non-power steering, mechanical lifters and manual drum brakes.

Sadly, times were tight and I had to sell the Courier. I really should have sucked it up and kept the truck, I've never seen another quite like it.
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  #153  
Old 10-08-2013, 01:51 PM
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Somehow that looks more like a Toyota than a ford to me.
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  #154  
Old 10-08-2013, 09:32 PM
Tim R. Tim R. is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M View Post
Somehow that looks more like a Toyota than a ford to me.
Almost...it's a rebadged Mazda B1800
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  #155  
Old 10-09-2013, 09:58 PM
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Tim, great to see that Courier! My father had one in the late 70s, it was his "gas crunch" vehicle. Man, that thing was tough. I remember him stacking firewood until it was above the cab roof, constantly abusing that thing. People told him it would be worn out at 50k. Sure enough, as soon as the odometer rolled over it started burning oil like crazy.

Festivas always seemed to popular with mechanics...when they were new there were several guys at the local Ford dealer shop who used them as daily drivers. My wife had one before we met, totalled when somebody rear ended her at a stoplight.
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  #156  
Old 10-12-2013, 12:40 PM
Tim R. Tim R. is offline
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Thanks!

The Northwest is a virtual museum of old cars. Stuff you'd never see anywhere else still roams the roads. Classic Minis (sold new here in the 60s), WWII-era farm trucks, DeLoreans, Yugos, Checker Marathons, Honda CVCCs, Daihatsu Rockys...you name it, it's probably out there.

I liked the Festiva because it was a very simple car. Not much to go wrong and very easy to fix. Which is probably what made it popular with mechanics. And virtually every part interchanged with Kias and Mazdas. To this day Festivas have quite a cult following.

Those Couriers didn't survive the years well, unfortunately. They were built with thin sheet metal and the tiny engine wasn't powerful enough. Despite all that, they could handle a real pounding and never complained. Mine had a pretty rough life, and was cobbled together with the best of a half dozen trucks.

You ever seen a Mazda REPU? It was a variant of a Courier with a rotary engine. Incredibly rare and probably the only rotary-powered truck ever made.


-Tim

Quote:
Originally Posted by bgadow View Post
Tim, great to see that Courier! My father had one in the late 70s, it was his "gas crunch" vehicle. Man, that thing was tough. I remember him stacking firewood until it was above the cab roof, constantly
abusing that thing. People told him it would be worn out at 50k. Sure enough, as soon as the odometer rolled over it started burning oil like crazy.

Festivas always seemed to popular with mechanics...when they were new there were several guys at the local Ford dealer shop who used them as daily drivers. My wife had one before we met, totalled when somebody rear ended her at a stoplight.
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  #157  
Old 10-12-2013, 10:34 PM
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I've only seen the REPU (I didn't know it by name until you mentioned it) in pictures. As a little kid I thought my Dad was saying that his truck had a "Monza" engine! I used to always sit in the middle of the seat and he would let me do the shifting while he worked the clutch. One of his favorite things to do: just near our house was what passes as a hill around here (not much of one!) and every time we would get to that spot in the road Dad would kill the ignition, let it coast down the hill, then turn the key back on causing a real nice series of backfires. He did that pretty much every single time-I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled! Another time I recall him driving through a corn field, around harvest time...I'm not sure why he would have done that, but I was by his side as usual and it was a ball...there were so many cornstalks stuck in the front that he had to pull the grille off to clean it out. He had rollbars on it, and painted it about once a year. (started off baby blue, then it was white, then finally a pretty dark blue metallic) When he went to trade it in (on a used '76 Dodge D100) the salesman made the mistake of not taking the Courier for a test drive, so he found out too late about all the blue smoke.
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  #158  
Old 10-16-2013, 11:56 AM
Tim R. Tim R. is offline
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Sounds like you had a fun Dad! Couldn't see mine ever driving through cornfields or letting me shift.

I used to do the exact backfiring trick your Dad did. It would also backfire if I let the clutch go too quickly while the engine was still cold. The neighbors probably rejoiced when I finally sold it.

Usually you hear about the dealer nickle-and-diming people on their trade ins. Sounds like your Dad turned the tables on them. I know I'd be grinning from ear to ear if I traded in my beater and they didn't bother to take it for a spin...

Quote:
Originally Posted by bgadow View Post
I've only seen the REPU (I didn't know it by name until you mentioned it) in pictures. As a little kid I thought my Dad was saying that his truck had a "Monza" engine! I used to always sit in the middle of the seat and he would let me do the shifting while he worked the clutch. One of his favorite things to do: just near our house was what passes as a hill around here (not much of one!) and every time we would get to that spot in the road Dad would kill the ignition, let it coast down the hill, then turn the key back on causing a real nice series of backfires. He did that pretty much every single time-I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled! Another time I recall him driving through a corn field, around harvest time...I'm not sure why he would have done that, but I was by his side as usual and it was a ball...there were so many cornstalks stuck in the front that he had to pull the grille off to clean it out. He had rollbars on it, and painted it about once a year. (started off baby blue, then it was white, then finally a pretty dark blue metallic) When he went to trade it in (on a used '76 Dodge D100) the salesman made the mistake of not taking the Courier for a test drive, so he found out too late about all the blue smoke.
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  #159  
Old 10-27-2013, 08:24 AM
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sampson159 sampson159 is offline
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worked on many of those courier trucks back in my wrenching days.i liked them.i also liked the ford pinto.saw many of those with well over 150k on them and still going strong.my current daily driver is a 1995 cadillac hearse.55k with a red leather interior.350 LT1 under the hood that gets 27 mpg on the highway.intown i can get 21 mpg.i get many strange looks and some people actually pull over when they see me coming
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  #160  
Old 10-27-2013, 11:08 AM
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Jon A. Jon A. is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sampson159 View Post
worked on many of those courier trucks back in my wrenching days.i liked them.i also liked the ford pinto.saw many of those with well over 150k on them and still going strong.my current daily driver is a 1995 cadillac hearse.55k with a red leather interior.350 LT1 under the hood that gets 27 mpg on the highway.intown i can get 21 mpg.i get many strange looks and some people actually pull over when they see me coming
Haha

I like the 1975-78 Mercury Bobcat wagons, the Pinto is just slightly too plain looking for my liking. Then for 1979-80, the Bobcat shared front-end sheet metal with the Pinto, so I don't care much for either of those.
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  #161  
Old 10-27-2013, 05:07 PM
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sampson159 sampson159 is offline
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like the 2300 engine myself.those were good little cars that got a bad rap over the gas tank.of course if any car got hit from behind at 100 mph i think they would burst into flames too
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  #162  
Old 10-27-2013, 07:01 PM
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The 2300 engine is the better choice, the 2.8 would get hot easily. You're right about other cars being just as likely to catch fire when rear-ended at high speed, no idea why the Pintos and Bobcats got most of the bad PR for it. The wagons are safer in that regard as they use different fuel filler routing and have more clearance between the gas tank and differential bolts.
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  #163  
Old 12-10-2013, 03:20 PM
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maxhifi maxhifi is offline
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This is my 1969 Ford F-100 Custom Heavy Duty Special. I've had it for over 3 years now. It was bought new here in Phoenix and has spent its entire life here. Slowly restoring it. It has a 360 V8 with a 4spd manual.


Now that is a familiar face - looks like a nice rust free version of my '68... nice to see someone else here has one
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  #164  
Old 12-10-2013, 04:52 PM
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The pinto, Ford, got a bad rap on the gas tank not because it burst into flames at relatively low speed crashes, but mostly for the fact that ford disregarded the lives of their customers when it was revealed they knew about the potential for fires in their own tests. And that for less than $12.00 per car they could have used different bolts, and possibly a shield to keep the tank from getting punctured, and gas spraying in a way to make the fire worse.... The car itself, I liked, but it was no great car and deteriorated quite quickly, like the other american cars of the time.....

When you consider how many were actually made, its hard to believe you almost can't find one on the road today.... But there are actually K-cars running around, even though the pinto had about 1 million more sold in their production run...
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Last edited by Username1; 12-10-2013 at 05:22 PM.
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  #165  
Old 12-10-2013, 06:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Username1 View Post
The pinto, Ford, got a bad rap on the gas tank not because it burst into flames at relatively low speed crashes, but mostly for the fact that ford disregarded the lives of their customers when it was revealed they knew about the potential for fires in their own tests. And that for less than $12.00 per car they could have used different bolts, and possibly a shield to keep the tank from getting punctured, and gas spraying in a way to make the fire worse.... The car itself, I liked, but it was no great car and deteriorated quite quickly, like the other american cars of the time.....

When you consider how many were actually made, its hard to believe you almost can't find one on the road today.... But there are actually K-cars running around, even though the pinto had about 1 million more sold in their production run...
Yeah, apparently, FoMoCo learnt NOTHING from the Chevy Corvair debacle from about 10 yrs before that...You remember, how the Corvair would flip at relatively slow speeds, but if they'd installed a $15 sway bar on 'em, it pretty much solved the problem ? Sometimes, I REALLY think the car companies SHOULD have been allowed to go under..
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