My first car. 71 Gold Duster .318 automatic. Gave me freedom. I went everywhere with this car. Pretty reliable. Didn't have any major issues. Those were the days.
Slant 6... un destructible motor. My friend had one with over 300k miles. The frame rotted and broke and he sold the engine to his friend and it's still running today.
Yeah but the fuel shortage meant everyone wanted the smaller high mileage subcompact with The modern overhead cam four cylinder engine Mopar was left on the sidelines waiting to rebadge a import , still saying there would never be a small Chrysler LoL
Winston Elston My first thought too. When it came to compacts in the early 70's, the big three didn't like to compare their offerings to AMC. Styling was questionable, and most people saw them as a Grandma car, or something a fleet buyer would choose. But in a side by side comparison of numbers, AMC had the best cars.
+Curt Kilsdonk Whats your point? No last laugh of Pinto and Vega - both garbage cars self destruct, and WERE A LAUGH THEN - EVEN MORE OF A LAUGH NOW!!!
@@coiledsteel8344 You missed the joke. On the show Married with Children, Al Bundy famously drove a Dodge Dart that was just a hunk of crap. It was another mark of his failure. But as much of a failure as Al Bundy was, at least he didn't drive a Vega or Pinto.
@Count Dongula Al's "Dodge" was actually a 1972 Plymouth Duster with a Slant 6. Al and everyone always referred to it as just "The Dodge" and never a Dodge Dart. I guess they weren't able to find a Dart Sport for the series. The Duster and the Dart Sport are basically the same anyway.
Yeah, just a note on the placement of the door lock. Ford and Chevy put them there so you could rest your arm on the door sill without being stabbed by the door lock. May not seem like a big deal until you drive one.
Isn't this comparison unfair? The Pinto and Vega were intended to compete with Volkswagens and Japanese imports. The Duster was in the same class as the larger Mavericks and Novas.
I love the duster but, it's not in the same class. It should be with the Maverick and the Nova. Then again, this was shown on the screen in the showroom.
Back then, they focused on the interior space, amenities and overall quality of the car. Now, it's all about technology (and to a lesser extent, MPGs).
Wow,over $2,500 dollars for a small Vega or Pinto. Hahahaha,Somebody was drunk when they priced those cars... Once Again,Video Proof that Mopar: is The Way to Go!
I went car shopping in 1976. The Chev dealer had a whole row of Vegas, optioned to the hilt, all over $5000. Around back I found a stripped BelAir 2 door sedan, their full sized car, that was only $200 more. The Ford and Plymouth dealers were similarly rapacious. The Plymouth Valiant was outstanding for lumpy bodywork and poor build quality. It looked like the product of a Special Ed shop class. No wonder so many people bought Japanese cars.
Loved my 71 2.0 4 speed Pinto. 60 series tires and Koni shocks it was untouchable on the highway between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. Passed a car as I was at the first hill leaving Scott's Valley. Thought it might be CHP but stayed on it. When I got to the summit I dropped to the speed limit. Almost got rear ended by the CHP two miles later. They were pissed because they couldn't make up an inch until I let them catch up.
As I recall, there were some slant sixes with a decided citrus tang, and when squeezed and mixed with sugar, water, and ice, were quite refreshing. Not many, but they did exist.
The comparison isn't really all that crazy. A good number of potential subcompact buyers wanted the best value for their money. The smaller size of the Pinto and Vega doesn't really help all that much if you don't live in a crowded area. The subcompact's greater gas mileage doesn't mean much if your commute to work is a few miles. For these types of buyers a compact Duster\Valiant makes a lot of sense. The Dart\Valiant\Duster platform also had a very good reputation for reliability at this point too.
@Ob Bop I liked their styling as well, particularly the Duster & Demon. A buddy back in high school had a '72 Dart, though with a 340 mileage wasn't one of it's strong points. ;-)
@@butchs.4239 Yeah the mileage thing came to matter a lot, but in 71 the extra fuel burn of even the V8 would be pennies. In 1973 I bet the Pinto buyer would be laughing like a lunatic at his neighbor's spiffy new 318 Duster.
Why does the Duster look like a real car compared to Toys??? Ok, i learned how to drive in a '72 Pinto and family converted a Camm Back Vega to a 350 but still...Hell, i wish i had a Duster now.
My favorite part is when the narrator points out that even a little tap to the rear of the Ford Pinto could be costly🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Wow if that isn't an understatement!🤣🤣🤣
IIRC the Pinto was the car that blew up whenever someone crashed into the rear of it. That cost Ford a pretty penny recalling more than one year worth of Pintos plus multiple jury verdicts declaring them responsible for deaths. I dated a woman with a 1978 Pinto, by that time Ford had redesigned the fuel system so it didn't blow up in 5mph or faster rear enders.
Plymouth is making excuses here for not having an entry in the sub compact class. Mopar didn't have one until the Mitsubishi sourced Colt a few years later. The AMC Gremlin should be in this comparison.
I had a girlfriend who owned a Pinto. She never knew that the oil or coolant needed to be checked on a regular basis. I talked her into letting me do a tune-up on it. When I checked both the oil and coolant there was none! I couldn't believe it. She had driven that car with no oil or coolant for hundreds if not thousands of miles in the summer heat of Riverside CA. I felt that I really didn't need to put either in as this little engine didn't care!
A few take aways..... The Vega air filter will out last the engine by 25,000 miles. The Vega really needed room for that bike, odds are it will be desperately needed shortly after purchase. The Pinto hatchback was a whole lot better than the one with the miniscule trunk. That Duster would probably outlast both of them by a long shot.
A friend had a Vega. I used to joke that most companies use steel made from iron, chrome, and other metals. GM found a way to mix iron with Alka Seltzer. He swore he could hear it rust after the rain.
@@cirtapseven3742 Probably had the later engine and bigger radiators added, once the engine was sorted they were decent. I've worked on a bunch in my early car repair years (friends often had them as first cars). They drove and handled pretty well. One friend restored a cosworth vega, if it was made how the original proposal of over 120HP they would have been a lot more successful. They at least didn't rust so bad in cali where I grew up. Not to say they didn't, and somehow GM managed to make a carb that dissolved when wet with gasoline.
The first new car I bought was a 1970 Duster automatic with a/c, $2,650. The second was a 1972 Pinto for my wife. The Duster was so good I sold it to my mother in law after four years. The Pinto was garbage; its engine couldn't be tuned, and its driveshaft and differential had to be replaced at 1,800 miles; it went away in the divorce.
I love little subcompact cars, and of these three I like how the Pinto looks the best. But there's only so small you can really make a RWD car before things start to get silly. The driveshaft hump in the Pinto and Vega is just cancer. My 1991 Civic was smaller than any of these cars and it had an absolutely outrageous amount of space. The newer style engine also allowed it to be revvy and excitable, whereas in 1971 I suspect your options were to buy a big slug in the Duster, or a small slug in the others. That said, a lot of the things they count as downsides, I quite like. Metric parts? As someone with a garage full of Kawasakis, yes please! Coil springs all around? Gas pump in the fuel tank? Some of these things were ahead of their time. And although no one cared just yet in 71, I do notice that Plymouth Man conveniently didn't mention fuel consumption. I bet it's a massacre on that score.
The Valiant was a compact in 1963. The Valiant Duster for 1970 was born with the large rear qtr. panels/trunk, short of cutting of the back section to be more in line as far as size goes, it competed well with the Vega and Pinto. Vega got hit with engine reliability issues early on, then Pinto with the gas filler tube, the Duster did not have any reliability issues except rusting early in the East coast areas where salt is used.
There needs to be a modern version of this Chevrolet, Ford, and Dodge vs Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Show the cars vs trucks specs. Be interesting to see since everyones opinion seems to be biased towards Japanese automobiles here in the states "they last forever" I personally don't see any 60's/70's Japanese automobiles cruising down the ole road along side my 60's and 70's vehicles (daily drivers)
vanleer69 Thanks! I was waiting for someone to make they observation! I should have gotta 1972 new American compact - like a 225 6cyl Duster, than my new 72 Toyota 4cyl Corona, which I hated (had NO issues with my 64 Ply.Val. 225 6). I drove from Cali to Colo. In 1973 - at 55mph speed limit then - Toy drove me Crazy! I should have got the Duster - much better handling, breaking/quieter/safer.
There wasn't any 60's, 70's Japanese cars on our roads over here and if there was the odd one brought over here, were would you get parts to restore it and why would you anyway. I was driving then and I never seen any. There's plenty of American junk back then too, there's only a few dozen that are restored today and that are worth anything. Go to any Car show and you see the same ones over and over again, with the odd surprise, but those aren't worth much. I lost alot of money on the stock market when the American Auto industry crashed and OH LOOK NOW, they're showing record profits, I guess so when you don't have to pay back the people the funded you. Now the stock I have in Toyota is doing just fine.
Pinto was an ugly little car but was dependable. My Dad had several and was rear-ended in his 73 Pinto by a 84 F150. That Pinto didn't explode and his Pintos did have an adjustable front seat on both sides. I don't know if it was factory but I'm 6 ft 5 inches tall and the last one I rode in of his was a 74 and with the seat slid back, I was nearly in the back seat but I had leg room. And he could put some concrete blocks in the trunk and it would go through some deep snows. I witnessed this first hand as he went everywhere in it in the Blizzard of 93 which hit East Tennessee. 2 feet of snow didn't stop that car.
Now I hate any Chrysler made car after 1980, but Dodge's trucks kept the spirit alive, if you ever look at 1972-1993 Dodge pickups, the week way there made and the equipment they used was a Carry over from the muscle car era. Like the first generation ram for instance. And mid late 70s d modes.
I'm sold! Where do I pick up my new 71 Duster? Honestly, who here would rather have a new Toyota when compared to 47 year old Plymouth? Modern cars are full of fancy electronics true, but 5G WiFi and big TV screens in the dash don't make for better driving and more reliable automobiles. And still today, there are few if any automobiles engines as tough or as reliable as the good old slant 6. Fifty years of automobile evoloution hasn't made cars much better, but it sure has made them more expensive to buy and harder to repair.....not to mention uglier, smaller, and less comfortable.
The vast majority of these cars depicted in the video rusted into pieces within a decade... less time in the rust belt. The Vega and Pinto were laughable when compared to anything being built by Toyota at the time. Once the malaise era kicked in following the first OPEC embargo, and even further worsened by the second round of OPEC sanctions against the United States and its allies, you could barely GIVE away a V8 powered Duster. Cars of today of most all makes and models are DRASTICALLY safer, more economical to operate (fuel economy, etc), last 3-5 times longer, and much much more reliable than anything being built in this era. The slant-6 from Chrysler was for its day and time a very reliable engine- yes- but they had manifold problems and they were never known to be even close to what we would call fuel efficient today. Just because something is old and better looking to the eye, doesn't factually mean it is "better".
I have had Pintos and Dusters. Dusters are not sub compact cars and My friends smoked a bunch of weed and rebuilt a 72 Ford Pinto motor in their living room in 1996 and it still runs. Chevy Vega was crap no matter what year
TRX were used by Ford (Mustang III + the SVO, Mercury Capri, Cougar, Granada EU and various different Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Saab, Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, Audi Quattro etc.) there was no good reason than more popularity of the inch measured rims and tires in mass production and pricing of the tires made only by a few manufacurers (Michelin, Avon, Continental, Dunlop. Goodyear etc.) . The TRX tires were better handling - thanks to different bead construction, less body roll, first low profile tires with run flat technology (called tdx) (1975). Still tires and wheels are one of the last ones used in non-metric dimensions in cars.
They were useless as they also shaved tread to make them handle better causing my 533i to hydroplane on NEW tires plus they were expensive and exclusive, you had to buy them from Michelin, already an expensive tire. Later Avon made replacements but I don't think that lasted long. Good riddance.
+grngs1 Im near 68, and csn tell you - although i never did anything with any of them then - i had many a "wet dream" about their hot natural sexuality/sensuality. Im 68 now, and still get a "hard on" thinking about their miniskirts and apoearance. This was BV - before viagra!
The Duster was a reliable car and could be equipped with a pretty decent engine too. Of course, when your competition is the Vega and Pinto? How could you possibly lose, unless you were a YUGO dealer?
Oh, here's how you lose. Pinto and Vega got 40mpg, and Duster got 20-something. In 71 that's not such a big deal, in 73 it sent Chrysler to the Shadow Realm. The Duster waited in line to get a gas ration at the station, while Pinto and Vega drove past and went to work like normal. Unfortunately, emissions then hit and made all the newer models completely miserable.
It would have been more reasonable to compare the Duster to the Maverick, Chevy II Nova, and AMC Hornet, the cars similar in size and concept. The Duster was really a Valiant. Or perhaps to compare the Vega and Pinto to the Plymouth Cricket.
@@Oldbmwr100rs Yeah they really were that bad. Rebadged Austin Avengers, if I remember right. Of course, when was the last time you saw a Plymouth Arrow (by Mitsubishi)?
@@winstonelston5743 I saw more of those still limping along in the 80's than any crickets! One neighbor had a cricket in their driveway for years, I never saw it move.
@@MidKid61 The Gremlin was actually the class act of US-made subcompacts, but the Duster was just a replacement for the Valiant two-door sedan. Chrysler allotted money to Dodge to fresh-up the Dart, and a similar amount to Plymouth for the Valiant. Plymouth went way outside the box with a new body built on the old Valiant front clip, floor-pan, cowl, windshield header, and front door stampings while the rest of the Valiant line got new grille and taillights and lost the boxy two-door. Again, the Duster was not a subcompact, but a true competitor in the Maverick-Nova-Hornet class. All of its dimensions were set by the size and structure of the Valiant.
My dad did . He bought a 1971 Ford Pinto for 1999 bucks . This was in late 1970 when this car was a roomer . He went to his dealer ordered it that is plain Jane . Yep ' A brand new 1971 Pinto setting at the dealer to be picked up . It arrived . My dad was kind of strange he wanted the pinto to be what was on the brochure that has not got out to the public . It was Medium Bright Yellow , I called it caution yellow . Kind of ugly but got used to it . It was ordered with the 1.6 ford German engine with the single over head cam bolted to a 4 speed manual trans and no the hatch backs did not came out yet . It had the little truck door in the back . I was about 13 years old and I was a little slow and I always thought I was a kid . I loved that car but not so much back then but now I sure do . My dad and my two oth er brothers and I went hunting in this car . It's kind of funny . This little car can go anywhere my dad wanted to go . I remember going hunting and the little car went up a grassy lane back to an old log home . I thought for sure that car would get stuck . But it did not . I was sad to see that car go . In 1975 my dad wanted to buy another car and this time in the really late summer or even may have been fall . My dad ordered another car this time was a dodge dealer . He wanted the 1977 Dodge Aspin . He want it just like the one that would be on the brochure . Well it came in . It was once again a two door coupe Aspin . Plain Jan once again but it was black in color with a tan interior . I had the slant 6 matted to a 4 speed overdrive trans . I think this was the last car he had ordered . I joined the Navy that year and the two brother was twins . Both joined the Army in 1976 . I had two other brothers that came back from NAM about 3 years earlier . Both bought a car . One brother bought a 1967 Ford Mustang and the other bought a 1969 Barracuda S fast back green in color . It was a good car . I was an auto with a 273 engine . It did not have AC but my other brother Mustang coupe was dark blue , 289 3 speed on the floor car with a spit bench seat . My first car was back in 1974 or 5 It was a 1952 Chevy 2 door hard top . I paid 75 bucks for it and drove it home . The engine hammered all the way home . Knocked like hell . The next morning I drained the oil and pulled the oil pan down . I unbolted the rod that was making the noise . Pulled it down and got it out with a 4 lb hammer . I stuffed rags up in the bore and whittled out two oak 2 X 4 's and hammered them in place . I removed the rockers and pulled the stems out . I drove it like that for 2 years . LOL . It seems that all of my brothers can make some money and things just work there way . With me it was not that way . I had one chance in making it and I failed that . I joined the Navy and after 5 weeks I was let go . I failed a test twice and had to go to medical to see a doctor about my hip that was giving me pain . I still did not stop running thought . I wanted to stay in . That was the only chance I would ever have in my life and I fking failed at that . This still haunts me to this vary day .
The Duster was classified as compact car. Pinto and Vega were classified as sub-compact cars. Both Pinto and Vega were junk. Duster and Dart were pretty good cars.
The Pinto was a safety disaster and the Vega was reliability nightmare. The Duster and Dart with the 6 were probably the most reliable cars on the road in the early 70s.
The Vega should have used the 153 ci Four. They already had it on the shelf, for heavens sake!! Bellhousings and transmissions already in the pipeline, too. Completely durable and Cast Iron.
Its always alot more for a little more money - once they have you in the showroom they will not sell you their most basic duster it would be 'here's the $3300 duster v8, alot more car for a little more money'...
I think the Duster's a good-looking enough car, but I could never stand the view from its rear. The wheelbase for the back wheels is far too skinny, and therefore makes the rear wheels seem far too inside the wheel-well. It looks top-heavy from the rear. Personally I think the Vega is the best looking of the three; however we know what happened with that.
Thats funny how the advertisment says that the ford pinto and chevy vega lack of insturmention it would rather let you about a problem after its happened. Like after engine blows up it let you after it happened thats funny!
My dad bought a new Toyota Corolla in 1971. He bought it because Popular Science magazine took statistics for that year. They said the Corolla statistically had the fewest problems. The downside was that Toyota used hydraulic clutches, and the hydraulic clutch was trouble prone. However, they weren't too expensive or time consuming to repair.
Slant 6 was the BEST straight 6 ever made, be running 10 years after the oil burning Vega had long died and Pinto exploded after hit from behind at 25 mph even though I did have a 76 Pinto MPG 2.3 with 4 speed. It did get about 29 REAL MPG and was reliable for over 100,000 miles, plenty of people weren't so lucky and the Vega engine was just TRASH, the best buy for long term would be the Duster with the never say die slant 6
I’d rather have a 250 straight six. Ever try replacing a thermostat on a 225? They are in the block vertically. Have fun getting the gasket and thermostat to stay put until you get the housing in place. Stupid design.
If it weren't for the gas tank issue, the Pinto was a darn good car, and in fact, the Mustang II, which was basically a Pinto coupe, was a very good car.
Somewhere along the way, I have owned all three. The pinto, well it was all right, it was the wagon version so it was a bit roomier than the standard... but as a teen we could get 8 people in one guy's pinto... but it wasn't much fun getting in or out, and the one who had to sit in the middle front, or "bitch" as we called it, got the parking brake lever shoved up their ass. I had a lot of trouble with the Vega, even though by the time I got hold of it, it had a iron block Monza motor in it. not any fun getting in and out of, even tho it was the wagon version as well. At the time, most people didn't consider the Dart/Duster in the same class as the pinto and vega. It was still considered a real car. As for the aluminum engine in the original Vega, the only guy I knew that had any success with it knew something the factory didn't. He drove it home from the dealer, then put a much larger radiator in it. He never had the problems that everyone else did with their Aluminum block vegas.
If Chrysler Plymouth cars were superior, why Ford's and Chevys were better sellers and Chrysler Plymouth had more mechanical problems? Thanks for the video.
Why were they comparing the compact Duster against two subcompact cars? Apples and oranges. Nobody was cross-shopping these cars. Oh yes, it's because the littlest of the big three didn't have enough money to produce it's own compact car until years later.
Actually, back in 99 I bought a 76 Plymouth Duster from this older vietnamese gentleman. He told me he had bought a brand new Chevy Vega when he first arrived in the United States. The engine failed in less than 1 year, but it was already out of warranty by then due to mileage (warranties were very short back then). Friend told him to by a Plymouth to replace it.... 23 years later that car was mine, with 200,000 miles and the old \6 ran perfectly. I beat on it constantly until a woman in a Ram truck ran a redlight and totalled it. So ... I know of at least one example where a buyer moved from Vega to Duster.
I had one of these when I was a teenager. The one they show in the video is quite plain. Mine was dark brown with a snakeskin Halo top black interior slant 6 4 Speed Stick. I love that car I wish I had another one.
The seat back release in my duster is down low like the rest of those cars, so maybe they changed it in '73? Or do I not have original duster seats like I thought?
How many "classic" Pintos , Vegas you see around for sale? How many even exist? They were "single use,"..."disposable" "tin cans," - probe to "self-destruct," much like Yugos about 10 years later.🤔😆😁🤣😃😉
It's incredible how blind Mopar designers were back then. Pinto and Vega sold like hot cakes specifically because they were small and economical. Sure, a Duster has more soul, but given the soon-to-come oil crisis, Ford and Chevrolet were in a much better spot with their little cars.
I got new 72 pinto they recalled it and fixed the gas tank it was a great little car 2000 motor 4speed hatchback better than new ones now I also had a 72 duster 340 3speed trans looking back they were better than the computer fuel injected crap they sell now I guess that's why at 70 years old I'm keeping my 94 fxrp harley carb no computer and I can fix it myself old school rules
I seem to remember sometimes having to prop the choke open with a screwdriver to get enough air through the carb to get my slant six to start, and it would backfire and stall if I was injudicious about stepping on the gas too quickly.
The only one choice of these 3 that were decent well built and safe was the Duster. Pintos exploded Vegas we're poorly built and had a lot of problems from the moment they left the assembly line.
I'll just state what most people who are watching this already know. This isn't fair. Chrysler's equivalent of the Pinto and the Vega at the time would have been a Dodge Colt, not a Plymouth Duster. Back in those days, the difference between a compact and a subcompact was extremely pronounced.
Explain me something. These pictures were slides (diapositivas), right? And they are projected for sales agent, right? And sound is for changing to the next side manually, right? I have watched many footages about comparission btwn most popular seventies cars in the US. I think cars were inpresively beautiful all! Dodge/Plymouth are for me the most lovely and amazing design. I would like American cars designers today pay atention to this kind of images. The 2006/2020 Dosge Challenger for me follows tgose lines early '70s. I noticed too bunpers in 1971 are not telescopic yet. Sorry my inperfext Englsh writing. XD Cristian, from the far city of Santiago, Chile SouthAmerica.
"the Vega engine is an aluminum design that has yet to be proven" I wonder how that went. Who knew we'd be laughing 49 years later at the absurdity of putting a slant 6 in the same comparison as the Vega ohc engine. The "optional" pinto engine is a totally different story that thing was updated well into the 00s. It's a shame Chrysler didn't do the same with the slant 6
The Vega engine really wasn't all that bad. it's just when the low oil level auto-kill switch kicked in due to low oil level (supposed to turn off the fuel pump if the car overturned), after all the other miseries the Vega had inflicted, people just walked away from them. There was a cottage industry buying non-running Vegas for next to nothing, adding a quart of oil to correct the switch, and selling them cheap.
Meh, we have the 3.6 287 HP Pentastar today. While slant six was good, Pentastar is better, in every possible way. Just passed the 10 million manufactured unit mark too, and no common flaws, all ironed out.
@@antonioederlopezlopez7341 They had gas shortage in the 70's so prices went up. People were probably in the market for a good fuel economy car back then too
I had a '71 Pinto with the 1.6l 4 cylinder engine. It was the base model, with rubber floor mats, and a manual 4 speed transmission. It cost me $300. I was happy to have a car, and to be able to drive to school, but Pintos didn't get you the girls. Fortunately, the Pinto died after only a year of hard driving, and I replaced it with a '71 Plymouth 'cuda. I became a Mopar fan from that time, and remain one to this day. Unfortunately, they are hard to find here in Tokyo.
I'm not sure about the early representation But there was No comparison between the Pinto; Vega... Duster; dusted them all but I'm not sure the Duster was in the same "Class" of car. Barely. No No No No... Plymouth was pulling fast one on this program. This was a good example of a class misrepresentation. You can argue but you know... Additionally I stepped on the pedal of the "340" 100% class mismatch. The difference would be two mice compared to a Wolly Mammoth.
I took it differently, I think they were implying duster is priced about the same but you get more comfort and a bigger car for the money. The Duster is directly compared to a Chevy Nova or Ford Maverick.
@@rodferguson3515 Dennis Weaver versus unknown antagonist in a long-nose Pete. GREAT movie. I understand it was based on a short story published in PLAYBOY, but have never found the source story.
i know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but pinto is the ugliest car ford ever built and that includes edsel "this rod gets in the way" "Electric fuel pump is in the tank" "Metric wrenches" great stuff
My first car was a Duster. I used to spend hours sanding rust off of it. One day I looked at the nameplate and noticed that if you swap the D and R in the name it would say Rusted.
Here's my views on the cars first off I'll take the duster 100% because the pinto is a bomb and my dad owned a Vega back in the 70s after totally his vallient and he hated his Vega so much he was happy to get rid of it
I owned a 73 Pinto. Drove the heck out of that little car. Had to trade it in when I moved to California in 1982 because of CA's air pollution laws. I hate California.
The sad thing is, the Vega was actually well-designed and advanced in the context of its times, but miserably executed. Part of it was that GM saw little profit to be made with such a car in the US market, so little thought went into its transition to production. The Duster was just a re-skin of the existing Valiant, even sharing the same front clip, firewall, windshield, floor pan, and rear bumper.
This video was made when the Pinto and Vega were relatively new models. So no repair trends or problems had been established yet. The Vega suffered from unnecessary over design, the engine was a mistake, when they had a durable Iron four on the shelf available for use. The Pintos' underpinnings were later used on the '74 to '78 Mustang II, a car which saved the Mustang from cancellation and spawned the Charlies' Angels television show. A car that should have been included, yes was the American Motors Gremlin, it was also officially a subcompact. So a fairer comparison might have been Gremlin, Pinto, Vega, and Cricket.
Its funny the compare the Duster to the Pinto and Vega. A better comparison would have been comparing the Duster to the Chevrolet Nova and the Ford Maverick.
We had a 71 Plymouth Duster with a slant 6.. that vehicle never gave an ounce of trouble except the body. On the other hand we had a 78 Vega.. nothing but trouble!!! That engine would quit and stall at every light. Lol
