[Rupert]

I sold it for $500 to a young lady who was going to a local college.

One of my favorite rides was a '69 Roadrunner almost identical to this one...excepting that it had an automatic tranny. It was a really fine car but got lousy mpg. I drove it mostly in town and it would foul plugs often if all I did was low speed driving.Long story...but I once got a Warning ticket down near the Mexican border at Eagle Pass for 142 in a 55. It could fly!

I also sold it in '75 for $500 to a kid that was going to college. It was in perfect condition, but the gas shortages and prices dictated a more economical ride. It had a low gas warning that went on a block away from the station where you had just filled it up!

Mine was the same color and trim as this one....

You Tube

You Tube

Nowadays I still prefer smaller cars with good power like my Audi TT. Good gas mileage and easy to get around town in, and rides like a Lincoln on highway trips. The Jeep....always my favorite ride, excepting on highway trips. Been from Texas to California and once to FLorida and the Jeep will wear you out on the highway. You have to "drive" a Jeep. The TT drives itself and you just sit back and relax.

Also had a Mercury Cougar I wish I still owned.....got totaled when a girl rear-ended it at a stop sign. 351 Cleveland was a great engine. It had solid lifters and was pretty quick for a heavy car. Nice interior and I loved those sequential tail light turn signals.

Lots of really neat cars over the years, and I have owned a few of them...always wished I could own more! I am not "Brand Specific".....there are great cars made in most any brand......well, maybe not in Yugos?

I had a boss once that bought his young son a Yugo....when the kid picked it up at the dealership and drove it home his sister wanted a ride in it. She went to get in and the passenger door fell off in the driveway! Seems the dealer was trying to adjust the door and the kid picked it up while the mechanic was in the middle of the repair and on lunch break. It only got worse from there....

Regards!

---------- Post added 08-07-16 at 08:31 AM ----------

I just had to junk a 2005 GMC because the frame rusted and broke.

That is a shame! Never had that problem, but here we don't salt our roads even when we have snow/ice...which is very seldom anyhow. Some see that along the coast of Texas I am told, but not up here in the northern central part of the State.

My Ram with the little V6 just runs great and still does not consume oil. It lacks power in comparison to the Ford 302s I have been used to, but around town it is plenty adequate....and I don't do any heavy hauling.

[csa]

1992 was that period when both General Motors and Mopar seemed to have problems getting certain paints to adhere properly to the primer. Didn't have any affect on the operation, but it sure looked like a serious case of leprosy.

That paint problem went earlier than 1992, I have a 1987 GMC Suburban that has that problem. When the top started peeling, my husband fought with GM to get them to cover the repainting, which they refused, it was not their fault, rather we "abused" it! Yeah, keeping it in a garage was surely abuse; so we paid to have the top repainted. And, at that time my husband was a GM dealer, and they still refused to work with him!! Now the entire body is peeling; my grandson is going to repaint it this Fall, when I don't have to haul water daily. The Suburban only has around 130,000 miles on it, and 30,000 on a new engine; so it will last my lifetime.

Rupert, that guy sure did a great job with the seats and headliner!!!

[gaweidert]

Carol, I remember that any blue car made in the 1960's and 70's had the paint peeling off like crazy. The problem was the blue pigments in the paint changed it just enough that it just could no adhere to the primer coating for any length of time.

Rupert, A friend of mine's dad got him a used Road Runner for him to take to college in 1969. Had the 383 ci. engine with a 4 barrel carburetor. He never got into any problems with it. I doubt that he ever got it above 70 mph. His father, on the other hand, drove it like a maniac and got a lot of tickets with it. After he graduated, he sold it to a kid who wrapped it around a tree about a week later. It was one sweet set of wheels. Sad end for one of the great classic American automobiles.

[csa]

Carol, I remember that any blue car made in the 1960's and 70's had the paint peeling off like crazy.

We had & sold many GM cars thru the dealership during the 60's and 70's that were blue/other colors, with no paint problem, It wasn't until about 1984 that GM started experiencing this major paint problem on their products. It also was not limited to blue vehicles.

"The problem was the blue pigments in the paint changed it just enough that it just could no adhere to the primer coating for any length of time."

From what we could find at the time; GM started using a new paint, and began skipping one of the steps applying the paint. It really had absolutely nothing to do with the color; rather the paint itself. BTW, having the roof repainted properly in 1988, it still is holding up, like it should! No peeling, or even color shift.

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Last edited by csa; 08-07-2016 at 08:12 AM.

[lesmore49]

A guy I work with has a 2 year old Ram truck. He likes it but it has been in the shop several times for warranty repairs. He's a die hard Mopar guy but he also rarely keeps a vehicle more than 3 years so somebody like that isn't a source to go to if you plan to buy something and run it for 10-15 years. Just a PS to add to this, I just had to junk a 2005 GMC because the frame rusted and broke. The truck was mechanically great, even after 200K miles. Mechanical things can be fixed but something like a rusted through frame can't. I'm hearing from my car mechanic friends that this is showing up on 08 and 09 GM trucks as well.

Never heard about rusted through frames on GM trucks, but Toyota trucks had a recall on that issue.

[gaweidert]

Never heard about rusted through frames on GM trucks, but Toyota trucks had a recall on that issue.

The smaller Chevy and GM trucks had an issue with frames rusting through. Especially in areas that used salt on the roads in the winter, Supposedly the problem has been addressed in the latest version of the Colorado. Road salt has caused the premature death of many fine vehicles in New York.

[lesmore49]

The smaller Chevy and GM trucks had an issue with frames rusting through. Especially in areas that used salt on the roads in the winter, Supposedly the problem has been addressed in the latest version of the Colorado. Road salt has caused the premature death of many fine vehicles in New York.

My son had a 2008 Chevy Colorado with the Z 71 package. We get about 5 1/2 months of winter up here, with temps sometimes going into -30 to -35, very occasionally -40. His truck sat outside, all the time, mostly without access to an electrical outlet to run his block heater. Always started. He had about 130K on it, when he traded it in on a Jeep. Very reliable, durable.

No sign of rust on his Colorado, but although my province uses salt on the roads, our winters out here on the Canadian prairies are generally colder than the east coast, which I think lessens the effect of salt.

One of our vehicles is a 10 year old, big Buick sedan, which we Ziebarted when new. So far no rust problems...touch wood.

[wombat2go]

Anybody have a 2015~2016 GMC Terrain 4 cyl AWD? ? ... Happy etc..?

I have a specific need for to be able to slide a 32 inch ( 812mm) High by 48 inch ( 1220mm) Long load in to cargo.
OK, if only one split seat is down.
I think it is OK, but can't find the dimensions on internet.
Thanks

[reeftool]

The smaller Chevy and GM trucks had an issue with frames rusting through. Especially in areas that used salt on the roads in the winter, Supposedly the problem has been addressed in the latest version of the Colorado. Road salt has caused the premature death of many fine vehicles in New York.

Mine was a Canyon, GMC's version of the Colorado and both models are having serious rust through problems with the frames. The frames are a closed, box steel design and water gets trapped inside and they rust through from the inside so all the washing and cleaning or even undercoating won't help. Probably the best remedy would be to drill a few extra holes and flush fresh water through it but that's not very practical and besides, once you discover you have a problem, it's too late. Toyota had a similar problem with Tacomas. They made good on it by replacing the frames under thousands of trucks. GM wouldn't fix a $2 key switch! Does anybody think they would replace truck frames?

[gaweidert]

Toyota had a similar problem with Tacomas. They made good on it by replacing the frames under thousands of trucks. GM wouldn't fix a $2 key switch! Does anybody think they would replace truck frames?

Key switch problem has been around since at least the early 70's. That's when I started working on cars. It is an operator caused problem. People like to add 5 pounds (2.2Kilos) of crap their automobile key ring. It must contain every possible key they plan to use over the next 25 years plus all the cute decorations and they are all set. All that garbage starts bouncing around when the car is in motion and it eventually damages the key slot. If they just used their car key separately, no problem. That is why I have always kept my car keys apart from the rest of my mobile key collection.

This is not a new issue. It has been around for a long time. Looks like an accountant on a GM design team opted for a $1 cheaper key switch.

[lesmore49]

As far as ignition switch issues, I always keep my keys on quickly detachable rings with separate rings organized for the different purposes, on a master carabiner, so I don't have excess weight on any particular vehicle's key.

I do it with all makes of different vehicles that we have had, have done so for years. Ford, Nissan, GM, Jeep, Volvo, Toyota, etc....even on Yamaha and Matchless (old English twin) motorcycles. The ignition switch is designed to hold the ignition key, not hold innumerable keys and doodads..

In fact GM replaced switches....free... because of this issue, through a mass recall.

I get a chuckle out of those who maintain their Toyotas are trouble free. I have had two Toyota's....one a '73, another a 2007. Both bought new. The '73 had a litany of issues, rust through at two years, paint flaking off even before, electrical and head gasket issues.

I swore off Toyota till 2007. Got another one. We had a number of sensor and electronic issues with that car. But the 2007 Matrix was a much better car than the 1973 Toyota. But still our 2007 Toyota had a number of issues, primarily to do with electronics in our specific car.

What I'm saying is, that Toyota is no different from any other make. There are problems with Toyota, some pattern issues, some not. But then again, there will be problems with every make...whether it is a very expensive European luxury car, or a cheap stripper Asian econocar . It doesn't matter, things will happen to a mechanical device with many parts, during it's lifetime.

When you get down to it, any and all vehicles, no matter the make, are an assemblage of many components, different materials, lot's of sensitive electronic equipment and complicated mechanical systems, all designed to work in extremes of heat, cold, heavy vibration and harshness, owner abuse and owner lack of maintenance.

When you consider the complexity of design and severe service, lack of maintenance, many vehicles are subjected to, for year after year, it is amazing that so many vehicles continue to provide reliable, durable service, mostly with just a few blips along the way. But, there will be problems with all all newer vehicles sold currently on the North American market. No make is exempt. If they were, there would be no need for auto parts stores and auto service departments.

Cars/trucks nowadays are generally paragons of reliability and durability compared to vehicles of yore.

---------- Post added 08-08-16 at 03:08 PM ----------

Rupert, that '69 Plymouth Roadrunner you had, was it a 383 V8 and did you have a 4 speed or a Torqueflite ?

I loved those Roadrunners/Super Bees and back then really wanted one badly. Lot's of get up and go, good handling musclecars. A buddy had a dark green Super Bee, 383, 4 speed. I seemed to recall it had a pistol grip shift handle....have I got that name right ? Anyway, very nice car with lot's of punch.

Back then, I had a '67 Camaro Coupe, RS with a 4 speed Muncie and a 327 V8. I liked it, but eventually traded it in on a '69 VW Beetle...I couldn't afford the gas 'economy' of my 327 V8.

I did take my '69 Beetle 1500cc to the local dragstrip and I recall the 1/4 mile time was around 19.4 @ 68.5 mph. Not exactly screaming down the asphalt, compared to a musclecar of the time.... ....but the VW's MPG was excellent.

[The Squirrel Mafia]

I was driving the PT Cruiser a few days ago & the driver's side tie rod nut fell out causing the tie rod to pop out of the knuckle. Can you say "steering problem"? Yeah. It was kind of hairy!

Fortunately I was on a 45 MPH road doing about 40 MPH when that happened & by pure luck I happened to be in the lane right next to the curb, so I was able to stop safely. I would have been screwed if that had happened on the freeway at lets say 65MPH......

Had to call AAA to pick it up & take it to the shop in the back yard. It took me about 3 minutes to fix it once I got a hold of 4 metric nuts. I jammed 2 nuts into the tie rod & took off the nut on the other side & jammed 2 nuts in there.

I've never had this happen to me in my 24 years of driving. The engineering for the car's suspension is so ridiculous. No castle nuts, no cotter pins, & no holes in the tie rods & other critical suspension connections. Every tie rod to knuckle connection should have those 3 basic things. I checked other suspension bolts & crap to be safe. Just about all other cars that I have ever owned had those 3 basic things!

My Miata is on jack stands with the tranny outside 'cause I gotta figure out if I'm going to rebuild it or get another used gearbox. I really need to sort that out soon. This PT Cruiser is an accident waiting to happen!

[Rupert]

Rupert, that guy sure did a great job with the seats and headliner!!!

Thanks Carol...it does look good. That guy has been in his little shop for 30+ years and may have been the only place in Texas that had a stock of the original fabric. He does all the warranty interior work in Ft Worth for Toyota, Honda and Lexus...so you know he knows his stuff.

He had a whole warehouse full of fabrics.


Still does his own sewing


Just an old tin building.....you can't always judge a book by its cover!


He also put a new headliner in my Audi TT and it is perfect!

Regards!

[csa]

Workmanship like his, is going to be a thing of the past, sadly.

I learned leather work/tooling from an old saddle maker; the only one in town. He was a gruff old guy, but was meticulous in his work, and gladly shared his expertise in teaching me. When he passed, there was no one left to make/repair leather items. I was most fortunate to have known him. His building was just a little cramped part of a larger building; but he knew where every piece of leather or tool was!

[Rupert]

Workmanship like his, is going to be a thing of the past, sadly.

We were recently driving through a little town where my Grandmother once lived.....it is still very small and mostly unchanged form 50 years ago. One of the things I recalled most was the little blacksmith shop around the corner from her house. An old guy ran it and on most days you could smell the distinct aroma of blacksmith coke in the air.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=vmn&p=blacksmith+coke#id=2&vi...c1&action=view

He was a crusty old guy but liked to tell us kids what he was doing and how it was done. Farmers brought their broken equipment and tools to him for repair. When he died there was no one to take his place. Of course, modern welders can go anywhere for many repairs, but the forging he did was superb workmanship.....and he made knives that were masterpieces. An ordinary piece of metal turned into a work of art was a fascination I won't ever forget.

Things of the past.....some of us are lucky enough to miss them instead of never knowing they existed.

Regards!