Vintage American small cars

Vintage American small cars

We asked AJC readers to tell us the tales of their vintage American small cars. Here's a sampling:

This is the easy-to-pick-on 1977 Ford Pinto. We asked AJC readers to tell us the tales of their vintage American small cars. Here's a sampling:

CORVAIR: Arnold Simon and his sister Maxine shared this pale green 1965 two-door during his high school years in Middleton, N.J. That same year, Ralph Nader would skewer the American auto industry with "Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile," focusing on the Corvair in the first chapter. Simon, now a Buckhead resident, thinks the book was misguided. "That car got a bum rap."

Later in life, Arnold Simon got his dream, a convertible LeBaron, which he said was terrible mechanically, but at least the top went down.

CHEVY VEGA: Alan Berman (right) and his friend Emil Rende sit on his 1971 Chevrolet Vega, which he drove for six years and 70,000 miles. Said Berman, of east Cobb County, "You could put two people in the front and two people with no legs in the back."

PINTO PONY station wagon: J.R. McMillan's parents easily kept track of their teenage son in this car. Since there was no other blue Pinto station wagon in town, they always knew where he'd been the night before. "It was a great car -- I could fit seven people in it," said J.R., now a senior at the University of Georgia. He traded the Pinto for a pickup truck several years ago and still regrets the decision.

A 1973 Capri.

An AMC Pacer from the 1970s.

A 1978 Dodge Omni.

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This is the easy-to-pick-on 1977 Ford Pinto. We asked AJC readers to tell us the tales of their vintage American small cars. Here's a sampling:

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