Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed for May 16, 2018

Anything else?

I had one of those PsoS. It had all the problems that Vegas became noted for. Burned oil, coolant system only worked below 30F, it eventually rusted away to nothing. Handled well, though.

One of my cousins bought a Vega (even found one that hadn’t started to rust in the showroom – a rare bird!) and brought it to grandma;s to show it off. Another cousin said “Watch this!”, and lightly pressed his knee on the driver’s door; this caused a dent about half the size of the door itself. The owner, needless to say, freaked immensely – until he reached in the window, smacked the inside of the door, and it popped right back out.

Gas was going up, people were starting to care about the environment and to demand smaller cars. So FoMoCo & GM said “We’ll show them; they’ll be begging for land barges again in no time!” and gave us the Pinto & Vega. Fooled them; everybody started buying Japanese & European cars, where they didn’t equate “small” with “junk”, and Detroit has never recovered.

Ah, the Vega, otherwise known (in my family anyway) as the rolling turd. Built with an aluminum engine block so if it overheated even once you needed a new engine.

Just when you think life can’t get any worst… it always surprises you.

Could be worse, could be a Pinto.

Mine was a Ford pickup.

‘…and everyone knows you’re wearing a kilt!’

I was feeling sad, miserable, and my life was going to hell, when a voice from the heavens said “cheer up, things could be worse”.

So I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse.

Lewis Grizzard has a routine about his Vega. He said it was the only car he never forgave. He left it parked in a bad part of town with the keys in the ignition, and hid in an alley with a set of jumper cables in case the thief couldn’t start it.

Binkley’s dad is still married? I thought he was a single parent. Never seen even a mention of B’s mother before this.

I knew a guy that had a Vega. Guess what color it was? That’s right, lemon yellow…

Dad had a Vega. He had bought a Mazda RX2 but it had many problems. So much so that the dealer actually gave him a full refund. In the early 70’s. There may have been threats involved.

He went right out and bought the Vega. It didn’t last long. He traded it for an AMC Hornet sedan. He personally maintained that car and kept it on the road until he died in 2003.

“Yo, Vega! Here I come!”

Young Binkley: “Dad? Dad?DAD?!”

Sometimes I think Binkley actually wants to be an orphan.