Ad, 1975. The low speed chase was far in the future, still.
The Pinto recall was 1978, although prior incidents led to it. The history has nuance and complexity, and important context has been lost as it was distilled into a cultural memory through the filter of time, a sound-bitey press, and more recently, a social media world that thrives on outrage.
Regardless, the ad did not age particularly well, through no real fault of Hertz’s.
Part of what made the OJ murder trial so shocking was the fact that OJ Simpson was an extremely well liked public persona bordering on wholesome. I wonder how he would have been remembered had he never brutally murdered his ex and that poor waiter.
Still remembered by an abuser by his first wife as well as Nicole’s sisters and several first responders and 911 operators. There were signs for years. So not that shocking for some.
His public persona was the safe black guy. He actively avoided activism and famously said, “I’m not black. I’m OJ.” He was close enough to cops that they handled him with kid gloves when he was arrested for the murders. Compare the slow Bronco chase to Rodney King’s treatment 2 years prior. Some communities saw him on wholesome but there was a lot more ambivalence about him elsewhere.
100% In my family he was basically Nordberg from Naked Gun. And then Nordberg killed his wife and shit stopped being funny. The whiplash between persona and person was 180° and it made people want to learn more about who OJ was as a person.
As our beloved Detective Nordberg
People today don’t realize how popular the Ford Pinto was. They were everywhere, especially on college campuses. My family went through several of them during my teenage years. We even had a Pinto Station Wagon.
My 5’2", 90 pound girlfriend played the string bass AND the tuba, and could squeeze both of them into the back of a standard Pinto hatchback. The tuning head of the string bass had to stick out the front passenger window, and she couldn’t take any passengers, but she could get to gigs.
I had another girlfriend with the rustiest Pinto I’d ever seen. She was driving me somewhere, and I realized that the floor was moving. I mentioned it, and she told me it was a cookie sheet, covering a big hole in the floor. I shifted it, and sure enough, there was a 10 inch hole in the floor, and I could see the road going past below us.
Pintos were great cars, we drove them until they fell apart, or rusted away. I haven’t seen one on the road in decades.
we drove them until they fell apart, or rusted away.
or blew up from a tap on the rear gas tank… fun times.
sure enough, there was a 10 inch hole in the floor
That’s in case you need to use Flintstone type propulsion…
That $14.99 a day in 1975 works out to $93.04 now, according to this calculator.
Huh, that’s actually not too far off of some rental prices now. It’s sad I’m surprised when something isn’t hit by runaway inflation.
You definitely wouldn’t catch them offering unlimited mileage though
They are. I have a two week rental coming up that averages out to $90/day, including taxes and it has unlimited miles, and it’s for a full size sedan. Not a compact.
Depends on the vehicle type
And the city, and the time of year. I’m in Orlando, and in the tourist off season, rentals are cheap. When it’s tourist season, though, the rentals are as expensive as anywhere in the country.
I choose to believe that the famous Bronco was a Hertz rental.
No mileage!
When they screw you over (and they will) it Hertz.
