I was the proud (briefly) owner of a '79 302 V8 Fairmont Eurosport, briefly because the pride did not last long!  The chief problem with this car was that it ate Duraspark modules in about 25000 mi.  The first time it happened was in a McDoo's parking lot in the middle of Pa with 3 kids, wife, and dog on board.  The tach was not vibrating when the engine was turning over which was a clue that the module was F--ked.  There was an auto parts dealer in walking distance and he had one at list price but he wouldn't loan me a nut driver to get the old one off. I just remember being stiffed for the nut driver which I still have and have not used since.  The second time was on the Cape May to Lewes Ferry trying to start the car to get it off the boat before I had to start paying demurrage on ship, not fun!.  It finally did start.  I think that this was a systematic problem with the Duraspark module and I have never wanted to see one again. So were they eventually improved? Can you depend on them today?

Another problem developed with the Ford/Autolite 2100 type carb. It ended up with a porosity between the main well and the float chamber.  So if the car sat overnight it drained the bowl but would start after filling the bowl, if it was shut off for a few minutes it wouldn't put enough gas in the engine to flood it.  But if it sat for about 2 or 3 hours, hot the engine got hopelessly flooded and it would crank and crank without starting. 

I bought the car new special order in the spring of '79 but it was out of warantee when all this started to happen.  The car had some nice features, bucket seats, the Mustang Dash panel, Cruiso on the floor, some styling cues that were unique to it but it was a dog at 130HP.  I think it would be a pretty rare car today but it met it end many years ago.  It had the least milage I ever put on a car when it was traded in.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.