As an ecuadorian i can just tell you that those Hyundai Pony cars were beaten to death in the ecuadorian 80s roads... and they just keep on running..some until the mid 90s. Yes, rust was a huge problem, but the Hyundai motors keep on running. The Ponys were really loved by taxi drivers and people in general. Hyundai is still (with Chevrolet) one of the most respected brands, they even have here a very modern assemble facility called Neohyundai where they build the Hyundai Grand i10. Congratulation for this great mini-documentary.
I remember Hyundai and Kia when they first entered the American market being the awful little things you bought if you couldn't afford a Honda or Toyota. They've come so far to be the rivals of anything coming from Japan or Europe. I have a co-worker that drives 70,000+ miles a year and just upgrades to the newest Sonata every few years. My Kia Stinger is an incredible car I absolutely love. If you asked me ten years ago if when people talk to me about cars my first answer would be "have you looked at Hyundai or Kia" but here we are.
I.T. - he just lives a good hour away from the office. He also drives 1,500+ miles each way to visit family a few times a year because he doesn't like flying. We joke that he drives 70,000 a year and I drive 7,000.
@@yunus_aros jd power is a pr firm who's income is from it's customers paying for awards. I'm a mechanic and I can assure a manual transmission Honda from a decade ago will easily outlast a new Hyundai. Jd power means nothing...
I was so happy to see a video on this unloved and almost forgotten car. I'm in Canada. In 1991, I was 18 and bought my first car, a fairly rusty special edition black 1985 Hyundai Pony 1600 GLS "Pony Plus" (the "Plus" was in the price, lol) with a 5 speed manual, factory installed Bosch front fog lights (that didn't work), rear window louvers (that melted in hot summer heat), gold wheel covers (three of them fell off), gold stripes (that cracked and faded), a sunroof (the handle broke) and an AM/FM/Cassette radio. But I still loved that car. It was an as-is trade-in at a Hyundai dealer. I paid CAD $600 (about CAD $1100 or USD $850 or £650 in 2022 money). Ridiculous depreciation on a six year old car! Already a cheap car, I bought it for about 17% of what it cost new just six years earlier. I drove it from Toronto to Vancouver (about 4500 km or 2800 miles). Only broke down once, in rural Manitoba. In the dead of night. In the dead of winter. But I still loved that car. It's been easily 20 years since I saw a Hyundai Pony on the road in Canada, though I know a small number are still in existence, from beat up parts cars to pristine examples. I knew the Hyundai Pony had some 1960s Ford and Mitsubishi heritage, but not quite that much. I love the amount of research and detail you put into your videos!
I love Hyundai. I have owned, and driven many, many, cars, and I got a little 1600cc Hyundai Getz in 2004 and I have put over half a million Km's on it and it has never let me down once, other than plugs, filters, oil, brake pads and batteries I have never had to fix anything, and every part, every switch and every button still works. It has been perfect, and never broken or let me down. Thank you so much for this one.
We had an i20, few years ago. Great little car, reliable and very easy to drive. We called it "the bug" since is small but quite spacious on the inside.
We owned a Lantra and then an Elantra, both bought new in the 1990s as second cars. They weren't anything special to drive, but were well built and equipped for the money. We took both on several European holidays from the UK to Italy and they performed faultlessly. Not a car to get emotional about, but a very capable 'appliance'.
I bought one 7 years ago for a £100 at an auction (plus fees) because no-one else bid for it. I wondered what I was letting myself in for. Not a particularly exciting drive but that car never broke down and was cheap to run. It had all the toys, bells and whistles inside and out and they were all still working when I gave it to my daughter at 159k miles. Oddly we both had problems getting it insured for a reasonable price. One well known company wanted £4500 up front, no installments to insure it!! I eventually got a specialist insurer and a reasonable quote but come renewal myself and subsequently my daughter always had to hunt around for a good quote. I could never work out why that was. She sold it at 214k last year and even then, everything on it still worked. She had a breaker collect who said he might try to sell it as a whole car as it was still a good runner.
@@erik_dk842 It not just an outsider's view. Many UK motorists don't drive cars they could afford or desire because the insurance is too high. Also insurers operate as a cartel. Price comparison websites offer little difference and the website charges a commission too. UK insurers are far too ready to write off repairable cars,offering next to nothing in payouts.This affects the repair trade too. It's almost impossible to find anyone offering minor accident repair at affordable prices now.
Here in the UK, our family ran a Pony pick-up from 1984 to 1992 which was bought from new - useful little truck with just a new radiator needed in all the time it was owned. Needed a 5th gear, was tail-happy (needed a couple of concrete blocks over the back wheels!) and the tailgate rusted, but all-in-all fared a lot better than many other vehicles of the time. Cheers.
I owned both a Pony and a Stellar. They were both under powered but reliable transportation. They also were the last cars I owned with a manual choke. That was one feature that actually helped the cars sell in Canada because the manual choke helped the cars start on the most punishing winter's day.
In the early 80's the Hyundai Pony was the most common taxi that you would see on the streets in Seoul. Green and yellow were the most common colours. When trying to hail a taxi early one morning I a gaggle of about 50 of them come past from the Namsan tunnel. They must have been on their way to work because not one stopped for me. For passengers with large feet it was sometimes almost impossible to get out from the back seat as one or both feet would be stuck under the seat in front. An average ride would be about 350 won. They were wonderful days. I don't miss the 11PM curfew however. Daehan min-guk 대한민국.
Hyundai Stellar was the weapon of choice for minicabs in the UK at around the same time. Very few if any left as they were low cost, driven into the ground then scrapped. As I recall quite comfy in the back.
My grandfather was one of first few who bought one in 1984. The dealer wasn't even identified as hyundai dealer in Montreal. The dealer was called PIX-IX pony and it was on the PIX-IX boulevard in Montreal. I gave it to me as second car in early 90's and kept it till 2001. After that many winter in Canada it finally broke in half 350 000 kms later. The drivetrain still worked well. It was the first car my grandfather bought new in Canada. My grandfather was from eastern Europe.
There's a lesson to be learnt here from this video. While Hyundai was taking all the necessary baby steps to become a fledgling car company, British Leyland was taking all the required steps to finally dismantle itself and become nothing. Well done.
@Mathew Lee Mini is fine, nothing rough about it. He just said that unlike Hyundai which they are very eager to make their global presence by keep improving the production quality, British Leyland is always about internal conflicts and interest conflicts with union strikes that led to their demise.
@@gennivianello1165Furono alcuni ingegneri usciti dalla British Leyland a dare il loro importante contributo nella progettazione e realizzazione di questa vettura, che può essere considerata quello che per noi è stata la Fiat 600, ovvero una vettura che ha motorizzato un'intera nazione.
Fascinating video! I quite like the “vintage-meets-modern EV” styling of that concept Pony. It is a bit similar to the what Honda is doing with the Honda E, which I sincerely wish they sold in the US market. Hyundai has such an incredible backstory. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you my friend. A someone who sells Hyundai's in Canada, the Pony is near and dear to my heart. I think every Elantra as the Pony DNA, and we have come a long way, baby.
My family combined had around twelve of the 1990's X3 Excels (Australia). Accents/Pony elsewhere. Both single and twin cam versions. These cars were very basic but 'extremely' reliable. I retired my last one around four years ago (1998 manual twincam 2 door). That car had done 230,000K's being thrashed around Victoria's gravel country roads most of it's life. In the end all the ball joints, bushes and struts were flogged out and the clutch was starting to slip so I called it a day and cancelled the rego. That car only ever let me down once when the water pump one day just seized up making a god awful screech with rubber smoke coming out from the bonnet due to the belt being unable to turn the pump. They took abuse and neglect in their stride.
Being a former Hyundi pony owner going back to around 1988 it was a bit plasticky on the inside but within the 5 years of ownership I found it very reliable. The only part that needed replacing was the drivers external door handle which I soon learned was the same part as used on the ford cortina mk4 _ 5 .
Very much enjoy your mini docco's on mainstream cars that are interesting but would not get a lot of attention normally. Great detail and knowledge brought into it, and entertaining to watch. Love it. Thank you!
I remember the first Hyundai I saw, a gold colored Excel in 1986. This was a 5 door hatchback, and looked quite stylish at the time. Yeah, it may not have dated well, but at the time it was considered quite smart. The problem with the early units though was very poor build quality, lousy parts, one guy told me the radiator hoses failed quickly as they were very thin! However, by the early 90s quality had improved vastly, and the Excel and Sonata sold shedloads, and lasted quite well too!
We never received the pony our first Hyundai was a excel in the late 80s and they were real cheap But now they are first class Hyundai have so much to thank Mitsubishi for all their engineering work The Hyundai electric car would be the only electric car I would buy
Just want to give you a compliment for creating these documentaries for us about all these very interesting cars! These are by far the highest quality well researched video's on TH-cam about car history. And mostly common cars too. Which are the most interesting ones to me.
Another great video and amazing to see how far Hyundai have come in a relatively short time frame. Remember the pony and its big brother the stellar coming to the UK and EVERY taxi driver buying the Stellar. Thanks for the great content as always.
3:30...im in the UK & I grew up in one of these. I was born in 82. It was an S reg (old S obviously 78 i think???) - it was white. 2 door. I have only ever seen 2 of them in real life and one in the credits of the old program 'minder'. - the other one was also white- we lived in corsham and the other mitsi lancer was in corsham too. My mother had the car since new all the way up till 1998 when unfortunately a mechanic started it up in 1st gear on the ramp where it fell and got smashed. It was then sold for parts to the other person who owned the other white lancer in corsham.... I really wanted it as my first car and loved the steering wheel and smell let alone the fake 3rd party white tiger skin seats.... much missed.
There were a lot of pony/excel cars made in the 90s and they were great cars. They used older engines from the mitsubishi but they were even more reliable than the new ones. Todays hyundais can only dream of going for 200k miles without major services and those cars could do that. They were on par with toyota corolla and mazda 323.
Thanks, great info. Just look at what Hyundai and Kia have achieved from a humble Marina look alike to the Ioniq 5 and the UK what car of the year the Kia EV6. The quality of Hyundai and Kia is superb, their EVs are definitely up there with the best. Yes their ability to adapt and innovate rapidly is something the BL group lost.
I remember the cars well. My father did PR for Hyundai in the Netherlands in the early 80s. On summer holidays, I used to clean the just off the boat cars at the importer.
Considering the situation in South Korea at the time, the development of the original model was a really bold decision. As you said, Hyundai started developing the original model 6 years after its foundation. When Hyundai Motor was founded, Korea's automobile distribution rate was about one car per 500 people. There was one car per two people in the United States, one per 50 in Japan, and one per 200 in Taiwan. Taiwan’s automotive industry was way more advanced than South Korea in 60’s and 70’s At the time of Pony development, the South Korean parts industry was not really established well, and with the development of cars, suppliers were also developed as well. In the blue print of the Ital Design, only the shape, size and mounting location of the part were displayed just like design blueprint for other European manufacturers at the time. Where automotive part industries are well developed, you can just outsource these easily, but in South Korea, the detailed design of the part had to be done in-house. For example, if the blue print showed that the double round headlights in the square frame with certain the length, height, and width, Hyundai and suppliers had to design all the components such as lenses, reflectors, sockets, brackets, etc. Just like Hyundai at the time, those suppliers never designed their original parts before. Through this, Korean auto parts companies also grew together, and it became the basis for the development of the Korean automotive industry. For some additional comparison, there was Yue Long Motor Company in Taiwan, and now it is called YULON. It was founded in 1953 and the first original model (Feeling 101) was released in 1986. Founded in 1950, SEAT also assembled FIAT cars for over 30 years and released IBIZA in 1984. Hyundai Pony was developed under much more difficult situation than these cars.
Wow, I didn’t think I’d enjoy this specific video as much as the others, but this was super interesting! I had never considered how Korea got their auto brands off the ground. Here in the States, Hyundai and Kia have been doing awesome with the Telluride, Palisade, Kona, Sorento, and Genesis brand. Some embarrassing recalls, but with a 10yr, 100k warranty, those are easier to swallow.
I still remember the firsts kia models who were sold here in Canada. It was the 1994 kia sephia and the sportage. I looked to bought a sportage new at that time because I was young and had little money to put on a car. I didn't bought one but I remember the test drive and it was rugged little truck and much much smaller than the one they sell today.
I grew up in Michigan, south of Detroit and Canadians were always driving though our state in the most bizarre cars: Hyundai's in the late '70's. Me and my dad pulled up to a gas pump in Monroe one day and the car on the other side was a Skoda. On more than one occasion I saw Lada's broke down on the side of the road. Heh! Try getting a Lada Samara fixed in Monroe, Michigan in the late 1980's......
My driving school car was an early 2000s Accent. The thing that I remember about it was a clutch pedal completely devoid of feel. It was wonderfully light but you couldn't feel the friction point. As a result I never truly mastered it and took the driving test in my Mum's '91 Corolla.
WOW. I had totally forgot about the Pony until this video. It was so ubiquitous back in the 80's and I came close to buying one. Instead I ended up with a 1981 Dodge (Mitsubishi) Colt. It was a great car for me. Am thinking the Pony might not have been so good.
Reminds me of when grey-market importers dumped a gazillion old Korean-market Hyundai and Kia vans in the early 2000s. They're serviceable for the most part, but the build quality issues are glaringly obvious like plastic brake and turn signal lamps which easily yellow up. Hyundai has clearly stepped up their game since then.
My first car was a Hyundai Pony, registered from 89. Followed by an 88 the following year, after a crash. I drove it for about 5 years. Nice enough car. Quite similar to the Mitsubishi Colt i had my lessons in, in 91/92 It took me to the places i wanted to go, in relative comfort. My next car was a 91 Honda Civic. That step up was so high, i have still not come down from that. And i am driving an 04 Honda Jazz/Fit now.
Hyundai and Kia grew really fast in the early 2000’s, specially here in Chile were japanese cars begin to get more expensive for the same equipment, but now, the Korean option just became the same: low security equipment, poor engines, higher price, etc. The reason why they are still selling a lot is because the cars have large screens that attract low class people. Meanwhile, in the US and Europe, they offer the best price/quality configuration. Its a shame that, Latin America, being one of their most important markets, trusting in their products, just receives the worst indian manufactured cars 😔😔😔
Excellent video thank you (: I love the BL and Marina connection also the Ital design Haha I have owned 3 Hyundai i 10s and i love them the build quality is astounding for the price. Apparently Hyundai means Modernity in Korean.
I remember passing a Hyundai garage in Edinburgh when I travelled through to collage in 1982 and seeing the original ponies lined up outside the garage and thinking that they looked nice at the time. Never had a Hyundai but have had it's sister a Kia (Optima) for the last three and a half years and love it.
The connection with Mitsubishi is interesting, it's the 1st time I've ever seen one of these and the styling looks somewhat similar to mid 70's Colt/Galant/Lancer's from certain angles. The 1st Hyundai's to land in Australia were the gen 1 Excels, they were dirt cheap (not much more than a secondhand Corolla at the time) and felt that cheap as well, it wasn't until the gen 3 Excel they started getting popular. They earned the name Bic car over here as they were so cheap compared to the Japanese models you drove them until they died then threw them away and bought a new one.
I bought a Kia Ceres 4x4 back in the mid 90s it has a 2,200cc NA DIESEL engine that makes around 60-70hp with a 5 speed box with a 4x4 Transfer Case the interior is absolutely barebones just the basic speedo, fuel and temp gauge and a basic AM / FM Radio to keep you entertained it was so basic that the glow plugs isn't even activated automatically! you'll have to press a button and wait for about 20 seconds in order for the plugs to heat up. but it got the job done.. I still have the truck, still starts up without hesitation, doesn't overheat and it still gets 8-12L/100km's even after 27 years
In Colombia was known as Pony, Hyundai's brand was not a reference. This taxis took punishment on many roads and proved to be very well built. Cab drivers still miss them as the best taxi ever driven by them.
@@BigCar2 Well, I would still be delightedly watching a video where one of my favourite TH-camrs dons a shirt from another favourite TH-camr of mine, I guess I really am easily entertained! 😅 But yeah, please do keep up the interesting and cool content!
Another great video! I’d love to see you make a video focused on the failure of British Leyland! I know it’s a bit different to your usual video but a deep dive into its fall would be great I think. I’ve always been surprised that the British car industry fell apart to that extent. Great work as always
I have seen a TV programme about that which featured some of these BL managers at Hyundai clips. I guess at Hyundai they didn't have to cope with 523 worker walkouts in 30 months. As for the British car industry falling apart, car assembly in Britain is still doing O.K. (touch wood) at factories like Nissan Sunderland.
In 1992/93ish I purchased a 1986 or 87 Hyundai Excel with 30,000 ish miles and it was junk! I begain having problems soon after I bought it. I lived in the State of NY at the time and it just couldn't handle going up the hills on the interstate. I would have to get a good run up to the beginning of the hills if I were to have any chance of making it to the top with enough speed to not have to turn the 4-way flashers on and not slow semi trucks down. One of those days by the time I got to the top of said hill, the engine had overheated and the bottom end had let loose... Fast Forward to 25ish years later I purchased a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited AWD with 70,000 miles. I've been impressed over the last 3ish years now with 110,000 miles on it. The 40,000 miles we have put on it have been relatively painless. Other than wheel bearings and brakes, it's been trouble free!
I baught my Pony from the first boat shipment to Canada in 1984. My first new car :) 6650$ with taxes. I remember how mutch attraction it recieved for at least the first 6 months, mainly because Hyundai didn't do any TV publicity. So people only saw those cars on buildbords or magazine. Many relatives were impressed by the appearance of my car and baught their own. But I only kept it two years, the car was starting to rust badly and I did ran into several mecanical problems. Fortunatly I was able to trade in my car before it got too bad (recieved 3300$ for it). My relatives werent so fortunate hihihi... Baught a Santa fe in 2003, kept it 10 years without any problems, did 280000Km and it still runned fine. My wife recieved her 2022 Elantra this fall after the end of her 2017 lease of an other Elantra. So yeah, defenatly better cars than in the 80's
So amazing how far Hyundai has come over the years! That's the first time I've seen their version of the Mark 3 Cortina, definitely has some unique styling modifications, but I didn't know they had done a version of the Granada as well. Haven't seen any generation of Pony on the road for years, but I do remember when they were new in the early 1980s. IIRC the Stellar was partially based on the Cortina with the Mitsubishi engines, with the two liter version, known in some markets as the Stellar Prima, being seen where I live in Barbados as a viable alternative at a lower price to the Toyota Cressida and Nissan Laurel. It also was very popular as a taxi.
In my country the Pony was used as taxis and for the working-class people. It was an automobile very reliable, dependable, high endurance, deserving the popular adjective of ‘meat of dog’ to signify any item with those positive features. Nowadays it’s known as the Accent, at least in this part of the world. And it continues its tradition of reliability, endurance, convenient maintenance costs, very popular, and as such, various maintenance workshops available through the country. Well, my sister has one of these, smart choice.
In Greece, the first cars were imported in January of 1978, and they were sold with the name of "123" for the more common 1238 cc engine version and "143" for the rarer, bigger 1439 cc engine. They were called that because we already had our very popular, Greek, NAMCO Pony (that small leisure - pickup truck that used on 2CV mechanics
I bought a ‘76 Cortina in Korea in the 80s during my first assignment there. Never let me down. The Pony was everywhere as taxis. Almost no private car ownership in Korea until 1990, when banks were allowed to loan money for car payments. Then, everybody bought a car.
Yeah! Great work! Very good footages and information. The first generation Pony faced very tough competition with Japanese equivalence such as Datsun Cherry outside S Korea. No price to guess which model won that sales battle. Hyundai gained valuable experience though. Incredibly Ponies did feature in a car chase in a movie. It was a S Korean movie of course, a 2017 made political thriller called A Taxi Driver 택시운전사 . Towards the end of the movie (set in the early 80s) there was a scene of a number of Pony taxis fighting a number of Jeeps from the secret police.
A reliable and desirable Morris Marina was eventually manufactured then. By the Koreans. Good job, Hyundai deserve every success from those beginnings.
Hello. I remember the Pony in Chile a lot in the mid -80s, very accessible to be used as taxis and "colectivo", surely because of how economical they were.
My first car was a Pony in 1980. Engine had no power, so you struggle to cope with traffic. The AC was under the glove compartment as a stand-alone unit, it was un fit for our hot environment in Far West (West Asia). During summer, AC is useless and engine temp will be near H, so the only option is no AC. Some Pony cars the doors will not open, only entry/exit is through the windows. Fuel pump will fail, needing replacement, and no spare parts. My car engine seized after one year, I overhauled it costing me a small fortune. 7 months later it ran on 3 cylinders. So I sold it a scrap.
Rust was a problem to almost every car manufacturer world wide in the seventies....it was said to be caused by too much copper being mixed in scrap metal and being used to produce new cars....it probably comes down to galvanic corrosion integrated within the sheet metal... Another factor,to this day,is that the majority of cars produced in the far east are sold in places where corrosion isn’t an issue....Asia,Australia,the middle east...hence there is no ‘off factory’ anti rust protection....the smal percentage sold in places like the UK or the Netherlands arrives here unprepaired for our winters and the salted streets that come along.... Apart from rust protection,to my mind,most Asian (Japan,South Korea) cars are absolute top quality!!....I worked in middle east and Africa,with the toughest conditions for cars...Japanese cars are the best...Korean cars are fewer but of similar quality.....the only serious contender is Volvo....
Reading the comments in the Ford Ka video it was a problem even up to 2005 (which was the year my wife's Ka was). Back to the 1970s Fords always rusted around the front suspension struts (at least my Escort then Capri did). Of course Lancia developed such a bad reputation for rust they stopped selling them in the UK. and have never brought them back.
@@MrDuncl For Lancia the situation,if you come to think of it,is very similar to the Asian brands....go to Italy and you’ll see how Lancia is alive and kicking.....in Italy...very little snow,very little salt in the winterstreets.....easy peasy:no rust problem/no protection!!! The poor sod that buy’s one in our countries doesn’t realise that therefor rust protection is up to his initiative!
Great video!! It is true that Hyundai Motor Company was created with the capital after Hyundai Construction grew, but the root of Hyundai Construction was an auto repair shop. Hyundai founder had a high understanding of cars by running an auto repair shop. And the first car produced by Hyundai was Cortina Mark 2, not Taunus 20M. Mk2 Cortina came out in Ulsan Plant in 1968, Taunus 20M was on 1969. Both models had front bench seat with column shift instead of floor shift with bucket seats. As you mentioned, Mark 2 Cortina came in Korea without any design changes or reinforcement of structure and often broke down on unpaved roads in Korea. Based on that experience, Hyundai Motor Company brought in three test cars before production of Mk 3 Cortina and conducted intensive road tests on unpaved roads. Analyze the weak points in advance and reinforce those areas. Thanks to that, Mk3 Cortina once had a market share of about 3/4 of the Korean passenger car market.
I still remember the Pony in Canada. In fact I saw one still on the road the other day. They were crude in comparison to other more established brands of that era, but they were not complicated or expensive to keep running and only rust/neglect would kill them.
My Uncle had a 2004 Accent GSI brand new for £6000, it had horribly cheap grey plastics inside but it was very well equipped and reliable for the time and price. My first car was a poverty spec Accent but spacious and reliable (if offering no street cred) it's outstanding how far Hyundai/Kia have come
I had no knowledge Hyundai manufactured those foreign models in its initial years, this is something good to know, I wonder if S.Korea market still has parts for some of those models, probably not.
Ok, had to re-watch the first 40 secs - was dazzled by the Techmoan T-shirt and message lol. Nice to see the YT b2b going on (Like you, Techmoan's one of my fave channels). Anyhow, back to the Pony...
I was stationed in Korea in the early 80s, what a great place it was! If I could ever enjoy dual citizenship it would be US/ROK.That being said, at that time just about every taxi was a Hyundai Pony and the biggest emblem on those vehicles blew my mind! Wait for it......it was the Ford oval! Yep! I also remember the FORD Pony from my high school days in suburban Detroit. I always wondered why that was never acknowledged by Ford Motors. GM also had their emblem on a vehicle there, a Pontiac arrow and I think it was on a Diahatsu(?)
Excellent video about a car that has long interested me. We didn't get the Pony in Aus but did get the first generation Excel which sold very well and Hyundai cars have sold well ever since. I admire the South Korean attitude and their cars are excellent. 😊
I have watched every single video you have, some more than once. And it occurs to me... I never subscribed. I have rectified that. Keep up the good work.
Inte4esting video about a Hyundia break into car production, they certainly build some good cars these days , l'd love to see a video on the Hyundia coupe 👍
My aunt and uncle bought a Yugo and a Hyundai Excel when they first came out. The Yugo conked out first, and my uncle ended up swapping the engine with an X/19 engine (I think) and his son would race it on a dirt track (don’t know where) Eventually, it ended up on a demolition derby :-( My aunt ended up driving the Excel into the early 90’s, and gave it to someone at her church. I think the Yugo would have more value today if it hadn’t been wrecked. I would loved to have it today to drive at 24 hours of Lemons!
Hi Mr Big Car! I've been watching you since the very beginning! A lot of things have happened in my life since I recall your first videos about the Metro, Mini and Range Rover. I remember watching them all, quite vividly. I am not surprised you have achieved the growth in subscribers to the point you are, now. I subscribed when you had only around 1.6k if memory serves me correctly; before you had to faf around with moving channels. Since that point, I have keenly awaited every instalment in your automotive history series like this one, and I appreciate the amount of research it must take to gain all the information and present all the facts, alongside editing and finding all the right images and promotional footage. It gives me something insightful to watch; a break from the short-form content I usually consume. I suggested you do a story on Saab a long time ago, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a video on the 2011 Lexus LFA, or indeed Lexus as a whole. The former half of my comment isn't intended to sway you into producing this suggestion, rather, I thought it was about time I took a couple minutes to say I'm a big fan of your content and It's been a pleasure seeing your channel growth. I keenly await your future videos, and to see if a video on the Lexus brand will pop up. 😊
Bought a 1984 model for $5900and drove it for 280,000 km . Traded in on a new 1988 model and got $2900 from the dealer. Great cars if you serviced them properly.
You should follow this up with a segment on the 96 Accent. As an owner of one it's put in over 140k of Oregon back roads driving, they're stellar, tough and get decent fuel mileage.
I test drove the first US Excel for my first car out of college. It was not a good experience and I bought a mildly used Accord instead. I was very happy with the Honda and kept it for years until it wore out. Anecdotally, I had friends who owned Hyundais who were unhappy with fit and finish and reliability, so I was surprised to hear about that million mile Pony.
Hyundais can be tricky to service, especially if you get a know-it-all mechanic who thinks they can be treated like other cars. Oil filters absolutely have to be OEM. So do cabin and engine intake filters. Oils generally all 10w40. 5w30 won't damage it, but will make it noisier and negatively affect performance. Silicon grease instead of red rubber grease in caliper slide pins will cause them to seize and ruin the handbrake which leads to an MoT fail. I have to remind mechanics of these rules regularly.
my first introduction to Hyundai was a 1998 accent that if you looked at it the wrong way a part would fall off but after 20 years on I can say that the quality and what you get for your money is way better than anything made domestically today and well worth considering for your next new car or first car for your child
Hey, nice Techmoan shirt! Actually drove from NYC to Orlando, Austin and back on the rear seat of a pony (Excel) when I was a boy, and I can tell you, these mules were well-underrated.
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As an ecuadorian i can just tell you that those Hyundai Pony cars were beaten to death in the ecuadorian 80s roads... and they just keep on running..some until the mid 90s. Yes, rust was a huge problem, but the Hyundai motors keep on running. The Ponys were really loved by taxi drivers and people in general. Hyundai is still (with Chevrolet) one of the most respected brands, they even have here a very modern assemble facility called Neohyundai where they build the Hyundai Grand i10. Congratulation for this great mini-documentary.
The engines were Mitsubishi made.
I remember Hyundai and Kia when they first entered the American market being the awful little things you bought if you couldn't afford a Honda or Toyota. They've come so far to be the rivals of anything coming from Japan or Europe. I have a co-worker that drives 70,000+ miles a year and just upgrades to the newest Sonata every few years. My Kia Stinger is an incredible car I absolutely love. If you asked me ten years ago if when people talk to me about cars my first answer would be "have you looked at Hyundai or Kia" but here we are.
What line of work?
I.T. - he just lives a good hour away from the office. He also drives 1,500+ miles each way to visit family a few times a year because he doesn't like flying. We joke that he drives 70,000 a year and I drive 7,000.
These Korean cars only look good today but mechanically, it's still crap.
And 2022 Hyundai, Genesis and Kia beat Toyota and Lexus regarding quality in JD Power Reliability Index.
@@yunus_aros jd power is a pr firm who's income is from it's customers paying for awards. I'm a mechanic and I can assure a manual transmission Honda from a decade ago will easily outlast a new Hyundai. Jd power means nothing...
I was so happy to see a video on this unloved and almost forgotten car. I'm in Canada. In 1991, I was 18 and bought my first car, a fairly rusty special edition black 1985 Hyundai Pony 1600 GLS "Pony Plus" (the "Plus" was in the price, lol) with a 5 speed manual, factory installed Bosch front fog lights (that didn't work), rear window louvers (that melted in hot summer heat), gold wheel covers (three of them fell off), gold stripes (that cracked and faded), a sunroof (the handle broke) and an AM/FM/Cassette radio. But I still loved that car. It was an as-is trade-in at a Hyundai dealer. I paid CAD $600 (about CAD $1100 or USD $850 or £650 in 2022 money). Ridiculous depreciation on a six year old car! Already a cheap car, I bought it for about 17% of what it cost new just six years earlier. I drove it from Toronto to Vancouver (about 4500 km or 2800 miles). Only broke down once, in rural Manitoba. In the dead of night. In the dead of winter. But I still loved that car. It's been easily 20 years since I saw a Hyundai Pony on the road in Canada, though I know a small number are still in existence, from beat up parts cars to pristine examples. I knew the Hyundai Pony had some 1960s Ford and Mitsubishi heritage, but not quite that much. I love the amount of research and detail you put into your videos!
I love Hyundai. I have owned, and driven many, many, cars, and I got a little 1600cc Hyundai Getz in 2004 and I have put over half a million Km's on it and it has never let me down once, other than plugs, filters, oil, brake pads and batteries I have never had to fix anything, and every part, every switch and every button still works. It has been perfect, and never broken or let me down. Thank you so much for this one.
My father has a Getz and hates the primitive driving experience. Realiability has been ok though
We had an i20, few years ago. Great little car, reliable and very easy to drive. We called it "the bug" since is small but quite spacious on the inside.
Wish we got some of those cool euro market Hyundai/Genesis here in the states.
We owned a Lantra and then an Elantra, both bought new in the 1990s as second cars. They weren't anything special to drive, but were well built and equipped for the money. We took both on several European holidays from the UK to Italy and they performed faultlessly. Not a car to get emotional about, but a very capable 'appliance'.
Top of range Elantra diesel bought 37k for £1400- gearbox failed 100,000 binned it and only repair a £12 abs ring.
I bought one 7 years ago for a £100 at an auction (plus fees) because no-one else bid for it. I wondered what I was letting myself in for. Not a particularly exciting drive but that car never broke down and was cheap to run. It had all the toys, bells and whistles inside and out and they were all still working when I gave it to my daughter at 159k miles. Oddly we both had problems getting it insured for a reasonable price. One well known company wanted £4500 up front, no installments to insure it!! I eventually got a specialist insurer and a reasonable quote but come renewal myself and subsequently my daughter always had to hunt around for a good quote. I could never work out why that was. She sold it at 214k last year and even then, everything on it still worked. She had a breaker collect who said he might try to sell it as a whole car as it was still a good runner.
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN From an outsider's viewpoint, the British insurance market is a scam. Crazy high rates on third party coverage considering car prices.
@@erik_dk842 It not just an outsider's view. Many UK motorists don't drive cars they could afford or desire because the insurance is too high. Also insurers operate as a cartel. Price comparison websites offer little difference and the website charges a commission too. UK insurers are far too ready to write off repairable cars,offering next to nothing in payouts.This affects the repair trade too. It's almost impossible to find anyone offering minor accident repair at affordable prices now.
Here in the UK, our family ran a Pony pick-up from 1984 to 1992 which was bought from new - useful little truck with just a new radiator needed in all the time it was owned. Needed a 5th gear, was tail-happy (needed a couple of concrete blocks over the back wheels!) and the tailgate rusted, but all-in-all fared a lot better than many other vehicles of the time. Cheers.
I owned both a Pony and a Stellar. They were both under powered but reliable transportation. They also were the last cars I owned with a manual choke. That was one feature that actually helped the cars sell in Canada because the manual choke helped the cars start on the most punishing winter's day.
The new concept brought me here.
In the early 80's the Hyundai Pony was the most common taxi that you would see on the streets in Seoul. Green and yellow were the most common colours. When trying to hail a taxi early one morning I a gaggle of about 50 of them come past from the Namsan tunnel. They must have been on their way to work because not one stopped for me. For passengers with large feet it was sometimes almost impossible to get out from the back seat as one or both feet would be stuck under the seat in front. An average ride would be about 350 won. They were wonderful days. I don't miss the 11PM curfew however. Daehan min-guk 대한민국.
Hyundai Stellar was the weapon of choice for minicabs in the UK at around the same time. Very few if any left as they were low cost, driven into the ground then scrapped. As I recall quite comfy in the back.
My grandfather was one of first few who bought one in 1984. The dealer wasn't even identified as hyundai dealer in Montreal. The dealer was called PIX-IX pony and it was on the PIX-IX boulevard in Montreal. I gave it to me as second car in early 90's and kept it till 2001. After that many winter in Canada it finally broke in half 350 000 kms later. The drivetrain still worked well. It was the first car my grandfather bought new in Canada. My grandfather was from eastern Europe.
There's a lesson to be learnt here from this video. While Hyundai was taking all the necessary baby steps to become a fledgling car company, British Leyland was taking all the required steps to finally dismantle itself and become nothing. Well done.
Didn't British Leyland become Weyland industries and was later bought then merged into/by Yutani Corp.?
@@Menaceblue3 Oh, I'll bet you just ALIENated a lot of people with that comment...
@Mathew Lee Mini is fine, nothing rough about it. He just said that unlike Hyundai which they are very eager to make their global presence by keep improving the production quality, British Leyland is always about internal conflicts and interest conflicts with union strikes that led to their demise.
Cosa c'entra la British Leyland con la hyundai?
@@gennivianello1165Furono alcuni ingegneri usciti dalla British Leyland a dare il loro importante contributo nella progettazione e realizzazione di questa vettura, che può essere considerata quello che per noi è stata la Fiat 600, ovvero una vettura che ha motorizzato un'intera nazione.
Fascinating video! I quite like the “vintage-meets-modern EV” styling of that concept Pony. It is a bit similar to the what Honda is doing with the Honda E, which I sincerely wish they sold in the US market. Hyundai has such an incredible backstory. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you my friend. A someone who sells Hyundai's in Canada, the Pony is near and dear to my heart. I think every Elantra as the Pony DNA, and we have come a long way, baby.
Fascinating, why does knowing the history of a car make you want one when you would have never previously even thought of it ?
My family combined had around twelve of the 1990's X3 Excels (Australia). Accents/Pony elsewhere. Both single and twin cam versions. These cars were very basic but 'extremely' reliable. I retired my last one around four years ago (1998 manual twincam 2 door). That car had done 230,000K's being thrashed around Victoria's gravel country roads most of it's life. In the end all the ball joints, bushes and struts were flogged out and the clutch was starting to slip so I called it a day and cancelled the rego. That car only ever let me down once when the water pump one day just seized up making a god awful screech with rubber smoke coming out from the bonnet due to the belt being unable to turn the pump. They took abuse and neglect in their stride.
Being a former Hyundi pony owner going back to around 1988 it was a bit plasticky on the inside but within the 5 years of ownership I found it very reliable. The only part that needed replacing was the drivers external door handle which I soon learned was the same part as used on the ford cortina mk4 _ 5 .
Very much enjoy your mini docco's on mainstream cars that are interesting but would not get a lot of attention normally. Great detail and knowledge brought into it, and entertaining to watch. Love it. Thank you!
I remember the first Hyundai I saw, a gold colored Excel in 1986. This was a 5 door hatchback, and looked quite stylish at the time. Yeah, it may not have dated well, but at the time it was considered quite smart. The problem with the early units though was very poor build quality, lousy parts, one guy told me the radiator hoses failed quickly as they were very thin! However, by the early 90s quality had improved vastly, and the Excel and Sonata sold shedloads, and lasted quite well too!
We never received the pony our first Hyundai was a excel in the late 80s and they were real cheap
But now they are first class
Hyundai have so much to thank Mitsubishi for all their engineering work
The Hyundai electric car would be the only electric car I would buy
Just want to give you a compliment for creating these documentaries for us about all these very interesting cars! These are by far the highest quality well researched video's on TH-cam about car history. And mostly common cars too. Which are the most interesting ones to me.
Thanks - it takes a lot of work, but satisfying to get to the bottom of what happened (or closer anyway).
Another great video and amazing to see how far Hyundai have come in a relatively short time frame.
Remember the pony and its big brother the stellar coming to the UK and EVERY taxi driver buying the Stellar.
Thanks for the great content as always.
Kudos for sporting the Technomoan T-shirt!!! 🤠👍
3:30...im in the UK & I grew up in one of these. I was born in 82. It was an S reg (old S obviously 78 i think???) - it was white. 2 door. I have only ever seen 2 of them in real life and one in the credits of the old program 'minder'. - the other one was also white- we lived in corsham and the other mitsi lancer was in corsham too. My mother had the car since new all the way up till 1998 when unfortunately a mechanic started it up in 1st gear on the ramp where it fell and got smashed. It was then sold for parts to the other person who owned the other white lancer in corsham....
I really wanted it as my first car and loved the steering wheel and smell let alone the fake 3rd party white tiger skin seats.... much missed.
Watched this episode twice. Love seeing utilitarian cars and how they progressed. Would love to see a KIA video as well.
There were a lot of pony/excel cars made in the 90s and they were great cars. They used older engines from the mitsubishi but they were even more reliable than the new ones. Todays hyundais can only dream of going for 200k miles without major services and those cars could do that. They were on par with toyota corolla and mazda 323.
Thanks, great info.
Just look at what Hyundai and Kia have achieved from a humble Marina look alike to the Ioniq 5 and the UK what car of the year the Kia EV6.
The quality of Hyundai and Kia is superb, their EVs are definitely up there with the best.
Yes their ability to adapt and innovate rapidly is something the BL group lost.
Still nothing has the charm of the Coupe Siii though.
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN except for the genesis coupe or veloster
I remember the cars well. My father did PR for Hyundai in the Netherlands in the early 80s. On summer holidays, I used to clean the just off the boat cars at the importer.
Considering the situation in South Korea at the time, the development of the original model was a really bold decision. As you said, Hyundai started developing the original model 6 years after its foundation. When Hyundai Motor was founded, Korea's automobile distribution rate was about one car per 500 people. There was one car per two people in the United States, one per 50 in Japan, and one per 200 in Taiwan. Taiwan’s automotive industry was way more advanced than South Korea in 60’s and 70’s
At the time of Pony development, the South Korean parts industry was not really established well, and with the development of cars, suppliers were also developed as well.
In the blue print of the Ital Design, only the shape, size and mounting location of the part were displayed just like design blueprint for other European manufacturers at the time. Where automotive part industries are well developed, you can just outsource these easily, but in South Korea, the detailed design of the part had to be done in-house. For example, if the blue print showed that the double round headlights in the square frame with certain the length, height, and width, Hyundai and suppliers had to design all the components such as lenses, reflectors, sockets, brackets, etc. Just like Hyundai at the time, those suppliers never designed their original parts before.
Through this, Korean auto parts companies also grew together, and it became the basis for the development of the Korean automotive industry.
For some additional comparison, there was Yue Long Motor Company in Taiwan, and now it is called YULON. It was founded in 1953 and the first original model (Feeling 101) was released in 1986. Founded in 1950, SEAT also assembled FIAT cars for over 30 years and released IBIZA in 1984. Hyundai Pony was developed under much more difficult situation than these cars.
Wow, I didn’t think I’d enjoy this specific video as much as the others, but this was super interesting! I had never considered how Korea got their auto brands off the ground. Here in the States, Hyundai and Kia have been doing awesome with the Telluride, Palisade, Kona, Sorento, and Genesis brand. Some embarrassing recalls, but with a 10yr, 100k warranty, those are easier to swallow.
I still remember the firsts kia models who were sold here in Canada. It was the 1994 kia sephia and the sportage. I looked to bought a sportage new at that time because I was young and had little money to put on a car. I didn't bought one but I remember the test drive and it was rugged little truck and much much smaller than the one they sell today.
I grew up in Michigan, south of Detroit and Canadians were always driving though our state in the most bizarre cars: Hyundai's in the late '70's. Me and my dad pulled up to a gas pump in Monroe one day and the car on the other side was a Skoda. On more than one occasion I saw Lada's broke down on the side of the road.
Heh! Try getting a Lada Samara fixed in Monroe, Michigan in the late 1980's......
Thats funny stuff man. I live in Canada and get it totally. Them small Renault r-5's,the LeCar. Some had rollback softop sunroofs
The lines reminded me very much the first VW Passat
As a kid in Edmonton, Canada I remember seeing Pony's everywhere. Most of them had rust holes big enough to stick your head through..
My driving school car was an early 2000s Accent. The thing that I remember about it was a clutch pedal completely devoid of feel. It was wonderfully light but you couldn't feel the friction point. As a result I never truly mastered it and took the driving test in my Mum's '91 Corolla.
WOW. I had totally forgot about the Pony until this video. It was so ubiquitous back in the 80's and I came close to buying one. Instead I ended up with a 1981 Dodge (Mitsubishi) Colt. It was a great car for me. Am thinking the Pony might not have been so good.
I too am a technique subscriber! My girlfriend use to have a Hyundai pony, had a glass ashtray stuck to the dashboard
Reminds me of when grey-market importers dumped a gazillion old Korean-market Hyundai and Kia vans in the early 2000s. They're serviceable for the most part, but the build quality issues are glaringly obvious like plastic brake and turn signal lamps which easily yellow up. Hyundai has clearly stepped up their game since then.
Another fantastic and very interesting video. Keep up the great work!!
My first car was a Hyundai Pony, registered from 89. Followed by an 88 the following year, after a crash.
I drove it for about 5 years.
Nice enough car.
Quite similar to the Mitsubishi Colt i had my lessons in, in 91/92
It took me to the places i wanted to go, in relative comfort.
My next car was a 91 Honda Civic.
That step up was so high, i have still not come down from that.
And i am driving an 04 Honda Jazz/Fit now.
I bought a 2005 Elantra used for $500 just because it was cheap, but turned out to be a great car. Still driving it 5 years later.
Back in the 80"s we had the Yugo as competition to the Hyundai .
Hyundai and Kia grew really fast in the early 2000’s, specially here in Chile were japanese cars begin to get more expensive for the same equipment, but now, the Korean option just became the same: low security equipment, poor engines, higher price, etc. The reason why they are still selling a lot is because the cars have large screens that attract low class people. Meanwhile, in the US and Europe, they offer the best price/quality configuration. Its a shame that, Latin America, being one of their most important markets, trusting in their products, just receives the worst indian manufactured cars 😔😔😔
Id imagine for South America, Brazil plant would supply Hyundai productions.
I always built my 8860 chassis as right-hand drive from day one back in the early 80s. I continue that tradition where possible with everything since.
😀 I’ve done that with my original car chassis.
Excellent video thank you (:
I love the BL and Marina connection also the Ital design Haha
I have owned 3 Hyundai i 10s and i love them the build quality is astounding for the price.
Apparently Hyundai means Modernity in Korean.
You always make this information so interesting. Delighted that you're a fellow techmoan fan!
We're both Patrons of each other's channel. He messaged me when he saw the shirt. 😀
that was unexpected
I remember passing a Hyundai garage in Edinburgh when I travelled through to collage in 1982 and seeing the original ponies lined up outside the garage and thinking that they looked nice at the time. Never had a Hyundai but have had it's sister a Kia (Optima) for the last three and a half years and love it.
The connection with Mitsubishi is interesting, it's the 1st time I've ever seen one of these and the styling looks somewhat similar to mid 70's Colt/Galant/Lancer's from certain angles. The 1st Hyundai's to land in Australia were the gen 1 Excels, they were dirt cheap (not much more than a secondhand Corolla at the time) and felt that cheap as well, it wasn't until the gen 3 Excel they started getting popular. They earned the name Bic car over here as they were so cheap compared to the Japanese models you drove them until they died then threw them away and bought a new one.
I did not know that about our LJ Toranas! Very Interesting. Thank you.👍
I bought a Kia Ceres 4x4 back in the mid 90s
it has a 2,200cc NA DIESEL engine that makes around 60-70hp with a
5 speed box with a 4x4 Transfer Case
the interior is absolutely barebones
just the basic speedo, fuel and temp gauge and a basic AM / FM Radio to keep you entertained
it was so basic that the glow plugs isn't even activated automatically!
you'll have to press a button and wait for about 20 seconds in order for the plugs to heat up.
but it got the job done.. I still have the truck, still starts up without hesitation, doesn't overheat and it still gets 8-12L/100km's even after 27 years
In Colombia was known as Pony, Hyundai's brand was not a reference. This taxis took punishment on many roads and proved to be very well built. Cab drivers still miss them as the best taxi ever driven by them.
That's sweet you have a lego auto chassie 2nd generation I had one of those I got it for my birthday in 1983 and it was amazing to put together
Love the T shirt. Great to see a fellow Techmoan fan
Came for the car vid, stayed for the Techmoan - T-Shirt.
If it's that easy I can make a 10 minute video of just me modelling the t-shirt! 😉
@@BigCar2 Well, I would still be delightedly watching a video where one of my favourite TH-camrs dons a shirt from another favourite TH-camr of mine, I guess I really am easily entertained! 😅 But yeah, please do keep up the interesting and cool content!
I never knew that Hyundai's Ponys had British bloodline in them.
Thank you British teachers.
Another great video! I’d love to see you make a video focused on the failure of British Leyland! I know it’s a bit different to your usual video but a deep dive into its fall would be great I think. I’ve always been surprised that the British car industry fell apart to that extent. Great work as always
I have seen a TV programme about that which featured some of these BL managers at Hyundai clips. I guess at Hyundai they didn't have to cope with 523 worker walkouts in 30 months. As for the British car industry falling apart, car assembly in Britain is still doing O.K. (touch wood) at factories like Nissan Sunderland.
I second that.
In 1992/93ish I purchased a 1986 or 87 Hyundai Excel with 30,000 ish miles and it was junk! I begain having problems soon after I bought it. I lived in the State of NY at the time and it just couldn't handle going up the hills on the interstate. I would have to get a good run up to the beginning of the hills if I were to have any chance of making it to the top with enough speed to not have to turn the 4-way flashers on and not slow semi trucks down. One of those days by the time I got to the top of said hill, the engine had overheated and the bottom end had let loose... Fast Forward to 25ish years later I purchased a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited AWD with 70,000 miles. I've been impressed over the last 3ish years now with 110,000 miles on it. The 40,000 miles we have put on it have been relatively painless. Other than wheel bearings and brakes, it's been trouble free!
I baught my Pony from the first boat shipment to Canada in 1984. My first new car :) 6650$ with taxes. I remember how mutch attraction it recieved for at least the first 6 months, mainly because Hyundai didn't do any TV publicity. So people only saw those cars on buildbords or magazine. Many relatives were impressed by the appearance of my car and baught their own. But I only kept it two years, the car was starting to rust badly and I did ran into several mecanical problems. Fortunatly I was able to trade in my car before it got too bad (recieved 3300$ for it). My relatives werent so fortunate hihihi... Baught a Santa fe in 2003, kept it 10 years without any problems, did 280000Km and it still runned fine. My wife recieved her 2022 Elantra this fall after the end of her 2017 lease of an other Elantra. So yeah, defenatly better cars than in the 80's
So amazing how far Hyundai has come over the years! That's the first time I've seen their version of the Mark 3 Cortina, definitely has some unique styling modifications, but I didn't know they had done a version of the Granada as well. Haven't seen any generation of Pony on the road for years, but I do remember when they were new in the early 1980s. IIRC the Stellar was partially based on the Cortina with the Mitsubishi engines, with the two liter version, known in some markets as the Stellar Prima, being seen where I live in Barbados as a viable alternative at a lower price to the Toyota Cressida and Nissan Laurel. It also was very popular as a taxi.
Excellent content. Very interesting.
In my country the Pony was used as taxis and for the working-class people. It was an automobile very reliable, dependable, high endurance, deserving the popular adjective of ‘meat of dog’ to signify any item with those positive features.
Nowadays it’s known as the Accent, at least in this part of the world. And it continues its tradition of reliability, endurance, convenient maintenance costs, very popular, and as such, various maintenance workshops available through the country. Well, my sister has one of these, smart choice.
In Greece, the first cars were imported in January of 1978, and they were sold with the name of "123" for the more common 1238 cc engine version and "143" for the rarer, bigger 1439 cc engine.
They were called that because we already had our very popular, Greek, NAMCO Pony (that small leisure - pickup truck that used on 2CV mechanics
I had a Hyundai s-coupe (pre Hyundai coupe) it was based on the pony. With a 1.5l Mitsubishi engine. Was a Great Little car.
I bought a ‘76 Cortina in Korea in the 80s during my first assignment there. Never let me down. The Pony was everywhere as taxis. Almost no private car ownership in Korea until 1990, when banks were allowed to loan money for car payments. Then, everybody bought a car.
Yeah! Great work! Very good footages and information.
The first generation Pony faced very tough competition with Japanese equivalence such as Datsun Cherry outside S Korea. No price to guess which model won that sales battle. Hyundai gained valuable experience though.
Incredibly Ponies did feature in a car chase in a movie. It was a S Korean movie of course, a 2017 made political thriller called A Taxi Driver 택시운전사 . Towards the end of the movie (set in the early 80s) there was a scene of a number of Pony taxis fighting a number of Jeeps from the secret police.
That electric Pony is fantastic 👌
I really like the Pony and Hyundai´s old logo. The HD looks way better and more modern than what they have today.
I had a pony truck in the 90s. I'd love to restore one now if anyone has one hidden away!
A reliable and desirable Morris Marina was eventually manufactured then. By the Koreans. Good job, Hyundai deserve every success from those beginnings.
Kia and Hyundai - the next vehicle powerhouses ! no joke
Hello. I remember the Pony in Chile a lot in the mid -80s, very accessible to be used as taxis and "colectivo", surely because of how economical they were.
My first car was a Pony in 1980. Engine had no power, so you struggle to cope with traffic. The AC was under the glove compartment as a stand-alone unit, it was un fit for our hot environment in Far West (West Asia). During summer, AC is useless and engine temp will be near H, so the only option is no AC. Some Pony cars the doors will not open, only entry/exit is through the windows. Fuel pump will fail, needing replacement, and no spare parts.
My car engine seized after one year, I overhauled it costing me a small fortune. 7 months later it ran on 3 cylinders. So I sold it a scrap.
One of the best, most interesting car stories so far!
Rust was a problem to almost every car manufacturer world wide in the seventies....it was said to be caused by too much copper being mixed in scrap metal and being used to produce new cars....it probably comes down to galvanic corrosion integrated within the sheet metal...
Another factor,to this day,is that the majority of cars produced in the far east are sold in places where corrosion isn’t an issue....Asia,Australia,the middle east...hence there is no ‘off factory’ anti rust protection....the smal percentage sold in places like the UK or the Netherlands arrives here unprepaired for our winters and the salted streets that come along....
Apart from rust protection,to my mind,most Asian (Japan,South Korea) cars are absolute top quality!!....I worked in middle east and Africa,with the toughest conditions for cars...Japanese cars are the best...Korean cars are fewer but of similar quality.....the only serious contender is Volvo....
Reading the comments in the Ford Ka video it was a problem even up to 2005 (which was the year my wife's Ka was). Back to the 1970s Fords always rusted around the front suspension struts (at least my Escort then Capri did). Of course Lancia developed such a bad reputation for rust they stopped selling them in the UK. and have never brought them back.
@@MrDuncl For Lancia the situation,if you come to think of it,is very similar to the Asian brands....go to Italy and you’ll see how Lancia is alive and kicking.....in Italy...very little snow,very little salt in the winterstreets.....easy peasy:no rust problem/no protection!!!
The poor sod that buy’s one in our countries doesn’t realise that therefor rust protection is up to his initiative!
Wonderful, entertaining and informative as always. Thanks!
Great video!!
It is true that Hyundai Motor Company was created with the capital after Hyundai Construction grew, but the root of Hyundai Construction was an auto repair shop.
Hyundai founder had a high understanding of cars by running an auto repair shop.
And the first car produced by Hyundai was Cortina Mark 2, not Taunus 20M. Mk2 Cortina came out in Ulsan Plant in 1968, Taunus 20M was on 1969. Both models had front bench seat with column shift instead of floor shift with bucket seats.
As you mentioned, Mark 2 Cortina came in Korea without any design changes or reinforcement of structure and often broke down on unpaved roads in Korea. Based on that experience, Hyundai Motor Company brought in three test cars before production of Mk 3 Cortina and conducted intensive road tests on unpaved roads. Analyze the weak points in advance and reinforce those areas. Thanks to that, Mk3 Cortina once had a market share of about 3/4 of the Korean passenger car market.
In the early 80s, I do remember seeing a good number of Ponys on the streets here in Canada.
I still remember the Pony in Canada. In fact I saw one still on the road the other day. They were crude in comparison to other more established brands of that era, but they were not complicated or expensive to keep running and only rust/neglect would kill them.
That Techmoan t-shirt is ace. Great video too, as always.
My Uncle had a 2004 Accent GSI brand new for £6000, it had horribly cheap grey plastics inside but it was very well equipped and reliable for the time and price. My first car was a poverty spec Accent but spacious and reliable (if offering no street cred) it's outstanding how far Hyundai/Kia have come
I had no knowledge Hyundai manufactured those foreign models in its initial years, this is something good to know, I wonder if S.Korea market still has parts for some of those models, probably not.
I test drove an early Excel. It was absolutely the slowest car i have ever driven.
Ok, had to re-watch the first 40 secs - was dazzled by the Techmoan T-shirt and message lol. Nice to see the YT b2b going on (Like you, Techmoan's one of my fave channels). Anyhow, back to the Pony...
I was stationed in Korea in the early 80s, what a great place it was! If I could ever enjoy dual citizenship it would be US/ROK.That being said, at that time just about every taxi was a Hyundai Pony and the biggest emblem on those vehicles blew my mind! Wait for it......it was the Ford oval! Yep! I also remember the FORD Pony from my high school days in suburban Detroit. I always wondered why that was never acknowledged by Ford Motors. GM also had their emblem on a vehicle there, a Pontiac arrow and I think it was on a Diahatsu(?)
I'd love to have a Pony to go along with my Veloster N and Santa Cruz. It would great for the auto shows
Oh Techmoan t-shirt! Best two content creators for +30 male audience in unison :D
Excellent video about a car that has long interested me. We didn't get the Pony in Aus but did get the first generation Excel which sold very well and Hyundai cars have sold well ever since. I admire the South Korean attitude and their cars are excellent. 😊
I have watched every single video you have, some more than once. And it occurs to me... I never subscribed. I have rectified that. Keep up the good work.
Inte4esting video about a Hyundia break into car production, they certainly build some good cars these days , l'd love to see a video on the Hyundia coupe 👍
My aunt and uncle bought a Yugo and a Hyundai Excel when they first came out. The Yugo conked out first, and my uncle ended up swapping the engine with an X/19 engine (I think) and his son would race it on a dirt track (don’t know where) Eventually, it ended up on a demolition derby :-(
My aunt ended up driving the Excel into the early 90’s, and gave it to someone at her church.
I think the Yugo would have more value today if it hadn’t been wrecked.
I would loved to have it today to drive at 24 hours of Lemons!
Hi Mr Big Car! I've been watching you since the very beginning! A lot of things have happened in my life since I recall your first videos about the Metro, Mini and Range Rover. I remember watching them all, quite vividly. I am not surprised you have achieved the growth in subscribers to the point you are, now. I subscribed when you had only around 1.6k if memory serves me correctly; before you had to faf around with moving channels. Since that point, I have keenly awaited every instalment in your automotive history series like this one, and I appreciate the amount of research it must take to gain all the information and present all the facts, alongside editing and finding all the right images and promotional footage. It gives me something insightful to watch; a break from the short-form content I usually consume. I suggested you do a story on Saab a long time ago, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a video on the 2011 Lexus LFA, or indeed Lexus as a whole. The former half of my comment isn't intended to sway you into producing this suggestion, rather, I thought it was about time I took a couple minutes to say I'm a big fan of your content and It's been a pleasure seeing your channel growth. I keenly await your future videos, and to see if a video on the Lexus brand will pop up. 😊
Thanks for watching! I’d like to do the original Lexus - the LS400. One day.
About time for a review of the upcoming chinese car manufacturers like Haval, MG, GreatWall and Chengan etc.
Bought a 1984 model for $5900and drove it for 280,000 km . Traded in on a new 1988 model and got $2900 from the dealer. Great cars if you serviced them properly.
A great video, appreciated learning more about the history of Hyundai. Thanks from Canada!🙂
You should follow this up with a segment on the 96 Accent. As an owner of one it's put in over 140k of Oregon back roads driving, they're stellar, tough and get decent fuel mileage.
One day!
I test drove the first US Excel for my first car out of college. It was not a good experience and I bought a mildly used Accord instead. I was very happy with the Honda and kept it for years until it wore out. Anecdotally, I had friends who owned Hyundais who were unhappy with fit and finish and reliability, so I was surprised to hear about that million mile Pony.
Hyundais can be tricky to service, especially if you get a know-it-all mechanic who thinks they can be treated like other cars. Oil filters absolutely have to be OEM. So do cabin and engine intake filters. Oils generally all 10w40. 5w30 won't damage it, but will make it noisier and negatively affect performance. Silicon grease instead of red rubber grease in caliper slide pins will cause them to seize and ruin the handbrake which leads to an MoT fail. I have to remind mechanics of these rules regularly.
I remember when these were sold through FSO dealers in the UK. I remember as a kid thinking there wasn’t much difference between a Pony and a Polonez.
FSO is a name most people in the U.K. have forgotten. A colleague had one, but only because he inherited it from his Uncle.
The techmoan t-shirt print gives a touch of mugshotness to this vision:)
I've owned my Hyundai i10 city car since June 2021 and I'm very pleased with it. I really like the brand.
my first introduction to Hyundai was a 1998 accent that if you looked at it the wrong way a part would fall off but after 20 years on I can say that the quality and what you get for your money is way better than anything made domestically today and well worth considering for your next new car or first car for your child
Hey, nice Techmoan shirt! Actually drove from NYC to Orlando, Austin and back on the rear seat of a pony (Excel) when I was a boy, and I can tell you, these mules were well-underrated.