After reading all these jokes, my head is swimming.
I wait with baited breath for the next plastic sturgeon remark.
On a scale of 1-10, this thread is wearing fin.
Yeah, the car is fast, but it only goes for a few miles, then the engine conchs out.
I don’t recognize the scene described in the OP, but maybe salmon else will.
I’ve sent emails about the OP to a grouper my friends. Ray is usually good with movies, but he’s got a haddock. I’m waiting on Gill, who said eel get right back to me.
Was it a Stingray?
Was the hero acting like such a bass?
Stingray’s are more sports cars than mussel cars. I’m betting it was a Barracuda.
He blew a seal because he kept flooding the engine…
Preventative maintenance is the key. One should tuna the engine regularly.
My first thought was Clint Eastwood’s “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” when Jeff Bridges steals the red/orange Trans Am. But I don’t recall him being chased at the time, nor running up to the used car dealer.
I ran this past a friend of mine who watches a lot of car movies, and he, too, thought of Vanishing Point, which I mentioned above. I can’t guarantee that this is the right movie, since I have not seen it in decades, but it’s a good, watchable movie, so if you rent it and it isn’t the one you’re looking for, at least you won’t have wasted your time and money.
Going through the desert and coming across a car lot? Hmmm…
Maybe it was “Used Carps” with Kurt Mussel and Jack “Fish” Warden?
I think pinkfreud is correct 
I don’t think so. The whole premise behind “Vanishing Point” was that he (Kowalski) was being paid to transport the Challenger from point A to point B - no need for a used car lot. And he drives the same car throughout the whole movie.
I am referring to the original “VP”, BTW. A used car lot scene may be in the remake, but then that wouldn’t fit the 60’s or 70’s timeframe of the OP.
Just found this thread while browsing the Threadspotting archive. I was thinking that you saw William Atherton and Goldie Hawn in The Sugarland Express but you don’t mention a shootout in the used car lot.
Here are some chase movies from that period, see if any of them ring a bell.
Charley Varrick - Walter Matthau,.Joe Don Baker, and Felicia Farr rob a bank and end up with Mob money. Filmed in Nevada.
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry - Peter Fonda and Susan George kidnap the daughter of a grocery store owner. Features cops in Hemi-powered Chrysler products chasing a Dodge Charger.
The Gauntlet - Eastwood, a Phoenix Cop, has to escort witness (and prostitute) Sondra Locke from Vegas. You’d probably have remembered the armored bus at the end, though.
Gone in 60 Seconds - no, not that one, this is the 1974 original.
Mr. Majestyk - Charles Bronson vs. mobsters. Filmed in Colorado.
Newman’s Law - Officer George Peppard vs. some crooked cops.
Out of Sight - a young Robert Pine in a spy spoof along with bunch of people whose careers didn’t really go anywhere.
The Pick-Up - Mobsters Wes Bishop and Stefan Zima are conned ouf of a million bucks by Tracy Saunders and Lynn Harris and have to get the money back before someone higher up notices. Filmed in Nevada.
Silver Streak - Gene Wilder keeps getting put off a train. Filmed at various locations from LA to Chicago.
Sol Madrid - G-Man David McCallum and hooker Stella Stevens vs. mobster Rip Torn and drug kingpin Telly Savalas. Filmed in Mexico.
Thanks a lot for the list of possiables Lute. The Sugarland Express sounds the most promising will check it out and post if its the one I remember.
Jeffro
“Just fix the damn thing and leave my private life out of it, okay?”