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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Fondly Remembering My Ford Pinto


mobilene
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When I was 19, I got what I consider to be my first car, although I didn't exactly hold the title. It was a 1975 Ford Pinto.

 

I loved that stupid little car. I am still not sure why.

 

I wrote about it on my blog the other day and realized that I wouldn't mind finding one in good shape and having it restored, or maybe buying one already restored.

 

Then I thought: Are you nuts? If you're going to do that, why not go for something with a little more zest, a little more verve, a little more, um, sex. You know, '71 Chevelle. '67 Mustang fastback. '68 Impala hardtop coupe, V8 powered. But another Pinto?

 

Then I realized: I would be willing to part with the cash for a Pinto, while the other cars I cited, not so much.

 

And then I could follow the Michigan Road, the National Road, the PP-OO, etc., etc., in a car that would make passers-by go, "Was that what I think it was?" And, "Who would want to restore one of those?"

 

I added a search for "Ford Pinto" to my eBay favorites. Who knows, maybe someday I'll find the right deal.

 

jim

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Are you nuckin futs???

 

Pinto sheet-metal made great Modified Stock Cars, that's about it.

 

. . . I'll bet your car came with a factory 8-track!

 

 

 

... Chris

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My first new car was a 1973 green Ford Pinto. It got me through the gas crunch of 1973 and I had to drive about 40 miles to get to work back then.

 

Exceptinally poor mechanically though. The reason I got rid of it.

 

Paid the princely sum of $2200 for it. My teaching job racked in the even more princely sum of $7900.

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The Pinto was the brainchild of Lee Iacocca, who mandated a subcompact weighing less than 2,000 pounds that would cost less than $2,000. And so it did, in 1971 at least, when debuted. Your '73, RoadDog, was probably saddled with the massive 5 mph bumpers, like mine was.

 

My '75 had about 60,000 miles on it in 1986 when I got it. It ran fine -- matter of fact, it ran rich, given that it would accelerate to 40 mph on its own, without me touching the gas pedal, after I let off the brake. The radiator issue got fixed fine with a radiator from a junked Pinto. The rust was that car's bane, though.

 

jim

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When I was 19, I got what I consider to be my first car, although I didn't exactly hold the title. It was a 1975 Ford Pinto.

 

I loved that stupid little car. I am still not sure why.

 

I wrote about it on my blog the other day and realized that I wouldn't mind finding one in good shape and having it restored, or maybe buying one already restored.

 

Then I thought: Are you nuts? If you're going to do that, why not go for something with a little more zest, a little more verve, a little more, um, sex. You know, '71 Chevelle. '67 Mustang fastback. '68 Impala hardtop coupe, V8 powered. But another Pinto?

 

Then I realized: I would be willing to part with the cash for a Pinto, while the other cars I cited, not so much.

 

And then I could follow the Michigan Road, the National Road, the PP-OO, etc., etc., in a car that would make passers-by go, "Was that what I think it was?" And, "Who would want to restore one of those?"

 

I added a search for "Ford Pinto" to my eBay favorites. Who knows, maybe someday I'll find the right deal.

 

jim

 

Ah yes, the lure of the Pinto….

 

You must have gotten a good one. I was in graduate school and needed a car. Two friends had Pintos, so I bought a Pinto station wagon…yellow with deluxe simulated wood decals on the doors and rear gate. That was one sweet ride! :rolleyes:

 

I can still feel the raw surge of power as that baby struggled to reach 60. The gear shift shaft rattled so badly I had to glue the brown plastic knob on. But it made lots of guttural sounds, so you always thought you were going faster than you were. :)

 

And for a small, underpowered car, it sure guzzled the gas. Maybe 16 around town, and 20 on a downhill with tail wind.

 

It was quite a girl magnet too. I remember one lovely I was attempting to woo who summed it up in two words when I told her I drove a Pinto. Her reply (really!) was “Too bad.” :huh:

 

But it was quite simple. The clutch cable broke on me one day in downtown Phoenix and I drove to a repair shop in Tucson shifting by matching speed and gear. Of course stop signs and signals were a little rough!

 

Thanks for the memory! ;)

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

 

 

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Back in the mid '90s when I hung around the local autocross events, there was a fellow with a heavily modified and very competitive Pinto that was always referred to as "The World's Fastest Pinto". I don't recall him ever being challenged for the title.

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The Pinto was probably only outdone as a piece of you know what by the Vega, especially the first year Vega. I should know, we bought one brand spanking new. It was a GT to boot...........

 

Still junk from day one!

 

Hutch,

 

Ah yes...but you can still love junk. Right?! Just go to any antique store! :D

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

 

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The Vega was a better looking car than the Pinto. The Kammback was 1,000% better looking than the Pinto wagon IMHO. But yeah, early Vegas were a real roll of the dice. GM made that basic platform live through the early 80s as the Monza/Sunbird/Skyhawk and by then they got the kinks worked out.

 

jim

 

 

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GM made that basic platform live through the early 80s as the Monza/Sunbird/Skyhawk and by then they got the kinks worked out.

 

I have fond memories of those models. One of my older brothers had the eye catching '77 Monza Mirage like this one:

77MonzaMirage2.jpg

 

305 V8 in that little chassis gave it a bunch of gitty-up!

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