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Any Ford Pinto fans?

Bigerik

Bigerik

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Yup, I did actually ask that! :)

Stumbled upon the Ford Pinto Club of America website. Don't even remember the last time I thought about one, let alone saw one. Well, turns out that their is a pretty enthusiastic group of Pinto supporters out there.

Anyone who was alive in the 70's remembers the exploding Pintos. Well, I found this interesting tidbit on Wikipedia:

"However, a 1991 law review paper by Gary Schwartz[9] argued that the case against the Pinto was less clear-cut than commonly supposed. Twenty-seven people died in Pinto fires. Given the Pinto's production figures (over 2 million built), this was no worse than typical for the time. Schwartz argued that the car was no more fire-prone than other cars of the time, that its fatality rates were lower than comparably sized imported automobiles, and that the supposed "smoking gun" document that plaintiffs claimed showed Ford's callousness in designing the Pinto was actually a document based on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulations about the value of a human life rather than a document containing an assessment of Ford's potential tort liability."

Not as bad looking as I remember either.....

3243d1203556961-79-ford-pinto-project-bluepinto.jpg
 
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I bought a Pinto wagon for $400 and drove it over 40k miles. It did have a couple of problems - a hole in one side from a 4 x 4 bumper, and a bent oil pan that leaked unless the drain plug was wrapped with plumber's tape each oil change ...
 
We had a Pinto wagon around '74- '75. Blue with the fake wood panels. Don't remember much about it other than it was one of the cars I learned to drive on. Had a Country Squire before that, what a boat that was...
 
My middle brother bought one the first year they came out (his first new car). He put a Hurst shifter in it and did what he could to improve the engine. He must have put 100k+ on that car.
 
Wonder how many of the damn things they made?
Seems everyone around at the time either had one or know someone that did. I didn't remember that they were in production from 1970-1980 either. Conventional wisdom suggests that the Pinto was a flop. Doesn't seem to be that way tho.
 
My brother had one during 1975 - 1978. Nice car. It was red with black interior. AM radio only, manual steering and brakes. Drove like a WW II jeep. Heater broke down in the middle of winter and we almost froze to death. Just needed a thermostat.
 
I had a 78 Station wagon that had the crusing option (side panel with the port side glass). It was a v6 with the automatic transmission. I swapped the engine and trans for a 2.3 turbocharged 4cyl and 4 speed. I had 4 cyl fuel economy and V8 power and a car that would go faster than it was designed to.

I remember racing a 280ZX out of Ft Worth going west on I 20 one night and he topped out at about 110 mph and I passed him like he was standing still and the Pinto felt like it was nearly airborne. It sure felt light. I drove that car for a couple of years. Unfortnutly it got totaled in a freak accedent
 
I learned to drive on a '72 hatchback, that our family owned for 12 years. The thing took much abuse and continued to work; it wasn't until the interior started to come apart (the frame of the driver's seat was collapsing, among other things) that my parents traded it in on a '85 Escort that was nowhere near as reliable as the Pinto.

Whenever we'd take the Escort back to the Ford dealership (it was always having problems that invariably were issues with the onboard computer) our old Pinto would be parked outside; one of the guys that worked in the garage bought it after we traded it in.

Out hatchback was dark blue; my boss says the one he owned growing up was red with the "Starsky and Hutch" stripe across the roof.
 
I had a Hot Rod magazine where a guy took the Turbocharged four cylinder out of a T-Bird (just like the one Aaron has)
shoved it into a Pinto, put a much lager turbo on it, and was turning 9's in all day long at the track, then turn around and
got 25+ MPG on the way home!

I also like the 302 V8 Maverick & Comets as well.

Scott
 
I always thought they would make a great sleeper car with a turbo 4 or 6... completely whoop the Import cars that make a lot of noise and even some domestics with V8s.
 
Even though I grew up in the 70's, I've never been in a Pinto. I have memories of riding in Pacers, Gremlins, and Vegas, but me and the Pinto never crossed paths.

There's still one parked in someone's yard in Greenfield, MA. by the lower rotary across from the Chine Gourmet. It's one of those "Cruising Wagons" that only has sheet metal and tinted fish-eye van windows in the back corners.
 

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One of my high school girlfriends dad had a hatchback that he had transplanted a massaged 302 into, and a couple of miles down the road I saw a very nice wagon, that had the "Cruisin'" package (I think it was called that...) with the front spoiler, 'panel delivery' back end, and the small round windows in the panels. Been sitting for some time in front of this guys house, looks like he put it up for sale a couple of weeks ago. I haven't been by the house since then, bet it went quick.
 
Brett a, That is called the cruising option and those are somewhat rare cars. not that it means anything as far as a monatary value goes but they are unique cars. I had one I put the Turbo charged 4cyl in with the 4 spd trans and my Son bought one several years later that had the V6 Automatic that looks very much like the one in the Thumbnail pictured. Except his was copper colored with the same paint scheme on the stripping.

The one that he bought was originaly a 4cyl 4spd and I insatalled a 2.8 V6 with an Automatic trans in it for the owner and my Son bought it from him several years later.
 
Are those bumpers stock? I seem to remember all Pintos having big ugly bumpers. The car in the picture has a nice clean look to it with those bumpers.
 
Yes, those bumpers are stock, that's an early 70's Pinto.

The later ones had the ugly bumpers because they had the
5 MPH shocks built into them.

Scott
 
I had a couple of 72 Pintos back in the late 70's, both hatchbacks.
One had a factory Sunroof which was a pretty cool option.
The 2.0L engine was absolutely bulletproof but the cars were underpowered, especially with an automatic trans, the doors were also about six feet long which made getting out in tight quarters pretty difficult. :D

I remember the lawsuit over the gas tank problems well, my parents were friends with the Gray family and I can remember when they got the news that Mrs Gray had died.

http://joseklein.com/punitive_grimshaw.html
 
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