Considering how many of these things that were made, it surprises me how few are still left running around today: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Pinto...item2a1c50045f

 

Shouldn't shock you how few are left around.
They were not Ford's best moment.

 

I'll admit the 1970's weren't exactly the "zenith" of American automotive manufacturing prowess. I also suspect the fact that these vehicles didn't exactly "pull at the heartstrings" of their respective owners likely has something to do with their relative rarety today.

Cars like the Pinto, Vega, Maverick, Monza, Fairmont, Pacer, Chevette, Gremlin, etcetera will never make anyone's Top 10 list of automotive milestones, but just the sheer numbers of these cars that were produced tells me that more of them should still be around......

 

The Pinto and the Maverick were popular cars to make drag cars out of the bodies.

 

I dont think I have even seen a pinto in person before. Last time I saw one on TV was the American Top Gear that was on not too long ago.

 

My dad owned three Pintos, and I logged quite a few miles behind the wheel. Two had the 2.0 OHC motor, and the other had the 2.3. All were 4 speeds.

Learned to drive in my grandmothers w/2.0 and automatic, and took my driver's test in a '71 Pinto with a 4 speed and the 2.0 motor.

Can't say I miss any of them, but the best of them were certainly a match for the other domestic subcompacts of the day. My '71 would smoke my buddy's 2.2 liter '78 Toyota Celica.

In my experience, the earlier ones (pre '73 or so) were better made and ran better. When they first came out, some of them were well optioned (mag wheels, decent interior), but the later ones were just cheap cheap cheap and suffered from motors strangled by even more restrictive emissions equipment.

One of the biggest POS I ever drove was a very late made Pinto wagon the rental company gave us when my dad's '80 Capri Turbo got hit by a drunk driver. That thing was a joke and nowhere near as good as the early Pintos I drove. I think it even rolled off the assembly line with bias ply tires. Horrible. Clearly Ford was not going in the right direction when a late '70's Pinto was much worse than an early '70's one.

 

Very much so, nobody ever thought twice about junking one of them the moment it was close, and they could afford to. Once Ronnie got things uprighted after Carter, as soon as new car loans dropped under 10%, people were ditching Pintos, and they went to the crusher.

 

ahh.....who could ever forget those explosive little buggars....get rear ended and KABOOM!!!!....

 

Had a 72 wagon that I ran for 12 years, 240,000 miles. It rusted out but was a fine car, and what a chick magnet (not).

 

It made for some funny jokes and probably made a few lawyers rich. But my bet is the reality was nowhere near as bad as the media made it out to be.

I will say the '71 and '73 we had took a beating from the 5 kids in my family.

Though those early Pintos lacked in style and media reputation, they were reliable, cheap to own and easy to maintain.

The newest one we had was like a '76 or '77, had ugly bumpers, leaked oil, rattled even more and was just not as good or reliable as the older two cars. The 2.3 liter in that car just seemed to run out of revs sooner and made its power over a pretty narrow range for a small 4 banger, while the 2.0 in the eariler cars was just more fun to drive.

 

hideous

 

Had a neighbor who put a Toyota 20R engine in a Pinto - had to cut a hole in the hood to clear the carb. The Ford 2.3 was a pretty miserable engine in those days. He called it the Pintota. When he was done with it he took it to the junkyard - and they used it for a yard car for several years - the c0ckroach that wouldn't die.

 

A good friend in high school had an early Pinto, and let me tell you, he drove the living **** out of that thing. It never failed to amaze me where he could get that thing off-road

Mechanically, it was a fine vehicle (for the era, that is), but the interior was junk. It was always a real challange gettin out of, as the inside door handles would break leaving just a little stub to open the door with.

I also sadly had a classmate in high school kill himself in a 289 converted Pinto. The conversion was a high school hack job w/ no brake/suspension upgrades. He got moving down a road and was unable to stop ...

 

I bought one for my wife in about '73. (that was during the 1st "gas crisis days") Was a wagon and I put mag wheels and a few other "appropriate" accessories on it. Was a cute little car and was actually a good little car. Had the 2.0 engine in it. How many realize they actually offered a 1.6L as well as the 2.0L? The 1.6L was a British Ford engine and the 2.0L was a German Ford engine. In about '74 Ford started building the engines here which was the start of the 2.3L engine. My neighbor bought one new, (he worked for Ford) and that 2.3L was a poor substitute for the 2.0L. The V-6 came along in about '77 or so. Don't think they sold many of those.
I've driven those 2.3L w/turbo in the Mustang II (?) and you could take a nap by the time that thing spooled up.

 

my dad had an early one, it was a baby blue wagon, 2.0, 4 speed, it ended getting totalled out twice and he fixed it and kept driving it, he sold it to some friends (1985ish) and they drove it for another 10 years or so