Pinto

[Conrad]

I had a '71 Ford Capri once, which shared the same drivetrain (2.0 L 4 cyl) and many common parts with the Pinto of the same year.  Fun little car.

Mercury Capri you mean? I know I know.

'79 Capri Turbo RS 4 speed was the first brand new car I ever bought. Black with green racing stripes. 

[Outback_Jon]

I think it's just dead leaves from about 30 years of Falls...

Everything around it just died of shame.

[VirginiaJim]

Or trying to cover it up..

[Tim]

A true story.....I was stationed at the marine base at Yuma in 1974 and left in 1975 after 13 months as part of a detachment for the now long gone VA-174 based in Fla. What we did was to train pilots to fly air combat maneuvering (A-7’s didn’t make much of a fighter) and dropping bombs. The nice thing about being part of this detachment was we had airplanes for 3 weeks. The planes would go back to Fla. for 3 weeks and then return for 3 weeks on and on and on.  I had a brandy new 900 Kawasaki. (nothing fell off of it ) I was washing it one day when a guy in my detachment came out to work on his Red Pinto wagon. He was having a carburation problem of some sort.  He and his buddies took the carb off the car and shut the hood. The guy and his buddies went and got loaded. They came back out to the red Pinto wagon with the munchies and forgot they had taken the carb off. The thing caught on fire when they yried to start it.  I was amused by the clowns now bailing out of the car. Somehow they got the fire out with a rag as the fire was contained in the intake manifold. (Gas line dumped raw fuel into the hole where the carb went. (I had to go look) I have no idea what they did after that, I was busy getting  the water spots off the bike. Well I was entertained……    The bad part of all of this was I had so much time on my hands the pay check never made it for 3 weeks of time off.

Back then gas was cheap and a 4000 mile valve check was $54.00.

[SteveJ.]

I've owned three of 'em, sold one, ex totaled the really purty yellow one, looked like a banana.  She pulled out right in front of a pickup. Oops.  That yellow one was purchased new with every option except auto trans.  With the air one, top end was about 75-80, foot to the floor.  The last one looked like SteveWFL's pic.  I bought it for $25 from my barber instead of renting a car for a week while my pickup was in the body shop.  After using it for that, I just parked it in the back yard(had acreage at the time.)  B-I-L and I tried to destroy it one afternoon, helped along by adult beverages. We romped around in back 40, the rear spring mounts came up came up through the floor. Held the throttle to the floor for about 15 minutes, it would not blow.  We got bored and went to have some fun with a spud gun.

[Excavator]

I had one when I was 17 for two or three weeks, a 1970, 4 speed, 4 cylinder. I bought it for 90.00 from someone who needed money in a bad way. After a day or two I realized that I had been ripped off  . That thing had a bad exaust leak (I drove with my head out the window to keep from passing out). Every few miles a valve would stick and the car would lose HP so I had to plan my routes with plenty of downhill coasting. After 25 - 30 miles, the right rear wheel would come lose so I kept a four way handy in the back floorboard. Had to add water before each drive because the heater core leaked out into the passenger floorboard. This car would start in any gear with the clutch out, one day someone reached inside to start it and see how it would run.......Boy did it run, I caught up to it just before it run into a deep ditch.

I traded that Pinto for a 22 rifle, I was very happy.

[Conrad]

A true story.....I was stationed at the marine base at Yuma in 1974 and left in 1975 after 13 months as part of a detachment for the now long gone VA-174 based in Fla. What we did was to train pilots to fly air combat maneuvering (A-7’s didn’t make much of a fighter) and dropping bombs. The nice thing about being part of this detachment was we had airplanes for 3 weeks. The planes would go back to Fla. for 3 weeks and then return for 3 weeks on and on and on.  I had a brandy new 900 Kawasaki. (nothing fell off of it ) I was washing it one day when a guy in my detachment came out to work on his Red Pinto wagon. He was having a carburation problem of some sort.  He and his buddies took the carb off the car and shut the hood. The guy and his buddies went and got loaded. They came back out to the red Pinto wagon with the munchies and forgot they had taken the carb off. The thing caught on fire when they yried to start it.  I was amused by the clowns now bailing out of the car. Somehow they got the fire out with a rag as the fire was contained in the intake manifold. (Gas line dumped raw fuel into the hole where the carb went. (I had to go look) I have no idea what they did after that, I was busy getting  the water spots off the bike. Well I was entertained……    The bad part of all of this was I had so much time on my hands the pay check never made it for 3 weeks of time off.

Back then gas was cheap and a 4000 mile valve check was $54.00.

What else is there to do after that? Go back in the house and hit the bong a couple more times. 

[cmoore]

Funny thread. Those were the days of some very bad cars. I had Pinto's cousin. A 1970 four door Ford Maverick. I called it the "Mavwreck". It had a 6 cylinder engine that I honestly never remember changing the oil in. It burned so much I just kept adding it. The hood was rusted as was the roof. At one point I was so poor and broke I had to park it on a hill so I could get it started in the morning. That's right dead battery. I would roll down the hill and pop the clutch so I could get to work. My God I was poor when I was in college. Bald tires, lousy brakes, loose steering, three on the tree transmission. What a hoot just remembering that pile of crap. How I didn't die in the thing is still a mystery to me. I eventually sold it and bought a Kawasaki 125 street legal dirt bike from a buddy to get around on. My first motorcycle. It fired on the third kick every time and got me everywhere I needed to be. Loved it.

[Gearhead82]

I'm glad somebody finally brought up the Ford Maverick so that I could share my first car.  This is my senior pic with my '72 Maverick.  Had a 302 V8 and I added a 4V Edelbrock carb and intake mani, dual flowmaster exhaust, wheels, air shocks in the back, stereo, bucket seats, etc. . .  Bought it for $1500 in 1998 with 59k original miles.  Most common comment I got was "nice Camaro!"  Would love to have another one someday. . .

[cmoore]

A 26 year old maverick with 59K on it? Man, that was a find. It is nice looking. If I had pulled up along side you in say 1979 in the Mavwreck I would have lowered my head in shame. Nice looking car.

[Ron Dawg]

Great thread. I didn't have a Pinto, but we had one at the place where I worked (a pharmacy) and they let us deliver drugs (legal drugs) in it. It was bullet proof.

I did have a '72 Maverick with the 200 c.i. straight six all through school.It was the Red/white/blue U.S.A. edition that went with leisure suits and all the hair. Three on the tree, no a/c, no power steering, no FM radio. ( I wish I had the hair back, anyway).Bought it used and drove it through HS and college when my 54 Ford F100 was not up to the job. The car was absolutely bulletproof, but a dog. I shoulda kept it. All I remember doing to it was a valve cover gasket, a headlight, and tires.

When we got married, we needed a cheap car, so we bought a 74 Vega and sleeved the engine. Had an Offy intake and a two stage two barrel. It was the standard rusted out GT model. It had a heavy suspension and a broken sway bar which we welded back together.  We lived in Athens and my wife used to drag race the late 70's-early 80's Corvettes that were such dogs from light to light. Beat them almost every time. Only problems were that it wouldn't start when it rained and the 4 speed would hang in 2-3 and I'd have to crawl under the car and pry the shift linkage around until it popped. One day the wipers froze to the windshield and the defroster croaked. Oh, and there was the day the wheel bearing ate itself. I got a better job and we got a VW Rabbit for her which was a big improvement.

Bad cars, good times. We didn't  know any better.

[VirginiaJim]

When I was much younger, I worked at my future father-in-law's service station.  Two brands would make him shudder when they came in for work......vegas and chevettes.

[bbroj]

One of my first cars was a '76 Chevette 2 door, pumpkin orange. That was actually among the better cars of my early driving years, the straight 6 Toyota Corona was a rolling cloud of oil smoke. Mom and Dad's 74 Plymouth Sattelite Sebring station wagon with the 318 was one of my favorites...

[Leo]

My take on the Pinto was from a different point of view.  I bought a brand new "Pony MPG' model to use as a city commuter in 1976, as my 455 Skylark pro street style car was not fit for that duty.   I beat that little car in and out of Chicago for a year without a hickup, all the while it sipped gas gently.   When I finished that job, I realized I had a light weight chassis, with disc brakes and rack and pinion steering.  The body style would accomodate oversized road race tires without a handling robbing lift kit.   I was able to relocate the seat brackets 4 inches back to make a proper driving position for my 6'2" frame.  Huge aftermarket front and rear anti sway bars were added as well a Koni shocks and upgraded brakes.   

The real fun began when I got information about the EICO company, that made serious performance upgrades.  Their top of the line modded cylinder head with big valves and a wild cam,  an intake manifold that held two webers and a header that blew through a FOUR FOOT long 3 inch id glasspack was added as well as their disitributer/ignition upgrade. It was pretty quiet, but redline sounded like a motorcycle engine.  After long and frustration weeks tuning the snotty little beast, it all came together and I had a engine that came to life from 3800 to 6000 rpms.  It only made about 158 hp, but don't forget it was in a light, small chassis, a plain brown, chromeless Pinto with the minimal interior.  Even the oversized tires were on plain black steel rims with the little factory 'dog dish" hubcaps.  The next 20,000 miles I spend hunting down mustang II's and emission motor camaros in stoplight to stoplight duels.  Plus, it could actually go around corners.    It did not have the big end, but the weight/hp ratio was fun in urban areas.   It was a truely sick joy to blast past people who would make fun of the little "POS" and with a straight face ask them why they didn't race me.   

The stock bottom end could not take the continual redline rpm's (even with the upgraded oil pump) and started to come apart.  I knew it was getting loose for a while before it spun a couple of main bearings.  I never put it back together, and sold it to someone who wanted to put a V-8 in it, but it was really fun to drive that year.  I do have to admit the mileage became pretty poor, but the arab oil embargo was over by then and I had the money to keep gas in it. 

[MrPepsi]

So, who else has owned a Pinto?  I had a '74, 4 on the floor 6 cylinder beast!!  I would like to say I ran the wheels off of it, but I grenaded the clutch (my first clutch replacement) then I managed to puncture the oil pan at Lake Cushman (unknown to me), I drove back home and then over to my then girlfriend, now wifes house.  After I left her place I was headed home, which has several really long hills, I started losing power on the second heill, managed to make it to the top before things went really south.  I coasted to the bottom and as I came to a stop I sensed I was in trouble.  The motor was quite seized up, I checked the oil and the stick was dry, which didnt make sense, I had checked the oil that Morning.  I looked under the car and I saw this wet streak.  She was done.

Sadly, all of this happened the day he drove it off the Ford lot.

[Makz58]

1972 Hatchback nicest shade of yellow you have ever seen. This car served me well and I drove it for almost 6 years with no isssues.

[shreveportSS]

Had a Chartruce 75 wagon I4 w/4sp. Sold it with 140,000 miles on it. Only replaced the timing belt once when it broke.

[Furbo]

When my folks tired of my constantly running off in the '76 Monte Carlo, they bought me a Brand New 1980 Pinto....in late '81. It was the last model made, had no AC (in Texas!), no radio, nada. Think they gave $2K for it new.

It was in retrospect a great HS car. It didnt have enough power to do burn outs or other stupid stuff, the gastank issue was fixed in '78, the parking brake (Man I HATED THAT THING) came up 8" between the seats creating an effective wedge between me and whatever young lady happened to be in the passenger seat - and the back seat - fuggetaboutit. Useed it thru highschool (class '82) and into my Jr year of college. 

Later I inherited my Great Grandmother's....1965 Rambler 660 Classic! Straight 6 232! Imagine my and my girlfriends' suprise when we discovered it had foldable nash seats!    We've been married 24yrs now....

[Conrad]

When my folks tired of my constantly running off in the '76 Monte Carlo, they bought me a Brand New 1980 Pinto....in late '81. It was the last model made, had no AC (in Texas!), no radio, nada. Think they gave $2K for it new.

It was in retrospect a great HS car. It didnt have enough power to do burn outs or other stupid stuff, the gastank issue was fixed in '78, the parking brake (Man I HATED THAT THING) came up 8" between the seats creating an effective wedge between me and whatever young lady happened to be in the passenger seat - and the back seat - fuggetaboutit. Useed it thru highschool (class '82) and into my Jr year of college. 

Later I inhereited my Great Grandmother's....1956 Rambler 660 Classic! Straight 6 232! Imagine my and my girlfriends' suprise when we discovered it had foldable nash seats!    We've been married 24yrs now....

My mom and dad had a Rambler and it had one of those seats in it. I don't know what year it was or anything like that, I was just a kid and didn't pay any attention to stuff like that then. I remember that it had a push button transmission  and the buttons where on the left side of the dash. My mom used to let me back it up and down the driveway, it was actually the first car that I ever 'drove', I haven't thought about that car in years...

Thanks for bringing back that good memory for me Furbo.

[Ron Dawg]

I had forgottent the Ramblers! My dad bought a baby blue '58 (?) and when my sisters started driving, got rid of it just because of those seats. I was a kid, but I thought that push button transmission was great. He later bought a red  '59 (?) with a broken front end. He welded it back together and we cut the body off-leaving the front clip (no windshield) and front seat in place making a huge strip-down out of it.

I learned to drive it in the pasture. It had a flat head six with three on a tree. We also threw a belt around the back wheel after jacking it up, of course and used it to turn the portable feed mill that we used to grind horse and hog feed. I was 13 and had my own "car!" It looked like a giant go-cart.