I have placed Jade back up on Ebay and received a note from a fellow who said he may be able to offer some early history on her.
 
By the information I received when I bought the car, it was believed that the original owner died soon after purchasing the car, thus the low miles. I spoke at length with this fellow, a FoMoCo retiree, who knew other people that knew the original owner. In 1999, he heard that a 100 mile Pinto was for sale. He went to the owners home and took a look; 100 miles, sitting in a barn, he even knew exactly the location of the small holes in the headliner! He did not buy the car because he did not have a place for her in his garage, and that was the only way he would keep the car. I can appreciate that!
 
I do have a Michigan DMV record when the car went to the second owner in October, 1999, with a certified odometer reading of 134 miles. It was a wonderful piece of information to speak to a fellow who looked at the car in the same timeframe and substantiated the original miles.
 
I just wanted to share this with the Pinto community and those who have seen and driven Jade.
 
On a side note, the fellow who shared this history with me has browsed our site. He still owns a 1972 Pinto he bought new! He is a fount of Ford knowledge. He shared about purchasing a turbo kit, what it contained and how it ran on his '72. His car had one of the first factory installed sunroofs (after Ford bright it in-house). I hope he joins up with us, as he has a wealth of knowledge that only those who worked so close with Ford could have.
 
Anyhow, thanks for reading!
 
Dave

Thank you.....Becky? I think you are Becky, LOL
 
I need to build a nice size building to 'get my Pinto on' in, if that makes any sense. I have owned Jade for 5 years. I work in good 'ole corporate America and 2011 was the worst year for me, losing 85% of our US workforce to Bulgaria. Luckily, I was retained, but in the mess of it all, I came to grips with reality and made 2 commitments, or shall I say came up with 2 things I needed to do to be financially where I need to be to weather a job loss. One of those things is behind me, and I searched my heart and decided selling Jade would be OK. We have new leadership at work, who value US based resources for US IT Security work, and I feel like the target is off of my back. But I am still going to execute my plan so I will never have to fret a job loss, something that has weighed very heavily on me for quite some time.
 
All that said, if I sell Jade for what I want out of her, I will be able to build a shop for my other 3 cars. If she doesn't sell, as much as I have wanted to keep the miles off of her, I am coming to the realization that a 400 mile Pinto will never be worth much, and may just doll her up and begin driving a brand new Pinto in 2012. She needs A/C installed, and you can get a Vintage Air unit these days that is far superior to what came in them in the day. Nice wheels and tires and my favorite stripe (the one that runs just below the belt line from front to rear, up the sides and across the top of the rear window, and then just enjoy her. I would also get the best undercoating job I can get to preserve her, replace all belts and hoses, and rock and roll!
 
What a pipe dream! There is a huge part of me that wants to not drive her and keep the miles off, but I have learned that there is not much appreciation among car enthusiasts for completely original cars. And I have found that very sad.
 
Amyhow, more than you wanted to hear, but this is therapeudic, LOL.
 
Dave

Dave,
    While it may be neat to have a 400 mile Pinto, nothing compares to the sheer joy of Driving it !

Yes it is Becky... lol!

I'm with Dave (Flash) on this one... it's neat to have a "new" barely broken-in Pinto but you don't feel the joy unless you're driving it! Can you imagine it: driving Jade somewhere, the sunlight making her gorgeous green paint glow with radiance (I LOVE that shade of green!) and seeing people giving you and Jade thumbs up? Or coming back from shopping to her in the parking lot and seeing people do double-takes or outright ogling her because they haven't seen a Pinto in years, and a gorgeous one at that!?! There's nothing like it!

Yeah, I hate this crappy economy. I am fortunate to have a job but unfortunate a couple years ago to have the top boss (our governor at the time) cut our wages almost 15% because "corporate America has to cut back, so the state should too".  To a single person with a mortgage, that spelled disaster. It didn't help that I was also on temporary disability, thus unable to get a second job.  I'm hoping to keep my house, and so far, so good. Most of our salary has been restored but the damage was done.  I'm glad you are doing good again. And yeah, I hope you can keep Jade, even though that garage sounds good. And no, you weren't long-winded. Your story answered a question or two about why you would even THINK about letting Jade go. I'm having a heckuva time figuring out why Joe (redmustangman) is giving both his Pintos up. 

Wow... amazing car. 

I am still looking for my "Sabrina", or else I would settle for Jade.