To all the pinto fans out there
This is 4mer-pinto-owner and just like the name implies, I used to own two 1971 pintos back in the early 80's.  This is my Pinto story.  My dad, bless his heart, bought my first pinto when I was in high school without even telling me about it.  I woke up one morning and found it in the driveway.  It used to belong to the former pastor of our church.  It was school bus orange and a totally stripped down sedan model.  The interior was black and had that vinyl/rubber floor covering instead of carpet, a cover plate on the dash where the radio would have gone, and no chrome anywhere exept the bumpers, emblems, and "FORD" letters.  Under the hood sat the very rare british ford cortina 1600cc engine with the german 23 spline 4 speed tranny.  My former pastor bought the car brand new in California in late 1970/early 71, moved to Indiana, and some ten years later moved back to California to pastor our church.  By then, the car had no floorboards because rust had completely eaten through it.  The rest of the car body had cancer rust all over it and believe me the cancer was terminal.  But that little 1600 was as strong as a horse (no pun intended) because both it and the tranny had been recently rebuilt.  When I saw the car in the driveway I thought it was a piece of crap and it wasn't cool enough for me.(Remember I was still in high school).  But my dad paid $200 of his hard earned money from working in the California fruit picking fields (my family were migrant workers) and you would have to pick a lot of oranges to make that kind of money.  So once again, bless my dad, and mom for that matter, for buying me that car formerly known by my friends as the flintstone car because it had no floorboards.  It was shortly after that that I began to realize how reliable those cars were.  They were great cars to have if you were poor.  If you could not afford to change the oil then you didn't change the oil and this little car would just go without knowing the meaning of the word quit.  If you couldn't afford to buy tires for it then you drove it with 4 bald ones and that didn't seem to bother the car at all.  If you couldn't afford to give the car a tune-up then you drove it anyway and the car wouldn't even so much as give me a sputter or hesitation.  Heck, one day my clutch plate broke into a million pieces and so I dropped the tranny all by myself, put a new clutch in it and had it back on the road in just a few hours.  I was learning real fast to appreciate my little car.  I continued to drive the old car until after high school.
A neighbor down the street also had a 71 pinto coupe with a 2000cc german engine and the same 23 spline 4 speed german tranny.  This car was fluorescent lime green with a black interior and in my eyes, it was fully loaded.  I mean it had shoulder belts, carpeting, a radio, chrome around the windows, and pop out rear passenger windows.  It was a California car without an ounce of rust on it anywhere and they bought it brand new some eleven/twelve years earlier.  It tuned out that he had blown the engine and it was sitting in front of his place collecting spider webs.  I asked him if he wanted to sell it and he sold it to me for $100.  I literally pushed it down the street to my house that morning, did an engine and tranny swap, a little bit of minor rewiring because the 1600 and 2000 engines have their alternators on opposite sides and had it back on the road later that evening, much to the dismay and disbelief of my neighbor.  I then drove the heck out of that car.  I used to drive it to Los Angeles and back every other weekend from Central California and I would go up the grapevine grade on interstate 5 without so much as a sputter. 
Then one day around 1986 I was at my older brother's house when some guy hit my car while it was parked out in front of my brother's house and totaled it.  He tried to take off but we caught him and he did not want us to call the police so he gave me $500 dollars on the spot and we let him go.  I couldn't believe it.  My little car was now crushed and undriveable.  We called a junkyard truck and the driver gave me $100 for my car and hauled it away and that was the last I saw of it. 
So that is my story.  I am now a schoolteacher in my 40's and without sounding like I am bragging, have done well for myself.  Who knows, maybe someday I will find a restorable pinto with my name on it that I can put the time and money into.  Thanks to this awesome site for keeping the Pinto legacy alive.
Take care one and all.
David AKA 4mer-pinto-owner

Hey skrach,
I am in central california in northern tulare county between fresno and visalia.  Just a few hours drive from you and the bay area.  I am not sure when the time would be right to purchase and restore a first generation pinto but I am curious as to what you might have in mind.  I am sure you have some connections and hey, you never know when that right car is calling for a good home.
Take Care
4mer-pinto-owner

 :fastcar:Hello! I am a newbie to this site, so please forgive me if I do this wrong.
My first car was a 72 Pinto station wagon. I was 16 and delivered the LA Times news papers, I had been walking for 4 years delivering papers {my mother started doing it when I was 11 I had my own route doing the apartments then walking back to the office} so having a car any car was just cool. She bought that faded yellow Pinto for $250.00, now mind you I may have needed that car to work but I was also a 16 year old kid I grew up in Ca. in the San Fernando Valley and if you know the area in the 70’s if you when up to the top of Tampa you could go 4-wheeling that is where you may find me in the day time. After a month the oil pan never looked the same and the valve cover gaskets leaked but no worries it just made the engine dirty right, I would check the oil and it would not even touch the dip stick I would pat the dash and tell the car “don’t worry Baby we get paid in 3-4 days I’ll get you some oil then” and after a while it started leaking water not bad mind you be again until it would not idle I never thought to me to check it. When it would not idle I would pull into a full service station {the good old day’s full service} and ask the attendant “could you please push on the gas to keep the car running or could you put the water in? Some station knew me and we would just do it without even talking” now if you thing this car only lasted a month or two guess again. I owned this car a little over three years put over 107, 0000 miles on it my self it had over 103, 0000 miles on it when I got it. And it made it within three blocks of the junk yard I sold it to and even though it did not have a place one it with out a dent {remember I took it 4-wheeling} and a blown motor they still gave me $25.00 for it, it had over 211,0000 miles on it. Now one time my brother and I went 4-wheeling and we were coming back down the mountain and there was a new Toyota pick up truck stuck he flagged us down and his girlfriend was upset that this guy got stuck. He asked if we would take him to a phone we said you have a winch on your truck just hook it to the back bummer and we’ll pull you out, he said no THAT car could not pull my truck out we said fine then we’ll see ya he said okay I’ll do it {his girlfriend said she would leave with us if he didn’t try} and he hooked it to my car and in no time his truck was free. Since having that first Pinto I bought 6 more after that then got dumb and bought others but I have just bought my 8th Pinto and can’t wait for it to get here!
I hope this is not to long either.
  :peace: