Ironically, an '80 with a 2.3 turbo would be close to my idea of the perfect Pinto.

I think square headlight Pintos look the best.

very nice looking car, but yea, the carb'ed turbo's left a lot to be desired. the F.I. turbo is a great swap. But you can't go wrong with a 5.0 in a '71 !!  :fastcar:

Finally got a chance to test out my new camera & decided to take some interior shots. This was the main reason I bought this car. It was too nice to pass up.






I changed the steering wheel to this one. It came with a mint Rallye wheel on it but I like the smaller diameter of the Grant.

very, very nice, I like it.

how easy was that bumper to install? I think I've been told they are bolt ups ('77 on '80) with no mods? is that true, bolt right up?

I think if you use the 77 bumper shocks its probably simple. I didnt have the reinforcement, only the aluminum shell so I managed to line up 4 holes with the '80 mount & got it on there. Its kinda half a$$ed but it is only temporary. I left the '80 bumper filler on it since I didnt feel like drilling out the rivets.

'77/'78 bumpers look good on the '79/'80 body style, in my opinion

TOMMY's 1980 Pinto ~~> http://www.cookieboystoys.com/friends/tommys.htm

I had one a few years back just like it, interior and paint. In a field for to many years w/broken windows so the seats were.... ugly. Rest of the interior was still good, stripped what I could... that interior (minus seats) now lives on in 2 other cars (my '73' and '78) found the engine a home, think I still have the tranny and many other parts I kept.

pretty much the exact same car, just much worse condition. Same gold and black seats, painted black with the stripes. can't really see the stripes, someone rattle can the car to cover rust issues and painted right over them but they were still there.

I'm not sure exactly what Tommy did to modify the rear spoiler, I have seen a few pictures of them modified to fit hatches and trunks. The only one I saw in person... I didn't like how it looked.

Here's a couple shots of my '77 parts car. I made room in the garage to fit it so I can get to work stripping it.



After initial comparisons & measurements, it appears that the rear window & trunk will be a perfect fit in place of the hatch.

It looks pretty decent for a parts car!  We should all be so fortunate.

Dwayne :smile:

At least they're both black. Just add gold stripes to that front clip. 

I probably have the only 2 late model black/black Pinto's in a 200 mile radius of my house.

If the passenger fender was straighter I would have done it by now. Ive got NOS '73 fenders for her if I decide not to make my own widebody kit using the '77 fenders & part of the '80 fenders. Id love to end up with something like this....



I dont know if I can pull it off in steel but Im gonna try. Im thinking Map's front bumper would go well with this theme. I wanna see the rear he has planned as well.

Why destroy a good Pinto sedan to make a hatchback into a sedan? If you want a sedan to switch the back half on I will switch you sedans. My rusty sedan for your nicer sedan. All I want from it is the engine & transmission. I already worked on those.

It looks pretty decent for a parts car!  We should all be so fortunate.

Dwayne :smile:

Both quarters are swiss cheese as are the rockers & both doors plus the driver side quarter is hit enough to buckle the metal behind it. The roof looks like kids jumped on it & it was popped back up & the inner fenders have several small holes as well. I could have Fred ship me a CLEAN shell for much less than fixing this one.

Im only SEMI trunking it. I want to keep the fold down seat & Im not going to install the package tray either. I want the hatchback interior with a window & trunk in place of the hatch.

Ewwww... all of a sudden my rust bucket is sounding good.

You'd better look out, Matt... he might decide to take you up on that offer to trade! :lol:

I haven't had anything to report lately. I'm still picking up a part here & there. I think I've made a decision that will make some people happy.

My 9 year old son is in love with Callisto & wants it for his first car. He is going to need a fuel miser so if I V8 her he won't be able to afford gas in it. I've also waited over 25 years for a V8 Pinto & I'm not going to want to give her up. I think I'll make Callisto into a cool car for him & I'm going to go nuts on the parts car for myself. 

I think I want to back half it & fill it with a rollcage. I have my own bender for my buggy frames & 300 feet of .095 wall in the garage. Most of the rust in the quarters will need cut out to stretch them anyway so I'll hang skins. I'm also thinking glass fenders, hood, bumpers & maybe doors too with plastic or Kirkey seats (I have a set of each) as well as a fuel cell & 15x3 front wheels already. I will use leaf springs out back to keep it streetable & I will gut everything I can to shave weight. Callisto was just too nice to gut out.

Now I need a name for the parts car..... :evil:  Maybe rattle trap.... :lol:

Now that my kids are back in school it's time to start working on the car. I cleaned the garage enough to get the parts car in & start stripping it down. I found a lot more rust than I bargained for but since its going to be a stripped down lightweight Ill just cut the rust out & replace it with aluminum where possible.


The crunched quarter will take the most work to replace.

Best wishes with your effort. It's an unfortunate fact that the area you show there is quite often compromised with damage from moisture, since it is nnot only the first avenue for water to travel after exiting the drains, but it also tends to stay wet since there is no good ventilation.


Again, hope you can work through it.


Chris

Im not running a heater or the stock vent in those locations & it looks like I can just cut all that out & either weld in metal or rivet sheet aluminun to box it all in. I was thinking of recessing the whole firewall but I dont want to deal with moving the brakes & steering out of the way. If I was going to restore this car Id probably start with another body but since my son wants my other Pinto Im just going to chop & lighten this one till all the rust is gone & stuff my 302 in it.