While my cars have been in "storage" for years now, when I did drive them someone always had a Pinto story.  I plan on getting my dads wagon out this year and tooling it around.

Yep. When I start to say, "...the drive train from a T-Bird Turbo Coupe" I'm not sure what loses them more, "T-Bird" or "Turbo Coupe." Maybe I should say. "... the drivetrain SIMILAR to a SVO Mustang." And the harder one's are the people who HAVE to be the expert at everything, correct me (not), and say, 'a T-Bird was never turbo charged nor came with a 4 cylinder engine.'

It is ok with me if people think my bobcat is a pinto. If you are not an enthusiast it is an easy mistake to make. What drives me nuts is "nice Maverick, beautiful Gremlin, love that Vega. I just smile and say thanks. I know it is because these people are to young to ever seen one on the street. The ones who really piss me off are those who tell me that I don't know what I am talking about. Thousands of people died, It is too serious an issue for me not to acknowledge.
Bill

Sixteen years ago..., way back in 2007 I trailered my Pinto home. It was 400 miles away in San Francisco, two blocks from where my wife grew up. It (barely) ran but I did get it to U-Haul a few miles away. I had to rent a 10ft. box van and a trailer as they wouldn't rent a pick up to tow a trailer. Anyway, all the people in the office came out to see a "Pinto." It was quite amusing. You would have thought it was a celebrity TV car or something.

My wagon is a 1973. The 2.0 and C-4 Automatic are long gone. They were replaced with an '88 Turbo Coupe engine/T-5 (5 speed) and a 3.40 8" rear end. The donor car was my 10 year former daily drive '88 Turbo Coupe. Bought it as a salvaged vehicle for $1,500 when the going rate was $6,000. The wife was hit driving it and we got $1,400 from insurance. Now it's a $100 car. At the end I sold about $250 in parts off it and that covered the initial repairs 10 year prior. In the end I don't think I spent $200 to do the whole turbo engine/trans/rear end swap. Today (if you can even find the donor car) at Pick Your Part prices it is probably 10 times the cost. The fact it is a 35 year old engine/trans swap in a 50 year old car just makes me feel OLD!

I tell people that I wish I had not dropped out of school. If I stayed in, I would have been in the 63rd. grade by now.Bill

I just had my 13th Pinto 75 coupe find me when I was out with my 12th 73 wagon. I have never owned the same color Pinto I have owned one since 1981 before they were cool. My mom bought me my first one when I was 16. I took it 4 wheeling and I could go just as hard as the Toyota's back in the day. I put over 111,000 miles on it in just over 3 years. I love the fact that some people have never seen a Pinto before and have no clue what kind of car I’m driving. I also love the people who flock around my car when the “Cool” cars are all around me including my husband’s 64 Chevelle SS. I always get more customers than he does, more pictures, looks and stories of back when…... Never get tired of people giving a honks, thumbs up or taking pictures as I drive down the road. Never heard of any other car that you could insure for 6 times the cost of it when it was new from the showroom floor.