thx for your inquiry and interest!
We're discussing it today, and tomorrow will call the last shop where we took it in. (I think we're not leaning to joining the auto club, just because of politics, safety courses you have to take, etc. etc.) The owner of Allen's repair shop in Sun City West, where we took it last time, is a 'master mechanic" but is usually not on site and doesn't do the work. Two other mechanics are on site, but last time the pinto was in, the mechanic who looked under the hood didn't know what the ignition module was, and the shop manager, not a mechanic, insisted the fuel sending unit just measures gas level and nothing more. These people just aren't familiar with pintos. But the store manager says the owner/master mechanic needs to look at it. We have to coordinate getting the pinto in shop with the 'master mechanic' looking at it. This time we want to talk with the owner/master mechanic ourselves. Our sense is that he is spread too thin: 2 repair shops, plus a restoration shop. We took the pinto out this evening and it behaved the same way, hesitating, but at least it doesn't kill. We drove it this evening in the dark, less traffic, and parked it away from all the other cars in the grocery store lot, and when walking out after shopping, a running car was pulled/parked along side of it, apparently looking at it. Funny...even in the dark, in a lot with no lights, people spot a pinto!