Maybe done to death already, maybe not. Given the population here changes somewhat frquently, I'm curious to what folks have to say. Everyone has a reason for liking the Pinto/Bobcat.
Me? My Grandmother bought me a brand new '77 sedan when I was in high school. Sure, other guys had Mustangs, Camaros, whatever - I had a >new car< ;D. Loved that little guy, always washing and waxing it.
In 1981, I moved to Philadelphia - my Mom had taken over the sedan, and I needed a car. My Grandfather (same side) had a '79 wagon, and he gave it to me. Now that car? Loved it even more - it was always immaculate, I put big tires/wheels on it, a header, a supertrapp muffler, a better stereo, window accents, fog lights, better carb, etc. The girlfriend and I at the time actually used to go CAMPING in it!! The car was really well taken care of, and super reliable.
After I left Philly, I moved to West Virginia, leaving the Pinto behind. My brother drove/abused it, but I was too busy restoring a 1957 Chevy; besides, I had a company car, and was not needing transportation. The car was used for a few years while he was in school, then got parked, enduring humid summers and snowy winters outdoors.
In 1990, I returned to school, and needing a car again, I went back to the Pinto wagon. It had held up surprisingly well, and was bulletproof - a simple oil change, freash battery and flush, and it was up and running!! It became my daily driver. Still having the 1957, I met a guy who had a body shop. I decided to turn the wagon into a cruising wagon, and went junkyard hunting. We completely repainted the car, shaved the emblems/door handles, frenched the antenna, added the side panels, welded in a fuel filler door, and painted it bright white - with big red, pink and purple tipped FLAMES - on the BACK of the car!!! ??? In fact, while the car was being "restored", I picked up a BEAT 1980 sedan as a daily driver. One day on the way to school (about two weeks before graduation), it died on the highway. We left it there.
Sadly, I never got to finish/drive the wagon. School was over, and I was looking for a job. Texas called. We left the car behind, with the guy who owned the shop. I was heartbroken, but we only had so much room to carry stuff to Texas.
Fast forward to 2008, when the but bit again. You now know the "rest of the story", and my '76 wagon restoration is well underway. It is officially the FOURTH Pinto I have owned. That makes it '76, '77, '79, and '80!! ;)
What's YOUR story?
Chris
My story can be seen at http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,11964.0.html (http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,11964.0.html).
Being that this car has been so reliable and easy to maintain and repair, I saw no desire to get rid of it. I wanted it a daily driver. It has been in the family since new, and we have all the documentation, including the original title and even the pre-sale brochure!
I never had any plans to restore it, just drive it. However, those thoughts are beginning to change the more I hang around on this board. I have to say that Pintos are much more attractive then the little foreign junk that is selling for high $!
I was a car dealer for almost fifty years and have owned over 10,000 cars. I kept a few good collector cars when they came along and never had the money or space to keep them all but when the Pinto's came out in late 1970 I knew I had to have one, especially when the '71 Runabouts appeared. My first Pinto had the small engine and the huge black rubber floormats but it was cute and fun to drive. Eventually I probably had a couple of hundred of them over the years and my kids and I all had one for daily drivers even though we had a choice of driving something fancier. I drove a lot and my favorite '71 Runabout was bullet proof and never seemed to get parking lot dings. I finally upgraded to a '74 runabout which to me seemed to be the ultimate Pinto with the better bumpers, locking hood and it still burned unleaded gas. This was a long time ago! I try to visit the huge Carlisle and Hershey swap meets every Fall and a few years ago I discovered a 1975 Pinto at the Carlisle Meet with 609 original miles on it. The original owner had passed away shortly after he bought it and the car sat in a garage most of its' life. Well of course I had to buy it and it has been in my garage ever since and it still has the same mileage. It is still a brand new Pinto and I don't want to drive it and put more mileage on it but what fun is that? Pinto's are made to be driven and enjoyed but this one belongs in a museum and maybe someone will come along who wants to conserve it as it is. I need to find a nice '71 Runabout again as I sure had many great times in the ones I had and it is time to make more fun Pinto memories. I have been looking!
My first Pinto was a 71 red sedan rebuilt total that I bought from a local body shop owner that I knew and trusted. It left me with my first wife. In 79 I ordered a new blue Runabout 2.3L auto loaded top of the line. In 1988 I bought a White 77 Pinto wagon from my sisters husband who had bought it new. I still have it but have not driven it in about 10 years because the #3 cly of the 2.3 has a problem and it knocks. My plans are to rebuild the 2.3 as soon as I have time. Also plan to install power brake booster. Maybe even some custom body work and new paint.
In 1977 my parents bought a 1977 Ford Pinto Squire wagon from Graham Ford in Columbus. When I was younger that was the family car & the car I wanted to be my first car. I was 11 when the car died and got hauled away to the junkyard. It had more rust on the rear quarters than my current 77 Pinto sedan! At that point I decided I wanted to get a Pinto, and in 2004 I accomplished that with the purchase of a 1978 Pinto Runabout. I paid $350 for it. The car was a mess but I got all the extra parts the previous owner had, including rear hatch, two doors, two fenders, spare battery side cover, voltage regulator, oil pan, and some odds & ends. He even filled up the tank, but told me there was no way the tank was full. I found out it was when I went to a gas station and tried to fill the tank. That car was a real mess with major rust on the rear quarter panels, a bad oil buring engine, and serious electrical problems. I bought Harold II, my 77 sedan from a couple in Grove City Ohio for $400 with a bad tranny. Turns out it was just out of fluid. I drove the car to Carlisle for the 2nd Pinto meet and at a tool booth the tranny started to slip. about 1500 miles later the tranny finally died. I am learning so much from her, including how to rebuild an engine while still in the car, and soon welding. I love this car & will be fixing her up. The car originally was medium saddle metallic with tan interior, but I will be painting the car a shade of blue yet to be decided, with blue interior, accented with black dash and rear panel.
Mine's kinda dumb... be warned.
As a little kid I always liked the cars with animal emblems. Mustangs, Pintos, Broncos, Mavericks, Impalas (the old ones) etc. Also, as a litte kid whose mother drove an (ugh!) Renault LeCar I was intrigued by the Pinto sedan's shape. I favored small cars with small or smallish rear quarter windows (unlike the LeCar). (ugh!)
As I got a little older (11 maybe), a chum down the street (whose Mom drove a 2-door Maverick) said there wouldn't be a Pinto in existence by the time I was of driving age. I took that as a dare, but I always wanted a Pinto anyway, so my honest-to-goodness-running-first-car was a '72 in Grabber (Ford) blue trunk model with black interior. Mr. John Everett, where are you? ::) :showback: :drunk: :P :cheesy_n:
Losing her to actions beyond my control devastated me. So from late '94 to late '08 I was Pintoless. I almost got a '73 green gold metallic w/ metallic green interior Runabout in '95 but I think I was still broken-hearted about the '72 so I stupidly passed her up. What was I thinking!?!
Now I'm the very proud owner of two beautiful (to me) Pintos that are both fun to drive and unique pieces of car history. I need to look up John Everett and ask him if he remembers those Famous Last Words he told me so long ago... :lol:
Ever since they came out, I have loved the Pinto. My first love was Burnt Orange with black interior w/ black rubber mat. It had two options, an AM radio and 2000 cc Vega killer engine w/ the 4 speed. I feel they were the American's version of Germany's VW Bug. They run forever.
I have had many in my long years and have a 78 that the engine just died a couple days ago. I am going to resto-mod and do a 5.0/T5 swap. I started the major bodywork.
Becky, there's nothing dumb at all about your reasons for liking Pintos.
Robert, I knew there was a reason I liked you (besides the fact that you fed me breakfast when I was in North Carolina)... my first Pinto was burnt orange with a black interior also!!! Great minds must think alike! :lol:
When I was sixteen and itching to get a car of my own, my Dad decreed that it had to be new :rolleye:... wasn't going to let me buy somebody else's problem. That severely limited my choices because, even though I was working part-time, minimum wage was only $1.65/hour in those days. At the time, I was dating a slightly older girlfriend who owned a Pinto so I was fairly familiar with them. Also, my Dad had always been a Ford man so I really never looked beyond the Pinto. He helped me make the deal and I special ordered a 1974 Runabout with the 2300 cc/4sp. combination. It had an AM radio, tinted glass, bodyside moldings, wheel lip moldings, bright trim around the windows, standard hubcaps with beauty rings, and white sidewall tires. In my eyes she was a beauty! Had lots of adventures :evil: in that little car!
I moved up to a larger car in 1976, but never quite forgot my Pinto. After many years, and numerous collector cars, I decided in late 2007 that I wanted to find another Pinto. That happened in early 2008 when I latched onto my 1972 Sedan. It runs great but needs cosmetic restoration - spent all last summer accumulating the things I needed and intend to finish her up this year. She's brown at the moment, but when I finish she will be orange, much like my original '74.
Dwayne :smile:
Same story...but I will add that my cousin had a 76 V6 "Woodie" wagon that I rode around in on a couple of trips to visit. I was impressed enough after driving it, to buy the 80 "Woodie" NEW!
I came to Pintos as an original owner of a 1980, 2.3. Auto Trans., Pinto "Woodie" Wagon. It had almost every option available. The car ran flawlessly for the four years my wife drove it. Even with it fully loaded, we towed a small ski boat on weekends. I traded it in on a (GULP) Chrysler La Baron turbo for the wife (LEMMON-but that's for another forum). I only received $1000 trade in for the 80 Pinto and only 27K miles on the clock. Which brings me to the next Pinto chapter.
I have been racing a 1966 Lotus Cortina for several years at vintage car track events. That fun ended when I rolled it into a little ball of metal after a rear axel failure going about 60. Me and the engine drive line are the only things that survived largely un-touched. Fast forward a couple of years. My son always wanted a MK1 Cortina as a driver/racer but they are scarce in the US, parts are hard to find and are often many times the price for a similar Pinto part. Plus most suffer from terminal rust issues.
I suggested that he look at the American version of the Cortina. A car that comes with a Cortina engine, has a lower center of gravity, a much wider wheel track, weighs about the same, and has a better parts availability that cost WAY less..... A 71 PINTO!! He soon found a largely rust free CA car, less than 50 miles from our house, with the original green fading paint, a 1971 trunk model with a 2.0, C4, front Discs, Air, Fold Down rear seat with 22k original miles on E-Bay for $1,300 (first owner was a disabled woman hence the low miles). He drove it off and on for about a year adding another 2K miles. From the start he wanted MORE POWER!
Enter Pinto #2, an AK Miller Turbo Charged 1971 4-speed 2.0 trunk model Pinto with a tired engine again on E-Bay and in CA.. He purchased yellow #2 Pinto and I then bought his green one. In our deal he ended up with the low mile 2.0 engine out of the green Pinto to use as a base for a new turbo motor. I decided to fill the hole left under my green hood with my full race 1600cc Lotus Cortina Twin Cam engine (bored out from the original 1588cc).
(http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd86/fastbak390/1980Pinto3.jpg)
71HANTO
Cars like this, and the people and history behind them....
See attached....
Pintosopher
With me, it started in 1996 when my father purchased our '78 off of a Dodge dealership that he worked for. The '78, as some know, has been a drag car most of it's life and only has 1500 original miles, excluding maybe 100 from the years at our local 1/8th mile drag strip. I remember helping clean the car and riding in the back with my brother when we first bought it. My dad did some engine build-ups and other work, and the car remains as it was after that. We retired that car around 2005 when we built a '92 Mustang that was bad-butt to say that least. We quit racing one year after that in '06 as my dad lost interest in all of our classic/collectible cars and sold out. At that time we had the '78 Pinto, '73 Corvette Stingray, '94 Mustang Cobra 1 of 7,500. 66' Chevelle w/ a 454. '85 Mustang GT Pro/Street, '92 Mustang LX drag car... All now gone except the '78 that we bought back...
In between those year, a gas station we always stopped at had a couple houses beside of it. When I was around 12/13, my dad noticed a '79 Pinto (ORANGE w/ a STARSKY STRIP ON IT) setting behind the house. It had been there for a while and throughout the years hadn't moved. His first car was a Pinto so he wanted mine to be a Pinto too. He bought the car which was found out to only have 65,000 miles when we bought it after the owner parked it due to a cracked block because they left antifreeze out of it and it cracked. We cleaned it up a little and put a 2.3 out of my second Pinto, a '79 Robin Egg Blue Bobcat (which was almost nicer than my '79) After that, the car sat until it was to be painted. It never would happen. After three years, a busted window, and major rusting the car was scrapped (long story.) My/our third Pinto was a '79 Metallic Blue with a V8 and a 5-spd (should have kept that one) It had cool blue shag carpet and lots of cool stuff in it.
Fast forward till 2008. I had always still had a fondness for a Pinto and decided I wanted another one. In searching for one on eBay, I came across our old '78. Needless to say in the fall we bought it back because all the good feelings it gave us came back when we saw it for sale.
Now it's Feb. of 2009 and I found my daily driver, a perfect, mostly restored, one owner, orange, 1979, 2.3L, Pinto for a steal. That's the great pumpkin I now own. It is identical to the first orange '79 I had except for the stripe and its a 4spd whereas the first one was auto. And this one is in wayy better shape.
I love these cars because I have been around at least one of them most of the time in my life. Now on my 18th birthday I'm going to drive mine to my birthday dinner and I have memories in it already that I will never forget; it gives me a great feeling no matter what is going on in the world and I love it... ;D Sorry so long,
Sincerely, beegle55
my grandma gave me my first pinto, a maroon sunwagon! i was working at a job at a stereo shop, one of my buddys told me the next SHOPCAR should be my pinto wagon. so i offered it up as a guinnea pig! almost 10k worth of stereo later the car hit nearly 155 db and recieved lots of trophys. my current pinto is an orange 78 coupe.soon to have a 302 in it. just seems fun. i guess i have liked pintos all my life. my granny had that car as long as i can remember, then i ended up with it. go figure!
Quote from: 71HANTO
Enter Pinto #2, an AK Miller Turbo Charged 1971 4-speed 2.0 trunk model Pinto with a tired engine again on E-Bay and in CA.. He purchased yellow #2 Pinto/quote]
I would be VERY interested in learning ALL that you may recall concerning this yellow Ak Miller turbo car.
[almost 10k worth of stereo later the car hit nearly 155 db and recieved lots of trophys. my current pinto is an orange 78 coupe.soon to have a 302 in it. just seems fun. i guess i have liked pintos all my life. my granny had that car as long as i can remember, then i ended up with it. go figure!
[/quote]
NICE!!! I was into car stereo back in the day, I still have a handful of Punch 45 amps that I'll never get rid of. The thought of piling the back end of a Pinto wagon with amps and woofers always sounded like a LOT of fun. I'll bet that car was awesome. What ever happened to it?
Chris
Actually there are varied reasons. the first is they made very cool pro stock race cars back in the day. Secondly i had a late model big back window that was a great car and i put 35,000 miles on it the year i drove it. and thirdly i like that ablility to drive down the street and not see myself coming at me.
But most of all they are simply fun once you get them running..... :lol: