Many a day goes by that I count with anticipation to go explore the salvage yards. The place of reverence and piece, rusty iron telling stories, little pieces of history to be discovered...
Today I went on such a outing with a mission of finding bits for my "Shop Truck" project. walking the 40+ acre yard of white gravel on a sweaty day with temps over 100, wading through late model cars of all kinds while passing people with carts, traveling through the isle like lemmings pulling pieces of plastic and composite metals too fill their list.
On my safari of this yard I know where there is a corner! A shrinking refuge like the rain forest called classic corner, a corner where the cars and trucks of the 70's and older huddle, not to be thrown in with the more modern computerized safety cars. where under the hood lies carburation and the dash boards have radios with knobs!
On my way to that corner a young fellow yells to me"Hey Frank, There's a Pinto in the corner!"... Oh yes for a moment I forget where I am, I forget the temp and the Lemmings. I head s straight line to the best corner in the world... put a Pinto in any corner and it becomes a fashion able area!
Here She is.. late 72 with deluxe interior.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/fcanon/9cb7a696781b__1311370297000.jpg)
With the body and interior surcoming to the weather and vandalism.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/fcanon/08a34fd9110c__1311370150000.jpg)
I walked around this wild beauty, talking to it investigating the options on the out side and the inside. I did notice the shifter looked odd like a french piece not the normal German standard. It had the shift pattern on the chrome boot ring stamped with a ford part number. I had to have that, and it is MINE!!!!!! Ha ha ha... having looked under the seats and in the back hatch, glove box ect... it was time to look under the hood.
My eye's were starting to burn a little from Snow Blindness "white gravel".
Lifting the hood I blinked and blink, rubbing my eye's , wanting to find a 1.6 Kent. a 2.0 turbo... a lotus... but instead I held the hood screaming for back up!!!
"Somebody hold this hood please!"
and what did you find?
To my surprise a young lad was behind me rushing to all the commotion.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/fcanon/b77927f57167.jpg)
that's right a Nissan 240z OHC six.
the goofy Japan version of the SU carbs were removed for a pair of Spanish progressive webbers, adorn with hi-performance wires and for your comfort Air Conditioning!
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/fcanon/07c1f9c9aac8.jpg)
The Rat nest and decay of time had taken this project... But even under the filth this pony had surprised me !!!
Even though the previous owners might never be known or the reason for such a odd couple swap.. I feel we should take a moment and look in side these little cars, maybe it's a metaphor for life! We all might be surprised...
Have a good Day Pinto Fans
FrankBoss
just goes to show that anything can be done! btw, how much for the sport mirrors, both sides?
Not sure.. I have to go back soon to get a rearend and the seats,, I know the drivers side needed new glass in it. but I'll let you know
FrankBoss
PS: the young man that held the hood open walked off thinking I was nuts for the excitement I displayed. he thought I needed to drink more water!
It looks like she was a Sport Accent. What a bummer. I love that package.
Quote from: FCANON on July 22, 2011, 06:40:20 PM
Not sure.. I have to go back soon to get a rearend and the seats,, I know the drivers side needed new glass in it. but I'll let you know
FrankBoss
PS: the young man that held the hood open walked off thinking I was nuts for the excitement I displayed. he thought I needed to drink more water!
i know i hear ya there! water didn't do much eihter!
Awesome stuff. I love this kind of "find" excitement while junkyarding. Reminds me of when Rob (78TXPONY) and I found that lone '78 sport coupe in a junkyard in the spring of '09 and STRIPPED it!!
Chris
i know for me i always get excitement when i find one in the yard. can't seem to get enough of them!
its been more then five years since Ive even seen a pinto or bobcat in a yard down here.
The facts are the Classic Corner of our Pul A Part yard was once 30-50 cars... the last year in a half the count has been less than 12... Our small mom and pop salvage yards are being closed down by City Beautification Projects that sprawl the country sides, cash for clunkers type programs sending what was good older cars to the crushers faster than the salvage yards... The Urban Car Guy is under fire from the Municipalities with regulations tighter than most apartment complexes. I know the car magazines have ran articles about the car hobby being under fire,,, well it is
I don't always go to car shows but often take trips based on leads of Pintos sightings. So I plan on documenting some of these little cars and their owners stories, while I still can draw a breath. Pinto people are fun and the so called Pinto experts are interesting, but so can be (if not more) the lonely car sitting behind the shed or in the yard.
FrankBoss
I caught a few Pintos at Harry's U-Pullit but they crush them so quickly there, if a car is there a month thats about it. Ther is a Mustang II and an old Fairmont with a v-8 there as of last week, and a Ford Fiesta (the older ones ) with 29000 miles like new there waiting to get crushed. A shame.
I love your writing style, you are quite the author! I love reading stories like this. I can feel and relate to the excitement every time I go to the junk yards, myself!
Thanks Dave... The best story I've written was of Jim Orielly AKA: "Jims Pinto"
That was a great one.. I hope to pull a few out in the upcoming months.
FrankBoss