I posted this on another thread but felt it might make an interesting topic, so here it is again.
I was at a light and a guy with a tricked out pickup honked his horn and motioned me to roll down my window. Then he said "You are a cool guy and that's the coolest car I have ever seen." I corrected him. I said "I am just a regular guy, but you are right about the car."
Bill
"Gorgeous!" Was the description I heard today at a stoplight, and it wasn't me they were talking about!
NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I DON'T GET RAVES,THUMBS UP,SMILES AND PEOPLE TELLING ME THEY USED TO HAVE ONE AND WISH THEY STILL DID.I WON 1st PLACE AT A LOCAL CAR SHOW LAST YEAR AND THERE WERE SOME NICE CLASSICS THERE. NOT TO BAD FOR A CAR WITH A TAX VALUE OF $500.
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.
I usually get "is that a Pinto?" and "I had one/my friend had one/my parents had one" often including some variation of "first car/when I was a kid/in high school/in college." It's fun because the Pinto gets more attention than my '68 Mustang(it's ugly, but sounds good).
Then I start mentioning how it's been modified and lose them. I don't think the average person easily grasps the concept of doing that level of work to any car, let alone something reviled in its own time for an affliction that beloved first-gen Mustangs also have(the fuel tank design).
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.'
While I certainly support anyone's right to modify their car to whatever standard they desire, I've always kept my "collectibles" bone stock. Simply put, that's the way people remember them from yesteryear. I've done more modification to brand new vehicles I use as my daily driver than I ever have to the seventies model Lincolns and Pintos I've owned. I've always taken, "It looks like it just rolled off the new car showroom!" as high praise. We all do what we do with our cars to satisfy some craving we have, and there's absolutely no rules as to how we do it. The object of the hobby is to enjoy our cars to the fullest.
Dwayne :)
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
When I towed my Pinto home I stopped at a gas station for a bottle of water. When I came out a young man was looking at it and asked, "Dude, is that a Gremlin?" I had to explain Pintos to him. He was "impressed" to say the least... :P
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.
What year is that wagon? I had a white '77 that looked like that. Great car. Got me through 4 years of Navy and the first two years of collage.
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!
Well, today is my b-day and I turned 62. I tell people I am 20 with 42 years of experience or I'm 25 until I see myself in the mirror, in a picture, or at the barbershop! I still think I'm young...
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
Quote from: rob289c on April 25, 2023, 03:12:30 PM
Well, today is my b-day and I turned 62. I tell people I am 20 with 42 years of experience or I'm 25 until I see myself in the mirror, in a picture, or at the barbershop! I still think I'm young...
Happy Birthday. I taught Television Production. One day when I was teaching camera framing I found myself crossing the camera. I glancing at the monitor I was using for demonstration purposes, and for a split second I found me asking myself who is that OLD guy? Then I realized it was me! I started going gray in my late 30's/early 40's. Now I'm just hoping to retain enough hair so I really don't look bald.
I remember a time when Pinto's were as ubiquese as say a Honda Civic is today. Now they a VERY few and far between. For that matter there were 21 million VW Beetles manufactured but if you aren't going to a "Bug In" you hardly see one. I remember back the the late 1970's my friends dad telling me his (still living) mother in law came to California in a covered wagon. I couldn't fathom that!
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.