Well, hello to everyone. I would like to express my gratitude to the fellows responsible for the creation and maintaining of this site. Hats off to you all.
I currently own several vehicles, none of which are Pintos. However, I do have much insight into them as I owned three, and my family has owned at least six different ones.
My grandmother owned a gold 72 hatchback 2.0/C4. My parents owned an orange 75 sedan, a red 78 sedan, and a blue 75 sedan.
My first car was a bright orange 79 hatchback that I picked up for $100 when I was 14, and my dad drove it home with me in the passanger seat after jumpstarting it with my uncles 78 Bronco. I traded that for my 69 F100, that I drove until I couldn't afford gas anymore (about Oct. 04 when I was stationed in California).
My second Pinto was the 78 sedan my parents had. It was always my favorite. Even my favorite color: red. I had that car until I joined the Navy in Aug 2000. It went to my uncle and he still drives it. I have dibs when he is ready to sell it.
In November of 2000, while stationed at school in Chicago, I saw a certain car that I wished I could have. It was a silver Mustang II. It was in nice shape, but what caught my eye as it sat in the Navy Exchange parking lot was the 'V8' badge on the front fender. "Wow," I thought, "a V8 in a Pinto sized car. That sure would be fun." At the time, it was not for sale, and I kept walking, never suspecting I would own it by March the following year.
I passed the car sitting in the parking lot of the base McDonalds in February 01 and noticed the 'For Sale' sign in the window. $2500 was the asking price, and I jotted down the number. I couldn't afford the asking price, so I didn't even bother calling, but I kept it in my wallet. I was getting about 400 every two weeks, and as soon as I saw that car for sale, I stopped spending money for anything. I didn't even leave base. I wanted that car, and everyday I walked past it on my way to the chow hall, and every day I stopped by that car and looked at it. Beginning of March rolled up, and it was still there. The price went down. It now said $2000. I only have $800 saved up so far. Shoot. This thing will be gone by the time I save up enough. Still though, I kept saving. March 15th and I got paid. I had almost 1300 saved by not spending a dime for over a month. I decided to call the number. A man answered and I asked about the car. Hallelujah! He said the car was for sale for 1500, and he hadn't even changed the sign yet. We worked out a deal so I would pay him 1200 now, and the other 300 on the next payday (March 31st). The car was mine! I drove it to the DMV, and the rear muffler fell off in the parking lot. It was a sign. She sounded SO MEAN with that luxo barge second muffler gone. She rumbled. I even drove it all the way from Chicago, through Denver, and along the Colorado River down some of the neatest back country roads I have ever been on. It was my first cross-country trip and I swear I never had so much fun in my whole life. The only problem I had was it threw a belt in Iowa during a thunderstorm. That sucked. Then I got home to Tucson, parked it in my parents driveway, emptied all my stuff out of it, got in and drove up the street and the radiator said it had enough. Here comes the steam! We turned right around and parked it in the driveway, and it has been in my parent's backyard since. Apparently I was lucky as hell since the ball joints were no more than rusty steel toothpicks with NO grease, and turns out it was only using the front brakes (the rear cylinders were seized.)
My third Pinto I bought as a sort of second car for my then wife, now ex-wife. She didn't like it since it was an 'old clunker' and went out the following weekend while I was out of town and bought herself a brand new gold Xterra (YUCK). So I followed suit and bought myself the car I always wanted.
I bought my green Mustang off of eBay, the world's largest yard sale, from a guy in Roanoke, VA. It had all the options I wanted. It was a coupe, had a V8, 4spd, AC, and was my second favorite color. I paid less than 1200 for it, and another 300 to get it shipped to Norfolk, VA (where I was stationed at the time.) It had the 4spd in parts in the trunk. I took it down to the AAMCO (they were close) and they completely rebuilt it for 500, and it was done in a week (a helluva lot faster than I could've done it.) I replaced all the fluids, belts, and hoses, checked the brakes to make sure they worked, replaced the battery, primed the carb, and tried to start her. No go. I looked down the throat of the carb. No go juice. I drained the tank, cleaned the sending unit, put in an extra filter just outside the tank, replaced the fuel pump and filter, and rebuilt the carb. Cranked her and she fired. I got her running in less than two months (working on her after work and on the weekend), by myself, for less than 2500 bucks. She is the one getting the 331, and maybe a T-5 someday, but for now the 4spd is fine.
Oh, I am working on a relatively little known conversion for the Ford 2.3 I-4. If you use the DOHC head out of a late 80s early 90s Volvo, it has the same bore spacing, and even has the same head bolt holes! Google "b234f volvo ford conversion" and take a look at some of this stuff. Its kinda neat. I want to put that in my old 78 Pinto sedan that I have dibs on from my uncle. That and a 5 spd will be fun.
So, to make this a bit more concise, I currently own the following cars:
78 F-150 4x4 351M/C6--Future: 460 Propane motor/ NV5600 6spd.
87 Mustang LX 2.3/A4LD--Future: Mild performance upgrades to 2.3/ T-5 (this car handles SO nice, just needs a bit more pep)
77 Mustang II Coupe 302/4spd--Future: 331/4spd (haven't decided on T-5 yet)
76 Mustang II Ghia 302/C4--Currently sans running gear.--Future: Undecided
67 Mustang Coupe Strong 302/C4--Future: Detune 302 so wife can drive it without burning up the damn tires. Maybe AOD.
78 Pinto Sedan 2.3/4spd--Future: Forolvo DOHC 2.3T with V8 T-5 and 3.73s, exterior and interior stock. (Sleeper supreme)
02 Kia Rio 1.5/Auto--Wife's car. Within a month of dating her, I drove it once. The very next day, I bought her new wheels and low profile tires, and got it aligned. Now it handles like a slot car.
That's the stable as it stands, December 2006.
--Doug Kemp
Welcome to the site Doug. Thanks for the history above. I am sure all your Pinto questions will be answered here.
Dave