Hi to all, i am posting here some photos of my 1.6 1973 runabout that has lived for 34 years in Athens , greece.
Trying to do some restore at this time, I'd like to hear your comments.
some more
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Great looking Pinto. Looks very well cared for.
Looks Great! I like 73's and doing a restore to mine. You have a much nicer looking one to start with than I did. Keep us posted with what you plan on doing... we all like to hear and see progress ;D
its nice to see pintos around the world
Mark78,
Thanks for taking the time to send in the photos. You have a very nice car there. What is the history of that car? Did you buy it new? Who drives it the most? How many miles are on it? Does it have a name? My comments are this....Take good care of that car and enjoy it.
High_Horse
Wichita,Kansas
USA
Quote from: High_Horse on February 18, 2007, 01:44:17 AM
Mark78,
Thanks for taking the time to send in the photos. You have a very nice car there. What is the history of that car? Did you buy it new? Who drives it the most? How many miles are on it? Does it have a name? My comments are this....Take good care of that car and enjoy it.
High_Horse
Wichita,Kansas
USA
Thanks everyone for your good words.I am looking forward to take advice on my attempt to make it safe and reliable on the road again,I have many questions :embarrassed:.It is really difficult to maintain a car like this in Greece, for reasons, I think, everyone can imagine.
This car was imported from USA in 1973 by my father, who worked as a captain in a greek ship.He bought it in florida, used, with only 3.000 miles on it.
It was our basic family car until 1995,when we bought a ford mondeo 1.8, and in full use until 2001 when I bought my ford focus.From that time it is hardly moving, but I couldn't throw it away, cause I love it a lot to do so.
The car has been always blue, the interior was orginally white ,later tan, and in 1995 it became as you see it in the photos.
It has been driven for approx 280.000 miles.....
I know that the 1,6 with drum brakes is a slow and hard to handle car, I don't believe I have a supercar on my hands, or a car with great money value, but for me it has high emotional value, and that is why I still own it , despite the words from friends and relatives that believe I am crazy :)
PS : I usually call it "old man" ;D
All I can say my hats off to you for your respect for you little piece of history.
The fact that the car was well maintained shows but to keep it that way in its location and the fact it was the primary family vehicle is incredable.
Welcome to the site.
Frank
mark78
Welcome to the site. You will fit right in, as most of our own relatives also think we are crazy.
oldcarpierre
Nice story/history and 280,000 miles... WOW!
couple questions..
1) you said "in 1995 it became as you see it in the photos" so the question here is are the photos you posted recent or are they from 1995?
2) what is the current running condition of motor and tranny?
3) next would be brakes and suspension... condition?
Big question is... is the Pinto drivable and how well does it run and drive? What do you know of that needs to be fixed?
Since it has been in Greece since 73 and has 280,000 miles on it some parts and work must have been replaced or done in that time. Talk to those that had work done, try to piece together a history of service and repair that has been done in the past. You might find that info usefull when looking for parts as you need them.
First photo is about 15 days ago.Rest of the photos have been shot in 2003.In 1995 the last interior upholstery restoration
took place.
The car is moving, but has some serious-not severe- mechanical problems.
Body/rust : It is almost clean, cause most rusted parts were repaired back in 95.Only two spots left rear low fender and top roof next to the left hinge.This is easy, but expensive to fix, mostly because I ''ll have to repair some more little scrathes, etc.This will mean the car will have to be fully repainted, something that any store can do, but it would cost around 2000$.So I am waitng for the right time....
Engine/transmission : As most of you know, this car has the european 1.6 OHV engine, so it is easy to find some parts.It runs ok, no oil burning, or noise, but I feel it is a little weak in comparison to the previous years.Manual Transmission is in good condition.
Steering/suspension : This is the hard part....My steering rack is in really bad shape.Also in need to replace the front coil springs ( someone has fitted a pair of cortina springs) , and maybe bushings and ball joints in upper and lower control arms.Easy to find shock absorbers here.
Rear suspension? I don't really know, it seems ok , maybe the shock absorbers.
Brakes : this car has drum brakes front and rear ( weak spot of this model in my opinion).I have fitted new cylinders and shoes in front, and I have a remanufactured master cylinder soon to be fitted.Drums are in very good shape.
Brakes are decently working(not excellent), the propotioning valve doesn't seem to be working very well, also have a missing pressure check valve, which means that if brakes fail, there will be no red light warning.
Also heating is not working, and I have a small leak in the fuel tank, another difficult part.
Dash cap is cracked, and rest of the upholstery is in decent condition.
I have calculated that it would cost around 6.000$ to bring this car in original, "show room" condition.I am not really sure if it is worth it, so I have decided, for a start, to repair some mechanical problems and keep it in a decent condition.
engine
more recent fotos 15 days ago
yep... I would guess it's gonna be hard to find the parts where you are at, some of what you listed would be hard to find even if you were here in the USA. My guess is that you'll have to put together a shopping list of all the parts you will need and work with someone here in the states to gather parts to ship to you.. If you want to go stock and origional..
If the resources are available perhaps you can find someone willing to do mods to it and use available parts for suspension, similar to what someone did when they swapped in the cortina springs. Not my first choice, I like to stick to stock as much as possible, but that may be an easier option considering your location. Depends if you are willing or capable of doing the work yourself "or" find someone willing and capable of doing it for you. I would look to racers for help here.. dirt/road/circle track.. they would most likely have the knowledge in dealing with mods and improvements to the suspension.
I don't see anyway around having to get at least some of what you will need here in the states but perhaps w/mods to the suspension you can shorten the list. Fuel tanks should be fixable there, dash caps are available here but if you can get the dash cap off that can be recovered there. Depending on what is wrong w/the heat you may have to aquire parts for that here (USA) too..
You have an interesting project ahead of you and I wish you luck, I know how hard it was to find the parts I needed and wanted for my project. Can't imagine what it would be like if I was located where you are.
things are much easier now, because of the ebay and the internet..10 - 15 years ago it was almost impossible to find parts, only used from a couple of junkyards specialized in american cars....VERY expensive and most of the times parts in the same or worse condition of what someone already had...
the biggest problem now is the shipping cost , for heavy or big in size parts it is extremely high.
I am mostly looking for parts through ebay, when I find something in a good price.
I have found recently some part cars here in Athens, that could be bought for 1000 $ or so, the bad thing is that I haven't found any 73's or previous models....only 75+ :(
Mark,
Welcome to the club :welcome:
I have a 73 Squire wagon that I picked up abou 6 months ago. It had been stored in a garage since 1981, untouched and never driven. I am going to convert the steering rack to the 72 version so I can use a aftermarket rack. If I can get it to work with the 72 rack you are more than welcome to have my old rack. I know the 73 is the oddball year for the rack. You could also try to fabricate a new bracket to utilize the 72 style rack. Thanks for the great pictures!
Rob
Quote from: osiyo59 on February 19, 2007, 10:07:42 PM
Mark,
Welcome to the club :welcome:
I have a 73 Squire wagon that I picked up abou 6 months ago. It had been stored in a garage since 1981, untouched and never driven. I am going to convert the steering rack to the 72 version so I can use a aftermarket rack. If I can get it to work with the 72 rack you are more than welcome to have my old rack. I know the 73 is the oddball year for the rack. You could also try to fabricate a new bracket to utilize the 72 style rack. Thanks for the great pictures!
Rob
Many thanks Rob, that would be great!
Sorry for posting a bit late here, but Yasou! For being in a locale where lots of parts are hard to get, your car looks great!