Forum > Your Pintos/Bobcats & Racers
Hi, I'm new here and here is my life story that involves a few Pintos ....
joel76:
... so this is my story and I'm sticking to it. I had four of them in the past and think about them from time to time.
This goes back a ways, probably to around 1977...
My Dad had this 71 Pinto with a 1600cc engine. It ran pretty good. My main car was a 67 327 Chevelle that was beefed up with Corvette engine parts. Well, when the gas crisis hit in 74 or so and wasn't going away anytime soon, I was feeling the pinch. The Chevelle needed hi-test and only got like 12 mpg, so I ended up buying my Dad's Pinto from him and was stoked that it got like 28 mpg. It was good for a winter car so I could store the Chevelle and everything was peachy. :)
Finally, it was time to move out of the house and out of Ohio, so I decided to move to California. I hated to sell that Chevelle but I had to be practical and since the 71 Pinto was getting pretty worn down, I found a nice red 76 with the 2300 engine.
The 76 made it all the way out to the west coast and was pretty good for driving around out there. I installed a header on it because it was kind of a dog and needed more power, but all the header did was make the car sound like a tractor with a bad muffler. Oh well, not much else I could do with it.
I eventually moved back to Ohio and went to tech school, then got a job offer in Texas! The only thing is, the 76 didn't have any AC. :-\
I looked in the local paper and found a nice black sporty Pinto with only 15K miles and it was loaded! It had the Rallye package which was new for 77. Some of the rallye features and other options were sport wheels, front spoiler, Goodyear white letter tires, factory striping, a factory pop up and removable glass sunroof and shade, 3 spoke aluminum sport steering wheel with REAL fake leather, dual sport remote control mirrors, an AM/FM radio, extra lighting, sport high back vinyl and cloth seats, factory tach and gauges, disc brakes, a sway bar and beefy shocks ... I think that was about it. The AC was the main idea, but I totally lucked out in finding this model... it was so much cooler than my red 76. I think I paid like $1800 for it which was a steal considering barely any miles on it.
So the black 77 made it to Tx and was a good car. It was weird, people at gas stations or the stereo store would ask me about the car and mention that they've never seen a Pinto quite as cool! and I agree, it did stand out, especially for all factory stock. It turned me into a fan of having a sunroof, that's for sure.
I once took the car on a road trip to California with a friend. We hit Colorado, then out to LA and up the coast highway to SF and back down to Bakersfield, then across the desert to the Grand Canyon and finally back to Dallas. The next day after getting back, I was towing my dirt bike to the track and the timing belt stripped out at the crankshaft. Left me sitting dead on the road. Holy CRAP, I was thinking that could have happened out in the middle of Nevada, ,miles from any gas stations or service! The good Lord was watching out for me, that's for sure! So I fixed got a belt and fixed it ... it was pretty easy and eventually sold it to buy an 84 Toyota Supra. The guy that bought the Pinto was really pleased because it was a cool looking Pinto, I kept it in great shape, he got a nice example. To my eyes, 77 and 78 was the best of the bunch, but depending on color wheels and options, any of them had their certain charm.
Finally, I found a poop brown 74 Pinto wagon for like $700 ( I'll insert a photo of the a car that looks exactly the same, but it wasn't mine). I needed a beater car for going to the store or out to get a quick pizza, so I parked it out front and used it for that for a while. It ran pretty good, I eventually sold it for a bit of a profit because it wasn't in bad shape overall.
Ok well, I only have one crappy picture of the 71 but a few of the red and a million of the black one and none of the brown wagon. :P
My main gripe was that 2300cc engine. That's a big 4 cylinder but it really didn't make much power. Well, so it goes with cars of the 70s, they didn't have it together yet. It did however have enough grunt to pull two 450# motorcycles and a trailer 2,400 miles round trip, so that was a plus!
Soo picture time...
So this is a long first post :-X but since you guys are Pinto buffs, I thought you might like seeing a few more of these things. >:( They were pretty solid cars as long as you took care of them and didn't drive them in the salt.
The other thing is, you wouldn't believe how many stories and warnings that I got from people saying I was going to blow up in a ball of flames. Yeah, right well, I'm still here writing this right now, so they were all wrong. I'd like to buy another Pinto someday if I could find a good example.
:)
warhead2:
Welcome to the group. Love that black one. Im going to say that was the Rally package? Maybe one of the other experts will chime in.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
one2.34me:
Hi joel76, Lower right corner. Warhead2 was right, it appears your black '77 is a Pinto with the Rally Appearance Package. The website is a great place to check out car brochures from the past. For some reason this Pinto site won't allow me to post up pics.
http://oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/NA/Ford/1977_Ford/1977_Ford_Spring_Wheels_Folder/1977-Ford-Spring-Wheels-Folder-02
joel76:
Thanks guys, you are absolutely right! Mystery solved! :) The brochure shows the rallye package on page two with the same stripes as mine and the Goodyear white letter tires. I think page 4 had the 77 spring sale which had some limited editions, one being the glass pop up sunroof. Maybe that explains why there aren't many out there. Well, I'm glad I know what model it was now. I wish I could find another. Thanks again.
Wittsend:
I like the gold graphics on the black Pinto. The design helps take some of the chunkiness out of the bulbous bumpers.
Ahhh..., the Pioneer KP-500. I STILL have one in my '63 Rambler American HT. The design was ahead of its time. Mine fits perfectly in the spot allocated for the factory AMC radio (which mounted in a chrome extension bezel). So, I keep it there. Of course..., wouldn't you know, it is the ONE car I own that I also have the radio delete plate for. I just think the KP-500 is too cool to pull though.
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