Sedalia Dave Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 Or a fool and his money are soon parted. Who woulda thunk it. What may be the world's most expensive Ford Pinto sold for $33,000
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 In some ways the Pinto deservedly got a bad rap, especially for the body structure. But the drive train was bullet-proof. As hard as he tried thru neglect and abuse, my ex-brother in law couldn't destroy a 3-year old '72 hatchback. He was quite the numbskull...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 Not to denigrate the issue, but the car's safety record was no worse than the other cars in it's class - including the Chevrolet Vega, AMC Gremlin, and the venerable VW Beetle. If the safety issue (the legendary $11 fix) was adopted it would have been far more fondly remembered... I drove a few of 'em "back in the day." They were actually a fun car to drive for the period, with a ton of aftermarket handling and performance enhancing parts available.
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 5 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said: In some ways the Pinto deservedly got a bad rap, especially for the body structure. But the drive train was bullet-proof. As hard as he tried thru neglect and abuse, my ex-brother in law couldn't destroy a 3-year old '72 hatchback. He was quite the numbskull... Much of that powertrain was shared by the Mercury Capri... under-rated, similar but much sexier ride. I had one for a while; would be plumb tickled to still have it!
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 I'd rather have a Corvair...... OLG
DocWard Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 8 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: A friend of my brother had one in dark blue. I always thought they were very cool looking cars. I'd still like to have one. Of course, I'd also like to have a Grabber Maverick and a Mustang Cobra II. If I were to ever win the Powerball I would have to set a number limit on the cars I would own. The vast majority would be ones people would think I am out of my mind to own.
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 25 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Much of that powertrain was shared by the Mercury Capri... under-rated, similar but much sexier ride. I had one for a while; would be plumb tickled to still have it! I always thought those were nice cars. From Ford of Germany. A nice offering over the usual bland stuff from Detroit. As I recall, the Japanese imports equalled or bettered them in price and quality and is why they never caught on.
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 19 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said: I'd rather have a Corvair...... OLG Ma had a '64 that I got to drive... it was fun, too ~ but hard on "fan belts!" That thing had to take a couple of unnatural 90° turns, as I recall. AND I had a Gremlin for a while. Primitive; three-speed on the floor with non-synchro first gear, and vacuum wipers. Come to think of it, my '64 1/2 Mustang didn't have a first-gear syncrho. Dang ~ wish I still had 'em all! But my all-time fave was my '62 Buick Skylark. That li'l high-compression, 215 CID aluminum V-8 was plumb quick.
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 3 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: That li'l high-compression, 215 CID aluminum V-8 was plumb quick. Sold the rights to the Brits. Went on to fame as the Rover V8. They put one the Triumph TR7 and called it the TR8. Had they done that from the beginning, the Triumph brand might have survived. I owned a new TR7 once which handled well but was otherwise a POS. A few years later, I drove a TR8. Dunno if build quality was improved, but damn, it was fun to drive!
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 2 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said: Sold the rights to the Brits. Went on to fame as the Rover V8 and a few other cars, as I recall. Yup... and the first thing they did was lower the compression ration from 11.1:1 to 9.35:1... I always wanted to transplant one of the originals into a TR4~!
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 1 minute ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Yup... and the first thing they did was lower the compression ration from 11.2:1 to 9.35:1... I always wanted to transplant one of the originals into a TR4~! Yup! See above edit. Sweet motor.
Sedalia Dave Posted August 30, 2018 Author Posted August 30, 2018 IIRC the Ford Pinto drive train was the foundation for a lot of kit cars.
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 44 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Much of that powertrain was shared by the Mercury Capri... under-rated, similar but much sexier ride. I had one for a while; would be plumb tickled to still have it! My Capri was yellow-orange and ran like a sports car..... when it ran. Took a lot of tinkering with the carb to get it just right. I'd buy another one in a minute if were as good as new.
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 13 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Ma had a '64 that I got to drive... it was fun, too ~ but hard on "fan belts!" That thing had to take a couple of unnatural 90° turns, as I recall. AND I had a Gremlin for a while. Primitive; three-speed on the floor with non-synchro first gear, and vacuum wipers. Come to think of it, my '64 1/2 Mustang didn't have a first-gear syncrho. Dang ~ wish I still had 'em all! But my all-time fave was my '62 Buick Skylark. That li'l high-compression, 215 CID aluminum V-8 was plumb quick. Another one of my favorites, and another yellow car. I drove it my last three years of college.
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 Forty, I allus knew you had good taste!
Horace Patootie, SASS #35798 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 I had a 73 Pinto and my wife had a 73 also when we got married. I later took the engine out of mine and put in a 289 Ford V8 and C4 auto trans. The rear axle was fine but too low gear ratio. It was a fun car. Horace
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 2 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said: I'd rather have a Corvair...... OLG Has one of them, too a Corsa 140 in a "candy apple' red. Got it when I came home from 'Nam. Nice car, but too small for a wife, two kids, a dog, and a week's worth of groceries. Also the heater just wasn't up to northern Utah winter. Traded it for a 70 1/2 Firebird Formula 400 in Aegean Blue.
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 2 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said: I'd rather have a Corvair...... OLG Had one of them, too a Corsa 140 in a "candy apple' red. Got it when I came home from 'Nam. Nice car, but too small for a wife, two kids, a dog, and a week's worth of groceries. Also the heater just wasn't up to northern Utah winter. Traded it for a 70 1/2 Firebird Formula 400 in Aegean Blue.
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Forty, I allus knew you had good taste! Don't know about good taste but I had a lot of cars: 3 MGAs, 2 Datsun 1600 Fair Lady roadsters, a Sunbeam, a couple of Fiats, a ton of American steel, a frog-eye Sprite, and a bunch of others. Owned a clapped out Lotus Eleven Le Mans race car for awhile. If I could get another Lotus I'd polish it up and put it on a sheet mirror in my living room and place a glass top over it. Helluva coffee table, but I couldn't fit in it to drive any more.
Pat Riot Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 I liked the Pinto. One did blow up not 200 yards from my house at an intersection when it was rear ended. If I remember right the two people inside did survive but were very badly injured. I was in 10th grade at the time so that was 1976. Also, if I remember correctly the fix was available but these people never had it done. A friend of mine had a red Pinto (I forget the year) that had a peppy 4 cylinder and a 4 speed stick. She let me drive it quite often and I have always wanted to get my hands on one since. I thought they were nice little cars.
Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 I had a 63 Lemans, blue with white top,white interior, 4 cylinder (half a 389) and 3 speed in the floor with bucket seats. It was a sharp little car, just prior to the GTO. It had one flaw, the transaxle was weak. I broke it with regularity. Imis
Shotgun Willie Nelson Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 12 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said: I'd rather have a Corvair...... Never had a pinto, but I did own 2 Corvairs. One had a "Ralph Nader For President" bumper sticker on it. And my oldest son got a speeding ticket in the other. He kept it and framed it because it said: Vehicle - 1964 Corvette.
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 I opted for a Mercury Bobcat when they came out. Loaded it with options. Cruse, Air, Tilt, Power Windows, Stereo, Bucket Seats, etc. I thought it a great little car. Great Handling, Great Breaks and an acceptable ride. Allround nice car. Really liked it. Right up till I found it was a rolling Bomb.
Eyesa Horg Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 12 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Much of that powertrain was shared by the Mercury Capri... under-rated, similar but much sexier ride. I had one for a while; would be plumb tickled to still have it! Ours was brown metallic with a 4 speed. Very cool car in it's day.
Blackwater 53393 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 Had a TR4 before me ‘n’ Schoolmarm got married. She helped me rebuild the transmission for our second date. When the engine let go a few months later, I put a 265 Chevy small block and a PowerGlide in it. We adapted a set of Ford steel wheels off of a big station wagon and some nice fat radials to it and it was like a slot car on steroids!! I was amazed that the rear end held up, but the Glide was soft and I never tried to do burnouts. It sure hurt the feelings of some of the Mustang and Camaro crowd!!
Red Eye Jim Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 I had a '78 Bobcat wagon through the first four years of college. It started having a fuel problem and backfired a lot. Once got me surrounded by every cop in town when it backfired at 2:30 in the morning in the wrong part of town. Must have replaced everything in the fuel system at least once and rebuilt the carb twice. Traded it in for an '81 Chevy Citation hatchback, which I then crashed on my way home for Christmas. My next car was an '82 or '83 X-11 coupe. I loved that car. Named her Charlene. Drove the wheels off that car, right up until I got into a little incident that cost me my license for two years... The memories of a mis-spent youth.
South-Eye Ned Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 My first brand new car bought from a dealership was a 1978 Ford Pinto (not the wagon). It was also green. Models made before 1979 had the gas tank located in a position that could blow up if the car got rear-ended, so I didn't keep the car long. For years, the exploding Pinto was a big joke. A buddy of mine was a fledgling college professor, and when one of his new female students introduced herself with the last name of Pinto, you can imagine that he could have gotten easily fired based on the question he asked her.
Sixgun Sheridan Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 I think the reason why surviving Ford Pintos are so expensive is because they're so rare nowadays. Witness what happened when a parade of Pintos all bumped into one another a few years back:
Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 here is one that is much cheaper:
Smuteye John SASS#24774 Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 23 hours ago, DocWard said: A friend of my brother had one in dark blue. I always thought they were very cool looking cars. I'd still like to have one. Of course, I'd also like to have a Grabber Maverick and a Mustang Cobra II. If I were to ever win the Powerball I would have to set a number limit on the cars I would own. The vast majority would be ones people would think I am out of my mind to own. A Powerball win would mean building a 2000 square foot house adjacent to the 20,000 square foot garage in my case.
DocWard Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 25 minutes ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said: A Powerball win would mean building a 2000 square foot house adjacent to the 20,000 garage in my case. Yep, I'd just have to ask Mrs. Doc to set a number I'm allowed to use on vehicles, then plan accordingly. I might splurge though, and go 2500 square feet on the house...
Smuteye John SASS#24774 Posted August 31, 2018 Posted August 31, 2018 1 hour ago, DocWard said: Yep, I'd just have to ask Mrs. Doc to set a number I'm allowed to use on vehicles, then plan accordingly. I might splurge though, and go 2500 square feet on the house... That's not happening. Might get in the way of the indoor range on the other side of the house from the garage. Got to have an indoor range, else I will have to get wet making the walk down to the reloading shop to shoot off the back porch onto the pistol range.
J.D. Daily Posted August 31, 2018 Posted August 31, 2018 9 hours ago, Red Eye Jim said: I had a '78 Bobcat wagon through the first four years of college. It started having a fuel problem and backfired a lot. Once got me surrounded by every cop in town when it backfired at 2:30 in the morning in the wrong part of town. Must have replaced everything in the fuel system at least once and rebuilt the carb twice. Traded it in for an '81 Chevy Citation hatchback, which I then crashed on my way home for Christmas. My next car was an '82 or '83 X-11 coupe. I loved that car. Named her Charlene. Drove the wheels off that car, right up until I got into a little incident that cost me my license for two years... The memories of a mis-spent youth. If it had a V6 the carb was the the infamous Motorcraft air valve which while rebuild kits were sold the carb had to be remanufactured to get the correct operation. As a carb design air valves are simple & pretty effective at maintaining air/fuel ratios over wide mass flows compared to venturi carb's. P.S. The fastest I ever drove on a freeway was in a Capri on CA 680 between Dublin & Danville CA in the 70's when it was as lightly traveled as a country road. Monday through Thursday you could drive from Fremont to Walnut Creek in a Corvette at wide open throttle without drawing unwanted attention from a Chip.
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted August 31, 2018 Posted August 31, 2018 I remember those days... you could drive between almost any two points in the Bay Area at the speed limit or better. No mo'.
Blackwater 53393 Posted August 31, 2018 Posted August 31, 2018 I always preferred Vegas 'cause you could install a V8 engine in them using only factory parts!! No fabrication was required!! If you were pressed, you could even buy exhaust pipes and mufflers for the job!! If you picked up a clean one, they made solid little cars with the V8 and were great commuter/sleeper/hotrods!! The Cosworth and Yenko Stinger versions were NASTY fast too!! The V8 Gremlins were fast too!! You could bolt in a 401" AMC engine where the 304" was and have a rocket ship!!
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