Just spotted: 1974 Pinto!

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I didn't think to snap a photo but... Last evening I took our old couch over to donate it to Goodwill. There was a powder blue 1974 Ford Pinto at the drive-thru donation door. I pointed it out to my sons (ages 10 and 12) who said in unison "Wow, I wonder if she's donating it!" Then my older son said "Hey wait, isn't that the car that explodes when you bump into it?!?" Both statements cracked me up!

So the driver, a middle aged woman who was barely older than the car itself said that she loves that car, and it's the best car she's ever had. The body was in really nice shape for a 45 year old car. When she fired it up and pulled away, all I could smell was that rich fuel smell and oil.

We had a Pinto like that very briefly when I was about 10 (1980ish) and I remember even at that age what a heap of junk that was... But it was still fun to see in actual use last night!
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A co-worker had one back in the 1970s. It had a broken door open handle on passenger side. Had to be opened from outside.

But its not just the Pinto. Any Ford with a drop-in gas tank had same issue. Including the Mustang.
 
One of these hit the local craigslist a few months ago..............

Rust-free Texas car, needed paint (faded) & drivetrain work - but the body was solid - for $500

I had to really fight myself to not buy it.
I don't know why I wanted it so bad (obviously, would be getting a 347 swap!) - but I did!

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In college had a friend that had one with Firestone 500 tires on it. We called Shake and Bake.

(for those not ancient, the 500 series tires were all recalled and replaced free) I had a friend at the wrecking yard. We got free 500 series tires. Massive burnouts ensued.

Ever have to scrap the balls of rubber off the fenders? The tire they replaced them with did not blow up, so eventually we had to buy tires.

Not so many burnouts when I was buying the tires.

Rod
 
"Mini Stock" class racing used them all up.

Pintos used to be easy to find ALL through the 80's & 90's - - until "Mini Stock" became popular.

Now...... I see street-driven Pintos - - NEVER.
 
Originally Posted by LotI
I saw a first gen Ford Tempo on the road today...it really shouldn't have been!


That's a MUCH bigger surprise than seeing an old Pinto still driving!!

We had a 1985 Mercury Topaz..... what a total heap of garbage.
 
I had a brown Pinto in college. My brother's was a light tan color. At the time I liked it a lot and have fond memories of that car. I even took it deer hunting.... but the deer won. There was no front fender to speak of and radiator leaked after impact.
 
A high school buddy of mine had a 1973 with the "big" 2000 cc engine. The engine was very responsive to mods. We put a better exhaust system on and rejetted the carb. We got that sucker up to 125 mph on US route 1 about 3 AM one morning. We were 18 years old and did not know about the nifty "self igniting " feature. We probably would not have cared if we did know.

Imagine if you had the energy of youth without the stupidity :)
 
I had an uncle who lived in Rochester NY who had one and it got rear-ended. He got out of it OK and after he got out it went up in flames. He bad mouthed Ford many time after that and swore he would never own another Ford product.
 
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My Dad bought a brand new bright orange 4 speed ‘74 Pinto right off the lot for just over $2000. My Mom was less than thrilled. Both me and my brother learned to drive in that thing and beat the heck out of it. Drove the dirt section of Mulholland like the Duke boys once or twice. Blew a timing belt on Lankershim blvd after seeing a punk show at Godzilla's. Dad came out and replaced the belt on the side of the road. Good times.
 
I seem to recall that at one time, the 32/36 DGAV off the 2.0L Pinto engine was a popular "donor" carb for MGBs. The 32/36 DGV or DGEV carb is usually specified now for this application, but the DGAV will work(especially on a late car that's already plumbed for a water choke) and I seem to have it in the back of my head that the jetting is close enough to be at least a reasonable starting point for an MGB engine. Plus, at least back in the 80s, I understand that Pintos were plentiful in the junk yards.

About a year back, I flirted with the idea of installing a Weber on my MG(I was quickly convinced otherwise) and actually called around to the local pick-and-pulls to see if they had any Pintos that might give up their carb. I found one yard that had one, but with no engine, so that was no help. Otherwise, most told me it had been years since they had seen one.

Even though they were notorious for the gas tank problem(and the internal memo that went with it) a gas tank behind the rear axle wasn't exactly uncommon on all makes at the time. IIRC, the Panther platform kept it until the end of production in 2012, although obviously with more shielding around it.
 
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