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322

(post is archived)

[–] • 3 pts

That was the first car I knew, Mom's pinto. I lived to tell about it.

[–] • 2 pts

My very first car, a used lime green 1971 Ford Pinto Sedan with a 2 liter 4-speed. Bought it with 64K miles. Loved that car.

[–] • 1 pt

She didn't want to get a job, so she never asked for a new car. Eventually Dad was embarrassed by the pinto and upgraded her to an escort.

The horn relay was flaky, so the night before he sold it he had to disconnect the battery to stop the honk.

[–] • 1 pt

My horn button wouldn't stay put toward the end. One time I went to make a right hand turn, the padded horn button fell off and through one of the steering wheel openings, the wires and button hung up my steering wheel so I couldn't straighten and I almost went into the ditch. Glad no one was behind me as I stopped and untangled the mess ... I could have had flames too.

[–] • 2 pts

Hahaha. Irony is sometimes hilarious.

[–] • 2 pts

That whole Pinto exploding defect was a hoax.

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

IIRC, 60 Minutes with Dan Rather did a segment on the Pinto that was "enhanced" for the audience. I think that is where the "fake" story began. Otherwise, this was a real issue in rear end collisions, I think at the time there had been over 20 real life incidents of fire by the time I bought mine. I wasn't too concerned, I was usually driving faster than everyone else ... and ~20 occurrences out of millions of Pintos and Bobcats was very rare in my mind. I had Ford perform the recall/shroud update to allay my Mom's fears.

[–] • 1 pt

There were firewalls before the IT guys claimed the word for themselves. (Or, in some cases, no firewalls)

[–] • 1 pt

I had mine updated with Ford's fireball fix. It looked like it was cut from a roll of black plastic, kind of had a formed bend in it so it would cover the front of the gas tank too. Much like those low friction kids simple flat plastic toy slides for the winter that would roll itself up. I didn't feel any safer.

[–] • 1 pt

<I didn't feel any safer.

You weren't!

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

When my cousin's 16th was approaching, she knew that my uncle was gonna buy her a car. She confided in me that the only things she did NOT want in a ride was a green car of any make or a Pinto in any color. She thought it would be rude to look a gift horse (as it were) in the mouth, so didn't say anything. And sure as shit when her Sweet 16 rolled around, ol' Uncle Bob presented his princes with a deep green Pinto. Despite her initial misgivings, it turned out to be a really fine pony that ferried us young uns on many a 70s kid adventure.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

I wasn't too keen on the color of mine either but the test drive is what sold me. I could get 4 gears of rubber with it! 1st through 3rd were very audible, 4th was just a light chirp. When the rustwork started bleeding rust a couple of years later, I did some quickie body work on it and painted the whole car flat black. Mine had a black interior.

[–] • 1 pt

Hahaha! Nice!

[–] • 1 pt

I put slightly wider junkyard Mercury Capri wheels with new wide white lettered General Grabbers on mine. Much sportier looking than factory Pinto wheels. Amazing handling for what it was! I had a pair of tall aggressive snowtires for winter. That little car could tractor through the snow great with 100lbs over the rear axle.

My 1971 Ford Pinto 2-Door Sedan weighed about 2000lbs, had a 100HP 2L - 4 cyl engine, topped out at about 105MPH. Later years added weight each year. By 1980 they weighed around 2500lbs with a 2.3L - 4 cyl 88HP engine and 4-speed.

[–] • 1 pt

I rode to and from a concert, one hour each way, in the backseat of an orange Pinto. Not the most comfortable ride of my life but, at least, I'm still alive!

[–] • 2 pts

I have many great memories in the back seat of my Pinto. Lol! At 6'1, it was a bit of a challenge!

[–] • 1 pt

Well, if you're going to go there, mine was a '73 Dodge Charger. Roomy enough!

At 6'1", I can't believe you fit in a Pinto to drive it, much less, the extracurricular activities!🤣

[–] • 1 pt

It was a bit tight, I did need the driver seat adjusted all of the way back to drive. A tilt wheel would have helped. But you know teenagers, where there is a will, they usually find a way.

I remember driving with passengers in the back, driver seat forward and my knees on either side of the steering wheel ... that wasn't any fun.

The Charger must have been like having a sofa back there compared to my Pinto.

[–] • 1 pt

That's fkn hilarious.

Top Secret! with Val Kilmer "roasted" a pinto too.

[–] • 1 pt

My granddad had a shit green pinto. He drove it until it finally died on the side of the road.

[–] • 0 pt

Mine was on the side of the road a few times too. I drove it like I stole it. Fortunately it had 9 lives.

[–] • 1 pt

Did you have the model that had the exploding gas tank? Truth be told I would love to get my hands on a Citation X11.

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

An engineer friend bought 3 chevy citations over the course of about 5-6 years in the early 1990s (we used to joke that Citations were so bad they should be given citations, they could be had used for $250-$500 at the time). He lived in the sticks and had quite a commute on state highways. One fall he hit 3 deer in seperate events. I started asking him how far off the road he had to chase them to hit them. Every one of his Citations had messed up front end sheetmetal. He'd just buy another and used the old ones for parts.

[–] • 1 pt

We once repaired the leaking radiator with a pant leg and Elmer's wood glue.

[–] • 0 pt

No one remembers the Pinto

[–] • 0 pt

Those that had them can never forget them. Pintos and Vegas were America's first pony cars meant to compete with the Toyotas, Datsuns and other Japanese small cars that were taking a growing chunk of American auto sales.

They weren't that well made and in my area rusted away quickly ... so few have survived.