AAaahhh...Pintos....I tell ya. I have a pic that’s an over head shot of a house my hubby and I lived in on the Snoqualmie River (Washington State) back in the eighties. At the time, we had a Pinto graveyard, and I was driving a
Pinto station wagon! The shot shows not only his 68 Camaro, and his 64 snub nosed Chevy van, but also FOUR other Pinto hatchbacks, and my stationwagon.
Wonderful, good memories!!!
Wonderful, good memories!!!
I laugh at the Pinto jokes but, admittedly, owned one when I was 19 and just started working and my then-girlfriend got her brother to sell his to me cheap. I remember being under the car and had to replace the clutch - the car was like a toy - I put the transmission housing on my chest while I looked at the clutch plate.
Yes, the good ol’ days.
I drove a 1974 Ford Pinto station wagon with the 2300 CC I-4 through my college years. I purchased it with 65,000 miles on it for $300. As it turns out, it was the best $300 car I ever bought.
By the time the engine finally gave up the ghost, I had just over 300,000 miles on it and the body was still in excellent shape. I changed my own oil and learned to do all my own maintenance on that car. The engine was about as basic and simple as one could get. Everything was easily reachable and swappable.
During the time I owned it I replaced the water pump twice, went through three alternators, one radiator, one power steering pump, a carbeurator, shocks, more sets of brakes than I could recount and a fuel pump. I was able to easily learn how to replace each of these parts AND set the timing for the serpentine belt (went through a couple of those too...) I also did my own tune-ups which took a whopping 20 minutes to do on that car.
Fuel economy wasn't bad on that car either, I averaged around 25mpg which for a 74 Pinto Wagon wasn't bad at all.
The engine finally gave up the ghost on a bitter cold winter day with temp's in the -20's and the wind chill sub -40 and lower. I managed to get it to start, but the oil was frozen in the oilpan. It never made it into the engine and it ended up seizing up about a mile from home. That was one cold walk back.
Say what you want about those cars, they were good basic transportation which suited me well for the time I needed it. The added bonus was being able to learn how to do my own repairs to keep the costs down, which for a college student was very important at that time!
As for the "blowing up" when they got rear-ended, that problem was limited to the Glass Hatchback versions. The metal hatchbacks and wagons didn't have that problem.