I like Pinto wagons. I can't explain why and I'm not going to apologize for it either. Especially these pre-safety bumper models. They're pretty neat looking in a "shooting-brake" kind of way. Even in Exorcist, pea-soup vomit green. This a 1972 model.
As the first American car to be built with rack-and-pinion steering, they handle like no other domestic car of its time. Throw in a snappy, 2.0-liter, overhead cam, inline-four and you've got a fun little car that, for its time, at 22-23 miles per gallon, was pretty good on gas. This one has the fun-robbing "C3" automatic but, overall, it's still a better (economy) car than anything GM offered at the time.
Would I be caught dead in one? If I'd be ok with folks wondering why "that guy" is driving such a quirky car, well, sure. But that's a tough putt. And my family would have a serious problem with it too. At my age, image still matters and until I'm ok with being the "crazy old guy in the weird little car", I'll stick to what I have.
As a quirky yet fairly practical promo vehicle, I think you'd be hard pressed to do better. Put a cool looking vinyl wrap on it for your business and you'd be the talk of the town. In that regard, in a good way. Yes, that rear seat folds down.
However, if you need more proof the whole world's gone crazy the asking price on this one for sale outside of Detroit is $4,400.
Oh, but for your money you get a rebuilt engine and front end along with "newer" tires. I'm thinking someone believes they can recoup the money they burned rebuilding that engine. They should've spent the money fixing the body and left the motor alone. Let the next owner do what they want with it.
You also get a project car that needs most of everything else. Body work and paint alone will run you more than the asking price. And your fancy vinyl wrap isn't going to be cheap either.
That dash. This is not exactly a "catalog" car either. Good luck finding parts. Seats look ok but they're tired looking. Good grief, is that a tear in the driver's seat?
Then you've got the whole exploding gas tank thing.
Ford Pinto's were already the butt of many jokes before they started blowing up on rear impact. Not sure why that was but "Pinto" was farther away from the "cool" ethos of Mustang, Cougar or Thunderbird than the "Gran Torino" was. 1972's Gran Torino's not withstanding of course. Starting in 1975, Mercury had a version they dubbed, "Bobcat". Wasn't any better looking (looked identical) so the name probably didn't matter.
Fun fact, although Mustang cognoscenti like to forget about it, Ford started with the bones of the Pinto when they baked up their dubious Mustang II.
No comments:
Post a Comment