My friend, Scott, and I took a one week trip from Houston to Wyoming in 1975 with camping supplies. We had no problems and lots of good times. This was the perfect economy car.
My mother had one of these when I was a kid. Never left her stranded, never broke down while she owned it. 20 years later I was back in town and saw the guy she sold it to still driving it around.
Actually, these commercials are more truthful than "hilarious". If Ford hadn't messed up with the fuel tank fire thing, the Pinto would have been no joke. In fact, the Pinto engine is to UK hotrodders, what the small block Chevy is to American hotrodders. Joke or not, the Pinto was a huge sales success.
They forgot that the rear bumper bolts penetrated the gas tank in a rear end accident, and spilled gas into the interior. Internal memos resulted in a class-action lawsuit. Ford decided, $12 per car, wasn't worth spending to prevent the owners burning to death. Thanks Ford.
@@mrmark8603 Anal retentive Ford Motor Company lawyers and accountants could only understand the tangible $12 per car. They couldn't understand the resulting millions or even billions of dollars, that Ford was destined to lose because of the intangibles of bad PR and a bad reputation! All the Pinto needed was a recall to correct the problem. Sure, maybe it wasn't the greatest car ever, but it was good enough to meet the customer's expectation, of an American made compact in the '70's.
I'd go back to the 70's in a heartbeat , corded phones and all .... and I agree 100% , these modern over-priced space ships on wheels are just costing too damn much money , I certainly cannot afford this anymore , everything is too fancy and expensive , and people are just being drained of their money , hard to save money ..... I paid $3600 for a brand new Toyota truck in 1976 .... The price of a riding lawnmower today .... Very good truck too
In 1977 my senior year in high school I had a 1974 Pinto station wagon because I was a drummer in a local band so when I needed to move my drum set I could I had a gas grass or ass sticker in the window.... my mom and dad who was a Southern Baptist minister had a fit... oh my God how I miss those days
They are disposable today. I'm stuck driving an old beater as a result this. I'm not investigating in new irreparable garbage. You can't even change fluids in them.
Me too. My 58 pickup with a flat head 6 was even EASIER to repair. I also owned to 61 Corvairs that were also easy to repair. I miss the days when you could do a tune up with a timing light, dwell meter, and a few tools.
@@RL-yv7dw I may be in the minority here. I prefer working on '96- ~2012 electronic fuel injection cars. Older carburetor cars don't stay in tune with changes in weather or altitude. The accelerator pumps wash the oil out of the cylinders when it is needed most, resulting in shortened engine life. You never know when older cars will start or not. You can kill the battery trying, and you may flood the engine. Float bowls don't like hard cornering/ acceleration. If the vehicle won't start the can be impossible to troubleshoot. OBD II and above troubleshoot themselves. '70s cars would be lucky to make it 100K miles before needing an overhaul. OBD II cars can go 300K+ miles if taken care of.
This is the car I learned to drive in. I can still remember that first moment that I drove a car all by myself, alone. That first feeling of wow, I can go wherever I want! No more sitting on a bus! It’s hard to believe that a preponderance of kids don’t have that desire now. For some reason they don’t have nearly the interest in achieving that sense of freedom that we all wanted when we were kids in the seventies.
I paid $1,995 plus tax for my brand new 1972 Pinto. Loved that car! Took it cross country twice. Ran pretty strong too. You could squeal the tires in first, second AND third gear! Wish I still had it. Maybe, if they made a cheap, reliable stripped down car today, like the Pinto, people wouldn't need cars with all the bells and whistles. A car to get you from point A to point B.
Just checked the inflation calculator and that would be $13315 as of today! That’s still really cheap even today! I would say what kills the new car market for cars like this are used cars. I bought a 2 year old Toyota RAV4 for $13,000 that cost over $20,000 new. But someone put 75,000 miles on it already and had some visible scratches. Still driving it over 260,000 miles later.
L I had a 73. My first new car.. I paid 2100 for it. It had the 1600cc Kent engine and a 4 speed trannie. The car was great, never any issues in 5 years. Cheap to maintain and run. It was a perfect car for college.
@@gj1234567899999 The great thing as well is that those cars were SIMPLE and easy to maintain, repair and service as well! You saved in more ways than one back in that time. Today it is NEVER simple, inexpensive, or cheap to service a modern car....ever.
There's no incentive to build basic, featureless vehicles. "Bells and whistles" is how automakers make the most profit, and while a few people may buy one, or at least SAY they would buy one, in reality the lower option level models don't sell nearly as well as the higher optioned choices, and much less so today than 50 years ago. People want their luxuries and status symbols, and they don't want to be seen driving a vehicle that makes them look or feel "poor".
I also had a 1973 with the 1600cc motor, Loved that car, if I could buy a new one today I would. I got 160k miles on it before the rust took it but still ran great.
My dad's lasted 300,000 miles with the 2.3L engine. However, that 2.3L engine needed an awful lot of camshaft replacements. It was his work car, so his normal drive would be an hour and a half to work, but his work also required that he drive around the state and collect data. So, the 300,000 miles was over about 6 years. The biggest issue with the car was the engine, but the second biggest issue was the ride. Oft...so harsh!
I owned a '76 Pinto Stallion(yellow w/black hood and trim). My dad used to call it "the bumble bee. Consistently gave me 25 mpg. Four speed with 2.4 liter eng. That thing could MOVE!!! AND never got stuck in mud OR snow.
My wife (now…girlfriend at the time) had the 1976 Stallion red and black. It was actually very sharp looking. She had gotten it used. I don’t remember the mileage but I’m thinking around 60,000. Still in great shape. I drove it from time to time. It drove unbelievably great in the snow. She took it to around 130,000 miles. But being in a northern climate, the rust got to it. Not even so much the body, but the undercarriage pretty bad. She sold it cheap. Although if I remember right she bought it for only $600. She says part of her still really misses that car.
"That thing could MOVE!!! " QTR mile was ~18 secs. I guess it could 'move'. Just not quickly. --------------------------------- Also a bit surprised no one mentions the firetrap issues: Soon after the Ford Motor Company introduced the Pinto to the public in 1970, the inexpensive subcompact model became one of the most popular cars in the United States. However, by the end of the decade, the Pinto had earned a reputation as a "firetrap." The car's fuel tank could explode if the car was involved in a rear-end collision - a danger that Ford engineers were aware of but failed to address. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration first received pressure to force Ford to recall all Pintos as early as 1974, but it wasn't until early 1978 - shortly after a jury awarded a badly disfigured driver $128 million in damages - that the automotive company finally gave in to the pressure to take the cars out of service.
I bought one, baby blue. In 1975 we had to move from NC to Texas. We towed my Pinto behind the moving van. I drove it to the drug store one day. I came out, got in the baby blue Pinto, and started it with my key. I happened to look around and realized it was not my car! My Pinto was parked on the next row. I called Ford and was told that there were often a number of cars with the same key tumblers, that they tried to spread them out into different states. That was embarrassing! So glad I didn't have anything really valuable inside. And glad the other Pinto owner didn't see me starting their car!
True. American manufacturers made 64 different keys, so in a parking lot of 128 cars, your key would fit two. They tried to prevent this by shipping 64 to the west, then the next 64 to the east.
@@wokewokerman5280 : And.... the Asian car clubs loved those 70’s Mercury Capris. There were a lot of nice ones when I was in high school in LA back then. Great body style.
My Dad had a yellow one with racing stripes. Those things were slow as molasses, I don’t know why you could get them with racing stripes for 3.00 more dollars.
This brings back wonderful memories of my '71 Pinto. My Pinto was so awesome. Drove across country multiple times, over mountains. I lived in Montana with it. I would put four studded tires on it and slate in the back to weigh it down and it went everywhere in the winter, even off road. One time I even pushed a station wagon that couldn't get up an icy hill...I pushed it up a hill in the ice! I could parallel park it with incredible speed and freaked out the drivers test guy when I first moved to Montana (yes there was a time, when a person moved to another state, a drivers test was required). I parked it in such a tiny spot with just such ease. I never worried about misplacing my keys because I had mastered how to open it with a coat hanger in 10 seconds. It took longer to shape the hanger than to open the car. One time I was having problems with it misfiring and a friend opened the hood and just started laughing hysterically because of how small the engine was but it was the simplest thing to fix and very cost-effective. He said it was a BMW engine? Don't know about that. I loved that car. My next car was a Volvo 242dl. That was an awesome tank too. Ahhh...youth. Now I drive a 2007 Honda Fit purchased new. Over 263,000 hard miles on it. Another awesome car. Others I've owned, not so great. Oh the little Miata was great until my husband broke his knee and couldn't use the clutch anymore...
New cars have less maintenance than the old ones BECAUSE of the computer chips, Bubba. Lot's of old timers don't like the new cars because you can't fix everything with a screw driver or duct tape.
Yup I'm old timer an proud of baby boy because you can't get a classic muscle car out of your computer chip car baby boy I'm a Die hard fan of classic muscle cars Barret Jackson auto auctions you don't see no duct tape in them engine s little boys are to young to know or wish they had our muscle cars sitting in there driveways yup that's us were a old-timer club of muscle car hard core prideful proudful thank you for cutting are cars down you Kitty's don't Deserve to be in our classic club cars amen God bless all who Respect a old timer because sooner or later younger teeny boys will get old to ha ha ha ha ha ha ha 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀thank you again for not liking are cars more for us none for you God bless
I owned a 72 Pinto, and traded it in for a 1975 Pinto Wagon. My experience with the vehicles was positive with no signs of poor behavior. When growing up my dad bought a Corvair and I drove it through college with no problems. Sometimes the owner, like pilot error is the root of some problems.
I to had a Pinto wagon back in the 70’s. Great little car, it didn’t have A/C and I never had any problems with it. I also owned a Corvair in the 60’s. It was a turbocharged convertible 4 speed…I had a blast in that car. I was hard on it but it never gave me any problems either.
When testing the early 1960’s Corvairs, they did NOT follow the strict tire pressure regulations, thus the “ unsafe @ any speed” UNFAIR ralph LIAR tag on a car, if expanded upon, would have saved Americans BILLION$ in fuel costs during the 1974 (NOT 1974) Arab/OPEC oil embargo!😳😬. CB
The good old days no seatbelt tickets, costly airbag to repair no stupid catalyst converter no baby car seats required no dumb tire pressure sensing valves to be replaced. No stupid dumb check engine light no power windows to worry about breaking no power door locks that malfunction no dumb theft alarm Blaring‼️🤡
OMG my dad had this car, in orange, too. I learned how to drive a manual transmission just by watching him drive it for years. Man, life was so much easier then.
Only issue was the bumpers were made of flint so if you get in an accident….BOOM! You’re a goner. I imagine those commercials where they blow up. Like when the horse kicks its legs it hit the bumper and blew up, or during the crash driving he finally hits a car and blows up lol, or avoiding all the animals but at the end barely rear ends a car and it blows up lol. Think there was a reasons they said “you can change bumpers quicker than……” Because once you found out they were explosive you were gonna want to change out bumpers 😂
Not really. Fake green screens for digital graphics never have real lighting. In the new movie Dune they went to great lengths to make the natural light and reflections look real as in film.
@@ct4074 they didn't have that green screen crap back then. i actually saw most of those commercials back in 1970 and 71. try again on how that stuff was faked.
@@1heavyelement Agreed, before green screens and graphic animation, all these sets required mass amounts of "man" work recreating miniature cities and landscapes, studio set ups, and actually travelling around the world to find the best locations and lighting for the shoots. Now, it's all done on computers with just the collaboration of artists and techs. And yet, I find it disturbing they are spending hundreds of millions on production costs on entire movies generated on computers. Seems like money laundering to me. And worst of all, the Woke screen writers of today do not have half the i.q. of the screenwriters of decades ago...
The first car I ever owned was a Pinto. It was one of the most reliable cars I have owned. Worst thing that ever happened was that the starter needed to be replaced, and I was able to do that myself, and I'm no mechanic. Even in the coldest days of a northern Illinois winter, that car would start with no problems. The car just ran, and you really can't ask more of a car than that.
A Pinto was my 1st car . Not of my choosing. I had my heart set on a 66 Lincoln with suicide doors. Dad wasn’t having it. Wanted me to learn to drive a stick.and he was tight. He was also wise. Loved that little pony. Put a lot of miles on that car . Very reliable
That could've been a typo. The "r" and the "t" are nextdoor neighbors on the keyboard. Either that, or Pop was tipsy at the time .. The other thing it could be, I don't even wanna think about. (Yew look jes' lak a hawg, Daddy...😳 Waddlediddledoddum! Shriekin' an' reekin' and havin' a ball!)
I had three pintos back in the 70's and 80's , they were extremely reliable and easy to fix . The engine was based on the Mercedes Benz with overhead cam and a simple timing belt. They ran forever and were great on gas . I wish I still had one today. 😋😁💖👍
I have been driving a 1972 Pinto woodgrain wagon for the past 18 years. It has been almost trouble free. 2.0L/4 speed. I did replace the original engine with a rebuilt one, the car had 184K miles on it and showed signs of not being properly maintained. This car is 49 years old and still runs like new. It's styling is 10 times better than anything else on the road. The interior is in excellent condition. No rust anywhere. I'm going to get it repainted and have the woodgrain vinyl replaced. Aside from being beautiful to look at, and completely reliable, I have found very few things I couldn't haul in it. With the seat folded down, there is probably more cargo room in it than there is in most new taxi trucks (4 door trucks with micro beds) If they still made these wonderful cars (the same as they were back then) I would buy a new one right now.
@@leskern1539 I've used the term "baby poop brown" for a specific shade of tan. "Baby-shit green" will be added to my lexicon. I assume this description refers to "Meconium", which, ironically, is a term I only just learned about yesterday.
Bought the hatchback with the HOC 2000 cc. It was a great car. Got me through high school and college. Sold it to a construction worker saw it in a parking lot 6 years later it was in great shape except for a lot of dirt.
@@kendallsmith1458 Ford recalled the sedans and hatchbacks to replace the shorter rubber sleeve between the filler neck and gas tank. Problem solved. The wagons were not affected because their production came later with the larger sleeve.
The biggest thing I miss from my 70's vehicles, was a fender bender didn't equal totality your vehicle. No matter were you got hit, a good body shop made it look brand new.
I have a hate on for tinted windows. Its grim being in some modern vehicles and with traction control , abs brakes, power steering ,and auto gearboxes they are impossible to drive well and when it comes to working on them it's a nightmare. Lets stop trying to be so slick and start having fun.
@@ohioalphornmusicalsawman2474 Yeah the 2.3 "Lima". Mine had the improved fuel system from the 1978 recall. Which was just a plastic shield on the tank.
@@TheChancesmom Yup. My father got in accident & was a faction of an inch of being paralyzed. Got lucky just breaking his neck but NOT damaging his spinal cord!
When trying for my driver's license in 1977 I had the choice of using either my parent's tank Ford LTD or my sister's pinto station wagon. I used the pinto and aced parallel parking and got my license on the first try. A lot of fun to drive.
I took my driving test in a 71 Plymouth Sport Suburban station wagon. The range officer was so impressed that I could parallel park it that he passed me after that part of the exam.
I was so excited I passed my behind-the-wheel test in my family's '71 Pinto I drove half way home with it (automatic) in second. Took a while for me (and my Dad) to figure-out why it was so sluggish when the light turned green :)
I bought a 1 year old Pinto in 1973, during the gas crisis. When everybody else was driving their gas guzzlers, I was getting 30 miles to the gallon! I tricked mine out with all kinds of engine and suspension modifications. I also dropped in a 5-speed transmission. It had a strong 2 liter engine which really moved. I loved that little car.
True story, I had a Mercury Bobcat while going to college. The timing belt broke going around 65 m.p.h. I pulled off the road. I came back the next day with a new belt, and maybe 8 wrenches. I changed the belt, and drove away, as good as new. TRUE STORY.
Same here. I was driving south through North Central Florida early on a Sunday morning in 1985 from Gainesville to Ocala to visit my future mother in law. My cam belt broke at speed on the highway and so I pulled over and parked it at a closed gas station's parking lot. I hitchhiked back up to Gainesville, put on my old Army fatigue jacket with big pockets stuffed with hand tools and walked to an auto parts store to get a new belt. I hitchhiked back and installed the belt with no problem, after phasing the cam in properly. The car ran fine and I never had problems after that. Years later, when I had that happen on a Porsche 944s I had to have the head rebuilt at a cost of about $3K.
I worked as a newspaper photographer for awhile, and as part of my job I attended a demonstration put on by the police department of a nearby city. A pinto was blocked at the bottom of a steep section of street, a heavy car was positioned at the top of the slope, then rolled down into the back of the pinto,,,.nothing happened other than a crumpled pinto. The other car was then dragged to the top and the sequence was repeated with the same result. Gasoline was then poured over the back of the pinto and the heavy car was again crashed into the back. Again nothing, but a cop struck a match and threw it on the back of the pinto which flamed up immediately. When I later watched the news program the video showed an undamaged pinto with the other car rolling down and crashing into it with flames erupting seemingly at contact.
@@shermanhofacker4428 Lol, sounds like that time when Fakeline, er I mean Dateline loaded up those GMC pickup trucks with dynamite and plowed into them to show how "unsafe" they were.
My first car was a 75 MUSTANG II and at 22,000 the Pistons and Camshafts were shot. The Only Bad Ford I ever had. Apparently between the 74 & 75 they eliminated lubricating areas causing the issue.
I owned 2 Pinto wagons in the 70s and 80s. Must have logged well over 500,000 trouble-free miles in them. Built a ladder rack for the one and my brother and I used it for a work truck for many years hauling our ladders and walk planks doing siding and roofing. My best friend Dave called it the"Pintang Hauler"! Oh so many good memories!!!
Yeah they were/are great little beasties. But these ads are still laughable. "So easy to work on you can change the spark plugs yourself!" - Gee, I sure as **** hope so. XD
I had a '73 with the 2300 in it. That thing was tough as nails. I could spin the tires in 1st 2nd and chrip em 3rd...lol I really miss that little beater.
Me and my son found a '71 Pinto Runabout online that had been forgotten in a garage in LA for 30 years. Five weeks of late nights and hunting down parts later, and it became his daily driver. He gets in conversations with people who had one all the time.
They said it‘s easy to fix. Slap some paint on the burnt-out carcass, some new glass, remove the burnt bodies from the inside and it is good to go again!
The neighbor down the street had one when I was kid back in the late 80's. My mom told me they were known to explode so I was always afraid to ride my bike past it. She left out the part about rear end collisions.
She wasn‘t wrong though. Underneath the hood, there were problems with fumes escaping from the fuel lines, which could then ignite. There was a recall, but knowing Lee Iacocca, whoever approved that recall probably got his ass sent to the Siberian salt mines, one way ticket.
Actually, the problem was more than that. It was rear end collisions, with a full gas tank, when the fuel cap has been left off, and the vehicle is stopped in the travel lane, and rear ended by a van being driven by a semi-alert driver drinking from a travel and driving on a suspended license. Also, you say late '80s, so that vehicle apparently provided many un-exploded years of use.
The issue was the gas tank would tear. In a hard rear end collision the bolt heads of the differential cover would rip open the gas tank making sparks. Unfortunately the recall repair was a bit of a jury rig. They put a Teflon patch over the part of the gas tank that would contact the differential. Thus reducing the chance of sparks or puncture, but not eliminating it.
I’ll never forget the day my mother came home with one of these in a s day apple red color. It would be cool to see what a remake of this vehicle might look like.
Wow, that just gave me a flashback. I hadn't thought about this in years (in this century?), but my Mom test drove a bright red Pinto hatchback with a plaid interior. Not sure why she didn't get it, she got an orange Datsun B-210 instead.
This made me feel old. I actually remember these commercials. I do have to say, if you were going to get stuck sitting in the backseat of a compact car, Pinto was the car you would hope to be riding in. They did have decent leg room.
I spent some time in the back of a Pinto. Awith most American cars of the time you say too low, sprawled on your rear end with your legs splayed out. It was like sitting in a vinyl - plastic bucket, as you couldn’t roll the side windows down, just pop them out a little. It wasn’t a bad car, but it wasn’t a great one.
In response to the usual comments about exploding Pintos, Chevrolet's 70s pickups with saddle mounted gas tanks fried more people than the Pinto ever thought of. Pintos were actually pretty decent little cars, especially when compared to anything the competition had to offer, which wasn't much.
It's not that Pintos weren't any more dangerous than other economy cars. Ford did a cost analysis on the fuel tank problem and decided not to fix it because the lawsuits would cost less than the recalls. I think if Ford had been a little more ethical in their business practices and had recalled the cars sooner, Pinto's reputation would have been saved.
@@matthewfusaro2590 That "cost analysis", or "cost vs risk" is the formula used by ALL manufacturers, not just Ford. Ford issued the recall, fixed the problem, and the Pinto went on to live a successful life, their reputation didn't suffer as bad as some might think. Btw, it was Lee Iaccoca who initially put the kibosh on addressing the problem.
@@wyo1446 , "That "cost analysis", or "cost vs risk" is the formula used by ALL manufacturers, not just Ford." The difference here is Ford got caught and the information was leaked out to the public. It probably wouldn't have been so damaging had it been something else. No one wants to be burned alive. The Ford execs should have know that this was going to "blow up in their faces" (sorry, couldn't resist that one). I just watched another RUclips video on the subject where Lee Iaccoca bragged about the Pinto's "safety". No wonder the Ford company was harshly criticized over the issue. They were just asking for trouble - call it automotive karma. Still they sold tons of these cars. Incidentally, my first car was a '78 Ford Pinto station wagon. I actually liked the car and I never once worried about the gas tank. My biggest worry was the timing belt. It had broke after 10k of driving although the previous owner replaced it 20k before that (I knew the guy personally and was not lying to get rid of the car). After that, I was always paranoid about the timing belt snapping. Still I didn't think it was a bad car. I wish I would have kept it; they are worth some money now.
@@RobKeenan826 I'm sure Chevy has their share of secrets but what separates the Pinto from other cars was the rush to get the cars into production. Pintos were already rolling off the assembly line before testing was completed. Fixing the problem meant modifying cars that were already built.
This was my college car. I kept my tools in the trunk. Whenever it broke I would get a ride to the nearest salvage yard, they all seemed to have stacks of pintos, and the used part always seemed to be under $20. I was able to keep it running for next to nothing, doing many repairs right on the roadside where the failure occured.
@randuthayne a car I could afford, that I could keep running (with effort) was what I needed.. it replaced a cheap motorcycle, which was even more unreliable. So, an improvement for me in both risk and reliability.
@@davelowets No, it had the plastic gas tank shield installed. I found out later there were actually only 17 deaths total from the Pinto gas tank design. That was about normal for any other car as well, based on the numbers sold. So, although it was big news it was actually not a story at all.
@@donovan2913 That car handled like a sports car. I once went around to junkyards trying to find an engine to rebuild, so when mine wore out, I would have a replacement ready. The junkyard guys just laughed: "Those 4 cylinder engines were designed in Germany, for use on the Autobahn. They last forever, and you aren't going to find any engines to rebuild, because the racers have bought every one they could find!".
My first wife totaled 3 pintos, only 1 was her fault and one was a head on collision, not her fault. My wife and boys survived, Strong great little car.
Great car when you put a 302 V8 in it! Bought a 71 in 78 for dirt cheap, swapped a high mile 302/3 speed standard into it and used to surprise a lot of muscle cars, fun times.
@@SweetTodd I messed with it for a couple of years, installed different engines/transmissions, sold it in 1980 to someone who wrecked it less than 2 weeks after he bought it....
I dated a gal in HS whose brother drove a Pinto wagon. That car had been totaled and repaired twice and ran like a top. It had a ton of miles on it too.
Never owned one but worked on quite a few and they were easy to work on and tough and reliable while that engine is still in modern versions still used with all kinds of after market performance upgrades, That one design flaw of the fuel tank straps got fixed immediately but the story stays around longer than the reality of the value of these awesome little beaters!
@@johndef5075 Wow, didn't know that. I had the Merkur XR4Ti 2.3 with turbo. There were many versions . I knew Mazda did the Ford Probe...Different motor though. Have to check that out!
The 94 Ford Ranger and fox body Mustang 2.3 was the last used version of the Pinto Engine, which was actually a German design. Later Mazda, Ford Ranger and Focus 4cyl were all Mazda/Ford collaborations.
@@richardvega8938 yeah they didn't show the Vega as it would eat its engine cylinders raw before the derby was over. Dad bought a 76 Vega. What a lemon. Should have bought a Pinto or Maverick. Even a Valiant.
@@STho205 I had a 74 Valiant and a 70 Maverick. Both with 6s. Those engines will run forever. I don't know why the auto makers didn't come up with 4 cylinder versions of their traditional inline pushrod 6s. Power would have suffered a little but they would have made up for it in reliability. But I guess the goal was to get cars sold. Reliability was an after thought. The Vega had an aluminum block which made it unreliable. Every time manufactures start using aluminum blocks they run into trouble. Cast iron heads on cast iron blocks may be heavy but are rock solid.
@@matthewfusaro2590 I had the 70 Maverick as first car in 1977. Rubber floor covers, bench seat, 3 on the tree manual, no AC (Gulf Coast mind you), pop out rear windows, and it had a rusty gas tank that had to be cleaned and refined. After that it was a durable car. $250 plus $150 to paint it and $70 to get it upholstered. It was abused before I got it.
@@STho205 Yeah, that sounds like the one I had. In the early 90's I bought a red 70 Maverick from an abandoned car auction for $90...The body was in decent shape and relatively rust free but the car ran horrible. I limped it home and after some work I found out that the head gasket was blown in two places. It was literally running on 3 cylinders. I replaced the head gasket for $20 and it ran like a dream. Never had a problem with it after that. I miss that car and I wish I'd kept it.
I had a 75 Pinto and it was my favorite car ever! I ended up putting a 289 hp motor in it and street raced it! Took it to the track and ran a 11.20 in the quarter mile! The heads were off of a 302 boss motor and had been machined with new springs! Had Lakewood traction bars with Headman Headers! It was a very fun 🚗 car!
If is funny that I clearly remember those Pinto ads when they came out, especially the emphasis on the new to North America rack and pinion steering. I remember asking my father what rack and pinion steering was and how it worked, after seeing those ads. Later, when I was a teenager, I bought a green 1972 Ford Pinto station wagon in 1980. A few months later, while driving over a heave in the road, both rear leaf springs popped through the floor in front of the tailgate. That caused the carpet from the rear and all of the dust embedded in it, to fly into the front and land on top me. I wasn't able to see but managed to stop without crashing. To "fix" the problem I jacked the car up by the rear bumper and put two pieces of 2x4 through the leaf spring hangers, so the wood would hit what was left of the floor. I drove it for a few years like that.
1:02 Almost a rear end explosion LOL So, out of all those 910 Quality Inspections nobody thinks Ford didn't find out that the Pinto could explode if hit in the rear end?
@@greggory448 In 1976 my Parents gave me my first car a Honda Civic hatchback which wasn't much better. Back then car insurance wasn't even a requirement, some of us were driving around in bombs and others were driving around in tanks LOL
My brother had a 1974 pinto 🐎 wagon and used it as a work truck/commuter back in late , 70's as he worked at Knudsen dairy plant as a mechanic Downtown LA and lived in Hesperia and drove that drive for at least 10 years with 209,000 miles it gave out on a very hot August day climbing the 15 El Cajon pass and he called me to pick him up , we unloaded his tools and removed the license plate and left it on the side of the road never to be seen again. RIP Pinto. 😢
I had a blast driving the 4spd hatchback version, that thing was a panic to take on old dirt roads! Dad had a wagon version, auto, that was also a load of fun to tool around in! I miss the days of simple cars. Loved the video! Thanks!
@@joeaverage5168 if you got rear-ended at, say, 75 mph, sure, just like any other car...in reality, it was barely any more dangerous than the COMPLETELY save Corvair. As literally everyone now knows, the media make things up...it's what they do.
Back then, I really liked the Pinto. A friend of mine owned a Pinto he bought from his dad, and after it was totaled from being rear-ended, he turned around and bought another Pinto to replace it. And a coworker had a Pinto with stick, and she helped me learn how to drive manual - which wasn't pretty for the first couple starts from a dead stop, but fun once I got the hang of it.
Learning to drive stick is one most gratifying things I've ever experienced. It's on a par with learning to drive a bicycle. One moment you think you'll never get it and then suddenly it all falls into place and you wonder why it ever seemed so difficult. Thanks for reminding me of my own experience.
What a cute little car! I love it! It looks a bit like my best car ever, a 1985 Toyota Corolla SR5 hatchback, but that had a sunroof and popup headlights. I'd give anything to have it back!
Loved mine. Rear wheel drive with no weight in the back-end meant getting easily stuck. Remember block oil gasket was having some trouble and sometimes when driving I would produce a humongous white cloud about half a block long and 30 feet high. When mine got to rusted out the passenger window fell right through the door onto the pavement. One time the accelerator got stuck somehow, I panicked for about two seconds and then turned the car off while braking. Came back the next day and knew the problem had to be in the throttle assembly or carburetor. The problem was a screw holding in place one of the two butterfly valves inside the carburetor came loose and got stuck inside the chamber keeping the valve (and the airflow for combustion) open. I'm not a mechanic but I dismantled the carburetor right off the engine block, identified and fixed the problem and put everything back together. The drive home was most enjoyable after that. The night before this left me stranded and had to walk forty minutes home at 4AM. Great car to have owned and great memories!
Actually the reason this is laughable very laughable. Is because of a lot of these commercials they talk about how safe the Pinto is. Yet fully aware of the gas tank explosion problem, Ford chose to do nothing about it because they didn’t want to spend another $11 per car to fix the problem. They figured it was cheaper to pay off the lawsuits then to fix the problem.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
➡ My List of Classic Car Gifts For Men! - amzn.to/3YYzQTi
Where you even there ?
Loved my '76 Pinto!
My friend, Scott, and I took a one week trip from Houston to Wyoming in 1975 with camping supplies. We had no problems and lots of good times. This was the perfect economy car.
My mother had one of these when I was a kid. Never left her stranded, never broke down while she owned it. 20 years later I was back in town and saw the guy she sold it to still driving it around.
Awesome.
My mom had a blue pinto as well .
Actually, these commercials are more truthful than "hilarious". If Ford hadn't messed up with the fuel tank fire thing, the Pinto would have been no joke. In fact, the Pinto engine is to UK hotrodders, what the small block Chevy is to American hotrodders.
Joke or not, the Pinto was a huge sales success.
They forgot that the rear bumper bolts penetrated the gas tank in a rear end accident, and spilled gas into the interior. Internal memos resulted in a class-action lawsuit. Ford decided, $12 per car, wasn't worth spending to prevent the owners burning to death. Thanks Ford.
@@mrmark8603 Anal retentive Ford Motor Company lawyers and accountants could only understand the tangible $12 per car. They couldn't understand the resulting millions or even billions of dollars, that Ford was destined to lose because of the intangibles of bad PR and a bad reputation!
All the Pinto needed was a recall to correct the problem. Sure, maybe it wasn't the greatest car ever, but it was good enough to meet the customer's expectation, of an American made compact in the '70's.
I’d love a Pinto! No computer, no electronic gizmos, no video screens … and a stick shift!
But it did come with a built in self destruct device...rear end collisions caused them to explode, hence the recall of all of them...
@@MO-PA28-140 The recall added a shield that would allow the gas tank to slide up over the rear end in a rear collision. No more self destruct.
@@mtnbkr777 Regardless, it was a gutless wonder. A horrible car.
I'd go back to the 70's in a heartbeat , corded phones and all .... and I agree 100% , these modern over-priced space ships on wheels are just costing too damn much money , I certainly cannot afford this anymore , everything is too fancy and expensive , and people are just being drained of their money , hard to save money ..... I paid $3600 for a brand new Toyota truck in 1976 .... The price of a riding lawnmower today .... Very good truck too
@@MO-PA28-140 Gas tank was located behind the axle....like most cars back then.
Dang! $1919 for a brand new Pinto? Wish I could buy one now!!!
That is $14,957.02 in 2024 money when adjusted for inflation.
That's about what i paid for mine too.
@@JohnFourtyTwo That would be a Deal on a car, dealers want $15,000 for used vehicles today!
-@@casper3130And With 200K Miles On Them
I just paid $12,000 Canadian for a 2012 Honda Fit with 147,000 Ks on it.
In 1977 my senior year in high school I had a 1974 Pinto station wagon because I was a drummer in a local band so when I needed to move my drum set I could I had a gas grass or ass sticker in the window.... my mom and dad who was a Southern Baptist minister had a fit... oh my God how I miss those days
You should not use God's name in vain.
I'm younger than you by about 3 decades and your parents were right.
It's kind of like the plot of Footloose.
@@user-xf2oz6gr2o If you voted for Trump, God is not impressed by your views. Predator in Chief.
Which sticker was it ?
Great commercials. I had several Pinto's, loved them. The American Mini Cooper
Oh man, I wish cars today were easy to repair!!!
They are disposable today. I'm stuck driving an old beater as a result this. I'm not investigating in new irreparable garbage. You can't even change fluids in them.
Me too. My 58 pickup with a flat head 6 was even EASIER to repair. I also owned to 61 Corvairs that were also easy to repair. I miss the days when you could do a tune up with a timing light, dwell meter, and a few tools.
Well, then just buy an old car (mid 80s or older). Do-it-yourself repairs are easy. I did a lot of my own repairs those old days.
@@RL-yv7dw I may be in the minority here. I prefer working on '96- ~2012 electronic fuel injection cars. Older carburetor cars don't stay in tune with changes in weather or altitude. The accelerator pumps wash the oil out of the cylinders when it is needed most, resulting in shortened engine life. You never know when older cars will start or not. You can kill the battery trying, and you may flood the engine. Float bowls don't like hard cornering/ acceleration. If the vehicle won't start the can be impossible to troubleshoot. OBD II and above troubleshoot themselves.
'70s cars would be lucky to make it 100K miles before needing an overhaul. OBD II cars can go 300K+ miles if taken care of.
I said that same thing last week changing headlight bulbs.
This is the car I learned to drive in. I can still remember that first moment that I drove a car all by myself, alone. That first feeling of wow, I can go wherever I want! No more sitting on a bus! It’s hard to believe that a preponderance of kids don’t have that desire now. For some reason they don’t have nearly the interest in achieving that sense of freedom that we all wanted when we were kids in the seventies.
I'm heading to my Ford dealer right now. I hope they're still in stock.
😂
take your Delorean
Check the back lot.
I hope the prices have stayed the same.
@@wuzgoanon9373 Wouldn't that be nice.
I paid $1,995 plus tax for my brand new 1972 Pinto. Loved that car! Took it cross country twice. Ran pretty strong too. You could squeal the tires in first, second AND third gear! Wish I still had it. Maybe, if they made a cheap, reliable stripped down car today, like the Pinto, people wouldn't need cars with all the bells and whistles. A car to get you from point A to point B.
Just checked the inflation calculator and that would be $13315 as of today! That’s still really cheap even today! I would say what kills the new car market for cars like this are used cars. I bought a 2 year old Toyota RAV4 for $13,000 that cost over $20,000 new. But someone put 75,000 miles on it already and had some visible scratches. Still driving it over 260,000 miles later.
L
I had a 73. My first new car.. I paid 2100 for it. It had the 1600cc Kent engine and a 4 speed trannie. The car was great, never any issues in 5 years. Cheap to maintain and run. It was a perfect car for college.
@@gj1234567899999 The great thing as well is that those cars were SIMPLE and easy to maintain, repair and service as well! You saved in more ways than one back in that time. Today it is NEVER simple, inexpensive, or cheap to service a modern car....ever.
There's no incentive to build basic, featureless vehicles. "Bells and whistles" is how automakers make the most profit, and while a few people may buy one, or at least SAY they would buy one, in reality the lower option level models don't sell nearly as well as the higher optioned choices, and much less so today than 50 years ago. People want their luxuries and status symbols, and they don't want to be seen driving a vehicle that makes them look or feel "poor".
So long as no one rear-ends you.
I had a 1973 hatchback. It lasted 17 years 180000 miles. 1600 cc engine, great car ! 😃🇺🇸
No, it didn't.
2.3 LITER ohc
I also had a 1973 with the 1600cc motor, Loved that car, if I could buy a new one today I would. I got 160k miles on it before the rust took it but still ran great.
Good thing it never got rear ended
My dad's lasted 300,000 miles with the 2.3L engine. However, that 2.3L engine needed an awful lot of camshaft replacements. It was his work car, so his normal drive would be an hour and a half to work, but his work also required that he drive around the state and collect data. So, the 300,000 miles was over about 6 years.
The biggest issue with the car was the engine, but the second biggest issue was the ride. Oft...so harsh!
I owned a '76 Pinto Stallion(yellow w/black hood and trim). My dad used to call it "the bumble bee. Consistently gave me 25 mpg. Four speed with 2.4 liter eng. That thing could MOVE!!! AND never got stuck in mud OR snow.
My wife (now…girlfriend at the time) had the 1976 Stallion red and black. It was actually very sharp looking. She had gotten it used. I don’t remember the mileage but I’m thinking around 60,000. Still in great shape. I drove it from time to time. It drove unbelievably great in the snow. She took it to around 130,000 miles. But being in a northern climate, the rust got to it. Not even so much the body, but the undercarriage pretty bad. She sold it cheap. Although if I remember right she bought it for only $600. She says part of her still really misses that car.
"That thing could MOVE!!! "
QTR mile was ~18 secs. I guess it could 'move'. Just not quickly.
---------------------------------
Also a bit surprised no one mentions the firetrap issues:
Soon after the Ford Motor Company introduced the Pinto to the public in 1970, the inexpensive subcompact model became one of the most popular cars in the United States. However, by the end of the decade, the Pinto had earned a reputation as a "firetrap." The car's fuel tank could explode if the car was involved in a rear-end collision - a danger that Ford engineers were aware of but failed to address.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration first received pressure to force Ford to recall all Pintos as early as 1974, but it wasn't until early 1978 - shortly after a jury awarded a badly disfigured driver $128 million in damages - that the automotive company finally gave in to the pressure to take the cars out of service.
I bought one, baby blue. In 1975 we had to move from NC to Texas. We towed my Pinto behind the moving van. I drove it to the drug store one day. I came out, got in the baby blue Pinto, and started it with my key. I happened to look around and realized it was not my car! My Pinto was parked on the next row. I called Ford and was told that there were often a number of cars with the same key tumblers, that they tried to spread them out into different states. That was embarrassing! So glad I didn't have anything really valuable inside. And glad the other Pinto owner didn't see me starting their car!
I hope that the other driver thought your car was theirs and it was a wash. Haha
Haha good story
The same issue was with ford pickups in the late 60's and early 70's...
True. American manufacturers made 64 different keys, so in a parking lot of 128 cars, your key would fit two. They tried to prevent this by shipping 64 to the west, then the next 64 to the east.
Lol, the exact same thing happened to me with my Mazda 626 and luckily no one spotted me 🤣
I had a Pinto in the 1970s. In spite of its many shortcomings, it lasted over 250,000 miles and was easy to work on.
I had a 72 . Same kind of miles. Sold it for 300 after I had for 5 years.
Nope to both of you. Unless you rebuilt that engine at least twice.
@@jcamp788 I had to rebuild the transmission once.
It still ran when I gave it away.
@@badfox1962 Easy to fix and cheap. Worst thing that could happen is broke timing belt. 1995 price!
Eddie, you sure got your money's worth out of it ! To this day I only buy Ford's. I have a 2019 F150 which is great. V-8 400 HP, just love it.🇺🇸
I remember when Pintos were almost as commonly seen on the road as VW Bugs.
...and chevy vegas....
@@wokewokerman5280 :
And.... the Asian car clubs loved those 70’s Mercury Capris. There were a lot of nice ones when I was in high school in LA back then. Great body style.
Both equally as dangerous... good times. Good times
@@wokewokerman5280 - I owned one of those Vega, what a great car
My Dad had a yellow one with racing stripes. Those things were slow as molasses, I don’t know why you could get them with racing stripes for 3.00 more dollars.
This brings back wonderful memories of my '71 Pinto. My Pinto was so awesome. Drove across country multiple times, over mountains. I lived in Montana with it. I would put four studded tires on it and slate in the back to weigh it down and it went everywhere in the winter, even off road. One time I even pushed a station wagon that couldn't get up an icy hill...I pushed it up a hill in the ice! I could parallel park it with incredible speed and freaked out the drivers test guy when I first moved to Montana (yes there was a time, when a person moved to another state, a drivers test was required). I parked it in such a tiny spot with just such ease. I never worried about misplacing my keys because I had mastered how to open it with a coat hanger in 10 seconds. It took longer to shape the hanger than to open the car. One time I was having problems with it misfiring and a friend opened the hood and just started laughing hysterically because of how small the engine was but it was the simplest thing to fix and very cost-effective. He said it was a BMW engine? Don't know about that. I loved that car. My next car was a Volvo 242dl. That was an awesome tank too. Ahhh...youth. Now I drive a 2007 Honda Fit purchased new. Over 263,000 hard miles on it. Another awesome car. Others I've owned, not so great. Oh the little Miata was great until my husband broke his knee and couldn't use the clutch anymore...
I miss those early years cars no computer chip less maintenance ya lol
New cars have less maintenance than the old ones BECAUSE of the computer chips, Bubba. Lot's of old timers don't like the new cars because you can't fix everything with a screw driver or duct tape.
I absolutely do not miss carburetors.
Damn right
Yup I'm old timer an proud of baby boy because you can't get a classic muscle car out of your computer chip car baby boy I'm a Die hard fan of classic muscle cars Barret Jackson auto auctions you don't see no duct tape in them engine s little boys are to young to know or wish they had our muscle cars sitting in there driveways yup that's us were a old-timer club of muscle car hard core prideful proudful thank you for cutting are cars down you Kitty's don't Deserve to be in our classic club cars amen God bless all who Respect a old timer because sooner or later younger teeny boys will get old to ha ha ha ha ha ha ha 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀thank you again for not liking are cars more for us none for you God bless
"early years cars"? 50 years ago? Cars have been around for 150 years.
I owned a 72 Pinto, and traded it in for a 1975 Pinto Wagon. My experience with the vehicles was positive with no signs of poor behavior. When growing up my dad bought a Corvair and I drove it through college with no problems. Sometimes the owner, like pilot error is the root of some problems.
I to had a Pinto wagon back in the 70’s. Great little car, it didn’t have A/C and I never had any problems with it. I also owned a Corvair in the 60’s. It was a turbocharged convertible 4 speed…I had a blast in that car. I was hard on it but it never gave me any problems either.
The weakest part of the car is the nut behind the steering wheel....
When testing the early 1960’s
Corvairs, they did NOT follow
the strict tire pressure regulations, thus the “ unsafe @
any speed” UNFAIR ralph LIAR
tag on a car, if expanded upon,
would have saved Americans
BILLION$ in fuel costs during the 1974 (NOT 1974) Arab/OPEC oil embargo!😳😬. CB
Correction: (NOT 1973)
Sorry
Senior
Sausage
Plilangees
😳😬. CB
My '72 Pinto was the only car I have ever bought new. Loved the shape and it was fun to drive. Never had a problem and drove it for over 10 years.
Same here. Bought a 72 in February when I got out of the navy. Autocrossed it for 8 years and never had a failure of any kind. .
The good old days no seatbelt tickets, costly airbag to repair no stupid catalyst converter no baby car seats required no dumb tire pressure sensing valves to be replaced. No stupid dumb check engine light no power windows to worry about breaking no power door locks that malfunction no dumb theft alarm Blaring‼️🤡
OMG my dad had this car, in orange, too. I learned how to drive a manual transmission just by watching him drive it for years. Man, life was so much easier then.
Yeah they stole cousins mach1. From mall he got a gawd awful puke green one. As loaner and I drove it on the street for weeks at z15 yrs old
PUMPKIN orange. I had one, too.
My dad had an orange one too. Apparently a. Mouse lived in it. That was the story anyway I never saw the mouse but was never afraid of mice either 😊
Only issue was the bumpers were made of flint so if you get in an accident….BOOM! You’re a goner. I imagine those commercials where they blow up. Like when the horse kicks its legs it hit the bumper and blew up, or during the crash driving he finally hits a car and blows up lol, or avoiding all the animals but at the end barely rear ends a car and it blows up lol. Think there was a reasons they said “you can change bumpers quicker than……” Because once you found out they were explosive you were gonna want to change out bumpers 😂
Man I love the look of things shot on actual film. So beautiful.
I think you're pretty much alone there Dusty.
Not really. Fake green screens for digital graphics never have real lighting. In the new movie Dune they went to great lengths to make the natural light and reflections look real as in film.
@@ct4074 they didn't have that green screen crap back then. i actually saw most of those commercials back in 1970 and 71. try again on how that stuff was faked.
@@1heavyelement Agreed, before green screens and graphic animation, all these sets required mass amounts of "man" work recreating miniature cities and landscapes, studio set ups, and actually travelling around the world to find the best locations and lighting for the shoots. Now, it's all done on computers with just the collaboration of artists and techs. And yet, I find it disturbing they are spending hundreds of millions on production costs on entire movies generated on computers. Seems like money laundering to me. And worst of all, the Woke screen writers of today do not have half the i.q. of the screenwriters of decades ago...
The first car I ever owned was a Pinto. It was one of the most reliable cars I have owned. Worst thing that ever happened was that the starter needed to be replaced, and I was able to do that myself, and I'm no mechanic. Even in the coldest days of a northern Illinois winter, that car would start with no problems. The car just ran, and you really can't ask more of a car than that.
Yes, I recall the starter went out too. Only thing that went wrong.
A Pinto was my 1st car . Not of my choosing. I had my heart set on a 66 Lincoln with suicide doors. Dad wasn’t having it. Wanted me to learn to drive a stick.and he was tight. He was also wise. Loved that little pony. Put a lot of miles on that car . Very reliable
So your dad bought you a car and you thought he was 'cheap'? Can we say: 'entitled'?
That could've been a typo. The "r" and the "t" are nextdoor neighbors on the keyboard.
Either that, or Pop was tipsy at the time ..
The other thing it could be, I don't even wanna think about. (Yew look jes' lak a hawg, Daddy...😳 Waddlediddledoddum! Shriekin' an' reekin' and havin' a ball!)
My folks one year bought a new Lincoln with suicide doors. Burgundy red. They kept it for decades.
I had three pintos back in the 70's and 80's , they were extremely reliable and easy to fix . The engine was based on the Mercedes Benz with overhead cam and a simple timing belt. They ran forever and were great on gas . I wish I still had one today. 😋😁💖👍
I have been driving a 1972 Pinto woodgrain wagon for the past 18 years. It has been almost trouble free. 2.0L/4 speed. I did replace the original engine with a rebuilt one, the car had 184K miles on it and showed signs of not being properly maintained. This car is 49 years old and still runs like new. It's styling is 10 times better than anything else on the road. The interior is in excellent condition. No rust anywhere. I'm going to get it repainted and have the woodgrain vinyl replaced. Aside from being beautiful to look at, and completely reliable, I have found very few things I couldn't haul in it. With the seat folded down, there is probably more cargo room in it than there is in most new taxi trucks (4 door trucks with micro beds) If they still made these wonderful cars (the same as they were back then) I would buy a new one right now.
get a Hyndai, the Korean's have reverse engineered the lexus. I have a 2011 Hyndai Sonata with 466,000 miles it and still runs fast and its a turbo
Just don’t get hit from behind.
@@robertheinkel6225 The wagon didn't have that problem.
@@JeffDeWitt None of them did once they identified the center bumper bolt as the problem.
I liked driving those cars, they were comfortable and ran ok
Wish I could go back in time to relive it the way it was :D
I've been looking for one to relive the old days. There are a surprising number out there. I will only accept a '72 sedan, manual, in baby-shit green.
@@leskern1539 I've used the term "baby poop brown" for a specific shade of tan. "Baby-shit green" will be added to my lexicon. I assume this description refers to "Meconium", which, ironically, is a term I only just learned about yesterday.
love this Pinto shape!! today cars are almost all the same..i would buy a Pinto, today!!! i love it and i love the '70s....
Yeah, the 1970s sucked if you actually lived through them.
My first car was a ‘76 Ford bobcat, in 1981- much like the pinto, except they didn’t tend to explode if rear ended...
@@justayoutuber1906 and I'm still waiting for the moment where you actually lived through them you 20 year old
So when did you graduate Harvard?
@@SuperSummer58 Mercury Bobcat was the exact same as pinto
Bought the hatchback with the HOC 2000 cc. It was a great car. Got me through high school and college. Sold it to a construction worker saw it in a parking lot 6 years later it was in great shape except for a lot of dirt.
They were good little cars. Drove one for years and put lots of miles on it with no problems
The engines were great in Pintos. There was no comparison between a Pinto and a Vega. It wasn't even close.
The only problem that I had was the ground wire from the frame to the engine block broke and it wouldn't start. Fixed it and no problem again
Trash
Just don't get rear ended
@@kendallsmith1458
Ford recalled the sedans and hatchbacks to replace the shorter rubber sleeve between the filler neck and gas tank. Problem solved. The wagons were not affected because their production came later with the larger sleeve.
We need to go back to some of these old ideas, everything nowadays has so much overkill! I don't think it's worth it!!
The biggest thing I miss from my 70's vehicles, was a fender bender didn't equal totality your vehicle. No matter were you got hit, a good body shop made it look brand new.
I have a hate on for tinted windows. Its grim being in some modern vehicles and with traction control , abs brakes, power steering ,and auto gearboxes they are impossible to drive well and when it comes to working on them it's a nightmare. Lets stop trying to be so slick and start having fun.
@@George.Andrews. A hate for tinted windows? You probably don't live in the South.
@@qua7771 I live on the south of the planet
@@George.Andrews. What are the odds? You got me!
I'm in Florida where tinted windows are practical.
I had one of these. It was a great car. Cheap and ran forever.
LOOKS LIKE A SMALLER VERSION OF THE CHEVY NOVA
I loved my Pinto.And shockingly it never exploded. Imagine that. Got like 28 MPG and could run 90 MPH all day.
2.3 Liter motor??
@@ohioalphornmusicalsawman2474 Yeah the 2.3 "Lima". Mine had the improved fuel system from the 1978 recall. Which was just a plastic shield on the tank.
Death traps I was almost killed in one.
@@TheChancesmom Yup. My father got in accident & was a faction of an inch of being paralyzed. Got lucky just breaking his neck but NOT damaging his spinal cord!
@@bthamus8334 And people have died in Mack Dump truck wrecks,,,,what is your point?
When trying for my driver's license in 1977 I had the choice of using either my parent's tank Ford LTD or my sister's pinto station wagon. I used the pinto and aced parallel parking and got my license on the first try. A lot of fun to drive.
I want that wagon!
I took my driving test in a 71 Plymouth Sport Suburban station wagon. The range officer was so impressed that I could parallel park it that he passed me after that part of the exam.
Unfortunately I had to take my first test in our LTD with a nervous Nelly tester and failed. Wish I had that choice!
It must of been Ford's new Rack and Pinion steering that made it possible for you to pass your parking test.. Lol
I was so excited I passed my behind-the-wheel test in my family's '71 Pinto I drove half way home with it (automatic) in second. Took a while for me (and my Dad) to figure-out why it was so sluggish when the light turned green :)
6:37 Pintos started showing up at dealershipa on September 11, 1971. That just takes the cake.
I was searching the comments for this....
Let’s talk about 30 years later
😅
""My Dad was a 9/11 victim"
"Oh, damn. World Trade Center?"
"Nah. Ford Pinto"
Look up the word "ford" in the dictionary and think about it for a little while.
Wikipedia says Ford introduced the Pinto in September 1970, not 1971.
I bought a 1 year old Pinto in 1973, during the gas crisis. When everybody else was driving their gas guzzlers, I was getting 30 miles to the gallon! I tricked mine out with all kinds of engine and suspension modifications. I also dropped in a 5-speed transmission. It had a strong 2 liter engine which really moved. I loved that little car.
I loved my Pintos! I had 3. 1973, ‘74, 79.
Say “Hello!” to Ford Pinto and “Goodbye!” To EVERYTHING ELSE. WOW. What a slogan. Or….driving your new Ford Pinto…It’s a BLAST!
🤣🤣🤣
Lol!
they were called "Flaming Beans" down south!
Priced under 2000? What an explosive 🧨 deal!
@@Greg-yu4ij 😱You had to say EXPLOSIVE...DIDN'T YOU🤨?
True story, I had a Mercury Bobcat while going to college. The timing belt broke going around 65 m.p.h. I pulled off the road. I came back the next day with a new belt, and maybe 8 wrenches. I changed the belt, and drove away, as good as new. TRUE STORY.
Same here. I was driving south through North Central Florida early on a Sunday morning in 1985 from Gainesville to Ocala to visit my future mother in law. My cam belt broke at speed on the highway and so I pulled over and parked it at a closed gas station's parking lot. I hitchhiked back up to Gainesville, put on my old Army fatigue jacket with big pockets stuffed with hand tools and walked to an auto parts store to get a new belt. I hitchhiked back and installed the belt with no problem, after phasing the cam in properly. The car ran fine and I never had problems after that.
Years later, when I had that happen on a Porsche 944s I had to have the head rebuilt at a cost of about $3K.
My mother had a Mercury Bobcat. You could be driving 55 mph and floor it and the car would drop to 53 mph.
WHy any manufacturer would build an interference motor with a timing belt is beyond me. Thats not engineering thats just plain stupid.
Yep, in non interference engines, breaking a timing belt was an inconvenience but not a catastrophe.
Mercury was a division of Ford. Every Ford I ever owned was a piece of crap.
I learned how to drive stick in a 1976 Pinto - it was great!
About 1983-84 I would have started driving. My parents had a 1976 Pinto wagon, stick shift. I had no complaints. :-)
Me too !
Had a 1977 Pinto 4 speed, one of the best cars I've ever owned.
Bringing a Pinto to a demolition derby!?!? 😵 💥 I can't think of many quicker ways to die...
I worked as a newspaper photographer for awhile, and as part of my job I attended a demonstration put on by the police department of a nearby city. A pinto was blocked at the bottom of a steep section of street, a heavy car was positioned at the top of the slope, then rolled down into the back of the pinto,,,.nothing happened other than a crumpled pinto. The other car was then dragged to the top and the sequence was repeated with the same result. Gasoline was then poured over the back of the pinto and the heavy car was again crashed into the back. Again nothing, but a cop struck a match and threw it on the back of the pinto which flamed up immediately. When I later watched the news program the video showed an undamaged pinto with the other car rolling down and crashing into it with flames erupting seemingly at contact.
@@shermanhofacker4428 Lol, sounds like that time when Fakeline, er I mean Dateline loaded up those GMC pickup trucks with dynamite and plowed into them to show how "unsafe" they were.
nahhh, you would be pretty safe as long as you did NOT get rear-ended...
@@shermanhofacker4428 interesting - so manufactured it seems. Ford is the only brand we will ever buy! we absolutely love them!
That was especially cringeworthy.
I owned two Pintos and two Mustang IIs. I can still hear the valves rattle. Good times 😌
My first car was a 75 MUSTANG II and at 22,000 the Pistons and Camshafts were shot. The Only Bad Ford I ever had. Apparently between the 74 & 75 they eliminated lubricating areas causing the issue.
@@FranFJB how many camshafts did your mustang 2 have?
I bought my moms 71 when I started driving in 75, then bought a 78. Good little cars,and they didn’t blow up even once 🤣
I owned 2 Pinto wagons in the 70s and 80s. Must have logged well over 500,000 trouble-free miles in them. Built a ladder rack for the one and my brother and I used it for a work truck for many years hauling our ladders and walk planks doing siding and roofing. My best friend Dave called it the"Pintang Hauler"! Oh so many good memories!!!
The Pinto was a lot of fun to drive with the 4 speed manual transmission
Had maverick. Tsilights
Back in those days I had a Pinto. It was a very reliable grocery-getter/commuter car!
Okay, but it was not a chick magnet. It was actually a chick repeller.
@chetpomeroy1399,@@bmoshareholderappleshareho855 A/K/A "Puddle Jumper"
I owned two pintos in the past both had the 2300 motors you could pound on those cars they would never give up.
Yeah they were/are great little beasties. But these ads are still laughable. "So easy to work on you can change the spark plugs yourself!" - Gee, I sure as **** hope so. XD
My first car was a Pinto Runabout with a 2300cc engine. It was my grandmother's old car, so she sold it to me when I turned 16.
I had a '73 with the 2300 in it. That thing was tough as nails. I could spin the tires in 1st 2nd and chrip em 3rd...lol I really miss that little beater.
Me and my son found a '71 Pinto Runabout online that had been forgotten in a garage in LA for 30 years. Five weeks of late nights and hunting down parts later, and it became his daily driver. He gets in conversations with people who had one all the time.
"Hard to hit, easy to fix!" And it explodes on impact!
That’s because the fuel tank was so close to the rear.🇦🇺
@@raymondwelsh6028 OH yes, see my story above
And you can fix it for $1.65.. to prevent it. most don't have the skill.
Nah! It was originally designed to be a portable 4 passenger stove.
@@raymondwelsh6028 And Lee Iacocca would not spend a dollar or two on rubber pads to protect the fuel tank from damage.
My mom had a '76.
It was a great little car.
It's what I learned to drive a stick in.
Learned to drive in my mom's Pinto when I was a kid. Easy to drive and one of the most dependable cars we ever had.
A Pinto in a demolition Derby?!?! Better not get hit in the rear!!😱🤯
Bringing a Pinto to a demolition derby is a great idea!
🚗🔥🚙
Like they said at the end, "A better idea from Ford" lol
It's the mechanism to both inspire the driver to not crash and also intimidate other drivers into crashing it
They said it‘s easy to fix. Slap some paint on the burnt-out carcass, some new glass, remove the burnt bodies from the inside and it is good to go again!
New for '71, "intermittent steering"!
Hope it doesn't get hit in the rear...
Man in suit: “hey guys, just bought a pinto”
Guys: “save some ladies for the rest of us”
Lmao
Go easy on the Pinto, I'm a little sensitive.
Username checks out!
Really, I though you were Wild Pinto. *:rimshot:*
Pinto means Dick in Portuguese. Lol
Mr. Cozin really bro
Me too!
I had a 71 Pinto in college. Great little reliable car
The neighbor down the street had one when I was kid back in the late 80's. My mom told me they were known to explode so I was always afraid to ride my bike past it. She left out the part about rear end collisions.
She wasn‘t wrong though. Underneath the hood, there were problems with fumes escaping from the fuel lines, which could then ignite. There was a recall, but knowing Lee Iacocca, whoever approved that recall probably got his ass sent to the Siberian salt mines, one way ticket.
Actually, the problem was more than that. It was rear end collisions, with a full gas tank, when the fuel cap has been left off, and the vehicle is stopped in the travel lane, and rear ended by a van being driven by a semi-alert driver drinking from a travel and driving on a suspended license.
Also, you say late '80s, so that vehicle apparently provided many un-exploded years of use.
The issue was the gas tank would tear. In a hard rear end collision the bolt heads of the differential cover would rip open the gas tank making sparks.
Unfortunately the recall repair was a bit of a jury rig. They put a Teflon patch over the part of the gas tank that would contact the differential. Thus reducing the chance of sparks or puncture, but not eliminating it.
Had two 4-on the floor Pintos back in the day, loved them!
Pokie!!! 😃
I suggested this car to my boys as their first car. Their reactions were priceless 🤣
I’ll bet LOL
When I asked my son what car he'd like, he chose a Pinto. It's his daily driver, and he loves it.
I owned two Pintos. They were both great vehicles. Easy to fix, easy to keep gas in and just darn right fun little cars!
I’ll never forget the day my mother came home with one of these in a s day apple red color. It would be cool to see what a remake of this vehicle might look like.
Wow, that just gave me a flashback. I hadn't thought about this in years (in this century?), but my Mom test drove a bright red Pinto hatchback with a plaid interior. Not sure why she didn't get it, she got an orange Datsun B-210 instead.
We had one in 1971 and loved it. It went anywhere we had to go with no trouble at all.
yes, purchased a 1971 pinto ! our 1st car as married couple ! then became my work car lasted until the mid 80`s !
Love pintos had a couple of them.Great little cars.
This made me feel old. I actually remember these commercials. I do have to say, if you were going to get stuck sitting in the backseat of a compact car, Pinto was the car you would hope to be riding in. They did have decent leg room.
...until the Pinto gets rear-ended...KA-POWWW!!
I AM old, and it's okay.
I spent some time in the back of a Pinto. Awith most American cars of the time you say too low, sprawled on your rear end with your legs splayed out. It was like sitting in a vinyl - plastic bucket, as you couldn’t roll the side windows down, just pop them out a little. It wasn’t a bad car, but it wasn’t a great one.
I don't think the kids were stuck back there 🤣
@@JamesRendek ???? Your comment makes no sense.
In response to the usual comments about exploding Pintos, Chevrolet's 70s pickups with saddle mounted gas tanks fried more people than the Pinto ever thought of. Pintos were actually pretty decent little cars, especially when compared to anything the competition had to offer, which wasn't much.
It's not that Pintos weren't any more dangerous than other economy cars. Ford did a cost analysis on the fuel tank problem and decided not to fix it because the lawsuits would cost less than the recalls. I think if Ford had been a little more ethical in their business practices and had recalled the cars sooner, Pinto's reputation would have been saved.
@@matthewfusaro2590 That "cost analysis", or "cost vs risk" is the formula used by ALL manufacturers, not just Ford. Ford issued the recall, fixed the problem, and the Pinto went on to live a successful life, their reputation didn't suffer as bad as some might think. Btw, it was Lee Iaccoca who initially put the kibosh on addressing the problem.
@@wyo1446 , "That "cost analysis", or "cost vs risk" is the formula used by ALL manufacturers, not just Ford."
The difference here is Ford got caught and the information was leaked out to the public. It probably wouldn't have been so damaging had it been something else. No one wants to be burned alive. The Ford execs should have know that this was going to "blow up in their faces" (sorry, couldn't resist that one).
I just watched another RUclips video on the subject where Lee Iaccoca bragged about the Pinto's "safety". No wonder the Ford company was harshly criticized over the issue. They were just asking for trouble - call it automotive karma. Still they sold tons of these cars.
Incidentally, my first car was a '78 Ford Pinto station wagon. I actually liked the car and I never once worried about the gas tank. My biggest worry was the timing belt. It had broke after 10k of driving although the previous owner replaced it 20k before that (I knew the guy personally and was not lying to get rid of the car). After that, I was always paranoid about the timing belt snapping. Still I didn't think it was a bad car. I wish I would have kept it; they are worth some money now.
@@matthewfusaro2590 are you saying Chevy didn't know about the dangers of an outboard fuel tank? They also didn't change that until they had too
@@RobKeenan826 I'm sure Chevy has their share of secrets but what separates the Pinto from other cars was the rush to get the cars into production. Pintos were already rolling off the assembly line before testing was completed. Fixing the problem meant modifying cars that were already built.
Loved our pinto. That's the car I learned to drive a stick in.
Exactly what I was going to say! Not many have a clue how to drive Manuel transmission these days
This was my college car. I kept my tools in the trunk. Whenever it broke I would get a ride to the nearest salvage yard, they all seemed to have stacks of pintos, and the used part always seemed to be under $20. I was able to keep it running for next to nothing, doing many repairs right on the roadside where the failure occured.
You almost make it sound as though the fact that your car was constantly breaking down was a good thing
@randuthayne a car I could afford, that I could keep running (with effort) was what I needed.. it replaced a cheap motorcycle, which was even more unreliable. So, an improvement for me in both risk and reliability.
Had a 1973 Pinto, and it was one of the best cars I ever owned.
My pinto, & fire
You're lucky to have lived through it...
@@davelowets No, it had the plastic gas tank shield installed. I found out later there were actually only 17 deaths total from the Pinto gas tank design. That was about normal for any other car as well, based on the numbers sold. So, although it was big news it was actually not a story at all.
@@Bleriotman My Dad had a Pinto. I loved the looks and it performed well. I miss that car.
@@donovan2913 That car handled like a sports car. I once went around to junkyards trying to find an engine to rebuild, so when mine wore out, I would have a replacement ready. The junkyard guys just laughed: "Those 4 cylinder engines were designed in Germany, for use on the Autobahn. They last forever, and you aren't going to find any engines to rebuild, because the racers have bought every one they could find!".
My first wife totaled 3 pintos, only 1 was her fault and one was a head on collision, not her fault. My wife and boys survived, Strong great little car.
Thank goodness she hit in the front not the back.
won't be letting her drive
Did you eventually find a car to do the job LoL?
Dude your wife shouldn't drive.
Great car when you put a 302 V8 in it! Bought a 71 in 78 for dirt cheap, swapped a high mile 302/3 speed standard into it and used to surprise a lot of muscle cars, fun times.
What happened to that car?
@@SweetTodd I messed with it for a couple of years, installed different engines/transmissions, sold it in 1980 to someone who wrecked it less than 2 weeks after he bought it....
I dated a gal in HS whose brother drove a Pinto wagon. That car had been totaled and repaired twice and ran like a top. It had a ton of miles on it too.
Never owned one but worked on quite a few and they were easy to work on and tough and reliable while that engine is still in modern versions still used with all kinds of after market performance upgrades,
That one design flaw of the fuel tank straps got fixed immediately but the story stays around longer than the reality of the value of these awesome little beaters!
My 2009 Mazda has a newer version of the 2.3 liter. Best part of the car.
@@johndef5075 Wow, didn't know that. I had the Merkur XR4Ti 2.3 with turbo. There were many versions . I knew Mazda did the Ford Probe...Different motor though. Have to check that out!
The 94 Ford Ranger and fox body Mustang 2.3 was the last used version of the Pinto Engine, which was actually a German design. Later Mazda, Ford Ranger and Focus 4cyl were all Mazda/Ford collaborations.
That 2000 cc engine is what they still use in Formula ford racing.
My favorite was the demolition derby add. Speechless. Absolutely speechless.
Yeah. I think they forgot to add how to repair the gas tank.
@@richardvega8938 yeah they didn't show the Vega as it would eat its engine cylinders raw before the derby was over.
Dad bought a 76 Vega. What a lemon. Should have bought a Pinto or Maverick. Even a Valiant.
@@STho205 I had a 74 Valiant and a 70 Maverick. Both with 6s. Those engines will run forever. I don't know why the auto makers didn't come up with 4 cylinder versions of their traditional inline pushrod 6s. Power would have suffered a little but they would have made up for it in reliability. But I guess the goal was to get cars sold. Reliability was an after thought.
The Vega had an aluminum block which made it unreliable. Every time manufactures start using aluminum blocks they run into trouble. Cast iron heads on cast iron blocks may be heavy but are rock solid.
@@matthewfusaro2590 I had the 70 Maverick as first car in 1977. Rubber floor covers, bench seat, 3 on the tree manual, no AC (Gulf Coast mind you), pop out rear windows, and it had a rusty gas tank that had to be cleaned and refined. After that it was a durable car.
$250 plus $150 to paint it and $70 to get it upholstered. It was abused before I got it.
@@STho205 Yeah, that sounds like the one I had. In the early 90's I bought a red 70 Maverick from an abandoned car auction for $90...The body was in decent shape and relatively rust free but the car ran horrible. I limped it home and after some work I found out that the head gasket was blown in two places. It was literally running on 3 cylinders. I replaced the head gasket for $20 and it ran like a dream. Never had a problem with it after that. I miss that car and I wish I'd kept it.
I had a 72 Runabout with the 2.0 litre and automatic transmission,one of the best small cars I ever had,never had a single problem with it.
Yeah, they tended to catch fire on a rear end collision. I got a lot of back seat, and even hatchback time right over that fuel tank 💥 as a kid
I had a 75 Pinto and it was my favorite car ever! I ended up putting a 289 hp motor in it and street raced it! Took it to the track and ran a 11.20 in the quarter mile! The heads were off of a 302 boss motor and had been machined with new springs! Had Lakewood traction bars with Headman Headers! It was a very fun 🚗 car!
Awesome commercials! Thanks for the upload!
If is funny that I clearly remember those Pinto ads when they came out, especially the emphasis on the new to North America rack and pinion steering.
I remember asking my father what rack and pinion steering was and how it worked, after seeing those ads.
Later, when I was a teenager, I bought a green 1972 Ford Pinto station wagon in 1980.
A few months later, while driving over a heave in the road, both rear leaf springs popped through the floor in front of the tailgate. That caused the carpet from the rear and all of the dust embedded in it, to fly into the front and land on top me. I wasn't able to see but managed to stop without crashing.
To "fix" the problem I jacked the car up by the rear bumper and put two pieces of 2x4 through the leaf spring hangers, so the wood would hit what was left of the floor.
I drove it for a few years like that.
LOL, rack and pinion steering's great on a sailboat but there's a big reason most cars have power steering :D
@bryn494 most modern cars have power rack and pinion steering...
I absolutely loved my 72 pinto hatchback! Thank you for sharing this. Oh the memories!
I once owned a Pinto, but the "o" fell off, and everyone thought I drove a Pint.
I drink a pint..does that count? 😆
My brother changed the lettering on our family's Pinto station wagon to DORF.
@@HarrisonJBounel
Haha good one
Well Its not half a pint!!
😂
Could have been a 1/2 PINT....
I had a 1977 Pinto bought it new. Had a 2.3l and 4 speed with the all glass hatch. It was a great car and IMO good looking.
I had a 78. I think the 77-78 model years were the best looking body styles.
@@matthewfusaro2590, I totally agree!
LOL, Herman did you buy the Pinto from Fair Deal Dan?
My first car was a 77 pinto station wagon. As a sophomore in high school need I say more😊
One of those announcers (toward the end) was the announcer for “Lost In Space”!
After all these years, it still does look good.
Yes, it was a good-looking small car.
1:02 Almost a rear end explosion LOL So, out of all those 910 Quality Inspections nobody thinks Ford didn't find out that the Pinto could explode if hit in the rear end?
I had one the back bumper was aluminum foil.
@@greggory448 In 1976 my Parents gave me my first car a Honda Civic hatchback which wasn't much better. Back then car insurance wasn't even a requirement, some of us were driving around in bombs and others were driving around in tanks LOL
I owned three of them and they were the best. Soo simple to repair not like the cars now a days with all the computer stuff.
My brother had a 1974 pinto 🐎 wagon and used it as a work truck/commuter back in late , 70's as he worked at Knudsen dairy plant as a mechanic Downtown LA and lived in Hesperia and drove that drive for at least 10 years with 209,000 miles it gave out on a very hot August day climbing the 15 El Cajon pass and he called me to pick him up , we unloaded his tools and removed the license plate and left it on the side of the road never to be seen again. RIP Pinto. 😢
I had a blast driving the 4spd hatchback version, that thing was a panic to take on old dirt roads! Dad had a wagon version, auto, that was also a load of fun to tool around in! I miss the days of simple cars. Loved the video! Thanks!
Except that if you got rear-ended, it exploded.
@@joeaverage5168 Exactly! "Had a BLAST!" 😜
@@joeaverage5168 if you got rear-ended at, say, 75 mph, sure, just like any other car...in reality, it was barely any more dangerous than the COMPLETELY save Corvair. As literally everyone now knows, the media make things up...it's what they do.
Back then, I really liked the Pinto. A friend of mine owned a Pinto he bought from his dad, and after it was totaled from being rear-ended, he turned around and bought another Pinto to replace it. And a coworker had a Pinto with stick, and she helped me learn how to drive manual - which wasn't pretty for the first couple starts from a dead stop, but fun once I got the hang of it.
Learning to drive stick is one most gratifying things I've ever experienced. It's on a par with learning to drive a bicycle. One moment you think you'll never get it and then suddenly it all falls into place and you wonder why it ever seemed so difficult. Thanks for reminding me of my own experience.
What a cute little car! I love it! It looks a bit like my best car ever, a 1985 Toyota Corolla SR5 hatchback, but that had a sunroof and popup headlights. I'd give anything to have it back!
I miss the 70's
Me too!
No more good acid now
I had a '72 Pinto. Loved it.
Such a beautiful design too, right up there w/ the AMC Gremlin & Chevy Vega!
Yes I agree! They simply don't make cars design like this anymore.
You forgot the AMC Pacer, and the Volkswagen Thing.
@@bobblowhard8823 haha, yeah, those were great weren’t they?
I actually like those dang car designs, for some perverse reason.
It was based on an Italian Lancia design. The resemblance is actually stunning when you see them side by side.
Loved mine. Rear wheel drive with no weight in the back-end meant getting easily stuck. Remember block oil gasket was having some trouble and sometimes when driving I would produce a humongous white cloud about half a block long and 30 feet high. When mine got to rusted out the passenger window fell right through the door onto the pavement. One time the accelerator got stuck somehow, I panicked for about two seconds and then turned the car off while braking. Came back the next day and knew the problem had to be in the throttle assembly or carburetor. The problem was a screw holding in place one of the two butterfly valves inside the carburetor came loose and got stuck inside the chamber keeping the valve (and the airflow for combustion) open. I'm not a mechanic but I dismantled the carburetor right off the engine block, identified and fixed the problem and put everything back together. The drive home was most enjoyable after that. The night before this left me stranded and had to walk forty minutes home at 4AM. Great car to have owned and great memories!
Friend of mine had one. That little car lasted forever for it’s time had a great little engine.
I had one with the 2000 cc engine absolutely love that car!
The commercials aren't too bad. 👍🏽
I think they are good. I mean they're dated, but so is every other commercial from that era.
@@scottemmer3301 the wardrobes!
Hell no, they're not! Now I realize why my parents purchased one brand new back in 1971. The ads are actually very convincing.
Actually the reason this is laughable very laughable. Is because of a lot of these commercials they talk about how safe the Pinto is.
Yet fully aware of the gas tank explosion problem, Ford chose to do nothing about it because they didn’t want to spend another $11 per car to fix the problem. They figured it was cheaper to pay off the lawsuits then to fix the problem.
@@gz9520 I had two Pintos and they both got the metal plates put on FREE TO ME.
I had a 73 Pinto with the 1600cc engine and it was not frisky at all. Eventually swapped it for a 289. Then it was frisky.