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.
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
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 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.
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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
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 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.
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‼️🤡
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
@@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!
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.
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...
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 TH-cam 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.
@@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.
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!!!
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’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.
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
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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!
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. 😢
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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....
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.
The oil cans in the pump island display, would blow the minds of kids today. You needed the funnel to open and pour from the fiberboard can. Pull up to a pump and someone would fill your tank, clean your windshield, and check the oil level. Gas was $.70 a gallon and oil was $.75 a quart.
I had my parents hand me down 1973 1.6 litre manual pinto. Drove it through high school and into college. Then they gave it to a friend who needed a car badly and she drove it for many years. Fond memories of that car.
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.
Even though the Pinto explosions were sensationalized, the demo derby ad was cringeworthy. I have a 73 Runabout, and while it's not quick, once it gets up to speed it has no problem with highway traffic. Fun little cars.
Not only did the Pinto have a bad reputation with the gas tank placement it had one of the worst engine deigns ever produced as it was proned to blow head gaskets , crack cylinders , and had very low power . By the way most people wanted to buy two of them one for the mechanic shop and one to drive .
@@joewilson2258 I had a 78 pinto with a 2.3L engine. They are not bad engines. I would say the biggest weak point was the timing belt. As long as the timing belt was changed according to the recommended maintenance schedule, there wasn't much to worry about. They were cast iron blocks with cast iron heads which means they don't often develop cracks. They didn't produce much power but that was because of emission controls, not engine design. Any maintenance problems were most likely due to poor maintenance. Do you really expect owners who buy the cheapest car on the lot to spend a lot of money on maintenance? The 2.3L engine had also been used in the Mustang II, Mustang fox body, and in the Ford Ranger. They have proven themselves to be reliable engines.
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!
Just another media hyped story. Yes, there were some fires, but the idea that every car would burst into a fireball was due to the media. NBC did an expose on the Pinto during that time. They rear-ended a Pinto, and sure enough it burst into flames -later is found out that they had rigged it with an igniter because multiple attempts to cause a rear end fire in testing had all failed. Numbers of deaths are called out form half-a-dozen to 900+. Here is information from a 2011 Popular Mechanics article: "Reports range from 27 to 180 deaths as a result of rear-impact-related fuel tank fires in the Pinto, but given the volume of more than 2.2 million vehicles sold, the death rate was not substantially different from that of vehicles by Ford's competitors." Don't believe everything you hear!
I actually appreciate the nuts and bolts details. They really tell you why they think you should buy their car. Except they didn't mention the blowing up part of it.
I lost count on how many I've had, I remember my garage was full of Pinto parts, They were so easy to work on, I used to cruise around my neighborhood in my custom built Pinto with a small block 302 V8!
We had one, I don't remember the exact year, probably a 72 or 73. My mom and I took that car all the way from SoCal to the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane Washington, we had zero problems with it and thoroughly enjoyed the Fair.
My first car was a 71 Pinto. My father then owned a Central Illinois car dealership. Despite all of the negative press, the Pinto was a solid car at a decent price. Never ever had any quality issues that I can recall. It was the Honda or Toyota of its time.
Loved my pinto. Got over 32 miles per gallon when I was driving , wife got somewhat less! Put over 130,000 miles on it and only had to replace water pump. Would still have it except family out grew it. Trade in value was almost what I paid for it new.
" Trade in value was almost what I paid for it new." "almost" lol. Amazing how some people think how dumb other people must be. 130.000 miles and almost got new price? Yeah sure buddy, whatever you say.
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.
@@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!".
Loved my 1971 four speed Ford Pinto. I put Keystone wheels on it with 60’s on the back & 70’s on the front. Had it painted candy apple red & painted the grill black. A beautiful car- loved it!
Vegas had problems because in an effort to make cars weigh less, they had the first aluminum head engines. Every car manufacturer benefited from what GM learned from the Vega. Somebody always has to go first, and it's usually GM or Volvo.
I had three, two in HS and a new 78 I bought right after boot. All very reliable. Drove the 78 cross country 4 times. No A/C kind of sucked but otherwise a fun car to drive plus the memories.
What? No explosions?! My mom had 3 of these over the years, driving them until they fell apart. It wasn't until after they got sold, that we found out about the gas tank thing - luckily. I drove the 3rd one for a while. Was like driving a tank! Not as "versatile" as they made it seem. Still, it survived my abuse and that speaks volumes!
I had a 1973 Pinto, one of the best cars I ever had. Took it out west to Las Vegas, took it east to Portland Maine. I would even use it to drag the ballfields. Great car!!
Would take a pinto any day compared to some of the junk made today, had a 73 wagon back in the 70’s hell of a car, reliable , great gas mileage and no computers and as far as the gas tank is concerned alot of cars had same issues with the tank between the rearend and rear bumper
@John Robinson That's really what clinched the reputation of the Pinto. Had Ford just done the right thing and fix the problem from the start, nobody would be talking about exploding cars. Ford had it coming; someone should have explained to them that being burned alive is the worst possible death anyone can imagine.
@@geraldscott4302 The gas tank in the Crown Vic wasnt in the back, it was in the front, like, if the Crown Vic its hit hard in the front it could make a small explosion Or am i wrong? I never saw a Crown Vic having the gas tank in the back
@@mte_seven I have no idea where you got that idea. The engine is in the front. The gas tank in in the back, right under the trunk floor. I have a 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis (same as the Crown Vic) and by 2006 Ford had started installing fire suppression systems on the gas tank. My car has one.
Lucas, as a kid growing up in the 70s in the US, I was told that if you had a Pinto and it was hit from behind, it would explode & you would die..... Because the gas tank was basically unprotected from rear end crashes....
@@jimlassiter749 Oh I know that. That's why I think the Pinto was probably the only case of Brazil having a better car than you guys. At least in the same segment. The equivalent of the Pinto that Ford offered here would be the Corcel, which was based on a Renault and very good.
I had a 73 with 2.3 engine and 4 speed. It was fun to drive. I got a recall where they put a 1/4" thick shield between the gas tank and rear differential. I think it was truly safer than other cars of the same size.
Working on any modern car is simple. Just because it has an ECU[computer] makes no difference. I have always worked on my cars and no I am not a mechanic but have fixed many problems over the last 30 yrs, to put it simply if the car is broken down you can't exactly break it now!
@@ntal5859 You haven't experienced a major electrical problem yet than,like on 2003 Cadillacs and newer,I know many professional mechanics with all the know how and all the high dollar scanners cringe at that symtom.But hay if your that smart open up a shop and more power to you
@@jessiehughes9432 oh forgot ”its highly presumption of you to think i haven't diagnosed electrical faults, in most cases an engine warning light will be electrical sensors failing, ie have fixed faulty speed sensor[replace], cleared abs faults, replaced main cam sensor, and ,many more, like I said grab a$200 obd diag tool, let it do its thing and 99% time you will know the fault.
@@L1V2P9 Randall, you wouldn't have to baby it but an oil change every 5,000 miles, new sparks plugs every 60,000, and just some reasonable TLC and 150,000 could have easily been done.
Ford sold millions of these cars yet they just can't be found on the road today. The ones that are still around are commanding high prices. I guess people really treated these cars as disposable. No one thought that these cars would ever be worth something one day.
About 25yrs ago I found a nice little 1980 Pinto panel wagon. It was orange w/wood stickers on the side. Had round bubble windows in the upper rear of the side panels. It was sitting under a big maple tree for awhile. One day I went up to the house and asked the owner if he wanted to sell it. I I offered a crazy price at the time,considering it was broke down. It needed a 4sp transmission. I offered $1600. The guy wouldn't sell it. He said that he was saving it for a retirement project. That car is still sitting there to this day,except it is trashed beyond fixing. Dude should've just sold it to me and it might still be on the road today. That's what I've always done. Buy older cars fix whatever needs fixing. That's how I avoid a car payment.
@@Thundarr995 Yes I heard of these Disco Pintos but never saw one. My first car was a Pinto. It was a '78 Pinto Squire wagon, red with wood grain on the side. Needless to say I was poked fun of in high school but it was a fun car. I did have a few problems with it - mostly the timing belt. I got rid of it because I thought the clutch was going out...turns out it just needed an adjustment. I wish I had hung on to it...I saw the exact same model being auctioned off on TH-cam for $7000.
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Where you even there ?
Loved my '76 Pinto!
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.
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 ?
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 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....
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 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 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.
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.
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'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.
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.
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 😊
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.
Great commercials. I had several Pinto's, loved them. The American Mini Cooper
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 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.
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‼️🤡
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.
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.
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.
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
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 :)
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 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?
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.
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...
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 TH-cam 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.
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.
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 🤣
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🤨?
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.
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!!!
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?
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
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’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.
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'?
My mom had a '76.
It was a great little car.
It's what I learned to drive a stick in.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I had one of these. It was a great car. Cheap and ran forever.
LOOKS LIKE A SMALLER VERSION OF THE CHEVY NOVA
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.
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"
yes, purchased a 1971 pinto ! our 1st car as married couple ! then became my work car lasted until the mid 80`s !
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...
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 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 !
We had one in 1971 and loved it. It went anywhere we had to go with no trouble at all.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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!
The Pinto was a lot of fun to drive with the 4 speed manual transmission
Had maverick. Tsilights
"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.
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.
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.
Man in suit: “hey guys, just bought a pinto”
Guys: “save some ladies for the rest of us”
Lmao
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....
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.
The oil cans in the pump island display, would blow the minds of kids today. You needed the funnel to open and pour from the fiberboard can. Pull up to a pump and someone would fill your tank, clean your windshield, and check the oil level. Gas was $.70 a gallon and oil was $.75 a quart.
Had two 4-on the floor Pintos back in the day, loved them!
Pokie!!! 😃
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....
The definition of horror would be to get tailgated by a Prius that had accelerator sticking problems.
Or a Tesla on AutoPilot!
My definition of horror would be to get caught driving a Prius!
Pinto's ROCK! 2300 is STILL a fantastic racing engine.
😂🤣😂🤣! 😱
🤣
I hate the virmoent too! RUSH! MAGA
I had my parents hand me down 1973 1.6 litre manual pinto. Drove it through high school and into college. Then they gave it to a friend who needed a car badly and she drove it for many years. Fond memories of that car.
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?
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.
Even though the Pinto explosions were sensationalized, the demo derby ad was cringeworthy. I have a 73 Runabout, and while it's not quick, once it gets up to speed it has no problem with highway traffic. Fun little cars.
Someone at Ford had a really bad bad sense of humor.
Not only did the Pinto have a bad reputation with the gas tank placement it had one of the worst engine deigns ever produced as it was proned to blow head gaskets , crack cylinders , and had very low power . By the way most people wanted to buy two of them one for the mechanic shop and one to drive .
@Lukas zzstu Sikorski I had a 78 Pinto station wagon. Ran great on the highway...you must of had a serious engine problem.
@@joewilson2258 I had a 78 pinto with a 2.3L engine. They are not bad engines. I would say the biggest weak point was the timing belt. As long as the timing belt was changed according to the recommended maintenance schedule, there wasn't much to worry about. They were cast iron blocks with cast iron heads which means they don't often develop cracks. They didn't produce much power but that was because of emission controls, not engine design. Any maintenance problems were most likely due to poor maintenance. Do you really expect owners who buy the cheapest car on the lot to spend a lot of money on maintenance?
The 2.3L engine had also been used in the Mustang II, Mustang fox body, and in the Ford Ranger. They have proven themselves to be reliable engines.
@Lukas zzstu Sikorski your crazy many famous drivers learned to race with "Pinto " Power
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!
"Hard to hit"
Just don't hit it in the rear.
Yup. My dad's friend had a pinto, and was rear ended by a truck. Both occupants of the pinto had 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and were lucky to be alive.
They forgot to mention no protection to the gas tank in the event of a rear end collision.
That’s what she said!
Yuuuuup
Just another media hyped story. Yes, there were some fires, but the idea that every car would burst into a fireball was due to the media. NBC did an expose on the Pinto during that time. They rear-ended a Pinto, and sure enough it burst into flames -later is found out that they had rigged it with an igniter because multiple attempts to cause a rear end fire in testing had all failed. Numbers of deaths are called out form half-a-dozen to 900+. Here is information from a 2011 Popular Mechanics article: "Reports range from 27 to 180 deaths as a result of rear-impact-related fuel tank fires in the Pinto, but given the volume of more than 2.2 million vehicles sold, the death rate was not substantially different from that of vehicles by Ford's competitors." Don't believe everything you hear!
One of those announcers (toward the end) was the announcer for “Lost In Space”!
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
I actually appreciate the nuts and bolts details. They really tell you why they think you should buy their car. Except they didn't mention the blowing up part of it.
I absolutely loved my 72 pinto hatchback! Thank you for sharing this. Oh the memories!
I lost count on how many I've had, I remember my garage was full of Pinto parts, They were so easy to work on, I used to cruise around my neighborhood in my custom built Pinto with a small block 302 V8!
We had one, I don't remember the exact year, probably a 72 or 73.
My mom and I took that car all the way from SoCal to the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane Washington, we had zero problems with it and thoroughly enjoyed the Fair.
My first car was a 71 Pinto. My father then owned a Central Illinois car dealership. Despite all of the negative press, the Pinto was a solid car at a decent price. Never ever had any quality issues that I can recall. It was the Honda or Toyota of its time.
And it didn't rust out as fast as the Datsuns, Toyotas, and Hondas of the day.
Loved my pinto. Got over 32 miles per gallon when I was driving , wife got somewhat less! Put over 130,000 miles on it and only had to replace water pump. Would still have it except family out grew it. Trade in value was almost what I paid for it new.
I'm sure the timing belt also broke and left you stranded...
" Trade in value was almost what I paid for it new." "almost" lol. Amazing how some people think how dumb other people must be. 130.000 miles and almost got new price? Yeah sure buddy, whatever you say.
@@flybeep1661 - New car prices are artificially high to allow inflated ficticious trade in prices...
I love my "pinto" too xD
@@flybeep1661 Sherman here has literally been talking about how the Pinto tests were ‘rigged’ in another comment 💀
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.
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!".
Loved my 1971 four speed Ford Pinto. I put Keystone wheels on it with 60’s on the back & 70’s on the front. Had it painted candy apple red & painted the grill black. A beautiful car- loved it!
Laugh all you want. But the pinto beat the Vega hands down.
Ford Trash beats Chevrolet Garbage every time.
Got that right , I bought a new 1972 Vega , what a POS !!
Vegas had problems because in an effort to make cars weigh less, they had the first aluminum head engines. Every car manufacturer benefited from what GM learned from the Vega. Somebody always has to go first, and it's usually GM or Volvo.
@@johnready630 But one could make a nice street rod or drag racer out of them John.
What a contest. Ford's piece of shit death trap against Chevy's even worse piece of shit not as lethal death trap.
I had three, two in HS and a new 78 I bought right after boot. All very reliable. Drove the 78 cross country 4 times. No A/C kind of sucked but otherwise a fun car to drive plus the memories.
What? No explosions?! My mom had 3 of these over the years, driving them until they fell apart. It wasn't until after they got sold, that we found out about the gas tank thing - luckily. I drove the 3rd one for a while. Was like driving a tank! Not as "versatile" as they made it seem. Still, it survived my abuse and that speaks volumes!
I had a 1973 Pinto, one of the best cars I ever had. Took it out west to Las Vegas, took it east to Portland Maine. I would even use it to drag the ballfields. Great car!!
Would take a pinto any day compared to some of the junk made today, had a 73 wagon back in the 70’s hell of a car, reliable , great gas mileage and no computers and as far as the gas tank is concerned alot of cars had same issues with the tank between the rearend and rear bumper
Early 2000s Ford Crown Vics would burst into flames from a VERY minor rear impact. My city lost 3 police cars that way.
@John Robinson That's really what clinched the reputation of the Pinto. Had Ford just done the right thing and fix the problem from the start, nobody would be talking about exploding cars. Ford had it coming; someone should have explained to them that being burned alive is the worst possible death anyone can imagine.
@@geraldscott4302 The gas tank in the Crown Vic wasnt in the back, it was in the front, like, if the Crown Vic its hit hard in the front it could make a small explosion
Or am i wrong? I never saw a Crown Vic having the gas tank in the back
@@mte_seven I have no idea where you got that idea. The engine is in the front. The gas tank in in the back, right under the trunk floor. I have a 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis (same as the Crown Vic) and by 2006 Ford had started installing fire suppression systems on the gas tank. My car has one.
@@geraldscott4302 Yes i knew the engine is in the front but everybody was telling me that it was in the front and i was like "WHATS GOING ON"
As a Brazilian, I can say this is one of the funniest car names ever.
It is the most common slang for "men personal parts" here.
LOL
Here in the USA, the word Pinto means a type horse with certain markings.
Lucas, as a kid growing up in the 70s in the US, I was told that if you had a Pinto and it was hit from behind, it would explode & you would die.....
Because the gas tank was basically unprotected from rear end crashes....
@@jimlassiter749 Oh I know that. That's why I think the Pinto was probably the only case of Brazil having a better car than you guys. At least in the same segment.
The equivalent of the Pinto that Ford offered here would be the Corcel, which was based on a Renault and very good.
Similarly for the Chevy Nova....the Chevy *No Go* ! lolol
I like when the costumer asks "Anything else?". He should've been like "yes, the gas tank is your rear bumper" 😂
I had a 73 with 2.3 engine and 4 speed. It was fun to drive. I got a recall where they put a 1/4" thick shield between the gas tank and rear differential. I think it was truly safer than other cars of the same size.
safer than saddleback tanks on GM's
Back when a guy with some wrenching knowledge could keepem going. 👍🏼
...and had to!...great stuff....
Working on any modern car is simple. Just because it has an ECU[computer] makes no difference. I have always worked on my cars and no I am not a mechanic but have fixed many problems over the last 30 yrs, to put it simply if the car is broken down you can't exactly break it now!
@@ntal5859 You haven't experienced a major electrical problem yet than,like on 2003 Cadillacs and newer,I know many professional mechanics with all the know how and all the high dollar scanners cringe at that symtom.But hay if your that smart open up a shop and more power to you
@@jessiehughes9432 Lucky for me I am an electronic engineer by profession. Oh by the way OBD port diags tool for 200 bucks will tell you the fault.
@@jessiehughes9432 oh forgot ”its highly presumption of you to think i haven't diagnosed electrical faults, in most cases an engine warning light will be electrical sensors failing, ie have fixed faulty speed sensor[replace], cleared abs faults, replaced main cam sensor, and ,many more, like I said grab a$200 obd diag tool, let it do its thing and 99% time you will know the fault.
Other than the one design flaw, this was a great car. I especially love rack and pinion steering.
Rack and pinion is the best! Angeles Crest Hwy. ×500 in an '85 Tercel! 110 fwy countless times, in same! Felt like Speed Racer, lol!
Here a full video on Lee Iacocca, who created the Pinto and Mustang th-cam.com/video/5bpAVye0snE/w-d-xo.html
This was back in the day where you actually got more than your money's worth for a new car....a new pinto..good for 150,000 miles for under $2,000.00
I had three of them. Not a bad car, but mine always hit the scrap yard at about 75,000 miles.
@@L1V2P9
Randall, you wouldn't have to baby it but an oil change every 5,000 miles, new sparks plugs every 60,000, and just some reasonable TLC and 150,000 could have easily been done.
That's about $13k in our money.
But only if you lived in a state where it never snowed.
Friend of mine had one. That little car lasted forever for it’s time had a great little engine.
Ford sold millions of these cars yet they just can't be found on the road today. The ones that are still around are commanding high prices. I guess people really treated these cars as disposable. No one thought that these cars would ever be worth something one day.
About 25yrs ago I found a nice little 1980 Pinto panel wagon. It was orange w/wood stickers on the side. Had round bubble windows in the upper rear of the side panels. It was sitting under a big maple tree for awhile. One day I went up to the house and asked the owner if he wanted to sell it. I I offered a crazy price at the time,considering it was broke down. It needed a 4sp transmission. I offered $1600. The guy wouldn't sell it. He said that he was saving it for a retirement project. That car is still sitting there to this day,except it is trashed beyond fixing. Dude should've just sold it to me and it might still be on the road today. That's what I've always done. Buy older cars fix whatever needs fixing. That's how I avoid a car payment.
@@Thundarr995 Yes I heard of these Disco Pintos but never saw one. My first car was a Pinto. It was a '78 Pinto Squire wagon, red with wood grain on the side. Needless to say I was poked fun of in high school but it was a fun car. I did have a few problems with it - mostly the timing belt. I got rid of it because I thought the clutch was going out...turns out it just needed an adjustment. I wish I had hung on to it...I saw the exact same model being auctioned off on TH-cam for $7000.
EVERYTHING old is worth something one day…
@@TEDdotcom Can I put that on a Tee shirt?
Disposable is rite if you live in the North !!! They rotted away long before you could pay them off !
A Pinto in a demolition Derby?!?! Better not get hit in the rear!!😱🤯