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There’s a car that keeps burning a hole in my brain, and potentially, my wallet: the Ford Pinto Cruising wagon. You see, I love vehicles that capture the era they were made in perfectly. Some cars could pass between generations and seem to blend in to the background, but this Pinto Cruising Wagon found here on craigslist is no such vehicle. Porthole windows, louvers on the back glass, rallye-style wheels and of course, the classic Pinto front-end all combine to give you a ride that could have only come from the ’70s. Special thanks to Barn Finds reader Robert R. for spotting this project Pinto, which only needs some minor adjustments to become a clean, functional cruiser.
Wow, Time Machine and Love Machine in one package; what’s not to like? Ford also sold the car with graphics, I particularly recall a silver version with burnt orange and yellow and black stripes. IIRC Ford had a whole series of Cruising models, including a full-size van…
The recollection gives me a headache.
Here it is! The wonders of the Internet.
And another…
I could have used the van this past winter when my girlfriend was on a rampage…
I could have climbed in, shut the doors, and had some peace and quiet for a change…
no trace of slamming doors, no sound of kitchen cabinets being kicked….just bliss…
lol…(well, not really)
We may have embarrassed the seller-the CL ad isn’t available for viewing.
Cause it was bought
Mine has groovy stripes
Nice job!!!,,, And now period graphics! How cool! At one time would have been hard to find them but now days tech being what it is, we have some good options to reproductions of period stickers and graphics.
You just need some period 70s clothes and accy. I might have a few old 8 tracks around. I had a halloween costume with a fake silk shirt with crazy graphics and big collars. Some funky pants too. Pukka shell necklace. If you find any “Snow Seals” keep it to yourself.
Now go crank up some Boston “More than a feeling” Ted Nugent “Stranglehold”, Some E.L.P, Doobie Brothers, or Allman Brothers, some Skynard,,, or if thats not your style crank up the Donna Summer and Bee Gees.
Have fun with it.
I owned the first of these in my area. I bought a ’77 in late ’76. Bare bones with a 2.3 4 speed and that was it. Blue with the twin blue stripes. Best car I ever owned. Sadly totaled it in ’81.
I miss the 70s. It was an easier time. It had a style and vibe. Instead of every Ford being a taurus or f150 they were all pintos. The mustang II was pinto. Fairmont ,Mercury’s. All pintos. I would buy a pinto panel wagon new today if to they sold it. 32 mpg not bad for today.
Little known van trivia; The Ford Cruising Van remains the only “custom van” with an interior from the Ford factory. All other vans with interiors were not converted at any of the big 3 factories. Club Wagons, Sportsman, and Beauvilles etc were factory interiors but considered passenger vans w windows & seat belts, not custom vans.
Also I like Pinto wagons too and they look good w woodgrain. Do I want to drive one… not particularly.
I dunno.. Maybe if the bumpers were a little bigger?
Plenty of space for my bass and bong collection, dude.
Oh good lord that things brings back memories!,, Used to be a bunch of those things around here. I remember the silver ones with the stripes, IIRC there was Orange or Yellow ones too,, I know a kid in high school had one, I remember also a pretty hot girl who had one. I remember thinking “I wonder if her parents knew what she was doing in the back of that thing every weekend?”
Before I went into the military I worked in a wrecking yard right after graduating high school. We had more pintos than any other car (Circa 1982-83) and people called all the time if we wanted to buy theirs. ( We ran a lot of ads for buying cars) Nope, If you want to give it to us free we will take it, but we stopped paying for them. After a while we wouldnt even send out the tow truck for them. Sure brings back some memories. Thanks for posting that.