The Ford Pinto was Ford of America’s first subcompact, and on release it was also the smallest car built by Ford in North America since 1907. It’s 10 year production run ended in 1980. You will find this example from that last year of production listed here on Craiglist for $2,000, located in Concord, California. A big thanks goes out to Pat L for the lead on this one.
This is definitely my favorite view of the Pinto. I just think that the rear glass is something a bit special. Finished in a shade called Dark Pine, this particular car looks to be in reasonable condition for a car that is 38 years old. The paint finish sports a reasonable sort of gloss, and there is no obvious accident damage or rust. However, as you read further through this post it is possible that you may question whether this is the original paintwork. The seller also claims that this car has traveled a genuine 61,652 original miles, and that it has passed its smog. This little Pinto also comes with a clean title.
For me the interior is a disappointment for a car of this reputed mileage. The front seats exhibit a lot of wear and tear, which feels quite at odds with those claims. The front carpet is also showing a fair degree of fading, and the dash sports a couple of significant cracks. This would potentially indicate a fair amount of exposure to the dreaded UV rays.
The rear seats are in significantly better condition than those in the front. I personally consider this to be quite an achievement considering the proximity of the rear seat to that rear window. All of the plastic appears to also be in sound condition, but there appears to be a tear in the carpet on the driver’s side.
By 1980 the sole engine available in the Pinto was the 2.3l 4-cylinder, which is exactly what we see here. This is backed by an automatic transmission. Admittedly this is never going to win what we refer to in Australia as “the traffic light Grand Prix”, but for commuter or city use it would be quite adequate. While the engine bay isn’t immaculate, it is certainly clean enough to make the mileage claim believable. Another often overlooked or forgotten fact about the Pinto is that it was the first mass produced car of any brand built in North America to be sold with rack and pinion steering.
In all honesty I quite like this little car. The Pinto suffered from a lot of bad press in its early days. By 1980 most of the bugs had been ironed out. If I lived in a city and had to commute in heavy traffic, this would be the type of car that I would choose. It’s easy to drive and reasonably fuel efficient. It’s never going to put you on pole at Daytona, but I think that there’s something to be said for buying the last of a breed.
Fair price, but what would anyone do with it?
Cue the cliche fuel tank comments. No it isn’t a Boss Mustang but who will have one of these at your local show? I’m a sucker for green.
161,652 miles. Don’t think it could have made 261,652.
Yes, it certainly is the last of the breed. These little people movers got us through two fuel shortages. Hey, they deserve some sort of credit.
We bought one of these (orange ’80 with glass hatch) with 62k miles on it in 1988 when my wife was learning to drive. She wanted something with an automatic that felt small. We didn’t have much of a budget, but this one barely ran so I bought it cheap in spite of little rust and a straight body. The harmonic damper had failed, messing up the timing marks. Someone had changed the timing belt but failed to notice this. I didn’t have enough money for a new balancer, so I set the valve timing by trial and error and set the ignition timing by ear. It ran ok after that but was still pretty sluggish. Used a paint restorer miracle liquid (TR7?) to bring back some later to the paint.
We ended up selling both the Pinto and my Toyota pickup a couple of months later to fund the purchase of a healthy, reliable car that could accommodate two adults and a baby seat.
Looking at the rear seat makes me laugh. I had one of these in college and used it to routinely transport myself and 3 other guys back home. It was a 4 hour trip, and once it was loaded there was no escape until we reached our final destination. You couldn’t even remotely see the rear passengers due to the clutter, it was like a local bus in Marrakech minus the chickens
The Pinto lasted my tour in college and had over 200k before I sold it. It was a great car. .
The mileage is quite likely correct,as most of these never made it to 100,000 before they rusted out. The interiors were made of such cheap crap that it wasn’t unusual to see them come apart in a short time.
Cars don’t rust in California.
Perfect cars for commuters or running around the territory. Somebody jump on this.
I question how the car passed smog with no belt on the air pump.
That would surely have been noticed.
I bought a 72 in 77. It was paid for—the only good thing about it. Left me stranded several times—Wheel Bearing in the Mountains of MA, Clutch on the NYS Thruway in Utica (I commuted every other weekend from New London, CT to Buffalo). Timing Belt in the country in CT. Chrome strip came off the drivers door going down the interstate, went through 2 rebuilt carbs, heater cable broke in the winter, Wiper came off going down the highway when I first bought it. BAD KARMA.
Paid 1800 for it, got 700 for it in trade in 78 when I got my 73 Charger SE. Got a letter from an insurance company about 6 months later, apparently the engine caught on fire. I told them I put 2 carbs on it before I got one to work, but probably put 25K on it after the repair.
They’re neat but I’d never get another one. Good when new!
Sounds like problems with any 5+ year old car from the 70s.
Timing belt a maintenance item. Thankfully, the 2.3 was not an interference engine.
junk new junk now , wife had one awful , replaced it with a Ford Maverick , that was a good car
Since we are using personal anecdotes a judgment for all cars produced, I have had many of these Pintos of all years and every one of them was a good dependable car, with the exception of the one I had that had no engine.
So according to my anecdote, all Pintos were great cars.
This ranks right up there with the pacer, Vega and yes this pinto. As was stated earlier JUNK WHEN NEW AND STILL JUNK NOW no matter what the price!!
@ stories 1. My sister had one and got in an accident with a red Monte Carlo that ran a stop sign she t-boned the Monte and guess what the Monte was towed away and totaled my sister drove the her Pinto home we replaced the hood, grille, front fenders and gave it an Earl Schibes paint job 2. My brother has a 79 that what can I say it’s a Pinto and he swears he’s never gotten better than 17 MPG in town and about 25 Hi-way
Sounds about right, Victor.
Those smogged 2.3s were awful. Hence the MPG series: eco tuning and a rear axle ratio change to produce better mileage.
Raspberries to the nay sayers!
I would buy this Pinto in a heartbeat if it wasn’t all the way out in California
That is where the good ones are.
Whoa! Raise your hand if you were the “chump on the hump” or the “monkey in the middle”…stuck in between two larger cousins in the rear bucket seats on a ride.
Identical rear seat legroom in an 18 Fiesta. 30.1″.
Such progress, ya ?
kaboom! Enough said, but nice.