Museum cars are a fascinating breed to me, mainly because they are often unique vehicles set aside for their impressive condition or rarity and kept hidden away, protected from the dangers of daily use. While this makes such cars hard to use for much more than showing and displaying, it is important to preserve the best of the breed. This 1979 Ford Pinto station wagon may be such a car, as it retains impressively low mileage of just 44,000 and has been in museum storage up until recently. Find it here on craigslist with a $15,000 OBO asking price.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Jack M. for the find. The Pinto looks excellent with its unmarked paint, factory roof rack, and perfect body lines. I like the period alloy wheels as well, but the white walls feel slightly over-the-top by my standards. The chrome appears excellent as does the window glass, and the deep orange-tinged plastic in front of the turn signals indicates this Pinto hasn’t had its nose sand-blasted by rocks or dulled by sun exposure. The surfboard is slightly too “staged” for me, but the Pinto is in Palm Beach, FL, so I suppose it works.
The interior is also in excellent condition, and the seller says the Pinto has lived in A/C-controlled museum storage for the last few years. Now, a museum could simply mean someone’s private collection, and there are plenty of those in Florida where retirees with the means can build impressive car collections to enjoy all year-round. The un-cracked dash and original steering wheel finish out a near-perfect interior, although the latter does show some wear. Switchgear also appears quite nice, with shiny trim on the dash and door panels.
This picture shows some better detail of the cabin, as the console and lower dash don’t appear to be caramel in color in the above photo. The carpet looks slightly dingy on the driver’s side, but it could be a case of not vacuuming before taking the pictures. While the automatic isn’t the preferred gearbox, I’m of the mind it doesn’t matter in a car like this – you’ll just want to cruise, anyway, as outright speed and handling are laughable goals. While you have to pay for the best, the asking price here demands an in-person inspection to see if this truly is a museum-quality Pinto as indicated in the listing.
And WHY would you preserve a ford Pinto station wagon ???
come kids, now that we made it to the museum lets go look at the pinto wagon… cant forget that :) :)
Probably because somebody loved that car.
Amen to that !!
Wasn’t that when Ford’s motto was “quality job one” Not
As they say, “There is an ass for every seat” and as TimS said, maybe someone loved this car.
Look out said the Pinto I’m going to blow
The nice thing about Barn Finds is that most people appreciate the everyday working mans car that they once owned. None of this Elitist Snooty Concours Trailer Queen Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini stuff owned by rich people who are only in it to show off their wealth. So, yeah, bring on the Pinto, Gremlin, Pacer, Matador, Datsun photos and articles. True Car Guys love that stuff.
Had s 74 wagon stick with air. Couldn’t get out of it’s own way. Worst car I ever owned.
This little gem would be a fun little grocery getter, and you’d have the only one at the local car shows. It’s great that the owner cared enough about their little wagon to keep it so neat & clean. However, even with all the pros of low miles, fantastic condition, there just isn’t $15K here. IMO $8K would be a better starting point.
$15K. No way!
You can’t get it if you don’t ask for it. You never know!!
Half that price would be really stretching it for me. Great looking car. Almost exactly what I’m looking for. But….. Actually, this is from PatrickM. Don’t know how that happened. BTW, I don’t see an engine size mentioned. That just adds fuel to the fire.
A Pinto is a Pinto is a Pinto is a Pinto. Museum piece or not its still a Ford Pinto.
No surprise to see WIDE WHITEWALLS on a Florida car. Plenty of old timers that think these work with every period car. 1959 Ranch Wagon, absolutely! 1979 compact Pinto wagon, NO WAY! Back in the day there were plenty of aftermarket hop up accessory catalogs to make Pintos achieve better than “laughable” handling and performance. Somewhere I still have my EICO (?) catalog for Pinto/Vega/Corvair/VW.
An unrestored 15,000 mile 78 Pinto squire went for $33,000 at auction this winter. It was listed in Hemmings auction results.
the person that paid 33 grand for a pinto should have their head checked out! we had a one owner pinto van or wagon with no side widows at my fathers garage [he sold used cars] he couldn’t git rid of it!! so he gave it to a single mother with a full tank of gas free!
Museum quality Pinto does not exactly roll off the tongue…what Keith said is so true…
I find it funny that you are taking this wacky CL post at face value.
I see the first use of the word museum enclosed in ” “. Like…kinda like a museum, but not really a REAL museum? Then I see 2 of the photos that aren’t direct photos of the car but rather photos of someone’s computer screen (where you can see that there are lots more photos that for some reason aren’t included in the ad). Next I see the second use of the word museum as “a/c museum”. What the heck is that? An air conditioning museum? (that might be kind of neat…) Or maybe an alternating current museum? Or finally, perhaps your interpretation – air conditionED museum. Yeah, well, it’s Florida. Everything’s air conditioned, right?
And there are after-market gauges. What’s up with that? Lord knows the ad copy tells nothing.
Bottom line, Craigslist. Oh, and Florida. Always raises more questions than it answers every single time. Good grief.
Re: the aftermarket gauges
There’s already the factory gauges. Why add a cheesy, redundant set?
Is that really the factory steering wheel?
Yep, that was the sporty steering wheel option for the Pinto and Mustang II.
Nope. That’s a Stallion steering wheel. It wasn’t an option in that year.
Still shows it clearly available here in the 1979 Ford Wagons brochure….
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Ford/1979_Ford/1979%20Ford%20Wagons%20Brochure/image12.html
But thanks for sharing your clearly wrong expert opinion……you were way sure about that, at least you were confident…….
I mean maybe you’re right and Ford is wrong…….could be…..but I doubt it.
It should be in a museum……it’s a Pinto that ran for more than 40,000 miles….I’m sure even the Ford motor company is amazed by that!
My former colleagues that worked in the Jersey Ford plant are all wondering how is that possible!
Paul, I am still driving my 78 Cruising Wagon build in the Jersey plant. Tell your friends thanks for building a Great Car!
Dave…I wish you the best of luck with your Pinto!
Sorry but the truth is that these cars where not engineered to last very long. They were design to be inexpensive economical and disposable. You are fooling yourselve if you think that they are more then that. We called them 50,000 mile throw aways! Ask the engineers whom worked on them what they were told the primary goals were back in design. Who knows maybe you got lucky and got “the one” that was built better then they were designed and engineered.
I like Ford products and the Ford motor company….I just know too much about Pinto’s and Mustang II’s to have any appreciation for them.
I should learn to keep my trap shut when it comes to these cars, I just find it hard to do so. I don’t mean to offend any owners at all! Someday go back and search the jersey plants overall quality rating within the Ford manufacturing plants and then you may believe what I am saying …good luck!
Had a first-year Pinto Squire as our everyday commute car – drove it to 230K without any work other than an occasional tune-up, till my visiting brother totaled it on the freeway. After his night spent in the drunk tank we buried them both in the backyard. It was a four speed, so you had to row your own, went anywhere and hauled kids and dogs without fuss.
DrR
Call Guinness book of world records!!
“period alloy wheels”
aren’t those just steel?
Pressed steel wheels, made to look fancier than the crappy body color keyed wheelcovers offered during these years. Steering wheel is stock Pinto with the deluxe interior.
“Styled Steel Wheels” if I remember correctly…
What can happen is this: Someone passes away or moves or quits driving, and donates the car to the museum. After a period of time, they possibly lose the storage space or fill it with more interesting cars and dispose of something less desirable. It’s unlikely the museum board is authorizing the purchase of a Pinto wagon.
The Elliott Museum in Jensen Beach FL was a good example of this. When I was a kid in the 70s, it was an old school museum with seemingly random artifacts from Harmon P. Elliott, the son of an inventor. But the vehicle section had the coolest stuff. Prewar Rolls next to random Chevy. Many of the explanation cards noted they were donated. The museum was recently completely overhauled and I haven’t been since, but I hear it’s great.
Don’t get me started on the surfboard. It’s a toy prop. As a surfer, I really dislike when people stage boards. Incorrect eras, I’ve even seen them permanently mounted on the roof.
The good news is, a wagon has more protection for the fuel tank and won’t turn into an exploding ball of fire with the first rear impact.
Correct, the wagon was never part of the lawsuit, as are none of the later Pintos, I believe the original case only extended to the 1971-1974 run of Pintos from what I recall,.
The only good use I can see for the featured Pinto would be to turn it into something like the above.
Uggghhh I hate when people put surfboards upside down and facing the wrong way posers !!!!
None of yinz guys has any soul!
40 years ago this coming November, my new bride and myself drove one of these around south Florida on our honeymoon. Looking at this brought back all of those great memories.
So much has changed since then.
I’d love to have this car, but with the addition of a new grandson I might be looking for a 1988 Caravan like the one we owned.
Me, her, and our rented Pinto wagon.
Out of all of the compact’s in the 70’s, give me a PINTO. Not a powerhouse, but wasn’t meant to be one, fun car’s to drive, wish this one was a stick.
I spent a large part of my youth trying to recover from watching my dad trade a 70 Torino in on a brand new ’79 Pinto wagon. Pretty much this one’s twin but red and with a 4 speed. This would have been in early 1980 and I would have been 5. For about 10 years I wondered what the hell was wrong with my old man. Later, when being taught the nuances of throttle/clutch coordination on that very Pinto; I went ahead and asked. Turns out he had a choice between marriage or a car my mom didn’t care for. He probably made the right choice 😂. I kinda stopped being mad at him that day. Kinda.
I feel your pain, Grant. My dad in his later years traded his BMW 325i on a Pinto-powered Mustang because the radiator needed a good flush. He got roped into the ugliest, most underpowered, vinyl-striped Fox body I’ve ever seen. Come to think of it, that is when he started travelling more and more to Florida… :)
nostalgia is a wonderful thing. it keeps us from thinking about just how horrible this car drove when new.
They were kinda fun with a stick…
on an empty theater parking lot in Anchorage…
doing 180s in reverse at 2am.
Hey, it was the late 70s, we had little else to choose from.
My friends and I did the same thing in my ’62 Buick Electra, in the parking lot of the community college dorm where my future wife lived at the time. We were pretty drunk, tho.
In the mid-70s we used to go hooky bobbing quite a bit. My friend’s older brother had a Subaru, and he used to tow us all over the place. It was a blast, but you had to make sure to look out for the manhole covers, or you’d get knocked on your ass. And the cops, too. They took a dim view of that sort of thing.
I wonder what they are asking for the Nina and the Santa Maria?
I’m here all week, try the veal.
I used to rent these in Anchorage during the pipeline era. Real 50/50 weight distribution, great in snow, but tough to break loose if automatic-equipped.
When Cal Worthington took over the Ford store in Anchorage in ’76 he’d pack the sticker on these to over $10k.
This one is nice but at least 3x too pricey unless you reeeeally want to keep it.
Not a bad ride, I’ve built myself many a Pinto from cheep wagons at auction. Not sure it would fashion 15k but the good one’s are getting hard to find. You can get some decent horsepower out of the 2.3L if you know what to do.
My parents had a bright blue 70’s Pinto wagon with woodgrain paneling on the sides. They drove it to Mount Rushmore and back on vacation from Chicago area. The only issue they had of their whole time of ownership was a timing belt replaced. It may be just a Pinto but all the cars from before plastic ruled the automotive industry are history that needs to be honored as our grandchildren will never know what a actual car made out of metal feels like to ride in.
There’s many red flags with this example that bring into question its true condition: The cover on the steering wheel
The missing rubber on the shifter indicator
The aftermarket speakers in the kick panels
The lack of an actual “original condition” does not back up the asking price. Neither does the claimed mileage.
HAHAHA – $15K!!??? uh no…not even for the nicest Pinto wagon on the planet.
If this has been doing nothing but sitting indoors, it can easily be too fragile for a full return to the road. This is why the Collier brothers drove theirs in rotation regularly, and the Lane Museum does much the same. Or you can ask a guy who bought an Alfa that had been sitting in a north-facing showroom for eight years, which convinced him that since it started and ran just fine it was ready for a trip from DeKalb, Illinois to Nashville, Tennessee. Turns out it wasn’t … it did make the trip, eventually. Or should I say “eventfully”?
Just 2 things. 1 I wouldn’t pay that for a brand new Pinto, second really you cant take it off the trailer for pictures???Bruce.
OK cars guys, lets talk about something cool…How about rack and pinion steering. Vented disk brakes. Shooting Brakes……Yep, all things we love. And all things the lowly Pinto brought to the market. I’ve owned 5 of them over the years, have a 78 Cruising Wagon in my garage right now, parked betwwen my 560SL and my ZR1…..The leaf-spring rear is out of date, but that front suspension can be made to handle as good as another available today. And you can do a 4-link in the rear if you want. The 2.3 is very robust, and tons of Pintos on the road today have been repowered by Turbo Coupe or SVO 2.3’s. I’m thinking a 3.5ecoboost might end up in mine one day….
How about explosions, those are great for the market too
It was more about the cover up! Ford did know these car could be dangerous and tried to hide it. And unfortunately some people died. This is one reason why these cars are and should be looked down upon.