An early, small-bumpered Pinto, and one without the nattering nabobs of negativism surrounding blowing up like a fireball – since wagons didn’t have that issue. What’s not to like here?! Well, the $10,500 (or best offer) asking price may leave some of you scratching your heads, because you remember what they cost new, and it wasn’t $10k. Remember: some vehicles actually go up in value, believe it or not. This 1973 Ford Pinto Squire Wagon is posted here on craiglist in Olympia, Washington. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
The seller thinks this car has been repainted at some point, and they add that there is no rust here at all, above or underneath. Nowhere. Nothing. The Squire wood (Di-Noc) trim is as faded and cracked as our collective memories of the good times we had years ago. I mean, not that 2025 hasn’t been a hotbed of great times. I wouldn’t change one thing on the exterior of this car; it looks perfect to me.
I hope we all know by now, after several million Pinto articles on Barn Finds and elsewhere, that the station wagons didn’t have the go-boom issue that the early sedans had, and that’s just an added bonus to go along with the incredible condition of this car, plus the fact that it’s early enough in the run to not have the huge bumpers.
The seller loaded up 24 nice photos in their listing, including an engine photo (!), but there isn’t one photo showing the back seat or the rear cargo area, for some reason. The interior looks great to me, but they say it needs work. I can see some old plastic issues on the emergency brake level housing, and they say there are dash cracks, but I don’t see any. The front seats were redone, so that’s maybe why they look so good, and why there are no photos of the back of the interior. The big thing inside for me is that four-speed manual poking out of the driveshaft tunnel.
The engine is Ford’s 2.0-liter OHC inline-four with 83 horsepower and 97 lb-ft of torque when new. This one is said to run and shift well, and it also has AC, but it isn’t working. I dream about detailing engine bays like this one, and that’s about the only thing I would do, other than maybe redoing the back seats and rear cargo area, if they need it to look as nice as the front interior looks. Given how solid this car appears to be, I don’t know if the $10k asking price is that far out of line, especially since they say “or best offer.” What’s your offer on this Pinto Squire?
A Pinto Squire in top-notch condition now brings very big bucks. I don’t think this one is to that level, but overall it does look good. The four-speed is my preference. If it was mine, I think I would replace the Di-Noc and take care of other details. And then just have fun driving it. Be prepared for conversations with strangers wherever you go.
The craigslist ad is refreshingly complete. It reads like you are talking to a friend about their car. And there is a good selection of pics.
The small-bumper cars like this do look the best. But technically the bumper for a ’73 is a bit different– it sticks out a couple inches. I think that somehow had to do with the emerging bumper regs.
Good job Scotty.
This is a great Pinto wagon. It has a stick ( which would be a must for me. ) I’d be like Bob and replace the Di-Noc for sure. The interior looks terrific too. At least what I can see. For a vehicle that was basically every day transportation its in admirably good condition. It would be fun to have to run around in. Nice write up Scotty.
As many 73 Pinto wagons as Ford made, I wonder how many had the “Squire” treatment. I don’t recall seeing many of these, ever. This one looks good.
That 2.0 power plant is a German-sourced engine and quite tough. And the front bumper is larger than the earlier Pinto bumpers but not nearly as large as the later ones were.
Exactly Terry.
The very first Pintos had the British Kent 1600 engines and Ford switched to the Cologne built 2.0 engines until being replaced by the US built 2.3 engines 1974-1980.
The 2.0 was the best of them though.
The cast iron blocks have a much higher nickle content than the almost identical 2.3.
The 2.0 was designed to go flat out all day on the Autobahn and was incorporated into several German Fords of that era.
I installed at least a dozen of those 2.0 engines with Esslinger cams and other Esslinger parts with adapters to VW transaxles included a couple 914 5 speed transaxles in VW Buses and Karmann Ghias.
If I had room for this small bumper party wagon with the excellent four speed manual Iād be all over it.
1.6 was standard. 2.0 was optional.
Haha, “nattering nabobs of negativism” is a good reference for a 1973 model.
I like the car, don’t like the price, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it sells around that number. It could be very nice with some cosmetics restoration.
A 1977 27k mile cream puff with a four speed manual and original California blue plates sold on Bring a Trailer last month for $21,200. So one has to assume that is the absolute top of the market and it would go down from there.
Probably significantly so here given the condition of this one by comparison, though at least it has the manual. But anyone who’s ever driven a Pinto knows that even with the manual, they’re not particularly exciting to drive. It’s definitely a novelty factor. Not a great reason to buy a car in my experience.
Little to high of a price but I like that it is a manual.
No matter how you slice and dice it, this is a Pinto!
Clearly not for you Dave. But for many of us, these were fine cars.
I don’t know about “fine” cars, but they were cheap, dependable cars that got better mileage than your average American car, and handled better than most American iron of the period. They sold like hotcakes, because they were just what the market needed in the seventies, at least until the safety issues became fodder for the newspapers! Their mechanical simplicity also has a certain appeal, as even the most basic, entry-level economy car today almost requires an Engineering degree to repair, while these can actually be worked on with nothing more than basic hand tools! The supply is limited, because most of these succumbed to rust and went to the crusher, so clean examples like this one are getting hard to find, so it’s no surprise that prices are rising, as the supply dwindles and more people want to buy a piece of their lost youth!
The only way this one could be better would be if it had the 2.3L motor and was a Cruisin’ Wagon, with the Porthole side windows and gage package! GLWTS!
this cheap considering a pinto wagon sold on B A T last month for over 30k. i bet this can be bought cheaper with cash in hand. really nice wagon and you don’t see them like this
I had a ā72 wagon with the 2000 and a 4 speed. I loved that car so much I bought it twice. (Long story) Iād love this one, but not $10k worth. š¤·āāļø
I think it’s more likely original paint , without seeing it in person because for the life of me I can’t see anyone spending the money to have a pinto repainted this is one where the seller needs to post it on a different website to get the kind of money they are asking for it.
I had one of these Pinto woody wagons with orange paint back in the day. Never would have thought to keep it back then.
1973 was the year of front 5 mph bumpers. ’73 Pintos had very large squared bumpers. How did this ’73 get 1972 bumpers? From the factory? Replaced? There’s a story there.
You know, the dashboard on the ’73 Pinto actually looks nicer and less cheap than the 2005 Cadillac CTS-V that Scotty just wrote about.
The large squared off bumpers were initiated in 1974. As stated above 73 was a transition year. They stuck out more than the 72ās but not the full large
set that were on the ā74s and later.
Had a ’73 Pinto wagon. These bumpers are legit.
Hi Big C
Yeah I just checked them. ’72 had the small bumper against the car. ’73 had same bumper but moved about 3 or 4″ away from the car. And the ’74 had the big bumpers
IIRC, I think that the standard for 1973 was only 2.5 mph in front, the full 5 mph standard didn’t kick in until 1974, but some models got the bigger 5 mph bumpers in 1973 in front only, with 2.5 mph bumpers in the rear. By 1974, the 5 mph standard was universal at both ends of the car. Some cars also got a waiver because they were about to be discontinued. The Chrysler A-Bodies fell into that category, since their replacements were due in the 1975 model year (September, 1974), so they got a waiver for 1974. The Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare replaced the Dodge Demon/Dart and the Plymouth Duster/Valiant A-Bodies in the fall of 1974 as 1975 models, so the bureaucrats granted Chrysler a waiver for the final year.
The large bumpers came in 74 for just about all cars.
I had to drive one of these from CT to VT and back in one day. I’m not overly tall, but it was a miserable experience, the seat didn’t go back far enough and I found the footwell extremely cramped as well. I never drove another…
I had a 73 back in the day that had the 1.6 and 4spd. Couldn’t keep a clutch in it. Other than that, it was slow but economical.
Near identical dashboard and steering wheel as was on my 1974 Ford Maverick, just compressed.
Jokes on someone somewhere. This mundane Pinto is worth almost 3 times its original price. Thanks for pointing out the wagons weren’t included in the Pinto ka-boom saga. It’s a sad truth and witness to our current economic times when a Pinto Squire with an awesome original interior seems like a bargain at 10K. The 2.0 liter with a stick shift combos were actually fun. My very first car was a 72 Pinto Runabout in butterscotch gold with this same drivetrain. It actually did burn outs and was a hoot to drive. 30 mpg was a nice bonus.!