You know ’em, you love ’em, this 1974 Ford Pinto Squire Wagon is in Bogota, Texas and can be found on eBay. The current bid price is just over $1,000 with only two days left to get your shipper lined up.
I’m all over an absolutely perfect car, one that has been restored to exact factory specs. But, there’s something about a car with what I would call the perfect patina that gets to me. This car is one of those. I would not change a thing, other than to nab up another white wall for the RR so all four skins match, but that’s it, at least looks-wise. This one has been sitting for several years, and in Texas, or almost anywhere, that means that you’ll have to go through it and check for rodent damage. That is a close second to rust damage for me; I hate mice, they ruin so many vehicles.
I prefer the 1970-1973 Pintos with the easier-on-the-eyes, smaller bumpers, but that wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for me on this one. It still has that great, simple grille. This one wears the original paint, as you can probably tell. And, the driver’s door only opens from the inside, but I’m guessing that can be fixed in short order.
I must have a sickness, whenever I see an interior like this one, I immediately fantasize about taking the seats out, and anything else that’ll come out fairly easily, and cleaning, dying, and detailing the heck out of it. The rear seats look good, but they probably aren’t the best place for a tall, lanky person like me to sit for an extended period of time. It’s a bummer to see that this car has an automatic transmission, a 4-speed would help to wring out any available bit of power.
Speaking of power, here’s the engine, which I believe is a 2.0L inline-four; although a 2.3 was optional for 1974. If this is the 2.0 it’ll have 80 hp, which is why a 4-speed manual transmission would be so nice here. But hey, it is what it is, as they say. The seller says that they put a battery in it and it does turn over, so that means that it’ll start once you dig out the mouse nests that are crammed in every square inch of every hidden area, and drain the gas, clean the lines, new plugs; the usual stuff.. With an automatic in this car, is it worth restoring, or would it be better to just get it working perfectly and drive it as is? That’s what I would do.
Had a 71 Runabout as first car in HS. This was about 76-77. One time before we left for a basketball trip we decided to go get snacks and piled in. I think we had 5 in it including the 6’8″ center in the back seat . . . .took a few to get him out . . .
I would have one of these if my wife didn’t think they look like the kind of car that people sometimes live in. Not making any judgments here, but I can think of worse places to live. A restomodded version would be really appealing. Nice find.
It was wrong to live in it? DONT JUDGE ME! Had a ’73 ..slept in it a few times on trips. Was glad to sell it. Enought said.
I was thinking nice old Pinto, then I saw Camaro then Hearse the Hot Rod School Bus.
Ok Pinto but that School Bus is sweat. Waiting for seller to email me back on it.
I wonder where the owner buys gas at?
Speaking of hearses for sale…..
kalispell.craigslist.org/cto/5793095398.html
Scotty – you’re a sicko alright – pullin’ seats! (Hang on, I do that)
Great car and love the colour. Now… about the other vehicles on that lot…
Wow, so a bit of internet creeping shows that this guy has had a lot of very interesting cars for sale.
I know he’s on Broadway (Highway 271) in Bogota Texas. Google maps shows the location empty but that could be a dated photo. The donut shop next to it is #244 but that’s all I can find out.
A Google image search of “cars for sale Bogata Texas” shows some pretty cool stuff!
Kravened Kustoms
110 S Sulphur St. Bogata, TX 75417
I tried that connection but came up pretty empty. Shows a residential intersection. A web search for Kravenened Kustoms comes up mostly empty.
Edit- I see Whipeteer found them on Facebook. (I avoid FB like thr plague).
Unfortunately it’s the only place they have a presence. A web page would be great to show their inventory. From the FB pages it looks like they have a lot of project vehicles at any time.
Smart!
Bought one of these for $600, drove it 150,000 miles, sold it for $600.
Best memories:
The hood flying open on the 405 FWY in LA at speed.
A Uhaul trailer that pulled the rear bumper right off the car between Phoenix and LA, I’m flying along at 80 mph, look in the rear view mirror and the trailer just isn’t there!
I like this one from their FB page https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205184262404944&set=pcb.10205184309926132&type=3&theater
The Country Squirt! I made mine into a pickup truck. Cut the rear hatch in half and used it for the tailgate and the rear cab window. It looked awesome, I got pulled over by a cop at a light once just so he could look it over. Scared the heck out of me.
Dennis
I was surprised that I saw a few of these in Australia back in the 1980’s when I lived there, and they made them for the local market in right hand drive. I would have loved to see a ute version in these, like an El Camino type that is.